We've Been Filming! | The Friday(ish) Update

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Friday Update, in which I give a little insight into what I’ve been up to for the past seven days.

What have I been up to this week?

First off, apologies about a slightly belated Friday Update this week (in that it’s now next week); filming one video whilst trying to get the script for the next one finished has kind of taken over my life a little! I was up until 4am last Friday trying to polish-off part of an upcoming project so apologies if this fell by the wayside!!

Nevertheless, whilst things have been busy, I’ve also been making a huge amount of progress too.

Last Wednesday, Georgia and I braced the freezing British winter to film the to-camera sections for my next video. This was made extra exciting by the addition of a new tool in our arsenal: a gimbal.

For those that don’t know, a gimbal is a device which serves as a kind of handle for a camera. Rather than just making it easier to hold, however, it contains motors which actively stabilise the camera to get rid of any shaking (particularly useful when it’s cold!).

Previously, we’ve been entirely reliant on tripods for all our filming. Tripods are great for stability; but they can be pretty fiddly to set up. It’s not unheard of to spent 20 minutes or so adjusting the spread and length of each leg to get the perfect shot. This has tended to mean confining any filming we do (particularly outdoors where short British winters mean filming time is limited!) to one or two locations.

Tripods also can’t move. This has meant being limited to still set-ups in which I’m sat or stood in a particular location. These are obviously fine. But it’s a pretty well-understood rule of filmmaking that motion is always more interesting than its opposite.

Adding a gimbal into the mix has thus allowed us to be so much more creative with filming this video. There’s no fancy costumes or sets this time around; this video is a relatively simple one which we filmed in a local park in Plymouth where we’re based. But being able to sections where I’m walking and talking—as well as being able to quickly position and set-up shots on the fly—has made for a video which looks so much more dynamic than anything we’ve produced before!

The night before we filmed I was debating whether the cost of the gimbal was going to have been worth it; our budgets are very tight and so there’s not loads of spare cash to be spending on flashy kit. But, watching clips of the video back now I’m really excited for the things it’s going to enable us to do in the future!

And outside of work?

Last weekend, my wife and I headed to the countryside to visit some friends who live out in rural Devon.

I grew up in the countryside but moved into an (albeit smallish) city when I was round 18. For the most part, I’ve never looked back. I’m a big fan of popping to the corner shop to buy a treat or two. If you live out in the country you have to be organised enough to know what snacks you’re going to want in advance which I don’t think I’d be very good at! My wife and I also love going to the pub and to the cinema, which you’re not able to be as spontaneous with if that involves an hour’s drive.

Nevertheless, it’s always nice to spend the evening away from the hustle and bustle. Our friends have a gorgeous house with a lovely dining room and gorgeous views. So we were able to have a massive meal of beef pie cabbage and have a few (lots of) drinks as we caught up.

Amid the mad rush to get scripts and videos finished, it was nice to have a night in the peace and quiet of the country too. It’s lovely to wake up without the sound of traffic once in a while!

What have I been reading/watching/listening to?

I’ve been a bit lax when it comes to reading lately. Over the last few months of 2023, I built up a really good habit of making sure I dedicated a decent amount of time to “refilling the well” with new ideas through reading both non-fiction and fiction books. Alas, as the New Year has set in, work has taken over a little bit and my reading has been largely confined to research for the specific videos I’m working on.

To bring the tone down a bit then… This week I’ve mostly been watching The Traitors.

The Traitors is a BBC reality TV show which works much like Secret Hitler or Mafia or Werwolf. A small group of the 13 or so initial players are selected to be “traitors” who have the ability to “murder” one players every evening. In the daytime, the other players then have the opportunity to try and guess who the “traitors” are.

It’s a bit trashy obviously but it’s still fairly compelling as a show. It’s also on three nights a week which is quite the commitment!

Hopefully we’ll have the chance to return to some prestige drama soon, haha!

That brings us to the end of this week’s edition of the Friday Update. I hope you’ve found it mildly insightful.

Thanks as ever for your generous support and I’ll look forward to updating you more next week!!