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I've been away for almost a month, travelling around the UK making films for WoodlandsTV, covering everything from beavers to biodiversity, rewilding, woodcraft, sustainable forestry, huts in woods, edible mushrooms, and more. One highlight of this epic marathon film making trip was making a little series of foraging films with Fi Martynoga, expert forager and editor of the wonderful book 'Scotland's Wild Harvests'. The films will be published by WoodlandsTV, hopefully very soon! Here's the trailer so you can see what's coming...
I've been asked to make a series of environmental education films for Woodlands TV, which is great! These films are designed to educate, engage and inspire people about woodlands, wildlife and all things outdoors. Here are two short films about the surprisingly interesting world of lichen, filmed in a secret location somewhere in the Wild West of Wales... Pine martens are elusive, quick, nocturnal animals that were almost extinct in the southern half of the UK – but they are coming back! I went to meet naturalist Martin Noble with his two captive pine martens (born in captivity) to learn about this characterful creature and its status in the UK. Martin has been recording sightings in the wild for more than ten years, and numbers are gradually increasing...
A film for Woodlands TV.
Update: we just won an award for Best Art House Film at Brighton Rocks Film Festival!
I was invited to design the sound for this short film, in collaboration with director Lois Norman and dancers Iron and Sparks. The full version hasn't been released online yet as it's doing the festival circuit, so you'll have to wait for the full immersive sound experience! My role here was to take the existing sound of skates brutally scuffing ice and turn it into an expression of the emotional tension and release between the dancers, using extracts of cello and other effects I created through experimentation. Lois wanted the silence to be as meaningful as the sound, and I had to tone down my original version so that the dancers took priority over the audio; so that they lead the story, not the music. It was a new experience for me to reign in my creative expression to fit with the director's vision, as I usually work alone – and it made so much sense once I wrapped my head around it. In the silence, we focus intently on minute movements; touch, pause; attract, repel; harmony, chaos, our own emotional memories... I really enjoyed the challenge and appreciated the clarity and depth of her vision. Through her eyes and through discussion, I saw new aspects emerge, and was able to read and therefore contribute more and more into the film through working together. Swivel Trailer from Jemma Cholawo on Vimeo. 3D printing film I made for Bell House, to demonstrate the various ways in which artists and designers are using 3D printing in their work. There are some remarkable creations afoot, many of which are already commonplace in the worlds of engineering, fashion and design. The artists featured here are pushing the limits of what can be done with this largely mysterious medium, and I hope through watching, you'll gain a clearer understanding of how this can be applied to household objects and largescale production into our future. I was particularly concerned that 3D printing is made of PLASTIC! But it turns out that there are many different sorts of plastic, even some made from plants, as well as other materials that can be used for printing. Watch to find out more and let me know your thoughts. Talk about pushing comfort zones... I was on the radio: skip 2cm to get to my awkward ramblings. Gosh, I never thought I'd do that! My interview is about an hour long and there's some of my favourite music in there as well as a bit about my evolution as a person and general outlook. Featured tracks are Rokia Traore: Laidu, Yann Tiersen: Sur le fil, and Balmorhea: Steerage and the Lamp.
An environmental education film for Woodlands TV. Draw What You Hear is an environmental education game that enhances your sensory experience of the place you're in. It encourages you to listen much more carefully than you otherwise might, and pick out individual sounds from the entire range of hearing. This gives you a greater sense of place, space, distance, weather, and the occupants and their activities in that space and where they might be. The second challenge of this game is to draw the shapes of the sounds you are hearing – it's likely you have never tried to do this before! There are no restrictions on your mark making potential, no right or wrong way to represent sound on paper. The act of doing this will sharpen your senses, and connect your eyes and ears to your imagination in ways that you didn't know were possible! Filmed on Woodbury Common in Devon. A taste of the creative work with residents of local care homes which became this exhibition at Bridport Arts Centre in collaboration with Bridport Museum, plus a street performance to draw in the crowds... Content creator and writer Olivia Capadose wanted some photos of herself in action, to show her clients that she's friendly and approachable. It's not always easy to be in front of the camera and Olivia was particularly nervous about the shoot; however, I managed to make her laugh and therefore relax, so it wasn't half as painful as she'd anticipated.
With a new website launch coming up, Barney Dearsly needed some brand new hero images for his business, Weathered by Water. A promotional video for the collaborative workshops run by the Pelican Project, with Four of Swords Theatre and Exeter University. Ripple Effect work creatively with homeless people in Exeter. I was invited to photograph their performance of One Last Hit – see more here!
A crumbling mansion, multi-coloured smoke bombs, many green screens and a bunch of kids dressed up as beings from other galaxies – a recipe for the brilliant film school run by Four of Swords Theatre in Devon this summer. My role was as a camera assistant, and it was like being on a real film set, filming scripted scenes, setting up lights and green screens, helping with costumes and a bit of directing. Really looking forward to seeing the final cut!
At the north end of Kootenay Lake in British Columbia, fields of nourishing organic vegetables and salad greens are lovingly planted, tended and grown, then supplied and delivered to local outlets as far as Nelson. I made a series of promotional videos to show the behind-the-scenes dedication and hard work that goes into producing such luscious crops, and I interviewed some of the satisfied businesses that feed and sell Earth Temple Gardens' produce to happy customers in the Kootenay region. I'm currently uploading these videos and a series of photographs to @earthtemplegardens Instagram page.
I made a series of twelve videos to support the campaign for the inclusion of the Argenta-Johnsons Landing face in the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy. The residents of Argenta and Johnsons Landing live on the north-east side of Kootenay Lake in BC, Canada, surrounded on three sides by the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy. The mountain face above these two communities is not included in the park, which leaves them vulnerable to the impacts of the logging which is due to start this September. There has already been one catastrophic landslide in 2012 that wiped out houses and killed four people; removing the trees from this fragile landscape will directly affect the stability of the slopes and also change the watershed, meaning that the people who reply on water for drinking, washing, hydro-power, growing food, running business and other daily water requirements will likely be affected by the landscape changes above their homes. Aside from the human impact of logging these slopes, the ecological effects will be drastic for wildlife living in these forests. This is a key wildlife corridor to the shores of Kootenay Lake, particularly for mountain ungulates like the woodland caribou who are already on the endangered species list. Is it really worth the short-term cost of timber to change the landscape and put all these lives at risk? If you think not and would like to help, visit www.willetwildernessforever.ca to find out more.
I've been away for a while... and I made lots of videos! Here's one of a community event I was asked to film in Winlaw, BC. |
