TAKE THE A TRAIN
Well I delivered the full score arrangement today to the band leader. Down the A19 again to the bands regular Sunday gig in Hartlepool to make absolutely sure it got directly into his hands. Now I await the verdict…
The big event this week was that I got the good news I’d been waiting for. ACE have again helped with funding to complete the project and to assist with a bit of marketing. It’s a great relief since there are numerous costly things to be sorted out for the show. Apart from the band and recording I have got print costs, mounting, frames etc. etc. to sort out imminently, plus more video to shoot too. Validation of the project is also important; that what I have produced so far is deemed to be worth all the effort. Big sigh of relief.
Generally speaking I have had great feedback from people who have viewed my clips (though people rarely comment on the site here.. maybe the forthcoming new site might be more interactive in that sense?)
I went to a meeting this week to walk through the installation with Ashley from the council and three of the guys who will be installing the AV equipment and generally building things like plinths and walls. As I enquired at the offices where we were meeting the guy on reception said to me..”Oh you’re Neil Armstrong – I watched your videos on VIMEO – really nice – thought they were brilliant!”
It made me consider how isolated you can get making these things…and how easy it could be to construct a world which nobody else understands or is interested in. His comment was a little ray of sunshine and lit up my afternoon more than he could have known… so thanks for that. You do these things first and foremost for yourself, but validation is much appreciated even though I prepare myself not to get it! Big thank you to photographer Mark Henderson too (who comes from Hartlepool but now lives in Dublin). He was similarly complimentary about the piece this week. Strange how I still feel stressed though ha ha. Anyway I must tell myself it’s ok to accept praise… then get on with the hard slog again.
This week’s video sequence involves footage shot at a retirement home called Laurel Gardens, plus the complete cast of kids, students and old folk that I filmed on the rehearsal day. It had to be poignant and is the most reflective of the sequences I have put together thus far. I deliberated about introducing a slightly spooky spinning disc element, unsure if it was perhaps a bit literal. Showed it to my partner and she said it reminded her of the Wizard of Oz – which convinced me to keep it in. It’s an appropriate reference and fits with my nod to Busby Berkeley too. The spinning circle of seated dancers is dynamically at odds with the sedentary participants which is kinda nice I think >>
