Filming, Work-Shops and More!

Filming with Clive Ardagh

 It's been a really interesting week this week which  involved me travelling down to Surrey. I had a few loose ends to tie up on my filming projects which  meant I've been very lucky and had the pleasure of working with some fantastically talented people this week. On Wednesday I was working with film maker Clive Ardagh who I met by chance when I was singing for Hednas at The Chiltern Open Air Museum back in March. I employed Clive to make a show reel for me and also to film my opening video for my web-site. When it comes to filming it's all down to lighting and although on the face of it talking for one minute on camera is easy enough I wanted a particular look which took ages to get. We shot the film outside back in May but I wasn't happy with the lighting so this time we shot in doors where we could control the light better. After a few experiments I got just what I wanted so thank-you Clive for your patience. If at first you don't succeed - and we did in the end- so second time lucky!

After a full days filming I treated myself to dinner at "Darnleys Coffee Shop and Restaurant" in Haslemere and met the lovely Anne who ardour's Vintage clothes too. It was lovely to meet you Anne and I really enjoyed my Spaghetti Bollanaze - Yummy - Great meal! Lets hope we do meet again!
Thursday I was booked to work with another great film maker Andrew Elmslie who lives quite close to Clive so I decided to stay over and I booked myself into "The Drummond Arms" in the charming village of Albury. Sometimes it's great to check into a hotel and enjoy the peace and quiet. When I'm at home the phone is constantly going so it was wonderful to enjoy some quite time. I had a lovely room with the most enormous bath room and amazing power shower. So I think we can say I enjoyed my stay over very much. I hope you like the photo as Albury has the loveliest sign post ever which I thought was just charming so hence the photo!

Editing with Andrew Elmslie

After a good nights sleep I made my way over to Andrew's. If you follow my blogs you will know I worked with Andrew a few weeks ago when we shot my WW1, 1920s video and "The Sound of Music" so Thursday was all about editing. Andrew is brilliant at it because when I shoot we shoot with 3 cameras at a time and then perform each song at least three or four times. From there we have lots of possible camera angles which makes a film interesting to watch. There is nothing worse than a boring show reel shot at one angle. That's why I always like to bring in interesting cut- away shots too. Editing can take hours and Andrew and I started at 11am and finished two show reels by 7pm. I have to go back again a week Monday so we can finish off my "Sound of Music" video but all in all a great couple of days. I shall be making quite a few up-dates and changes to my web-site in the next month or so - so do watch this space. I have lots of plans and I'm looking forward to shearing with you my new videos and web-pages as they appear. So thank-you for following and I shall keep you posted as and when I release my videos!
Although I haven't been filming today Friday has been just as busy. Today I held my very first singing work-shop for the Leighton Linslade Woman's group and I have to say it went really rather well. I had an idea how I could make it work. A work shop is about getting people to sing who perhaps haven't sung before and building conference. I even got the ladies to sing in harmony by building a round. I started at 11am and did a full hour. So I have to say I feel really proud of myself to pull that off and I'm looking forward to running my next one. My next  work-shop will be for the Girl Guides on the 5th July so it will be interesting to see how children respond.
Gosh I've just noticed the time and I still have some work to do before bed so I shall finish my blog here for tonight. Do keep watching and I will be posting up some more photos from my shoot in the next few days.
Toddle Pip and Bye for Now!

Fiona Harrison is a Vintage Singer and Nostalgic Entertainer. For more information about Fiona and how to book please visit her website www.fionaharrison.biz