06-06-11 / DEFINITIVE VERSION OF LAST YEAR'S BINAURAL DOCUMENTARY
I'm more than a little bit relieved that the definitive master of the scruffy little documentary I shot for Swimming four days before Christmas in 2009 is FINALLY DONE, in its original full-frame format. It has been a long time coming, for reasons too tediously technical to list. This was one of those films that just sort of happened and became something quite special, to some extent because of the ludicrous weather. It's fair to say that in such conditions I wouldn't have dared shoot some of the footage on a camera of higher quality, and the lo-fi DV aesthetic complements the snowed-off-and-stripped-down nature of the band's performance just nicely.

Swimming's description of the binaural process: "These recordings are about experiencing a one-off, live version of the music in a totally unique way… with binaural artist Dallas Simpson being the ‘vessel’ for bringing the music to your ears.

"Recorded using tiny microphones worn in Simpson’s ears to capture the sound exactly as he is hearing it, certain songs lend themselves to different spaces in order to be stripped right back for a rudimentary performance.

"When you listen back on headphones, then it’s you who hears the music in the same way, like you were actually there in the environment. The sound of the instruments, voices and the ambience of the location are all captured in 3D surround sound so you’re sonically transported to that time and place each time you listen to the track".

01-06-11 / 'JAM TODAY' AT RUSHES SOHO SHORTS
Jam Today will be screening at Rushes Soho Shorts in London on Friday 22nd and Wednesday 27th July, in the 'long form' competition, while today I'm having a second attempt at shooting a new Petebox vid which was rained off last week.

27-05-11 / PODCAST
Recorded a podcast about Jam Today for the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto, featured here.

24-05-11 / SWIMMING - 'MINING FOR DIAMONDS' BINAURAL RECORDING
And here's the first of the two performances (actually the second, and so NOT the one featured in the trailer - the first one will be next). The man kneeling in front of the band is Dallas Simpson, a binaural sound recordist who has a teeny-tiny microphone inserted into each ear. The idea is that when you listen through headphones you hear it exactly as he did, though there is such little movement in this one that you can enjoy it straight up, without having to wear cans.

16-05-11 / SWIMMING TRAILER
Here's a trailer for the Northumberland binaural shoot a few weeks ago. I left my Nikon shooting this while filming the main promo, simply relocating the tripod every half-hour or so. The beach performance will be available soon, as a partner piece to an additional, all-acoustic song in the sand dunes.

11-05-11 / 'JAM TODAY' WORLD PREMIERE
Jam Today will have its world premiere in Toronto at the Worldwide Short Film Festival on June 2nd and 4th, followed by its European premiere at Hamburg International Short Film Festival on June 8th and 11th. Big cheers to Graeme Crowley for the poster design.

26-04-11 / A NEW SWIMMING BINAURAL SHOOT
Spent the Easter weekend in Northumberland shooting a binaural recording session for Swimming's next single. A far cry from the deep snow of the Kielder session, this time we had brilliant sunshine to contend with on the beaches of Bamburgh Castle. Such weather is far and away my least favourite conditions for filming and so, from a shooting perspective, it was definitely more challenging than the last one. A battery crisis and the want of a simple reflector didn't help matters, but a great time was had by all.

19-04-11 / ANOTHER PETEBOX SHOOT
A good weekend shooting more promos for The Petebox. Big massive thanks to all who helped out on this one: Graeme Crowley for the camera, Karl Wilby for building me a bespoke shoulder rig, Graham Forde for the viewfinder, Mary Kearns at Spool for the lights, Owen at Broadway for the emergency bulb replacement, Matt Taylor, Tom Walsh and Henry Parkinson for assisting on set, and of course Pete Fletcher for the use of Nottingham's First Love studio. Good fellas, good vibes, lots of coffee, pot noodles, weird haslet sandwiches, and a big yellow moon which Henry noted looked like a big crisp. I liked that.

16-04-11 / SOFT TRAILERS ?!?
A handful of unofficial trailers for Soft have popped up on youtube and from what I can glean they are the result of some kind of media course assignment. I don't know how many are out there but I found one, two, three, four of them. Nuts.

02-04-11 / INCREDIBLE SATELLITE IMAGES OF JAPAN
In case you haven't seen these images already then I urge you to spend some time checking out this link. Drag the slider in the middle of each image to reveal (or hide) the effects of tsunami damage. These pictures really capture the scale of the devastation..

01-04-11 / BUB'S NEW CLOTHES / SHORT FILM COMPETITION / VIRAL NUTSNESS
So Bubtowers is taking its first tentative step towards a more streamlined experience, rocking some new clobber and finally including video content. Not a bad idea for a filmmaker. Films are slowly but surely appearing through their respective pages in the films section, and a preview of the new short Jam Today is on its brand spanking new page.

Anyone interested in making a short film and looking for some moolah should click on the image below. I am honoured to be involved in the selection process and hope to see entries pouring in, so get your creative juices on the hob and send send send...

In a matter of days, the Petebox video (below) has become an instant youtube smash, clocking up 350,000 views at the time of writing. Its rapid viral spread has seen it featured on countless blogs and The Pixies have even posted it on their own website, so that's vindication alright.

27-03-11 / PETEBOX COVERS THE PIXIES
The first of The Petebox loop pedal sessions I filmed last month...

17-03-11 / FOUR MORE FOR 'WHO KILLED DEON'
Who Killed Deon won four silver arrows at last night's BTAA awards in the categories of Public Service Advertising, Cinema Advertising, Best Cinema Commercial over 90 seconds and Direct Response.

14-03-11 / BIG LOVE TO JAPAN
Still having trouble getting my head around what is occuring in Japan. It's some kind of relief that friends and their families I have there are okay. No less thumped by the devastation, and in anticipation of a positive reply from a couple of people who have yet to respond, here's hoping the worst is over. Love to you all.

08-03-11 / 'WHO KILLED DEON' WINS FOUR AWARDS
Who Killed Deon just bagged four silvers at this year's Creative Circle advertising awards in the categories of Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Cinema Commercial and Best Public Service Commercial.

18-02-11 / SWIMMING VIDEO NME EXCLUSIVE
My once-lost promo for Sun in the Island by Swimming is now online as an NME exclusive for a few days before going out everywhere else.

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