27 November 2013

Now this is a day I have looked forward to for some time….  I guess I have been working on the IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN script for two or three years…tweaking, amending, cutting, revising….  Sometimes weeks go by with nothing and other times it’s highly engaged and productive.  Gone are the days that one could focus on one project at a time – and the EXHIBITION ON SCREEN project has been extremely time-consuming.  But I have always had Chopin in my head and certainly in recent weeks, as the date of final narrative readings approached, my mind has been very focused on this.   It’s one thing to have a general sense of things in a script – a note-form paragraph, something roughly done, a marker.  But when you know that within days Juliet Stevenson is going to be reading the final script and David Dawson reading the letters of Chopin, there is no longer any room for inaccuracy or flaccid writing. Everything has to be precise, accurate, flowing and accessible.

On the early train to London, I make last minute changes and alterations…As I walk from Victoria Station past Buckingham Palace to the voice-over studio in Soho, I am still going over it all in my head…Every word, one has to think how will Juliet and David deliver it.  The studio is a smallish basement on Berwick Street but they’re good. Except they don’t have a printer for three 83-page scripts…Possible delay is averted though by a professional printers next door.  Juliet is first up.  What can I say about Juliet that you don’t already know?  Simply one of this country’s finest actors – as well as being smart, sensitive, gorgeous, friendly and highly professional.  Choosing her to be the narrator of Mozart was a brilliant suggestion (by a colleague of mine in 2005) and being able to use her subsequently for Beethoven, Haydn and now Chopin is simply fantastic.  She makes sentences come to life.  Any of you that listen to her audio books will know she is a born story-teller.  It only took us two hours to read the whole script…and she did it so well.   Then in came David Dawson – a brilliant actor that I first saw playing Romeo in Stratford. I thought long & hard about the right voice for Chopin and decided that David was absolutely right – not only for the skill with which he can deliver lines but the ability to carry that mix of frail body but fiercely competent and endlessly sharp intellect.

By the end of the session, I felt as close to the ‘real’ Chopin as I think I’ll ever get.  Now it’s all electronic signals on their way, via email, to my editor and into the film.  In 20 years time, there they’ll still be…..it’s done, it’s locked, any faults are mine and mine alone.   There still remain two months of finishing the film but the end is in sight….

Sunday 17th November 2013

Middle of November already? Really? Gee. As always, my excuse for not having blogged in a short while is my crazy schedule. It really has been crammed – and no sense of it letting up. IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN is coming to a conclusion – and looking good. We did a guide read through of narrative and Chopin’s letter’s with Juliet Stevenson and David Dawson. This is always a very exciting moment in the production process when finally I can strip my voice out and lay in a top professional’s. All of a sudden both elements come to life….The final read is on the 27th November so all hands are on deck to ensure that Mr Chopin’s life has been accurately summarised into 1 hour and 50 minutes….with no factual errors! Luckily I have four superb historical advisors who will spot any mistake…. It’s been a harder journey than I had expected – finances of course but also in terms of creativity: I feel I’m having to leave so much out – whole periods seem to have to be contained in a short example of music, a letter or two, an interview or two and a bit of narrative. But imagine if I had to make a film about your life and try to keep it in a film of under 100 or 110 minutes. So much would invariably be left out…. That’s the trick. What to keep in and how to present it in a film that folk will enjoy. I don’t want to tempt fate but I think we’ve done a good job with Fryderyk: and the performances of Leif Ove Andsnes, Lars Vogt, Ronald Brautigam, Daniel Barenboim and others are wonderful. Should be releasing to cinemas in Australia and New Zealand in May – watch this space.

Talking of Leif Ove Andsnes, tomorrow I am off to Brussels to film the next stage of my film about the 5 Beethoven piano concertos – all of which will be played in the film by this master of the piano. We’re set up to do a 5-camera shoot (on stage) including a full dress rehearsal (so I’ll have ten camera angles in the end). I’m nervous but also confident it’s going to be great. Leif Ove and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra are a formidable combination. To remind you, this is for a May 2015 release….

Meanwhile, our brand EXHIBITION ON SCREEN also keeps us busy. The film from the Vermeer exhibition at the National Gallery was very well received with screenings ongoing. Art…and art lovers, sign up to the ExhibitionOnScreen newsletter, Twitter or Facebook site to keep in touch.

This Event Cinema is such a great new genre though – the RSC Richard II was in cinemas last week and by all accounts sold out. I saw it live at Stratford two weeks ago and it is a great show. David Tennant is super. I’d have loved to see the cinema relay but was busy on Wednesday at a Brighton Film Festival event – where Benedict Cumberbatch very kindly gave me an autograph for my daughter (an aspiring actress) and hoped ‘we work together one day’. Benedict, you’ve a fan for life now (me!). Another actor I think is wonderful is Henry Goodman – I went to see his Arturo Ui show at the Duchess Theatre in London last weekend. He is a ‘tour de force’ in it. I have mixed feeling sometimes about the heightened realism or exaggeration of Brecht but I thoroughly enjoyed this show – and especially Henry. If you love acting, go see this – quick.

To end, one sad note: Antony Caro died on the 23rd October. I really liked Antony and tried hard to make a film about him – even financing some filming of an installation he was doing in France – but simply couldn’t get a broadcaster on board. And now he’s gone. A great artist. One small postscript, just for fun: if you’re looking for a musical recommendation today, how about Mozart’s K207 – violin no1 in B flat major. And, if you fancy looking at one painting today, try the Double Portrait of Constantin Huygens and Suzanna van Baerle by Jacob van Campen. At the Mauritshuis, the Hague, Netherlands. You’ll think Suzanna is sitting right next to you……

31 October 2013

Hi all, just a quick post to let you all know that I am in USA working with galleries this week & will write a longer post about my trip next week. In the meantime here's something UK folk might well be interested in...
   

Dillington House

The Big Art Weekend

Dinner Friday 29 November – Lunch Sunday 1 December 2013

Art doesn’t come much bigger than Manet, Munch and Vermeer. Well, you could make up your own list but these particular artists will feature prominently during the weekend. In addition there will be presentations and discussions about the purpose of the visual arts both in the past and today. The timing couldn’t more perfect following hot on the (high) heels of Grayson Perry’s Reith Lectures on Radio Four. The documentary filmmaker, Phil Grabsky, will describe his involvement with some of our major galleries in broadcasting live, around the world, exhibitions of real significance and we will see some of his films. Early evening on the Saturday Phil Grabsky and Dillington’s Director, Wayne Bennett will be joined by a panel of speakers, including writer and art historian, James Russell, Chief Curator of Dulwich Picture Gallery, Xavier Bray, and artists David Chandler and Jenny Graham. They will kick off the discussion on what is art for today after which everybody will be invited to join in.

Speakers: Wayne Bennett, Phil Grabsky, Xavier Bray et al.

Although the weekend finishes at lunchtime on Sunday there is a further opportunity to hear James Russell who will be presenting an afternoon public lecture by writer and art historian, James Russell, who is on an epic mission to bring to prominence the life and work of one of England’s most evocative artists, Eric Ravilious.

Timetable

Friday

Arrival, tea & registration from 5.00pm
6.45pm Welcome reception and introductions, followed by dinner
7.00pm Dinner (wine included) followed by

Session 1 A Beginner’s Guide to the History of Art with Wayne Bennett

Saturday

Breakfast 8.00am-9.00am

Session 2 9.30am – Filming the World’s Greatest Exhibitions – Phil Grabsky

10.30am Coffee

Session 3 11.00am – Édouard Manet – Talk, Film and Discussion – Phil Grabsky

1.00pm Lunch

Session 4 2.00pm - Edvard Munch – Talk, Film and Discussion – Phil Grabsky

4.00pm Tea

Session 5 4.30 to 6.00pm - What is Art For Today?

Panel and Public Discussion

Phil Grabsky, James Russell, Xavier Bray, Wayne Bennett,

David Chandler& amp; Jenny Graham

7.00pm Dinner (wine included) followed by

Session 6 Marlow Meets the Pythons – two short films – Phil Grabsky

Sunday
Breakfast 8.00am-9.00am

Session 7 9.15am – Vermeer from the National Gallery– Phil Grabsky

11.00am Coffee

Session 8 11.30am– Putting on a Show - talk by Xavier Bray, Chief Curator of Dulwich Picture Gallery

1.00pm Lunch and depart

Click here for more info and tickets.

Residents wishing to stay on for the Public Lecture by James Russell may purchase tickets from the Bookings Office on 01460 258613

 

A Guardian article you readers might be interested in...

Grayson Perry shows us how the art world works - as a formidable cartel

Grayson Perry's opening Reith lecture - the first ever by a visual artist - hinted at the wholly undemocratic but highly dynamic nature of the art world, and it was fascinating

 

Click here to go to the article

The Esterhazy Palace, Eisenstadt, Austria. 16th September 2013

In the endless to-ing and fro-ing of our busy lives, it’s easy sometimes to miss the special moments. If I have to rush out of my house one more time with my laces undone because ‘I don’t have time’ to do them up, I think I might just curl up in a ball in a quiet corner somewhere and hide. Things now are SO busy that I work in 15 minute blocks. It’s presumably how a politician feels…endlessly trying to clear their in-tray and ministerial boxes. Therefore (get to the point Grabsky!) I made sure that I noticed and appreciated the fact that right now, as I write, my IN SEARCH OF HAYDN is playing in so-called Haydn Hall in the very palace in Eisenstadt, Austria where Haydn himself lived, composed and performed for so many years (on and off for 40). Indeed, we’ve made history tonight: this is the first film ever shown in this famous and revered hall. The Director Dr Walter Reicher of the Haydn Festival should be rightly proud of pulling this all together. It looks and sounds fabulous – and a real honour. Indeed, it was a thrill to see our film being sold as the key biographical film in the Haydn House and here in the Palace shop too. That’s true also in the houses of Beethoven and Mozart in Vienna and Salzburg – and for me that’s worth more than any great review or chunky award. If I can manage that for the Chopin film, I will be so pleased. On the other hand…I am also sad that the hall tonight is not busy. In fact, it’s a poor turn-out as the photo shows. Maybe 100 people. I’d really expected a sell-out. Monday nights in the drizzle are not ideal for films perhaps, especially as the festival lasts three weeks and the weekends are very busy but still…Now I’m beating myself up thinking why didn’t we send more flyers, hustle more radio, do more social media, etc, etc. I had a screening last night in Lewes (near Brighton) of Manet and again it was a small showing. I admit there was a big storm outside but still! I’ve had full and I’ve had not-so-full and I know which I prefer….I also screened The Boy Mir last week…so a lot of cinema showings going on and more coming up. All this while finishing VERMEER (October 10^th release) and editing IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN…and signing up lots of major galleries for next year’s EXHIBITION ON SCREEN. There really are not enough hours in the day.

 

25 August 2013

Hello - now, I don't want to make you all jealous but I'll take that risk: what’s your favourite phrase? One of mine is without doubt this one (which I had a few days ago at Heathrow Airport): ‘Due to overselling of seats on your flight, you have been upgraded to business class’. Yes, how sweet is that! My other two favourites are: ‘…and here at Old Trafford it's 6-1 to City’ and ‘we’ve put on more encore shows as they’ve been selling out’. What are yours? New York went well: I particularly enjoyed a visit to the Avery Fisher Hall to hear the wonderful Louis Langree with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and Isabelle Faust playing violin. It’s funny how these things work out – I have (almost by chance) been listening and re-listening to Mozart’s 5 violin concerti and, in New York for a screening, I was offered a ticket to this concert and lo and behold it’s the Violin Concerto no 5. It’s not my favourite of the five but it’s lovely of course. The programme notes make a fair point that ‘Mozart’s fifth and last violin concerto, composed just eight months after the first, caps what must be the most remarkable process of artistic growth ever recorded in a set of contemporaneously composed works.’ After the interval, Louis Langree and the orchestra played a fine rendition of Beethoven’s 5^th. The only thing I found strange is that he – like so many other conductors – walked straight out and crashed straight into those famous chords without a pause of a beat – or even letting the audience prepare themselves and stop coughing. It’s almost as if conductors want to get those chords out of the way as fast as possible. Maybe it’s me but I’d hold my hands aloft until there was total silence in the hall. The screening had been earlier in the day – IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN – and it was completely sold out (part of the Mostly Mozart programme). The film – screened off digibeta – looked absolutely gorgeous and sounded super. To any film-makers out there, what ever you do, don’t finish and relese your film until you’re confident you can sit and watch it five years later and still love it (or feel you couldn’t have done any better). The audience were very enthusiastic and the Q&A and DVD signing afterwards went on for a good hour. Hopefully next year they’ll show Haydn which deserves much more distribution than it’s had. It was nice at the screening to have people coming up to say they’d seen and enjoyed the Manet and Munch film – and were looking forward to Vermeer on October 10th. Not so nice were the reports of half-empty cinemas…I really need to double our efforts to get folk to fill those empty seats. I mean, who could not be thrilled to see Vermeer’s paintings in HD on the big screen? When you look around and see the multi-million dollar Hollywood films filled with gunshot and gore....Sure does make you wonder…. Then travelled to Toronto for a Q&A of Manet hosted at the excellent Cineplex cinema chain. Very enjoyable and the film, screened off blu-ray this time, looked stunning. I've been working on Vermeer and know that it going to look really great too. He really has to be one of the greats. I've been reading a fantastic book I'd like to recommend - KANDAK by Patrick Hennessey. It's among the best books I've read about Afghanistan - and there is a rapidly expanding genre of Afghan-lit to choose from. Every so often, when I can tear myself away from the emails and paintings, I day-dream about going back to Mir's village and sharing one of those delicious Kebabs with him ....

04 July 2013

6am my time, grey outside. Talking to Australian radio – 3pm their time & sunny. No wonder I get confused. Life would be so much easier if you didn’t have to sleep. I have to ring New Zealand now, then LA….I am rapidly losing touch with what time or day it is in little ol’ Brighton. I only got back last night from a thoroughly exhausting but highly productive four days filming in Warsaw (for In Search of Chopin).

So it feels time to share some thoughts…. Our biggest project remains of course EXHIBITION. Our second film in the brand went out last week. Munch from Oslo has been very well received by audiences although some of our cinema partners have yet to screen so we don’t have a full picture. It takes years to build a loyal audience, as NT Live now have, but we’re clearly moving in the right direction. The problem is always going to be press & publicity – trying to connect with folk who have hundreds of other ‘products’ all chasing for their attention. We only have 162 Likes on our facebook page – we need to get into the thousands. The galleries in Oslo have expressed their delight with the film which is nice – and has led to new (and major) galleries coming to us. That’s great – and quite right too! It’s our idea. It’s only three years since everyone was looking at me in amazement at the very idea of putting an exhibition in a cinema – not any more. The paintings by Munch looked absolutely fabulous on the big screen and difficult and expensive though it was I am thrilled we chose that exhibition to cover. Now we’re busy on Vermeer – and really that should be a blockbuster. What a painter! And there is this myth that there’s little to say about him or his work as we don’t have many records. Well, a bit of detective work and actually one can say an enormous amount. I start editing the biographical films in a couple of weeks and can’t wait. Having been lucky enough to film the 4 Vermeers at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC and then the 5 Vermeers at the Met in New York a couple of weeks ago, I know just how remarkable his art is. So that’s very exciting. Plus we’re advanced in the planning to film 4 or 5 more major galleries & exhibitions next year.

As always it’s the funding that slows us down… We’re trying a Kickstarter crowd-funding appeal but that’s not working out. And talks with possible brand sponsors continue without resolution. On the other hand, we have more and more cinemas coming on to the network. And DVD sales of Manet are strong. I saw a guy gave the Tate £10m yesterday…I wish he’d thought of us instead! It was exciting though to be in Warsaw yesterday knowing that Munch would be shown there. Also last week working with Leif Ove Andsnes in Bergen and knowing Munch would be shown there too. Then, as I said, in the USA a few days before that and Munch would be there too. Global really does mean global. I hope my In Search of Chopin gets the same distribution.

The past few days in Warsaw have provided so much material – I did six extensive interviews with Polish experts and that added so much colour and understanding to the story. Plus a lot of hiking around with my camera gear to get location footage – some of which I have never seen in any film on Chopin. By the way, I have to say I very nearly missed the flight out. I had top leave home at 4am on Sunday and then foolishly realised I was low on fuel. I stopped to fill up and for the first time ever I put a Petrol pump in to my Diesel car. It fitted but wouldn’t start: then I noticed my error. It didn’t start because the attendant had, by pure chance, dashed out for two minutes at that very moment and the pumps need the attendant to turn on. What a stroke of fortune. Once I got to Warsaw, it was a heck of a schedule – non-stop dawn to dusk but I have cracked the all-important early years now. Be under no illusuions, he was not made in Paris– he was pretty much fully formed when he left Warsaw as a young man. Our image of Warsaw is so stuck on the images of 1944 & 1945 that we forget what it used to be like…one of those great cities like Dresden, Prague, Berlin, St Peterburg and so on. All being well, I can get to editing the film in the Autumn.

One last thing: I must end by paying tribute to an Australian documentary director that has died.Dennis O’Rourke was an inspiration to me and many others – and is a great loss to the industry. Here’s a extract from an unfinished book (that I hope to publish one day) about my time in Afghanistan where I bizarrely first met Dennis on my first night in Kabul:

 

The guesthouse was called Everest and the two young Afghan owners, who had immediately seen an opportunity to make some money in post-war Kabul, were very welcoming. Some tea, toast and boiled eggs were placed on a table decorated with plastic roses in a cup of water. Nearby, gripped by music videos on the satellite TV, sat Iranian traders, a Pakistani journalist and, most remarkably, another film-maker. His name was Dennis O’Rourke and, to steal a line from the film Casablanca, ‘of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world’, what a coincidence that he was here! For, in some ways, it was his influence that had brought me to Kabul in the first place. The feeling that I needed to change the way I made films had been creeping up on me throughout the 1990s. I loved making films for the BBC, Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel but this was unquestionably the start of a ‘dumbing down’. Meanwhile, stories from outside the UK were frowned upon; reality strands were the new ‘must-watch, water-cooler’ TV. ‘Big Brother’ was a massive success and I remember how joyful its commissioning editors were. In private they told me that the worse the housemates behaved the happier they were. Personally, I was fed up with it. I didn't want to make series about British shopping centres and airports and ignore the other 200-plus countries in the world. As I was beginning to ponder just how to change things, I visited the Sheffield Documentary Festival. There I ignored the many sessions dealing with what commissioning editors were looking for; instead I sat for three days watching feature documentary after feature documentary. This was before Michael Moore came along and changed everything by making Fahrenheit 9/11. That film took more than $100m at the box office and, in doing so, opened up all sorts of doors. At this time, the very word‘documentary’ was dirty to distributors and exhibitors. Few wanted them. And yet here in a dark cinema in Sheffield, I was seeing film after film where the film-makers clearly had felt compelled, no matter what, to make the films they wanted to make. One film in particular made a real impression on me. It was Dennis O’Rourke’s Cunnamulla. What most impressed me was that he had shot it on his own with a small new Sony camera called the PD150. Now, when the history of film-making is written, a whole chapter ought to be dedicated to this piece of technology. This small camera changed everything. Costing only £4000, fully kitted out, these cameras were designed by Sony, apparently for the corporate market. But they made them so well that professional film-makers snapped them up – no longer did we need an expensive crew costing thousands a day – now, if you were a director who knew how to use a camera, you could pack all you needed in one case and hop on a plane. The only hurdle was your own indecision. People have asked if it was hard to get into Afghanistan? No, it was easy. I caught a plane to Islamabad then another to Kabul. I then caught a taxi and checked into a hotel where, bizarrely, I had bumped into O'Rourke. Dennis was there making his own film – eventually called Landmines: A Love Story. We chatted over a beer and it was rather comforting that Dennis wasn’t really sure what his film was to be about – the premise was to look at stories concerning landmines in three different countries. In the end, it was focussed entirely on Afghanistan. Here was a big-time, well-known director also on his own in a difficult city searching for a city. If I had admired him before I admired him even more now. To cap it all – and cementing my unequivocal support for the man ever since – he gave me the last beer in his fridge. That says it all.

The Guardian: Look and learn: live art screenings

'The phenomenon of live art broadcasts is a heartening example of things getting better and people becoming smarter, more cultured, more curious. The Kind of trend that makes you optimistic about our future civilisation'

The Guardian cover the new global phenomenon; seeing great art on screen... read more on pioneering event cinema here

June 13th 2013

Kickstarter campaign to fund Exhibition On Screen 2014

Seventh Art Productions will be launching a KICKSTARTER campaign on June 17^th to raise funds for the 2014 series of Exhibition On Screen (and five major exhibitions we have access to). Arts funding being what it is - especially within TV - we feel we have to ask our loyal & lovely audience (i.e: you!) to help us continue providing access to great art for all.

These productions are currently self-funded at the moment which is both a huge risk and sizeable investment and also is not something we cannot maintain at this level as we approach 2014. We thought we'd have more luck with sponsors ("sorry, our budgets are cut") or official funds (sadly we’re not eligible for Arts Council Funding as it’s not strictly visual art, neither do we fit the British Film Institute funding structures as it’s classed as alternative content).

This is why we have decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign; we hope we can encourage audiences that have seen our films to help us make more.

The rewards on offer too are pretty good, ranging from free merchandise right up to exclusive access to exhibitions and a private Q&A. Any size contribution is greatly appreciated and will really help us to reach our initial goal of £25,000.

Please read more on our Kickstarter page to read more or make a pledge

 

June 7th 2013

Sometimes I write quite long blogs...but today's is short. I was anxious, after a manic week last week on Munch and then the long late flight to DC that a 12 hour day filming at the National Gallery would be exhausting.  I was completely wrong. I was energised from the first shot. I always feel it's my favourite gallery when I'm there (but I often feel that in other galleries too) and to be concentrating on the Vermeers - with world-expert Arthur Wheelock - was absolutely tremendous. I genuinely could have listened to him all day. As I always argue...you can look at an artwork and appreciate it, just as you can listen to Mozart and like it. But the more you understand the biography of the artist and the intention & history of the piece, the better the appreciation. If you do nothing else in DC, go to see the Vermeers.   

2nd June 2013 - shooting for Munch 150

Oslo 2^nd June 2013.   1am. Well, it’s in the can… (not that we use film canisters any more of course!  We should say ‘it’s on the cards!’ as everything we shoot goes on to memory cards and then is downloaded to computers ready for immediate editing).  Two days of intensive filming at the National Museum and the Munch Museum, both in Oslo.  The Munch 150 is an absolutely fantastic exhibition – I think it is rightfully being called a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ show.  230 of his wonderful paintings exhibited in a very smart way across the two locations.  I could name dozens of paintings I’d advise people to take a good long look at but if I had to pick a few I’d include ‘The Sick Child’, ‘The Kiss’, most of his self-portraits and ‘Madonna’.  Funnily enough, ‘The Scream’ wouldn’t be in my top 10- although I must say it’s very revealing to see it as part of The Frieze of Life room.  When you see the whole group of paintings side by side – and ‘The Scream’ among them - you get a fabulous sense of the colour thought (just look at the repeated use of orange), the rhythm of the works, the lines that pass from one painting to the next.  I didn’t really understand what the Frieze of Life room was before I stood inside it but it’s worth seeing the film just for that room alone.  Logistically this has been a tough one as we have had to fly in crew & equipment as well as hiring local grip equipment.  So lots of gear, excess baggage, hire car tomfoolery, parking, checking in and out of hotels, hunting for quick meals, carrying (and more carrying) of gear in and out of the galleries and, above all, the pressure of filming each and every required painting and interview.  AND in the most ridiculously expensive country I’ve ever been to.  £14 for a beer…. so tough but worth it.  We have stood and filmed some of the greatest paintings of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. I have become a real fan of Munch over the course of this project and hope we get big audiences to share my discoveries.  Ben, the director, has a big job now – the minute we get back to Gatwick at 2pm (Sunday) he’s off to the edit suite to piece it all together by Wednesday night. Then (once we’re happy with every last detail) it gets post-produced (including grading, audio mixing, captions and credits).  Then subtitling and preparation for the satellite transmission...which is coming rapidly down the tracks on June 27^th.  So we’ve a very busy few days ahead…plus I’m off to the USA to film some Vermeer paintings for the next film and I’m busy editing In Search of Chopin too….  

Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893. National Museum, Oslo © The Munch Museum/ The Munch - Ellingsen Group, BONO, Oslo/DACS, London 2013

Behind the scenes at Munch 150

28 May 2013 - 6 editors

I realised this morning that I have 6 editors all hard at work on various projects! That's unusual for us...and very exciting.  There's Tom working on the Munch film - which goes to cinemas June 27th (and varying dates). There's Angus working also on Munch and the trailer for the Vermeer film (October 10th and varying dates). There's David working on two super trailers for Exhibition and Concerto. There's my long-term colleague Phil beavering away on In Search of Chopin. There's Clive stitching together some Leif Ove Andsnes piano concerti. Finally there's Dave post-producing EXHIBITION: GREAT ART ON SCREEN - the Munch film & the Munch pre-film (the quiz that precedes the main film).   I could easily spend all day running from edit suite to edit suite.  To me, edits are where films are made. I know it's been said many times but it's true. A great director can't save a poor editor but it sure can work the other way around - and often does.  All the above-names editors are experts in their field and I love to improve my own skills by taking on board their ideas and craft.  For example, I always tell people that without Phil Reynolds editing my In Search of films I don't know what I'd have...His visual imagination and technical expertise combined make a great mix in the effort to keep the films entertaining and revealing.  I'm sure most folk understand the need for great choice of shots and clever cutting of them together - but editing is far, far more than that.  On a theoretical level, one has to understand (consciously or not) the science of semiotics - what images actually mean alone and in concert with others.  But on a more instinctive level, the choice of music, the grade, the audio FX, the space between words, the decision when to be wide or when to be close, etc, etc, etc....  I can bring Phil all the concert footage in the world and all the leaves and clouds (!) but sometimes it feels as if I have brought him a lot of random words and a story structure and then asked him to write a best-selling novel with it.  I absolutely love this process though. With the In Search ofs I know for sure that there is a really strong film there, it just needs to be teased out slowly.  And of course one feels the pressure of knowing that, really, no-one has made a film about these composers in quite this depth and with quite this need to get it right for the premiere screening and those screenings in 10, 20, 30 years time... I have that feeling right now with Chopin. What a wonderful composer - I just have to get it right (or as right as we can) to be fair to him and his legacy.  Films in both cinemas and TV these days are seen as disposal, throw-away, insubstantial...I have exactly the opposite view which frankly makes me a bit of an old dinosaur...but a relatively content one!

Just a few of Phil's recent flights....

It's funny . Folk ask if I was nervous before yesterday's marathon. A bit, it's true. But not as much as being in a cinema waiting for folk to come in. This is an encore performance of Exhibition: Manet and fortunately think it's sold out...but still have butterflies. 

15 April 2013

Two marathons completed in a few days!….The first was Manet. After around 15 months of work, the film was shown in cinemas around the world on Thursday 11^th April.  30 countries, 1000 screens. Fantastic.  The reviews have been supportive and included full pages in the Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Toronto Star, and more.   One or two sniffed that it’s better to go to the exhibition to which I reply: OF COURSE!  We encourage everyone to go to the gallery or any gallery in fact.  But 99.9% of the world’s population couldn’t get to the Royal Academy. It’s a strangely arrogant criticism really, especially from a London-based critic or blogger.  I was at a screening in Brighton and the audience loved the film – and some expressed that they simply could not, for reasons of time, cost and mobility, get to the show.  We don’t yet know the worldwide attendance or reaction but it will take time to build the ‘brand’ and we’re already deep into the next two films – on Munch and Vermeer.  The first of these marathons is over though and we just have to shower ourselves down and crack on with the next.    Actually I took that very literally on Sunday (three days after the Manet screening) when I completed my first ever marathon. I’d trained quite well up until February but March was much less consistent with so much travel and work. Overall, I’d done a lot of 5-10 mile runs but I'd only run 17 miles and 20 miles once each before so this was entering the world of the unknown... It took me Friday and Saturday to prepare my stuff – gels, music, right running gear, etc.  I had to ‘load up on carbs’ which just meant stuffing my face (easily done!) and by 9am on Sunday morning, I was one of 9000+ runners in Brighton’s Preston Park. I wasn’t afraid of the distance but you never know how your body is going to feel.  Anyway, at the gun, it was so packed everything was very slow and crowded but after two or three miles, I got into a nice rhythm. The sun didn’t exactly shine (and the wind certainly blew) but it was lovely running in my lovely city.  I kept to a noticeably slower pace than I run half-marathons and found it OK, indeed fun, for the first 18 miles but then it started to get harder.  With me, it was my calves (which I’d hurt two weeks previously running without a warm-up or proper sleep & nutrition).  From 18 to 22 miles, I could feel they were getting tired. By 22 miles, I was having to grit my teeth and keep my head down. People were cramping up all around me and stopping and I just didn’t want that to happen to me. Luckily I managed to keep running and just beat my target of cracking 4 hours by doing it in 3 hours 58'. It was - as everyone had told me - super fun with all the crowds of Brighton out on the streets, kids handing out jellybabies alongside musical bands and groups of drummers, etc. For me the most genuinely moving thing was the messages of support from friends and acquaintances - as well as the super donations we've had for Mir’s teacher (we're a third of the way towards our target at justgiving/PhilGrabsky).

I genuinely felt I was running for and with friends.  I had to sprint to the finish line to ensure I beat 4 hours and did feel a bit teary as I crossed it.  Physically, I felt pretty good after the race but then jumped in a car to dash to Wembley to see the FA Cup semi-final. I don’t think 90 minutes in a car is recommended as a post-run recovery. We arrived at the stadium 4 minutes before kick-off and despite my son's protestations I thought we should jog to our seat...doh! Running up the many steps, I hurt my knee!  The game though was wonderful and I spent the next 90 minutes jumping up and down and dancing quite a few jigs….  What a special day that was.  And, as you can imagine, today I’m paying for it.  Ouch.  But two ‘marathons’ in a week – thank you to everyone who has helped. If I can do it, you can! 

 

29 MARCH 2013

Well, that was a blur…San Francisco, Reno, Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo and now en route to France for a few days off.  It’s been busy but all has gone well. The screening just north of San Fran was busy and thus the Box Office will help recoup some of the costs of the trip. Reno was a blast – I thoroughly recommend it. Give the casinos a miss though – I checked the one out in the basement of my hotel and it was truly awful. The noise, madam, the noise.   Really delightful people in Reno and truly interested in the Mozart & Beethoven films we screened.  I even managed a few holes of golf and I have to say the can of Boddingtons on their signature 15^th hole (where you have to drive 230 yards down onto an island in a lake) was a moment of sheer bliss.  Sydney and Melbourne were great: I really do love Australia. The galleries I visited were welcoming and keen to progress with EXHIBITION. No offence to my friends in America but The sun shone and people all looked so fit… what a difference. Then an overnight flight to the crazy world of Tokyo, a long bus ride, another airport (and its hotel), then 90’ in a taxi to cover twenty miles. It’s an absolute warren of cement highways – quite extraordinary. Good, productive meetings all day and rounded off with a dinner of delicious sushi. Interviews with UK, Canadian and American press – don’t ask what time zone I’m in – I have no idea….

20 March 2013

Ah yes, the glamour of travelling.

Laundry in hotel basements

Starbucks oatmeal

Running between terminals to catch impossible connecting flights

Nothing – I mean nothing – on TV

Hotel windows that can’t be opened

Everyone asking for tips

Having to buy snacks on planes. Credit card only

People who respond by saying ‘Uh-huh’

Baths too small

Beds too big

Breakfast coffee that isn’t

Hidden sales taxes

Slow lifts

Endless emails

Roaming charges. How much??

 On the other hand….wonderful landscapes, many wonderful people, and Afghans would laugh at the above inconveniences….get real, Mr Grabsky.

So... back to the narrative:  Santa Fe, Tucson and LA.   Despite my little moans above, I’ve had a good time in all three. Santa Fe was special – and I am determined to go back next year and really explore the country around it.  My knowledge of New Mexico largely rests on the TV series Breaking Bad (which is great) so it was nice to see for myself the adobe buildings and mountain peaks.  Watch out though… it’s at 7000 feet. I went for a run in the hills and the sun was shining bright… bright on my closely shaven (you mean bald, dad!) head.  Ouch… The screenings went really well too… one of those where there are few pre-sales and one wonders if it’s going to all be a bit lonely and then people just kept turning up. It was a double feature of Mozart & Beethoven so that meant a midnight finish – and folk loved it.  I love those films and I love it when an audience is so enthusiastic after watching them.  I should have gone out for a tequila afterwards but it was back to the hotel, pretty exhausted.  The next day was spent on scripting and emails but I did get another run done which did seem a lot shorter on the way out than the way back…I blame the altitude again.  Despite that night being up against a Live from the Met we had another excellent turn out. Yes, I like Santa Fe and I had the best fajita of my life…by far.

Sunday was a painful flight – one of those that takes you east to go west. Yes, to go to Tucson I had to travel via Dallas.   Tucson was sweltering (and me in my ski jacket from England..) and they tell me this is still cool to them.  A lovely cinema with a very welcoming staff. But a poor turn-out tonight.  One of those nights where I actually lose money.  Maybe it was because it was St Patrick’s Day, or there were two other big classical events on, or who knows why?  That said, I’ll be back.  And those who did come enjoyed the
film and the Q&A and still bought a fair few DVDs… I was put up in a guesthouse which, in the morning light, was essentially plonked right in the middle of a cacti desert….Quite something.

Another plane saw me arrive in LA.  The more I come here and get to know it, the more I like it – but I choose a hotel at the airport for 3 days as I know (rightly as it turned out) I’d be on the computer the whole time – except for a charity screening of The Boy Mir (which was lovely and raised some money towards a female teacher for Mir’s school – check out justgiving).   My other trip was to the Getty to discuss EXHIBITION with them and film projects for 2014/15/16. For those of you who have never been, you have to go. It is quite extraordinary – John Paul Getty may have been obscenely rich but what a legacy he left behind.  Room after room of the most beautiful artworks.  Whatever else you do in LA, make sure you visit it.

Right, that’s enough from me. I have to go to the gym – only 3 and a bit weeks before my first marathon – in the hotel basement (yuk) and then pack for an early flight tomorrow.  Dinner tonight will be a rather tired cheese and lettuce sandwich (x2) and muesli with yoghurt.  Tomorrow I’m getting a steak!

Phil