So it’s, yet again, ages since I’ve written an update of my activity, but, truth be known, I’ve been rushed off my feet.

In the past month or so I’ve seen out the end of the festival season where I wore a caftan and a silly hat (nobody commented much to my disappointment), seen Alan Moore do an excellent reading at Colchester Arts Centre, bought a new computer and spent ages doing all the setting up (another one?), found a hot desk in Colchester where I can work remotely with a handy café just across the road.

frottage

Now those of you who are regular readers will say, wasn’t this what I said before when I reported that the video production had slowed almost to a stop? In June I was researching video editing applications so I could edit the frottage myself (footage, surely).

Well I abandoned the idea of teach yourself video editing as a bad job and sought out another editor. That led me to a really promising filmmaker with a great website and all the impressive equipment just like the last video production people. (Cynics might suspect a pattern developing here.) So, in July I engaged the new filmmaker with all the impressive equipment. We organised the use of a friend’s farmhouse just outside Oxford where I began the Travelogue all those years ago. I even had a haircut, which I didn’t for the first day’s filming.

In early August the new film maker turned up with his impressive equipment, proceeded to interview me, which was jolly nice and jolly nerve-wracking and, in the end, I think we got some good footage. We all went away with that lovely feeling of achievement just as before. (Cynics might suspect a pattern developing here.)

cynics

And at that point it went a bit quiet. (Cynics might suspect a pattern developing here.)

In fact…

 

 

So here’s the thing. When you’re doing stuff on social media it’s really a good idea to try to be positive. I don’t think it’s a good idea to be constantly posting a load of negative moany content: woe is me, my leg hurts, I’ve got the flu, I wish Donald Trump would turn out to be mistake, etc. I just think it’s best to filter out all the negativity and post some good news.

Of course, I’ve got nothing against people with woes, a bad leg or the flu. I’ve had the flu myself and I do actually wish Bobby Ewing would suddenly walk out of the shower and we’d find out Donald Trump was a bad dream.

brocade

But truth be told, the last year has been a bit crap even if I’ve bought a new computer, seen Alan Moore and flounced around a festival in a caftan and a silly hat. (There are no photographs.)

So, basically, I’ve been let down twice on the video front. I’ve tried to put a brave face on it, but this is where I am a year after putting the travelogue manuscript aside to do the video, choosing people with the right skills, throwing money at the problem, feeling like a real pro by getting risk assessments and even buying a high vis jacket.

But basically I’m back where I started…

I’ve got some frottage from the first shoot but some of it is out of focus, has people walking around in the background, has other problems, etc. It might be salvageable but it seems video editing is beyond me. I have the audio files from the second shoot but no frottage. Frottage is something I only dream of.

space

So watch this space. Having started to write this post a couple of days ago I’ve discovered…

…an old frield has a video camera.