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)

Wales: Land of Song

Caerphilly Castle. Note the leaning tower, on the right, a result of Parliamentary gunpowder during the mid-17th Century English Civil War.

Marsha and I have begun our filming in Wales. On Sunday, June 14th, we drove from the south of England up to Welshpool, which is a border town in North Central Wales. There are three million Welsh people and 10 million Welsh sheep. Most of the people are on the south coast around Cardiff; most of the sheep are in this more northerly area. We took our first pictures at Powis Castle and then moved westward to a place called Foel (pronounced Voil) where we stayed three days on a 600 acre sheep and cattle farm owned by an amazing woman named Annie Ellis. The female Ben Cartwright of Central Wales.

Monty watching Annie Ellis work.



We got a great start on "Wales: Land of Song", meeting a male-voice choir in rehearsal, a famous Welsh harpist folk singer named Sian James, and a teenage singer of Welsh songs (Annie's niece) all in one fell swoop. All these people speak Welsh to one another. Turns out it's the most live Celtic language today, more alive than Irish, Cornish, Scottish or Breton. Well, we're not sure about Irish, but Welsh is certainly alive and well.

We filmed Border Collies at work in the beautiful hills of Central Wales, and learned a bit about life on the farm. Yesterday we went off to Portmeirion and then Harlech Castle on the coast. Portmeirion is the private folly built by an architect who loved Italian villages on the Mediterranean. It served as the setting for the 1960's cult TV series, "The Prisoner," starring Patrick McGoohan. And I was on a BBC film crew doing a program called "Vendetta," also in the 1960's.

Harlech Castle was one of a string built by Edward I in his campaign to control the Welsh about 800 years ago. Marsha took some pictures: the first two are me at Portmeirion and the third is me at Harlech.

Family History I

Marsha and I have been shooting video since 1980 and we're always meaning to do something with it (beyond rearranging the cassettes on the shelves and dusting them every few years.) So this is part of the project.
While we lived in France in 1994-95, we had a pretty good video camera which shot in Hi-8. We've actually transferred some of this to digital tape and then edited it into a couple of our travel films, most notably the latest one, "Etched in Stone."
So as we were preparing video from the Chateau in Provence, we noticed some characters appearing here and there; people who came to visit during our year in Provence. John Spotswood, Joan's brother and therefore uncle to some of you, came to visit in January of '95 and stayed for a few days. He was a man of great good humour and we enjoyed his visit immensely. John has passed away since then, (I forget when, but it's been a few years) so if you never met him, these couple of minutes will be your introduction.

Thanksgiving Coming Up

We have nearly finished our Fall tour. Our last post was from the Deep South, but since then we have surfaced through North Carolina, Virginia — a show at McLean, a suburb of Washington, DC, several shows in Pennsylvania including Grove City and West Chester, our first appearance at Fredonia, NY, and a bunch of Mena's shows in the Northeast.
It was our first excursion to the Union Club in New York City followed by shows in Portland, ME, Concord, NH (Barack Obama was elected President between these two shows) and then Greene, ME, in the north woods. We stayed with Marsha's cousin Gary Salamacha, the owner of Sierra Construction as well as a couple of harness racing horses. We went to see Foreigh Authority run at Bangor, ME. He won!! Then we finished the NE tour at the Harvard Club in Boston, had a meal and an overnight stay at the club.