The Sleeping Warrior Blog

Now..seeing as I’m finding it impossible to nail a few minutes regularly to blog I though I’d kill two birds with one stone.

So…last year melted into this one in a very strange way. I’ve been working with Johnny Gogan of Bandit Films on most of his things lately. Last years projects were mainly the production of the short art film Astray. This was made for Sligo Arts under the per cent for art scheme, a very clever initiative for funding the arts. The film itself is Johnny’s clever concept of a play within a play based on the old legend of The Mad Sweeney, a legendary Gaelic Chief who went mad in battle and the subject of a text found in Sligo in the seventeenth century and translated by Seamus Heaney. As he appears in the play Swim at Two Birds it referenced the idea nicely from the theatre. From there the Mad Sweeney is cursed by St.Ronan to live his life amongst the birds pursued by Lynchahaun. In this case the Sweeney was played by the one and only Killian Rogers, a local performance artist who is already a legend in his own field. Cinematography was by the talented up and coming Peter Martin with music by No Crows arranged by Steve Wickham (Waterboys). Directed by Johnny and edited by yours truly it takes you on a very surreal trip using all the landscapes available in Co.Sligo. The film will be up soon on the Studio North West TV website after its launch.

The subject of Studio North West I’ll leave to another post, suffice I had the head down building the website helped by Chloe James from the CNW office in  Dromahair. I won’t turn this into a rant on the whole screwed up state of the new web standard html5 for delivering video online here, suffice to say they have a lot of work to do before it all gets anywhere near the versatility, user experience and security of Flash web video. Watch this space…

Right..all done and dusted on the TG4/ Peace III documentary about stories from Leitrim’s Emigrants and Immigrants. Read the rest of this entry »

Phew…feels like ages. We’ve been head down for nearly the last two months making the Johnny Gogan Bandit Films documentary on stories from Leitrim emigrants and immigrants. The project has been funded by Peace III, TG4 as well as Leitrim Coco, the Northern Ireland Executive and more. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve just finished the post production on a documentary made in Caltragh, Sligo that details the work of artist Tracy Walsh in a community art project. It was shot by Johnny Gogan over a three year period and brings together all the aspects and influences involved in the project. These range from trips for the kids to local Sligo megaliths with archeologist Padraig Meehan to the investigations of the installation site by Geomancer Alanna Moore. Read the rest of this entry »

It seems that this is the year of the Orchid. It was only last week we were out filming at the Rosses point Golf Course interviewing Ross Collins the Course Superindent. He has done a major job in keeping the Orchid people happy by not only preserving the wild orchids on the course, but making sure they flourish. I spent a good part of the day shooting in macro some of the specimens for the last part of this years TurfNet Goes to Ireland 2010 series. Now it gets stranger.. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a wee techie piece for fellow ProHD camera users and sufferers of low battery life Read the rest of this entry »

So once more TurfNet and Sleeping Warrior Productions dominated the TOCA Awards. This time the presentation was in Tucson, Arizona. The award categories had changed a wee bit from last year but we still managed to get the best video series with TurfNet Goes to Ireland 2009. Well done to Jon Kiger and the TurfNet team and I’m sure you were really suffering for your art playing golf down there in Arizona..lol.

Time flies past so quickly. I never even got to finish the blog about shooting last years series and now we’re into the start of shooting TurfNet Goes to Ireland 2010. We’ve started with the Rush course and will be down to Porthmarnock soon as well as the local one at Rosses Point. We had to hold off a bit due to the Arctic air over Ireland causing not only slow grass growth to make the courses look good but also for the benefit of the cameraman’s fingers(mine). It looks now as if the cold snap has moved on and we can get on with a bit of summer..touchwood.

Here’s a pic of the main Award. I know it’s not a great pic considering what the award is for but I like the irony. Might drill some holes in it and hang it around Jim’s neck to go with his Afro wig, tie-dyed T-Shirt and flares..lol.

Irish Poets TV / Filí na Gaeilge TV
Just to let everyone know that we have finished work on the Irish Poets TV/Filí na Gaeilge TV series and web site. The concept of the project was to shoot a series of videos on the poems included in the Leaving Cert Irish syllabus. We travelled the length and breadth of the country shooting some very interesting characters in some very beautiful places too. Featured in the series are all of the Poets who are still living and where they are not other Poets read and explain the poems.

It’s all been the brainchild of Prin Duignan and Mary Morris who wanted to provide not only a brilliant study aid for Leaving Cert students but also to archive this valuable material. This project is an example of what Prin has done for the Irish language in Co.Leitrim and nationally and why he was recently awarded The Leitrim Guardian’s Person of the Year…see here. and read the complete article here It was certainly a pleasure to work with Prin and Mary and to see Prin’s dedication to, and love for the language in action is quite something.

I have to say that myself and Johnny of Bandit Films had a great time shooting the series. Notable days out included filming Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh well known musician/vocalist/presenter from the band Altan , Cathal O’Searcaigh, Johnny Spillane and Eoin Coughlan, Áine Ní Ghlinn, Louis de Paor, Deirdre Brennan, Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and more. Post production was difficult due to the vast amount of quality material to be edited and produced.
You can access the web site and watch all of the videos here at Filí na Gaeilge TV

Local Coverage of the TurfNet TV Toca Awards in the Leitrim Observer. How will we handle the fame eh?
www.leitrimobserver.ie

Yep..it seems we’ve picked up major awards for the TurfNet series last year.
Well done to Jon Kiger and Peter McCormick who came up with the idea for the series.
Jon was at the ceremony in Puerto Rico to pick them up yesterday (May 14th). I hope he remembered to thank God, his Mum, the Guinness and Smithwicks breweries, and the Full Irish in his acceptance speeches?
We had a blast shooting and producing the series last year…as we did on this years series too. The great thing about this series is the friends we’ve made along the way and the craic we’ve had doing it. Thanks Jon and Peter!

Here’s the Gongs and plaques etc.

From