The filming at Croome last Sunday was by all accounts a success and helped secure further funding from the project sponsors this week. I'm not sure what that says more about, my skills as a cameraman or the power of today's modern Smartphone's. I'm guessing it's the latter and given the rate at which the technology is progressing it's surely only a matter of time before were all making feature films on our phones. In any case I don't think I'll be giving up the day job and moving to Hollywood just yet.
Talking of the day job next week marks the end of an era as the team of truly exceptional people I've had the privilege of working with for the last ten years is broken up and moved to new offices. I'm being shunted off to small back office with a new team (they don't let me out much anymore) while my former colleagues are relocating to another office to become agile workers. Which sadly doesn't mean free yoga lessons at the employers expense, but that 'work is an activity not a place.'
On the writing front I'm nearing the completion of the third and final revision of Exiles, which will be moving out of 'development hell' and being locked down ready for editing and proofing within the next couple of weeks, plus finally starting on a new short story to replace the current one on the blog. The exact timing depends on the weather and how much hill walking it tempts me to do over the next couple of weeks (But with places as good as Wild Ennerdale, pictured, it's hard to resist), which brings me the challenges I mentioned in last week's blog.
Challenge one involves the UK's National Three Peaks challenge (Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in 24 hours) to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The seven of us doing this are funding everything out of our own pockets (minibus ,driver, guides, etc.) so every penny raised goes to charity. More details coming soon.
Challenge two kili-mock-jaro involves a team of thirty people attempting to climb a height equivalent to Kilimanjaro (5,149m) in six hours on a local climbing wall to raise money or Children in Need this November. We'll be split into three teams competing against each other and every team member will need climb the wall at least 16 times (around 200m each). I've never been on a climbing wall so will need to book in a few training sessions first.
Update: Seems I was way behind the curve with my comments on films and Smartphones. The world s first film shot on a Smartphone was Olive way back in 2011 (A Nokia N8 to be precise attached to a 35mm lens). One to add to the watch list perhaps? Although sadly it doesn't appear to be available on DVD/Blue-ray.