Luv'in the black country

The last month or so I've been scouting for locations around, guess where? ... Yes the black country canals (how surprising). This time it's for my first funded documentary (Screen West Midlands & The UK Film Council).


http://www.screenwm.co.uk/news/detail/868/final_selection_made_for_digishorts_2010/


For anyone that has seen any of my other work (or Vlogs) they may have noticed I have a rather subtle obsession with the canals in the black country. As I've stressed in my earlier shorts I feel the canals are the only inanimate part of the black countries industrial identity that still stand. So to me shooting a film that is aiming to capture the cultural transition that is happening in the Black Country at the moment, the most appropriate (or dare I say romantic) setting would be that of the canals.

I really didn't want to follow the conventional route when getting information from the local black country people. If I make a film that travels down the canals asking people along the way how they feel about the changes in the black country, I feel it would be too much of a social statement for my liking (or too obvious of one anyway).

I'm such an admirer of Humphrey Jennings, his ability to embrace what was going on in the war in such a poetic and subtle way, is something I've always aspired to do. Also watching Jia Zhangke' 24 city and Bing Wang' West Of The Tracks ... both portraying a similar fading industrial identity in subtle and personal ways. I really feel at this point in time many countries are going through similar changes in their vintage industrial communities, and a new generation has alternative idea to what "work" should be.

I found by asking people a question as simple as "Tell me the story of when you first fell in love?" not only do many people have touching and interesting stories (shown nicely on the back drop of the canals) but due to the fact different generations have very different ideas on love, their stories have a great sense of time. There was a strong contrast between the older generations and the younger generations stories.

Most of the older generations stories are told with strong black country dialects, working class frame of minds and a deep bitterness towards the industrial collapse. Yet the younger generations stories are usually told with a more neutral dialect, Middle class/office job frame of mind and an optimistic view towards the local industrial collapse.


I start shooting next month

A Black Country Verse

A Black Country Verse from Black-Country Cinema on Vimeo.

I shot this a while ago, but I was so unhappy I made a Vlog out of the footage instead. Just under a year later I've come back to the footage and stripped it down (using about 30% of the actual footage shot). The film was originally meant to run about 10 minutes and I think this was the problem I was having. My minimalist routes came out again and it seemed the less I used the better it came out.




A visual adaptation of an old saying by the American consul to Birmingham Elihu Burritt, he famously said “The Black Country is black by day and red by night”. The Black Country which is located in the middle of the West Midlands (England) was once the industrial heart of the United Kingdom and was famous for the black smoke produced from the factories that filled the streets in a dark haze. Then as the sun set when the foundry furnaces were opened the sky would light up in crimson red. This film was shot on one of the many Black Country canal routes, which used to be the primary method of transportation for the factory goods and furnace coal. The Canals are one of the few inanimate parts of the Black Countries industrial identity that still stand. After the lorries and the rejuvenated rail routes became the preferred method of product transportation by local companies, the canals became futile. Like the Black Countries industrial Identity the canals stand as a shadow of what they used to be. If it was not for it simply being too expensive to remove the canals there would be no reason to keep them, they stand in a state of nostalgic limbo.