The Wales Green List celebrates individuals making Wales a better and more sustainable place to live. It’s the first list of its kind in Wales, bringing together the different elements of sustainable development – environmental, economic and social – in one award.

We had very little time to accomplish this huge task ahead. A little over four weeks was our filming schedule! and we also had to navigate our way around other peoples plans. A logistical nightmare was unfolding. To top it all off the plan Widelode had for the film wasn’t as straight forward as collecting the piece to camera and covering it with B roll(footage that adds meaning to a sequence), we wanted to create a Audio Visual sound scape running through the film using only organic sounds recorded on my journey as well as having the bridging sections between people talking to be pure AV. Now that takes a little time.

When Widelode started as a video production company in Cardiff about 7 years ago we started looking into AV remixing and were inspired by the likes of Cold Cut and Hexstatic. Over the years we created quite a few videos and performances along this vain our first ever being Convoy vs the Bandit http://www.widelode.com/convoy-vs-the-bandit. We learnt a lot from the early Av videos and developed our technique and started creating more complex pieces like Worldy Music http://www.widelode.com/worldy-music,  and Cardiff Characters http://www.widelode.com/cardiffcharacters, we had always wanted to look at a much larger project that was driven by the AV but hadn’t found the right one till now. There just seemed a natural synergy between a project that was championing Sustainability in Wales and creating a musical score from the organic sounds I picked up on the film.

The journey through Wales was fantastic and the true variety of people I met was inspiring, from the big players in the Sustainable world like CAT (Centre for Alternative Technology) to the lovely women of llanddewi brefi Women’s Institute who are making the changes that we all need with our everyday life’s. I don’t feel that the journey has turned me into a Eco Warrior but has shown me that there are many forms of sustainable living, well being and education that are key to a successful sustainable Wales.

For further information on Sustain Wales and the Wales Green List http://www.sustainwales.com/home/en/campaigns_greenlist.aspx

On arrival we consulted our map and headed for the Military range, driving a few miles – looking for our rendezvous with our MoD Liaison(!!). We headed further into the range and on reaching the brow of a hill we were confronted with an amazing sight. Cilieni Village.

The Village feels very much out of place, like something you would have seen on the news during the Bosnian War. It is stark and empty. It’s essentially a giant theatre, a theatre of conflict, resolution and battle tactics. I find it incredibly exciting that this military theatre will be opening itself up to the National Theatre of Wales to perform the oldest surviving play in the history of theatre, The Persians.

This location was so satisfying to shoot. The half house (exactly what it sounds like) was something to behold, discarded smoke canisters and ammo shells lay on the floor of its four story stage. When we moved into the village I was like a kid in a sweet shop with beautiful compositions at every turn. I was only give 2 hours to shoot on location and easily got what I needed although I could have happily spent the whole day there.

Once again Marc came up trumps with the tune I needed for the Piece with a tune of his from the vaults. Called Spooky – it helps to create an intimate, secretive beginning before the tuba reveals the location.

For more information on this performance please goto http://nationaltheatrewales.org/whatson/performance/ntw06

We shoot with a Sony EX1, which captures to SXS cards at 35mbps. The camera captures to the cards as a mpeg2 compression. It is possible to bypass the internal Sony compression and capture 10bit full raster HD footage at rates from 50mbps up to 160mbps. This is done by capturing direct from the sensor through the HD SDI (Serial Digital Interface) connector. There are several devices available today that allow you to capture direct from the sensor on to compact flash cards or hard drives. Compared to the cost you would incur when purchasing a new HD camera that captured at 50mbps they are a very affordable solution.

AJA have just brought out the Ki Pro http://www.aja.com/products/ki-pro which is a tripod mountable tapeless video recording device that records in Pro Res 422. Pro Res 422 is a codec and does compress your video somewhat but the quality is so high that unless you are doing very high end graphics and composition you will not see any difference.

Convergence design also have a couple of devices available such as the  Nano Flash http://www.convergent-design.com/CD_Products_nanoFlash.htm and the Flash XDR http://www.convergent-design.com/CD_Products_FlashXDR.htm, both of them allow you to record 10bit Full raster HD.

I  set off to with Jamie Pannell to shoot in Port Talbot on an evening that had very intermittent weather. The rain was heavy and sideways when ever I got the camera out and stopped as soon as I put it away, very frustrating.I think Port Talbot was testing my dedication to this short film.

We first Hiked out across Margam moors to get to the beach and managed to get very close to the works around that area. The lorry drivers who passed us must have wondered what on earth we were up to filming in this weather, it was truly horrible on the coast, but the shots I got made it all worth while. One of my favorite shots was of the flaming towers and the chip shop on the corner of the street in Margam. The shot is so layered, the light Box on the chip shop so bold and colourful against the green tube lighting of the interior of the chip shop and the fading darkness of the street and the flames licking the night sky. The chip shop serve good chips as well.

I went back a second time. I had just been filming in Pontardawe Arts Centre for NTW and on my way back I could see that the Steel works were very active. I had planned on filming on my way back and wanted to get some tracking shots form the inside of the car. Luckily the car we have has fully removable rear seat and I had removed them before leaving for Pontardawe. With the Camera strapped safely in place I started the Camera rolling. After several trips up and down the M4 around Port Talbot I decided to get some static shots overlooking the town. So a trawled the streets of port Talbot looking for a high enough vantage point over looking the M4 and the Steel Works. I finally found one at the end of a street and stuck the Camera out of the sunroof as shown below. The steel works were very active, Perfect for my needs.

I packed everything away happy that I had got all of the shots I needed and drove off, I got to the bottom of the hill and was confronted with a great picture of a towering chimney and a chapel. It’s one of those situations when your tired and ready to go home but you just know you will regret not getting the shot. So I rigged the camera back up and happily hit record.

The edit went very smoothly and quickly, all was helped along by the music Marc had created for the piece. It gave the exact feel I wanted. I can recommend listening to the film on speakers with a good base bin as the sub base in the tune is brilliant.

The launch day for NTW was approaching and the cut was complete, I was then given a recorded telephone narration by Creative Director and Actor Michael Sheen with the option of placing it with the film. On listening to the recording I new immediately that they narration would fit perfectly. I did have to trim it down a little but the end result fitted so well I couldn’t imagine the film without it now.

For more information about the Passion play please go to http://nationaltheatrewales.org/whatson/performance/ntw13

Actress Laura Jeffs played the part of the Angel beautifully and Neil Davies did a great job of styling the Angel and operating the wings.

We shot this on the Sony Ex1 with the Letus extreme a full set of Nikon primes and a 70-200mm Nikon zoom at 720p 50fps. We created the final product with Final Cut Pro HD 6.0.6, Colour  and Ableton Live 8.

All of this equipment is available to hire from widelode.