Yesterday I was lucky enough to interview Jon Snow for my work with Artichoke. I made a video out of some of the footage, but thought I’d quickly edit the rest together a. for your viewing pleasure and b. to explain why I didn’t use some of these clips. I’ve attached numbers to clips and put notes relating to that number/clip below. Points to anyone who can watch the video and read the note at the same time

Jon Snow – behind the scenes from Holly Race on Vimeo.

1. I really liked the idea of catching Jon talking to someone else (in this case the owner of the cafe we were in – he was upgraded to regular on our visit) but unfortunately my voice gets into it half way through – and I really hate having my voice in these things – it makes the viewer very aware that it’s not them being directly addressed, as I like to give the feeling, but some anonymous person behind the camera.

2. Jon had some really interesting things to say about public art and where ‘One and Other’ fits in to today’s art world. Unfortunately it’s entirely my fault that I didn’t feel able to use the material. I was using a 50mm lense at the time, which makes it difficult to focus properly on anything but a very small range, and it was too close to fit in Jon’s entire head. The result was that when he moved you either couldn’t see his mouth or he wasn’t in focus. Then I made matters worse by moving the camera, which just puts a completely unusable bit in the middle. I justified leaving it out because I’m interviewing Ekow Eshun next week, who I’m thinking will have a fair amount to say on the matter of art.

3. I did actually use part of this bit of the interview, and there was no real reason to keep this part out (because I found it really interesting) except that it wasn’t really relevant to the project and I had a slight feeling of unease at publishing Jon’s personal disappointment in his grandfather to hundreds of strangers (at least on here I know it’s only going to get seen by about 50 people!).

4. Here Jon is actually talking about an interview he did with Antony Gormley (who is the artist who came up with ‘One and Other’). We were just having a bit of an informal chat about it while we had our coffees, when I realised that he was saying some really interesting and potentially relevant stuff. But, damnit, I turned on the camera too late and so had no context to put it in when I came to edit it all together.

5. Okay well I did include this in my ‘official’ piece: just couldn’t resist showing off that sock/tie combination a second time!

Any thoughts/comments/constructive criticism much appreciated! Oh, and you can view the bits that did make it to the final cut here.

So the camera I use is a nikon D90. When I turn up to productions with it people always look surprised when I tell them I’m the film person. Actually it’s a brilliant video camera, at about a quarter of the price the big, professional numbers sell at. Here’s some films made entirely with the D90 (not by me – I aspire!) to prove it:

White Tea Spa TV Spot – SD Version from mrmoe on Vimeo.

Then here’s a piece shown on the Guardian website shot almost entirely on the D90.

Not bad, huh?

I’m an absolute sucker for Top 10s, so it seemed the right and natural thing to do to write some myself. First up: my all time favourite movie deaths, inspired by crying yet again over Boromir’s death in Fellowship of the Ring last night. Before you go any further though, I’ll warn you: I’m a shameless blockbuster watcher…

1. The Shark – Jaws: “Smile you son of a – BOOM!”. Love it.
2. Edward Bloom – Big Fish: Ends are neatly tied up as the perpetually thirsty Edward Bloom is lowered into the water by his son and turns into a very big fish. What’s even better is the fact that his death is being described by his estranged son Will, who until now has shunned anything other than cold hard fact. Beautifully crafted, beautifully shot, very uplifting.
   

   American Beauty

3. Lester Burnham – American Beauty: “Remember those posters that said, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life”? Well, that’s true of every day but one – the day you die.” For a film that talks about death from the first lines, it’s got an awful lot of life in it, and even though you don’t really see Kevin Spacey kick the bucket, his ensuing speech and the shots of Carolyn (his wife) hugging his clothes, make this one of my most memorable.
4. Ofelia – Pan’s Labyrinth: It was a close one between this and Laura’s suicide in The Orphanage, but I decided to be loyal to the first Guillermo del Toro movie I saw.
5. Count Laszlo de Almasy – The English Patient: More for Juliette Binoche’s incredibly moving reaction to her patient’s silent request to pump him full of morphene, but Ralph Fiennes doesn’t give a bad performance, as performances go.
6. Casey Becker – Scream: Drew Barrymore getting stabbed then hung from a tree with her guts spilling out? In the first 20 minutes of the film? Well, it was original at the time (well, vaguely original; I guess Psycho got there first).
   

   Little Women

7. Beth – Little Women: Need I say more? I defy anyone not to cry when watching this.
8. Robert Muldoon – Jurassic Park: “Clever girl”.
9. The Ring – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: I’m so glad Peter Jackson and WETA didn’t screw this up. Originally they were going to have Gollum screaming in pain and the ring just melting away, but luckily they went for a less realistic version where Gollum’s focus is on his precious and the ringtakes its sweet time melting – the suspense and the storytelling are just incredible. And anyone who says that the ring isn’t a character hasn’t seen the movies.
10. Obi Wan Kenobi – Star Wars: A New Hope: Let’s just forget Ewan McGregor ever played this role (don’t get me wrong, I have a healthy respect for the Scotsman, but no-one was acting at their best in the new films) and remind ourselves of the quiet dignity of Alec Guinness in the classic mentor role. I challenge anyone to name a better-known movie death than this.

That’s it! I’ve missed out tonnes I know, but these are my favourites, and it was a tough choice. You can lambast my decisions below.