Filming in Bedford

Rabbit hair under crossed popolars from yesterday's Quekett Workshop

Bedford for 10 am. The idea, to prepare both speakers and equipment for the afternoon's filming of five speeches at The Place Theatre, ably organised by Graham Frost. It all started well until the speakers arrived and everything descended into chaos. My nerves were frazzled and a I lost my cool at one point. We finally got around to doing some trial recordings in preparation by 12 noon, by which time the audience was already trickling in for the 1pm start. Fortunately, the afternoon ran more smoothly

We had a very diverse group of 5 speakers, three women and two men. They ranged from a vivacious American who filled the room with her personality, to a PR woman from Scotland who emanated an inner calm with warmth showing through. She came to my rescue with a pecan pastry at the end of the afternoon, when I needed the sugar. Our compare found himself doing two introductions (a long one and a short one) for a number of the speakers.

You will notice that I did not mention the content of the speeches. That is because my full attention was on the screen of the Panasonic camcorder, doing the head and shoulder shots and trying to keep the speakers in frame when they moved across the stage. The strategy is to keep the camera still as the person moves out of view, then quickly move the camera until they appear in frame and then stay still again. The wide angle views taken with a second camera can be used to fill in gaps or large body movements with whole body shots.

I, 'Mr get cold at any temperature below 21 degC',  was kept surprisingly warm by concentration and the adrenaline of recording. In contrast, the audience and speakers were getting progressively colder as the heating had timed out. By the time the room had chilled down to 14 degC, we had to introduce a 15 minute heating break for them to recover. Our American speaker generously shared her video recording and equipment tips with the audience and other speakers to help pass the time.

Arriving back home drained, I transferred the recordings to the PC, before finishing for the day. I think I deserve Monday off.

Tory knives still out for Common's Speaker Bercow, after the news that he had told students that he voted remain in the referendum.  He probably has enough supporters to stay in his position.

Donald Trump was entertaining the Japanese Prime Minister when North Korea trialed another missile allegedly capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.  Apart from initial condemnation, there is no major reaction in US to North Korean missile test today.