DVC22 - Loop - Simon Wood

[Clint Harmon]

Simon,

After watching this, Mondo Safari, and your other work I have concluded that; either you live the most interesting place in the world, or you have the ability to make anything look interesting. I am thinking it is more the latter. I hope the next project is something like drywall or trashcan just so I can see how you would make it the most interesting subject ever.

[Lorinda Norton]

Originally Posted by Clint Harmon

Simon,

After watching this, Mondo Safari, and your other work I have concluded that; either you live the most interesting place in the world, or you have the ability to make anything look interesting. I am thinking it is more the latter. I hope the next project is something like drywall or trashcan just so I can see how you would make it the most interesting subject ever.

This goes in my book as one of the best summaries in DVC history! So true, Clint! :)

[Andrew Bove]

Originally Posted by Simon Wood

I have some friends going to NY next month in case you want me to send something with them (they can post it to you when they arrive).

Let me know, that sounds pretty cool.

[Simon Wood]

No worries - just let me know what kind of items you want?

Their website is: Paper Craft Africa - Hand made paper from Uganda

[Joseph Tran]

Just looked at the link, and wow! I'm sure it's a conversation for another thread, but I'd love to know how you found yourself in Uganda at some point.

[Simon Wood]

Originally Posted by Clint Harmon

Simon,

After watching this, Mondo Safari, and your other work I have concluded that; either you live the most interesting place in the world, or you have the ability to make anything look interesting. I am thinking it is more the latter. I hope the next project is something like drywall or trashcan just so I can see how you would make it the most interesting subject ever.

Thanks Clint!

I don't know; I'm often fairly surprised that people actually watch the stuff I make at all. I think Uganda has many interesting stories to tell, and a lot to them are uniquely different to other countries. I bump into a lot of filmmakers out here, especially people making documentaries. Most often they focus on the problems in the country (the poverty, the wars, the child soldiers, human rights etc) - and while I agree that these stories need to be told I prefer to focus on the little mundane aspects of day to day life that I find interesting. Things like public water taps are of great interest to me, as are ramshackle wooden shops that you find on the side of the road. I like to include these types of scenes in videos as they are so unusual.

Interestingly people from Uganda are generally not too impressed with the stories I make (they often ask me why I like to film outside wooden shacks when I could go and film at a modern glitzy shopping mall!). But I often see these same odd stories when I go abroad; my wife is from Finland and I see crazy stories in that country all the time. So far I have been unable to make any videos due to time constraints; but I am determined to make a short story about ice-hole fishing next time I go there. I guess I'll know then if I'm only good for Ugandan stories!

By the way, my first short documentary in recent times was a story about an Irish musician (I used to work in TV before but changed careers for some time and all of my original work from University and from my first jobs from that previous time have been lost). It was a rough and ready little film (there might be some coarse language in it):

The Session on Vimeo

Here is a trailer from a feature length documentary that I had been filming a while back, also in Ireland. I had been following a guy around for a while and filming him - he has one of the biggest egos I have ever encountered (but in a good and funny way - he is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet). At the time there was a chance that he was about to become something of a celebrity due to other things happening in his career. We used to go to bars and other places with a loose idea in mind; for instance he wanted to chat up some random girls in a bar and get them to come home with him. I agreed to this so long as he would be willing to make a fool of himself by secretly reenacting weird scenes from the internet (he does a great Hasselhoff drunk burger scene in front of the increasingly confused girls back in his apartment). It was all innocent stuff though; and everyone had a laugh. It was kind of like Borat except he was actually just being himself! This was a weird documentary, not the kind of thing I normally do, but it was very funny. Unfortunately it was never finished, though a lot of the footage is going to be used in another project of his. Have a look at it here (not suitable for work due to coarse language and general drunkenness):

F:ART! on Vimeo

Sorry for the shameless plugs above!

[Dick Mays]

Simon,

Never apologize for shameless plugs! Then then rest of us would have to start apologizing for our self promotion! I loved both of these!

The last one had me wanting to watch more. Some bars attract lost souls, with fascinating stories. I wanted to create a documentary called, "Movie Night at the <insert name of bar>" There is a bar called the Yacht Club in Atlanta, where I wanted to do this. But my girlfriend at the time thought it was a bad idea at the time so I did not pursue it even though the bar owner was interested.

The idea is to create an event, sort of like trivia, to bring people in on a slow night. You set up lights in the corner of the bar, and interview patrons, for a couple of hours. After the interviews you show a 10 minute short film of the most interesting bits and pieces from the previous week. After one year of doing this, you edit together the best footage from these 50 ten minute pieces and have an interesting documentary.

Maybe. If we get Dylan Cooper to visit us, we know we'll have at least one good segment.

I still think it is a good idea, and if there is anyone out there with the gas hit a bar every week for a year, feel free to go for it.

[Adam Snow]

F:ART! was defiantly intriguing. I agree with Dick that it had me wanting to watch more.