Author: Paul Greer
The Somme In Seven Poems
Due to circumstances documented elsewhere on this website it had escaped my notice that the short film The Somme In Seven Poems had become available on Vimeo.
These animations were produced by BDH to illustrate and accompany the poetry featured in the BBC’s 90 minute documentary War of Words: Soldier Poets of the Somme, which aired last November on BBC2.
This compilation was put together as a teaser for the full length documentary and released on the iPlayer the weekend of Rememberance Day.
Making these animations was a very humbling privilege, and a hefty responsibility, and we hope they are a fitting tribute to the people who saw and experienced things thankfully most of us only have to imagine.
A great big thanks to Hugh Cowling and Libby Redden who contributed so much to the finished work.
Embedded below is a trailer for the short.
The Somme In Seven Poems can be viewed directly on Vimeo.
Plate 9. The Sun. A popular handbook and atlas of astronomy. 1891.
“Get stuck in and change it”
“If you think academies are a red herring, a partial and inconsistent solution to a problem that has been wrongly framed, then you need to somehow respond to this; choose a school that is still local authority-controlled, and support it to stay that way. Or become a governor of an academy, to uphold the values that you loved in community schools: that they serve the whole community.”
20 years of BDH
Join the Royal Television Society for a rare opportunity to ask local heroes BDH, one of the most awarded digital creative teams in the UK, to reveal their secrets in this special panel discussion.
Yes, there are a few more tickets left for a twentieth anniversary “In Conversation” evening with my employers, Steve, John and Rob (The B, the D and the H, in that order) to be held tomorrow evening at 6pm at the Watershed. Lynn Barlow, Chair of the Royal Television Society in Bristol will be interviewing them and taking us through the highlights of their work over the years. Bookings can be made through the Watershed website.
2 x 11 years old today. That’s now an end to end grand total of 12,953 days of parenthood. #notobsessedjustgoodatmaths
Félix Vallotton, Intimacies (Intimités), 1898
The Van Gogh Museum:
“From the moment they were printed, the series of woodcuts with the title Intimités was considered to be a prestigious project. When the avant-garde publication La Revue blanche printed the series in an exclusive edition of 25 in 1898, the modern art of printmaking was more popular than ever in the Paris art world. Among his fellow printmakers, Félix Vallotton was one of the most renowned artists. He was recognized as an innovator of the medium of the woodcut and his prints dating from 1896 to 1898 are the culmination of his career.
“Intimités has always been recognized as his most impressive work and even in his own time they were already more appreciated than his paintings. With these ten dark woodcuts, their black surfaces cut through by a few white lines, Vallotton probed the emotional lives of the Paris bourgeoisie. He portrayed the eternal struggle between man and woman by means of theatrical scenes and suggestive titles, such as The Lie, The Money and The Irreparable. Vallotton brought to the surface his cynical view on love. Women are portrayed as superficial, calculating creatures: cruel, insatiable and triumphing.”
reblogged from austinkleon
A Bristol resident inspecting our family picnic.
Remembering Spalding
reblogging sundancearchives:
“Today, June 5, would have been Spalding Gray’s 74th birthday. Known for his monologues–funny, sad, neurotic, and deeply human–his influence at Sundance Institute remains strong, even eleven years after his death.
“Spalding served as the emcee of the 1992 Sundance Film Festival’s award ceremony, the same year that the film version of his one-man show Monster in a Box, about his experience writing his first novel, had its US premiere at the Festival. The top photo, from a shoot by @thatrickmcginnis two years prior, captures Spalding with the enormous manuscript that was at least one of the monsters in his life. (Rick’s blog post about the shoot is itself a great portrait of Spalding’s persona.)
“Several other Festival films featured Spalding in some role; one that seems particularly fitting is Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon’s documentary Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud, in which Spalding read the writings of his fellow iconoclast. And Spalding’s influence extends to alumni, as well; he became friends with Steven Soderbergh after Soderbergh directed his 1996 film Gray’s Anatomy; Soderbergh would go on to direct a 2010 documentary about Spalding’s life titled And Everything is Going Fine.”
“Spalding continues to inspire new works for Sundance artists. Sheila Tousey’s Ghost Supper (Spalding Gray, You’re Invited, Too), supported at our 2014 Theatre Lab, is a solo show that explores how a woman comes to terms with her brother’s suicide through humor, grief, and storytelling. We think Spalding would have approved.”
Here is a clip from Spalding’s incredible 1987 film, Swimming to Cambodia.
Paul Greer 