Duke of Yorks

Not quite sure why I’ve been putting this post off so much, I think I was expecting some news of further development, but from my point of view this video is done and dusted, so it’s time to finally get round to it.

Here it finally is… The video you haven’t been waiting for because you probably didn’t know it existed. Although apparently Duke of York’s have/were doing some promotion for it, so if you’re a regular visitor to that awesome place, you may have heard.

The basic story behind the creation of this video, is a very long time ago a bloke name Craig Ennis heard that a fella he knew called Jimmy would no longer be working in his skilled craft as a projectionist at the Duke of Yorks, Brighton. Not because he’d gone all cack handed or was showing up pissed and only showing violent pornos, but because the Duke’s was getting rid of their analog projector in favor for a digital one, meaning they would now longer need to Jimmy to prepare the reels or change them over. I want to just step in for a moment here and say that I have also experienced the new digital system completely not work and RUIN the flow of a suspense driven film half way through, which never happened with the analog system.

The care and intricate beauty of the old system was not going to be lost forever as far as Craig was concerned, and he set about directing a short film simple about the setting up of the projection booth, showing how the great architecture of one of (if not THE) the oldest purpose built cinemas in the UK, and how aesthetically pleasing and timeless the preparation of real actual film reels really is. Say that last part quickly without sounding like a nutter. And no, it’s not my fault for nothing thinking of a better way to write it.

So that was a long time ago, and Craig’s footage sat around unedited for many years… The project was going nowhere, the Duke’s had moved on, and all the beautiful old equipment had been moved out and forgotten. That was until he put an advert online looking for an editor who had a passion for the Duke’s and for the footage he had captured. I replied to that ad, as well.. That description is quite obviously me. I’m surprised other people didn’t reply suggesting me.

It took a little while to get the footage all up to scratch and edited down from the hour or so it started as, with my busy schedule of a shit job and spending all my free time with my face buried into a sofa (and getting to that stage). Me and Craig found it hard to also match about stupid schedules together so we could meet and review, but we seemed to be on the same page whenever we did, and at no point was the project a chore. All the footage looked fantastic anyway, and I was completely interested in the subject material, so as the advert required, this was a project of passion and I was more than happy to be involved.

The entire thing came together when after a few discussion about sound (Craig thinking it should contain a voice over from Jimmy, me thinking it could really use some atmospheric music first of all), I got in touch with my friend Andy Phillips. Being a pass-proj (passion project obv), we thought it best to seek the talents of friend who would be willing to get involved, and knowing Andy’s music well, I thought he could come up with a piece that would suit perfectly. He was more than up for it, which was a great start, but was a little concerned about time constraints, what with me pissing off to this land I’m in right now for example. He sent me a few track as testers, to see how his style would fit. Now this rarely happens, but when it does it’s just so perfect and works so well that you don’t want to even consider trying anything else….

I got the first track that Andy sent me (which I later found out he actually thought was a different one, at this point he hadn’t seen any of the footage either) and laid it into the timeline; It was actually pretty much the exact length of the edit I was considering to be pretty much the final draft. That was a good start. As soon as I hit play it started to work, the build of the footage and the track were so in synch, it was better than if I’d edit to in before hand because it had little subtle matches which I may have ended up making too obvious if done purposefully. The track and the footage just held hands and walked along nicely together. It need the tinniest bit of editing here and there, but I was dead set at this point that THIS was the track we were using. Andy was happy for it to be involved, and thankfully when Craig saw the edit, he loved it, and was right away tempted just to say yep, that’s it. Done.

There have been some small changes in order, timing, and flow since the track was first slapped over the top of a finished edit, but the film remains basically the same, which is proof that at some moments, things just work out. It’s a great feeling because not only do you get a finished product you’re happy with, it also has some small differences to it to what you may have created if slugging through tracks and making them fit, rather than it just happening. It’s a bit of a learning process and helps you to see things another way, which is the great thing about this project, we have 3 completely separate inputs all working together to create a finished film greater than the sum of our parts. I don’t believe this video could have worked out so well if any of us undertook the project individually. Definitely not.

Many thanks to Craig Ennis, Andy Phillips, and everyone else involved who unfortunately I did not have the change to meet or build a relationship with… But those first 2 are good lads!