"Like a Fork Lift Driving By"

N

notthere

Member
I'm not really sure what to call this, it's not a trailer, but it is meant to be a preview into a larger story.

I shot this last year with a Sony DVCAM, although after YouTube it all starts to look the same. The radio mics kept popping and fizzing after more than 10 from the subject, and I nearly got run over by several forklifts when I shot this so the camerawork looks a bit like soccer mom footage.

Originally I cut this without subtitles, but alot of my American friends had trouble understanding the Dublin accent. Its a challenging piece to subtitle because they speak so fast and there aren't many pauses. Anyway. I'd like to get your feedback on it.

There is a bit of urgency to capture more footage because the subject, the market, will be closed soon. We are planning going back for another week to a more patient view of the routine. After watching this, what kind of additional footage would like to see? We are in the planning stages for the next shoot and welcome your insights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsLbU_OV7cc
 
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I liked how it began with the kind of mundane everyday tasks and duties of the workers and then later revealed the historic and familial significance of the place. You might hold off on revealing the fate of the place until we've had a chance to be pulled into it and the generations who have worked there.

Do you have access to any archival photographs, film or video? It would be great to glimpse back into the past on this market before it's gone.

Also, your main character talks about how this work would span generations, and it would be nice to interview a father or grandfather (or mother or grandmother) of someone who is working there now, and find out what it was like "back in the day", perhaps walking through the market and talking about how it was as they walk through.

You might also talk to people in the area about their relationship to the market and how it has been a part of life in that area, and how it will be different when it's gone.

I think your urgency to get the footage while the place is still there is obviously correct. If you do any sit down interviews that take place outside of the market, you can do those later.

Also, given that the place will be gone soon, you might plan to come back for the demolition or, if you're not in a hurry to finish, come back after the area has been re-developed and let us see what this historic area was sacrificed for.

Just some ideas. I'm intrigued by the subject and wanting to see more - so I think you're off to a good start.

Oh, and nice job with the subtitles. There was enough time to read them, they were easy to see and matched the rhythm of the speakers well.
 
thanks for the thoughtful response. I am flying into Dublin this week and it will be my only chance to get more market footage. The first day I was there, I really felt like an outsider and people had alot of mistrust for the stranger with the camera. In the clip when Darren asks Jamie "if its a box of asparrugus or a bunch" you can hear someone yell in the background, "smile you're on camera for the dole". The government tries to catch people who are both working and claim unemployment checks, and they do this with video evidence. Hence, they were nervous of my camera and generally stayed behind it. My american accent helped alot, and I had already made a short film with Dean and Darren so they trusted me.

I think once I show this piece to people around the markets, they'll see I'm only trying to capture the routine before it turns into yet another glassy modern office building with a Starbucks, a foutain and bad art in the lobby. I'm not sure I want to stress the urban cleansing that is going on in Dublin's inner city, but it is palpable. It would likely come out in the interviews, then its left to me how much I stress it when I am editing.

Next week I'd like to get footage that is wider and more patient of the markets. The choreography of forkifts, semis, vans and even the odd horse drawn cart is hypnotic once you start to see the routine. I need to capture that.

The walk through is a great idea. I bet I could find a bunch of photos to do the Ken Burns thing. The viewer needs to get a sense of the space and the history attached to it. One thing I learned was that within in the large market are smaller family businesses that have their own clients, but they all use each other source a certain type or tomato or orange or whatever for specific clients. I also have some footage of the guys doing their deliveries.

We'll see what comes of next week. I'd like to post some more edited pieces when I get the time. this is a pet project. And the more mundane paid work must come first. grrrr. (attention if any of my clients have somehow managed to identify me, I was not refering to your project as mundane...it was the other client that's lame, you rule)
 
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How about an aerial view of the market? Even a 3d computer rendering that morphs into a real photograph/shot of the market from a bird's eye view...kinda put things in perspective, pun intended, of the market and its size.
 
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It is certainly not aerial, but it is an elevated view of the markets from the "flats" (big apartment blocks where residents live). I think you could get a nice pan shot from up here, or time lapse. Also, I if setup where that van was and shot the flats i could get a cool long shot following Darren as he walks down to the markets. The arches are the indvidual stalls and the yellow building to the left is a coffee shop called "Jerrys". Where the cars are parked is the Fish market which has been bulldozed.
 
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