If I have learnt anything at all from this experience, it is that the first rule of programme making is FLEXIBILITY! In West Yorkshire, surrounded by soggy tents and piles of washing ‐ only seconds it seemed, home from a summer camping trip ‐ the phone call came. “Bad weather forecasted for the end of the week ‐ filming schedule bought forward”. Okay… don’t blink…don’t think ‐ just go. South Devon: a beautiful sunny morning, a film crew, a beach and me. Our job: to make a 3-5 minute feature for ‘Seasonal Snapshots’, a TV series with BBC Children’s News, Factual and Learning. My task: to make a simple stone drawing between the tides and to be filmed through all stages. Days of research, planning and discussion had preceded this moment and now we had one small window of opportunity to realise the idea. Director, cameraman, soundman, researcher, runner, artist ‐ all individual ‐ all professional and comfortable in our respective spheres ‐ brought together to function as a team for a moment in time, and to do the best job we could with whatever the day cared to throw at us! For me it was highly unusual and totally fascinating to work in this way. I learnt a lot. I learnt about talking to camera, about the subtle nuances of voice over and what G/V’s C/A’s L/A’s and C/U’s were. I hope I learnt to be flexible. I certainly found it quite a salutary experience to relinquish control and to be an element within someone else’s medium. 
I believe the programmes are scheduled for BBC 2 sometime in the spring next year. Click on the thumbnails below for more images and story. 
The Beach and The BBC
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