[45+46/365] Thirty Seconds: New Year’s Resolution

This NYE was one of the best ever.

Like keen beans, Sadie and I went into town (Zürich central) early.  We took photographs of the Christmas lights, drank Glühwein, and found ourselves dancing inside a latin music tent to keep warm.  By 10pm we’d decided we were keen to keep dancing, but in our pyjamas, surrounded by cats, and preferably whilst watching the BBC’s coverage of Hogmanay, so we headed home to Glattpark.  We weren’t terribly bothered about missing the fireworks.

When we got home, there were lots of explosions going on outside.  And at midnight, we thought we’d better head out and take a look.

And this is what we saw.

So we DIDN’T miss the fireworks!  We had our own private show.  It was very dangerous but mostly very exciting to have people setting them off only metres away from us!  I loved it.

I’ve done something a bit different with the footage – I’ve done a composite, and the fireworks footage is playing in reverse, as is the score, which definitely has Eternal Sunshine vibes.

Here’s to 2017!  And 319 more films.  Eek.

Score: Garageband

Editing: Final Cut Pro

[40/365] Thirty Seconds: The Ice Rink

On Boxing Day evening we went ice skating in the courtyard of the Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum (Swiss National Museum).  It was beautiful.

I also just happened to shoot some footage of a little tiny ice rink in the window of a Zürich juwelier… and when I put the two together, they were a little creepy!

So, that’s the vibe I went for with the score… I thought about making it festive and Christmassy but in end, the footage gave me a Donnie Darko feeling, so that’s what I went with.  Excuse my singing as always.

Score: Garageband

Editing: Final Cut Pro

Children laughing sounds: freesound.org

Ice skating sounds: freesound.org

 

[39/365] Thirty Seconds: Nativity World Record

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I arrived back in Calne, Wiltshire in the early hours of Saturday, 3rd December (1am to be specific).  It had been a long journey from Sydney (2 trains, 3 planes, 1 bus, to continue to be specific) but I had a very important task that day…

To participate in the people of Calne’s attempt to BREAK THE WORLD RECORD for the MOST LIVING FIGURES IN A NATIVITY SCENE.

YES THIS IS A REAL THING.

Apparently there were 1,254 participants and the world record, previously held by Americans, was successfully broken.

There were Guinness World Records officials there and news reporters and actual real donkeys and everything.

Guinness World Records article

BBC article

Score: Garageband

Editing: Final Cut Pro

[38/365] Thirty Seconds: Fetch, Ruby!

Little Ruby is the first dog we looked after in England, and we visited her and her super cute cat siblings and delightful human family just before we came to Zurich on December 23rd.

I know I say all animals are sweet but honestly, Ruby is pecan pie sweet.  She is just gorgeous and I love her!  She’s just a pup and she is full of energy but she also sleeps like a baby.  She is good at capturing people’s hearts.

She is also a VERY good fetcher of things, most especially balls and squeak toys, so it was only fitting that I include her in the Project with a film about her doing what she does best!

The score is a mashup of Apple loops, I wish it was me playing that jazzy 70s electric piano, but it is almost 4am (I’ll sleep when I’m dead) and my fingers aren’t cooperating today, so I’ve just combined a few different loops for Ruby.  I think it totally suits her, anyway!

Love you Ruby Roo, my number one Cockapoo.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE!

Score: Garageband

Editing: Final Cut Pro

[36+37/365] Thirty Seconds: On a London Bus at Christmas

 

 

Another double project, so soon I know, but it was impossible to just show half of these Christmas lights, they were just spectacular!  It really needed to be 60 seconds.

We were in London for two nights only, between Bristol and Zurich.  We decided to do our own ‘Christmas lights’ tour on a bus, and oh my goodness, wow!

Never in my life have I seen such Christmas lights as the display on Oxford Street… I was completely blown away, and for £1.50 bus ride, I couldn’t believe my eyes… it was like going to a million dollar show!

The score is a horns project I wrote a little while ago, for some reason I didn’t want the music to be too jolly and Christmassy (as much as I love Christmas, I am also quite fascinated with capturing the melancholy of the silly season), and I’m pretty obsessed with horns at the moment.  All music needs a brass section.  And I think Christmas would agree with that statement.

Score: Garageband

Editing: Final Cut Pro

[35/365] Thirty Seconds: Tangerine Birthday Cake

My birthday was back in November, in Edinburgh, and Sadie made a vegan tangerine/mandarine drizzle cake as an accompaniment to a delicious dinner.

I love lemony citrus ANYTHING so it was a total hit.

Thank you Sadie, I strongly maintain that you should open a cafe, your cooking skills are out of this world, girl!

The score is also part of a little song I wrote for Sadie waaaay back in 2015, for her birthday… I’ve used it because it seems to fit the cooking show vibe really nicely.

AS ALWAYS… Thank you from the bottom of my heart for watching my films and reading my blog, I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart, like you wouldn’t believe!

xx

Score: Garageband

Editing: Final Cut Pro

[34/365] Thirty Seconds: Ashton Court Deer

There’s this magical place in Bristol called Ashton Court Estate.  It is a huge park with grassland and woodland and deer, and a mansion stuck smack bang in the middle, for good measure.  They also have the annual hot air balloon fiesta there.  And some kind of Santa Claus bike ride in December, as we discovered!

But this film is not about the Santa Claus bike ride or the balloons, it’s about the deer, because deer are gorgeous and should NOT be eaten, and it took every ounce of my being not to free the deer.  I’m not sure where I would have put them but I just wish people wouldn’t eat them.  Especially at Christmas time when Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is playing all the time.  It’s just not right.

FREE THE DEER.

Also, the score is not great, it’s very late at night and it turns out I’ve played the same chords as ‘Pictures of You’ by The Cure and ‘Wildest Dreams’ by Tay Tay.  So I haven’t stolen them because Tay Tay stole them first.

Score: Garageband

Editing: Final Cut Pro

[33/365] Thirty Seconds: Beats with Eddie

Oh Edward, Eddie, oh my heart, you handsome, handsome man!

We looked after Eddie in his flat in Bristol and completely fell head over heels in love.

It didn’t take long for him to charm us with his good looks and charisma, but mostly it was his tail swooshing that had us swooning for days.

I challenge you to find a cooler cat.

Score: Garageband

Editing: Final Cut Pro

[31+32/365] Thirty Seconds: Festive AF

31 DAYS!  A calendar month of videos!  930 seconds!  And then some, because I always go a little over!

This said, The Thirty Second Project has now officially been underway since October 18th, and today is December 17th, so yeah… a little behind schedule, but I’m still proud of myself!  I’m taking the 4 twenty-something hour flights and time in Oz without an instrument into account, and giving myself a little leeway.  I want to be disciplined but also reasonable with myself, otherwise I’m more likely to just give up.

ANYWAY.

Jess is the star of this film.  Jess was born in Oz but her parents are English and she’s been living in London for years, so she’s well British by now.

She hosted a Christmas party in London and everyone got drunk and ate meat, except me, I ate potato chips and filmed everyone getting drunk.  It was fantastic.  And I shot so much footage that I had to make it a double.

Score: Garageband using edited midi files from christmasgifts.com

Editing: Final Cut Pro

 

 

[30/365] Thirty Seconds: Wollongong, Australia

I shot this footage in the Wollongong suburb of Windang, as my Dad and I were walking through the bush towards the sea, on the 2nd of December, my last day in Oz.

I kept thinking to myself what an ancient place Australia is.  I’ve been in the UK for 6 months now, and it is full of visible history – all around you, there are old pubs, churches, and cobblestone streets, that have been walked on for hundreds of years… but Australia’s history is different and less tangible.

It’s spiritual, somehow connected to the land.  You can feel it all around you, and as a white person, it’s strange, because there is a lot of shame and regret attached your Australian identity and the actions of your ancestors (and the ongoing actions of racist Australians who don’t acknowledge responsibility for what we’ve done to Aboriginal people).

I’ve always loved the sounds and smells of the bush.  When I’m walking through nature in Australia, I feel a quietness and a stillness, and I think about the Aboriginal people and their incredible connection to the earth.

Score: Garageband

Editing: Final Cut Pro

Ocean sounds: Freesound.org