OK..so it took a good while longer than anticipated, we got there eventually. The first edit for a preview was completed within three weeks of finishing shooting. That was a story in itself though. The cut was due for screening on the 11th of March in the mobile cinema in Dromahair. I’m no good with dates but that one remains with me for more than one reason. That afternoon I was under serious pressure to get the cut out and onto DVD for projection that night. I was nearly at the point when I could hit the button to encode for disc, when I get a phone call to say my wife’s waters had just broken and had to leg it (after hitting the button). Our new wee son Eóghan was due on the 11th but we hardly expected him to show up bang on time. Must be the military genes or something. So instead of getting to see the film on the big screen I headed off with Serita to maternity for a long night. It seems that the Gods were with us as both outcomes worked well. We got a 10lb healthy boy and Leitrim got a film. The screening got very positive reports from the feedback sheets that were filled in. Of course you can’t please everyone all the time but we weren’t too far off anyway.

After that it was a question of refining the edit and pulling it into broadcast timings. Then it was down to colour correction, audio and all the usual technical screwdriver stuff that broadcast mastering demands to get it to transfer to Digibeta tape for delivery to TG4 (don’t get me going on the subject of broadcasters and digital file delivery). That process means I have to watch it during the process on every tape late at night as we can’t afford any glitches whatsoever. Then we wave goodbye to tape boxes and wait to hear all is good.

Of course you could randomly round up any ten people or so in Leitrim and you would get ten different films from many different stories. This film is really just one slice of life of an eclectic mix of blow-ins and blow-outs and what makes Leitrim a different place to live. From gun-running in South Africa to Kurdish refugees, the cultural mix of children at the Gaelscoil to farmers who challenged the State..it’s all there. Johnny Gogan had a unique vision of what he wanted to make and we hope you like it.

So..the broadcast date is September 28th at 9.30pm.

Working to a pretty tight deadline for this type of production we seem to have got to the point today where the first cut is due for preview tonight in the mobile cinema in Dromahair.

The shoot was actually good craic, although pretty hectic. The crew consisted of Johnny Gogan as Director, yours truly on tech direction, second cam and audio etc..with Jim King as researcher, the masterfully talented Nuria Roldos on lead cam, Daniel and Niall as production assistants and grip. We were working out of Connor McDermottroes’s house in Dromahair as a crew base and for once we got to shoot fairly locally with subjects that make for a pretty eclectic bag of targets. It ranged from Germans, to Brits, to locals that had returned home to the Kurdish community in Carrick-on-Shannon. It’s also a good sample of what makes the “New Irish” (not non-nationals or foreigners any more thank God). I have to say that we ended up with threads that had an undercurrent of war somehow. We have Mike and Jo smuggling arms to the ANC in Africa and the Kurds suffering Jihad under Khomeini, bombs under Bush and all ending up in Leitrim. I have to say that they are inspiring people to meet for their resilience, hospitality and friendliness after horror we can not imagine…lovely people.

Once all that was done it was head down for the edit. This time I worked in Johnny’s studio for lack of distraction and making sure of the content focus. At least this time Johnny has invested in a data recorder to alleviate to pain of logging tapes for the main cam. As we did a lot of the interviews in the Irish language it meant subtitling..not my favourite job I can tell you.
Oh..our very own Jim King features in the film too. His parents were fairly typical of the Leitrim folk who headed for England and where Jim was born. They returned after not too long and settled into farming. We’ve even used footage from an old B/W doc made on the water scheme in the 60s where Jim shows up as a four year old in the kitchen. I’m not sure how he’ll cope with the fame..lol.
After 3-4 weeks (will work it out soon) we’re ready for the preview cut to be screened in the mobile cinema. I don’t know how it will go down as it’s difficult to know what people might expect.
Once again it was a pleasure to work with the powerhouse hurricane that is Johnny Gogan. He even managed to fight the general election as a Green Party candidate while production and post was happening. That and working on ongoing future project production planning, he took it all in his stride as only he can. He must have worn his mobile phone out…a well as the crew.

Also…Serita my wife is expecting our second child any day now..and probably tonight knowing our trait for strange timing. Watch this space.

Right…it seems a good while ago since I posted the rant (scroll down) about us in rural Ireland..or anyone with a fuzzy RTE picture, not having the option of a Free to air digital service from RTE. The only option that was available was to pay Rupert Murdoch lots of pieces of silver for RTE on SKY on top of the annual licence fee. It seemed outrageous that we couldn’t get the Irish channels free on Freesat as the BBC and ITV are all on it.

Warning..rant!
My main objection to SKY is that I just will not pay Murdoch’s corporations anything..anywhere at any time. They are a major evil part of the world’s problems and the control of the media’s presentation of “facts” that make up the public’s diet of “news”, amounts to the control of populations and their opinions…and hence war..and death. He is the enemy of free and open media and people should know more about what they consume and who it serves. People’s opinions are only forged by the facts available to them and that’s how he works with the governments that he colludes with. SKY TV subscriptions are in my opinion Pieces of Silver covered in the blood of anyone sitting on oil or anything that gets in the way of US, and its puppy the UK, global ambitions. Never mind blood diamonds..this is blood digital…and digital opiates for the masses.
Rant over!

So, completely unrelated, I bought an aerial to improve the fuzzy poverty four channels (RTE1&2, TG4 and TV3). I’d just bought a new Samsung Full HD TV for the house and just couldn’t handle the RTE fuzziness. During the channel scan setup I noticed channels coming in on digital as well as analogue. What did we get? RTE1&2 and TG4 is crystal clear digital! I had to sit down and get a drink and make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. TV3 is still on analogue but at least it’s an improved fuzzyiness due to the new aerial. The quality of the picture is far superior to what you get with UK channels on satellite.

What happened? It seems to be a bit of good luck on our part to start with…starting with the TV. If you’ve bought a brand new Samsung make sure the country setting is Ireland..that is crucial for the mpeg4 reception and decoding. RTE are putting the digital channels out using a different encoding system to the UK. Theirs is mpeg2..and I wondered why RTE had decided to do things differently to our neighbours and now I see why. I should really have studied all the specs ages ago seeing as it’s a major part of my job here..encoding video. The mpeg4 encoding is vastly superior to the mpeg2…hence me being stunned. I was studying the LCD screen from about a couple of inches away to get a look at the pixelation. I would even go so far as to say that a lot of people could be fooled into thinking that live broadcast almost look like HD..it’s that good. Anyway, the new Samsung TVs have the mpeg4 DTT tuner built in so no need for another box. Check that before you buy though..the older models in stock don’t have it!

Then there was the aerial. I screwed it down to the top of a wall next to the house and used Google Earth to get a bearing from the house to Truskmore up the mountains ..our local aerial where all the TV comes from. It’s easy enough..use a placemark and draw a line path to where you want and note the bearing. Then get your Lidl camo combat compass out and line up the aerial…hey presto..RTE DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television).

So..there we go. I’m am almost choking on this massive slice of humble pie. However…the problem now is that we have all the daily cock-ups by presenters and programmers in glorious mpeg4 digital. lol. No more demands for pieces of silver to Rupert Murdoch to see our own National Broadcaster in digital…and it’s well overdue.

Thank you RTE…now bring on the HD before the next decade!

PS. On a footnote rant..this is the type of thing we’ve been up against. This guy doesn’t seem to think that ordinary TV licence payers have a right to free digital TV, and the Government is wasting €70 million…and it makes me mad. He seems to think that because his estimation of 80% of people subscribe to SKY..which is total rubbish..that the rest of people shouldn’t get the TV they pay for in their licence fee. He sounds like just another ignorant urbanite…probably from Dublin, that there’s no-one left without broadband and SKY. If the Govt were to follow that thinking then they should revoke the licence fee altogether and goodbye RTE. It’s a good job they don’t. Of course this guy has a vested interest..he’s flogging WiMax. I can’t see him putting Leitrim at the top of his sales list.
O’Kelly on Silicone Republic

This project was also shot by Johnny Gogan in parallel with Padraig Meehan’s own documentary “Uplands”. As having been reared in this environment this is his own guide to the megaliths of Sligo that he has known all his life and a very unique interpretation of their origins and myths. As Padraig is an official OPW guide to the sites he has his own presentation style which is unique and not to be missed. Maybe it comes with a liberal dose of a rock’n roll past (Those Nervous Animals..80s) but I find him compulsive watching and I know him..and that’s rare enough. I personally think that the future for Padraig as a presenter could be bright. When it comes to the Megaliths of the North West then he’s the man. Watch this space.

I got a weird feeling I was looking at something extremely familiar. This was explained today when I was raking around in the big old shed beside the house at home here in Dromahair. The end part of the building lost it’s roof back about ten years ago and I haven’t had the time or need to put it back on yet. What did I see in front of me? A clutch of about eight Orchids..the same ones we had been shooting at Rosses Point. All quite strange. I then went on a hunt around the garden (2 acre jungle) in the wild grass areas and couldn’t find any more anywhere. It seems that the conditions in my shed might have been ideal for them.

I have to point out that I’m not the most educated person on this earth when it comes to wild flowers. I know most of what grows around here in the hedgerows though as I’ve always had a keen interest in in monitoring the environment. I keep an online diary of all seasonal factors and changes as well as details of what is flowering when and the weather at the time so I can compare year to year. It helps to have an accurate record of what’s happening to the stuff I plant..fruit and veg etc. To have Orchids pop up like this to me seems amazing. All I have to do now is research how to seed them out.

There you go. I hear the Orchid people are a kinda fundamentalist cult. That itself fascinates me as I was already looking at cutting a broadcast piece just on the basis of what we got at Rosses Point. The people who are obsessed with Orchids would be as interesting to me as the Orchids themselves.

More later methinks..
Here’s the pics..

You may have heard of the online discount supplier globalmediapro.com who sell everything for professional video. They stock a battery..which appears to be made for them which solves the whole problem. It’s a 8.8Ah 65Wh battery that has not only a level meter inbuilt but also has power output for lights etc. It lists at about €70 and if you order just one carriage brings it up to €93 or so to Ireland..and then you get stung another €26 in VAT and charges when it arrives. However..I would consider that €125 for a battery gives me 3-4 hours shooting time is great value. I bought one to test the system and now we are going back for more as Johnny Gogan of Bandit Films is also running the JVC Gy-HD111e as well and we tend to pool gear.

Information on globalmediapro was hard to find online. I had read in a forum that they deliver pretty quickly but don’t fare so well on the customer service. I can’t vouch for the last point but can for the first. Seeing as they don’t take credit cards or PayPal etc it has to be bank transfer. Here in the EU we can use IBAN. This is how it went. They seem to be based in New Zealand. I faxed my bank the details..they transferred it to them into their bank in Denmark and within 3 days the battery turned up by DHL courier from China! That’s mind-blowing. It came complete with a rake of Customs/Import paperwork too. Once you reclaim the VAT (Which I should have sorted not to pay) €93 is cheap. On that basis I can’t recommend Globalmediapro highly enough.

For anyone who needs one of these..and if you own one of these cameras then boy do you need a few..here’s the link.
Globalmediapro DC488 Battery

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.

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

I’ll start by saying that the comment below is my opinion and the opinion of others…in case they come after me we have to point that out..it’s only opinions and we are still legally entitled to those..just about. This is not a personal attack on Shane who is a really nice talented guy who works hard at what he does. It concerns Shafin Developments, the company he owns with his family. It’s all about the planning system and how it works..and who it works for.

It’s a long story but his some of his proceeds from the Westlife Empire have gone into destroying our local village, which also happens to be the historical seat of the O’Rourkes, of which as you can see and I’m one that carries a particular rare Gene going back over a thousand years (DNA tested..yep..scary). Dromahair was a major property and homeplace for the main branch of the O’Rourkes for more than 800 years. For the last 170 years or so Dromahair, being built by the Landlords the Lanes-Foxes, has also been known as the prettiest village in Ireland, sitting in the picturesque valley of the River Bonet.

I won’t get into the history of, and the details of, the planning permission process here, but in the first wave Shafin Developments have somehow managed to concrete over what was probably the medieval Dromahair of the O’Rourkes with nasty naff cheaply built 21st Century cabins. Not sensitively built in areas behind the village..nope..it’s in in your face as you enter the town, downgrading the first impression to that of a classic example of tasteless Celtic Tiger grab for profit. Nasty boxes made from ticky-tacky. This is not a rich pop star’s money doing something useful for the community…far from it. There’s many things they could do for the community if they volunteered the funding. Ironically I know he enjoys spending time in the community as a way of escaping the madding crowd surrounding the pop business.

The latest big shock is that now he has been granted planning permission to redevelop the site of The Breffni Centre, aka Patton’s pub and hall. We are going to get a Crèche, gym and supermarket. OK..the first two it might be argued are needed by some people, although a new crèche has already recently opened. The big problem is the supermarket. In the village we have three shops. Two are small supermarkets and both are run by local families who have been there for years..McGoldricks and Gilmors. I think that Gilmor’s has even been there since the village was built. Both stores have recently spent a fortune upgrading their premises goods and services..with Gilmors reputedly spending maybe over half a million euro on refurbishment. The village now has modern shops with great products and services. So..why the hell have they granted planning permission for Shafin to wipe out these two main stores as well as the corner shop which also has been recently re-developed?. That’s the million-euro question.

One other point has just reared it’s head, is about Gilmor’s shop.  It’s not only a supermarket, but also a hardware/animal feed/general store which provides the local lifeline to farmers in the immediate area. If Gilmor’s supermarket is taken down by Shafin’s new shop then I doubt if the other business of the general store/farming supplies can stand on its own and will go down as well. Whilst there may be a few people indifferent to the planning decision, it may hit home hard when the next time they need a bag of Beef nuts, or a sledge hammer, or €5 worth of oval nails, a pair of overalls and a wheelbarrow in a hurry they will have to drive the 25 mile round trip to Sligo or Manorhamilton. I can assure you that it will hit a good few people hard having that essential service withdrawn from village life.

I for one would like to see a copy of the economic argument put forward for this new shop…if it even exists. Somehow I doubt if it mentions that the two/three existing shops that have just invested very heavily will be forced out of business by this development. I’d be be obliged if anyone can send me a copy of that document. To make sense an argument for this new shop it has to be either highly misinformed at best or potentially fraudulent at worst.

We don’t know what the building is going to look like yet, but knowing what they’ve built in the past and the total disregard for tasteful sensitive architecture in Co.Leitrim generally, it will be a modernist monstrosity sitting in the middle of a classic period village…one of a kind. Development in architecturally sensitive towns and villages is supposed to enhance the local social and physical fabric…not destroy it. Why is it seen by most people that rich pop stars can get the planning authorities to do what they want, when local development for the community can’t get approval? For many people it all smells of something that Ireland is all too used to from the past.

The reality of this planning decision is that the traditional shops and their families are certainly going to be bankrupt because of a millionaire pop star’s family involvement in development. The only beneficiary of this misery is..Shafin Deveopments.

Of course, there are the other factors in the equation. When all development in Ireland has ground to a halt why does Shafin want to keep building where it’s not wanted or needed. It’s the opinion of most here that it’s something to do with tax affairs, and the only reason that would appear to make sense to a lot of people anyway.

There are many questions to be asked about the development by Shafin Developments in Dromahair, but it seems that no-one is prepared to ask them. I really don’t think that Shane is the right person to talk to about it. In fairness I remember him as a young kid and he is a nice guy actually and I’m sure this is all driven by his advisers and family. Shane lives in the world of constant touring, hotels, fan madness, record promotion and all the strangeness of the life of a popular performer. He knows that he’s a commodity on the shelf of the record companies shop and has a best before date. Then you need another job…

I’ll finish by saying that many people in the village are raging and very depressed over the latest planning decision on the Supermarket. We can’t trust planners and their decisions or developers. The Lanes-Foxes built the Dromahair you see not for themselves, but for their grandchildren and beyond and their communities…not for instant profit. That’s what determines what is right..and what should and should not be built. If the blame for Ireland’s woes has to go somewhere, it has to be with the planners. They are the ones who stood over building 350,000 unwanted houses in the country and the vampire banks just had a field day supplying the finance to the developers. Now we know the banks had to get it from somewhere.. which left the country broke. All pigs at the trough.

If it comes to either direct action or using international media being the only ways left..then maybe we’ll use them and see if I can rustle up a few more O’Rourkes to help us out. Traditionally our Clan were never shy of a fight..having caused the Norman Invasion of Ireland. That was over a woman though..according to legend. I’m sure that the great Chiefs of Dromahair would approve of this fight, seeing as some of the physical remnants of their existence were concreted over. The descendants of the old O’Rourkes come from all over the world to this place seeing it as a genetic pilgrimage and complain endlessly to me about it being ruined by modern tasteless short-sighted development. Heritage tourists used to provide an income stream into the village, now they’re being scared away.

OK..off back to sleep to find those Westlife albums..or Michael Moore to give us a hand with this one. The camera might be mightier than the sword, but many years using both I like to think I’m OK…just in case.