Birthday Blues

Me with the watercolour of the Buttercross which was a birthday gift from Fiona & Gerald.

Marsha on the London Eye. The "Flight" was a birthday gift from my beautiful niece, Gemma.

It's the day after my 70th birthday. Marsha and I are in London, staying with Justine (see Beauty Skool blog) and waiting for a visit from Thomas, Sylvie and Ad ele from Paris. Last evening, my actual birthday dinner was served at my sister Fiona's with her husband Gerald cooking the lamb and various veggies, including my requested Brussels sprouts. They gave me a gift of a watercolor of the Butter Cross in Tickhill, specially commissioned. Tickhill, near Doncaster, is my old home village from 1940 to 1947. I don't really have the blues. It's good to be 70. Alice was there, too, (our niece) who studied Japanese and lately landed a job on the basis of that.

First Convention (This should've come first.)

Marsha and I attended our first Travel Film Convention in Tampa, Florida, almost ten years ago, at the invitation of Dale Johnson and Sandy Mortimer. At the time, we had not made a film of any kind, but we were in the habit of traveling to France and Great Britain every summer to play music. We had the “Travel” part covered. Dale and Sandy seemed to think that, with our backgrounds, once we had the right camera we’d fit right in, and the business needed new producers.

At the convention we watched wide-eyed as seasoned filmmakers paraded their wares at the Preview sessions. We played music at the banquet which gave us the opportunity to be noticed. 

On the third day, as the convention was winding down, we chatted with Craig and Kathleen Myers over lunch. They had enjoyed our music and seemed to feel an instant rapport with us. Craig advised us to take someone else’s film on the road — for a nominal fee — to give ourselves a bit of experience, as it might be years before we would complete our own film and convince some venues to show it.

In a cruel stroke of fate, Craig died unexpectedly a few days later (it was early December), and by February we were on the road hosting Craig’s two films, working with Windoes to stand in and fufill his schedule. Craig was in his early 40’s and perhaps the youngest full time filmmaker in our business at the time. His death was a shock and a tragedy.

The following summer we went to France specifically to make a Travel Film. During the tour with Craig’s films, I was confident (or foolhardy) enough to have arranged two independent showings of our film, “La Belle France,” before we had shot any digital tape whatsoever. I trusted that my experience with the BBC and later editing sound tape at NPR, as well as taping interviews for Louisiana Folklife, would be helpful in my new metier.

At the next Convention, in St. Louis, we previewed “La Belle France,” started to get bookings, and have since gone on to produce five more films for the Travel market. We’ll be previewing our latest, “Wales: Land of Song,” in Chicago this September. 

I wouldn’t say this is an easy profession and anyone can do it, but with a little bit of talent and a lot of work and dedication, it can be done. And when you have a happy audience giving you compliments as they leave the performance, it all seems worth it. All the better if they have one or two newly purchased DVDs in hand! 

We like to think Dale and Sandy were right about our potential. We thank them and the many others who gave advice, helped, took us in and made us feel welcome in this amazing world of sharing  moving pictures.

We look forward to the upcoming Chicago Convention, an opportunity to mingle with the ‘old hands’ in the business and welcome new interests, talk to agents and presenters, and see previews of the upcoming films.

Come join us!

Changing Times

“The Times They Are A-Changin,’” sang Bob Dylan back in the 1960’s: he could have been referring to the Travel Film business just as much as anything else. In the last 50 years a great deal has changed in our little world, none of it more rapidly than during the last decade. 

In the last episode of TAC Online, I wrote about Marsha and I attending our first Travel Film Convention, in Tampa, Florida. That was ten years ago and it was all new to us. But even then, it wasn’t what it used to be.   

In December, 2000, we had never made a film. In fact we still haven’t made a “film,” as such, because, well, times have changed.  Most of the Travel producers prided themselves on being film makers, extolling the virtues of 16 mm  and firmly proclaiming that they would never switch to DV. The difference in quality was just too great, they said.

Remember the space three or four films would take up in your vehicle. A big round can for each reel, two reels for each film, the old Bell & Howell projector (and perhaps a spare), sound equipment, dress suits, tuxedo. But the times they were a-changing and Digital Video (DV) came in so quickly it made your head spin. Now you can carry your films in a pocket.

For us, there was never a question of working in film. We had been advised by our mentors, Sandy Mortimer and Dale Johnson, that it was economically feasible and entirely possible to make programs on DV, and since we traveled to Europe each year to play music, we should invest in a camera and record our expeditions. Neither Dale nor Sandy had a digital camera at the time, so we sought the advice of video pioneer Hal McClure. 

Once we had the footage we would worry about editing, and once we’d edited, we would worry about purchasing a projector and other bits of equipment. Then there’d be convincing sponsors to hire us and agents to work with us. Taken one step at a time, we didn’t consider it too daunting.

There were changes going on that had nothing to do with our need to get started, so we ignored them. The Big One was over “live” or recorded narration. I hesitate to even mention it because for some people it’s an ongoing issue. I have my own reasons for clinging to “live” narration  but let me state very clearly: I don’t care what anyone else does. 

Ten years ago there were lots more venues, of course, and many of them were quite prestigious: the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh springs to mind. Also Dick Walter’s series at the Joslyn Museum in Omaha, and Ken Armstrong’s Golden Gate Geographic Society in San Francisco’s Bay Area. At the Tampa convention I spoke briefly to the man from National Geographic in Washington, DC. He gave me some sort of advice but his show checked out before I could get there.

It’s hard to say where all this is headed; nobody predicted the current technology ten years ago. We made VHS tapes of our first two films, but DVDs elbowed their way in and will, no doubt, be elbowed out in the future. We can only live in the moment, and the moment dictates that we continue to put on our shows for the audience that still exists. The only thing we can be sure of is that times will continue to change.

 

Elle s'appele Sabine (Her Name is Sabine)

Here is a 10 minute introduction to a film by the French film actress Sandrine Bonnaire. It's about her autistic sister, Sabine, who spent perhaps 20 years (too long) being treated with drugs. It seems to be the way we usually treat those of us who are a bit difficult to deal with, but this film shows us the tragic consequences of this kind of neglect. The film uses home movie footage of when Sabine was a young girl and teenager, intercut with contemporary footage of Sabine as overweight, over-medicated adult. Luckily for her, she may be finding a way out, a supportive environment and a chance for an improved existence.

The Robinson Film Center

Filming at the Old Capitol Building in Baton Rouge:

Event: The Musical Travel Film, "Hello Louisiana," with a Cajun luncheon catered by Abbie Singer's Bistro.

Time: This coming Saturday, July 3rd, at 12 Noon.

Place:  Robinson Film Center.

Cost: $14, movie & meal included!

Marsha and I would like to invite you to a special presentation of Cajun food and a mouth-watering Louisiana movie, a loving portrait of the state we love. More information can be gathered from Red River Radio's Area Events page, from the Robinson Film Center's website, or from our space, www.montyandmarsha.com

Ten years ago, while we were playing music in England and France, we got ourselves a digital video camera, a laptop and an editing program, and started making movies about the places we go. Somewhere along the decade we also started gathering moving impressions of our home state, so we could show it to Europeans. "Hello Louisiana," (original title, "Bonjour Louisiane,") is the result. It's been shown on LPB (Public TV), in Europe, Canada, and from coast-to-coast in the USA, but it's never had a proper Louisiana public performance until now. This one is hosted by us, the film makers, Monty and Marsha Brown, with "live" narration and lots of music. And, of course, food.

This is a real bargain: for the same $14 you'd spend at the Robinson on Saturday, for a Cajun buffet, you could go to a movie at the Multiplex and have a coke and a bag of popcorn. Maybe.

See you Saturday

Hollywood on the Bayou

Hollywood on the Bayou

There we are on the set of “The Great Debaters,” directed by and starring Denzel Washington, produced by Oprah Winfrey and also starring Forest Whitaker. Los Angeles? No, it’s Mansfield, Louisiana, twenty-five miles south of Shreveport, a city which has suddenly become a Hollywood hotbed.

It’s the talk of the town: Kevin Costner has done two films here, “The Guardian” and “Mr. Brooks;” there’s been a Stephen King story about fog (or mist;) Tom Hanks came for “Homeland Security;” Tom Cruise came for wife Katy Holmes who was working with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah; Samuel L. Jackson was talking to school kids between takes; and Cedric the Entertainer was, uh, entertaining. And according to an NBC News story, “Hollywood stars have been pretty happy here, too, because for some reason the paparazzi can’t seem to find Shreveport on a map.”

What were we doing on the “Great Debaters?” Along with maybe one hundred other locals, we were providing some “background:” populating antique buses and cars; walking up and down sidewalks, entering shops, cafes, hardware and grocery stores; standing on the corner watching all the grips go by. It is not a dignified job and it doesn’t pay well, but for a while you feel like you’re part of something big.

“The Great Debaters,” set in the Depression Era 1935, is the true story of a debate team from all-black Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. They compete in a national debate contest, come up against Harvard, and win. Denzel plays Melvin B. Tolson, the poet-professor who molds the debate team and encourages his students to become real-life proponents of civil rights. Forest Whitaker plays the father of James L. Farmer, Jr., a student who later co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality.

Back on the set: one evening, about six p.m., some dignitaries had arranged a public ceremony in front of the Court House to present Denzel Washington with the keys to the “city” of Mansfield. A goodly crowd gathered. A few youngsters were holding up a twenty foot banner which read “Welcome to Mansfield Great Debaters,” when suddenly from around the corner there was a concerted squealing of the sort one associates with Elvis Presley’s teenage fans. A group of local girls had spotted Denzel.

So it goes. Marsha started the Office of Film and Video here in Shreveport in 1989, and the office continued to do its work long after she had gone to live on the Côte d’Azur and make travel films with me. But it was not until the disaster known as “Katrina” that Shreveport really took off as a filmmakers destination. Practically every film that had been scheduled to be made in New Orleans had to find a new location, while still getting the various tax breaks provided by the State of Louisiana. Shreveport filled the void.

If you think of cypress trees growing in lakes, little old rundown southern towns, decorative ironwork balconies, rows of shotgun houses, oil wells and cotton fields, baptisms in the river, stately plantation homes, think Shreveport, an undiscovered landscape. In fact, think “Hello Louisiana,” our atmospheric travel film about this steamy southern French-fried culture. Hellooo!

“Hollywood on the Bayou” by Monty Brown. Monty and wife Marsha have produced six travel films, the latest of which is “Wales: Land of Song." (2010)