we produce beautifully crafted multimedia » Audio Slideshow

Male rape – Guardian photofilm

Ciara — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 19:59:33 +0000

When I watch a photofilm in which the audio features the photographer talking about their images, I often switch off quite quickly. But when I heard Will Storr talk about his project on male survivors of rape in Congo and Uganda, I didn’t – in fact I was stopped in my tracks. I think the reason is that his delivery is so conversational – and therefore accessible – plus of course the angle of the story is somewhat different from what we are used to. The production of the photofilm could be better but the story and its delivery are very powerful. I’ve covered male rape stories myself in the past – it’s far more common even in the UK than you might think.

Pitch perfect storytelling

duckrabbit — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:45:27 +0000

Lots of craft going on here, in more ways than one.

Kauri multimedia are based in Spain. There is a sweetness and light to their work. Wonderful.

Etienne Bellanger always wanted to be a luthier. At a young age he spent time in a luthier workshop, where he became instantly fascinated and hooked, and ended up submerging deeper into this world.

He studied to be a luthier at the prestigious National School of Lutherie of Mirecourt and settled in Zaragoza in 2009 with the aim of developing his professional career. Lutherie of bowed instruments is almost non-existent in Spain, and Etienne, who provides a breath of fresh air in a city with practically no tradition in this art, welcomes us into his workshop to share his thoughts on music and his craft.

Ever thought about killing the person who leaves dirty cups in the sink?

duckrabbit — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:28:25 +0000

For me there is always a story under the story in the best photofilms. James Hooker gets this.

Earlier this year I was invited to spend a couple of days with the undergraduates on the photojournalism course at London College of Communication (alongside duckrabbit’s teaching on the Masters course there). I’m not sure if they knew quite how lucky they were to be taught by Roger Hutchings but they were an impressive bunch.

Whilst we are talking about Roger, have you seen his work? Roger is not one of those photographers turned teacher just to make up the bills. He really, really cares about giving the students a decent education. It showed. I found them one of the most intellectually switched on groups I have taught.

One of the talented on students on the course is James Hooker, and not just for having the ability to cycle home after drinking duckrabbit under the table.

I was chuffed to receive a copy of his first photofilm. Chuffed because it showed someone in the class was actually listening!

Thanks James. You made duckrabbit’s day.

(if you want to train with duckrabbit get in touch. All our workshops are currently SOLD OUT but I am thinking of putting on an extra workshop in July around the Birmingham Jazz Festival)

Click here to view the embedded video.

‘You are thirst – and thirst is all I know’ (inspired and inspiring photofilm)

duckrabbit — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:51:46 +0000

Every now and again duckrabbit has the pleasure of training someone who understands that to nail a great photofilm has as much to with sweat as it does talent. David Mansell-Moullin has worked his photofilm ‘To The Desert’, close to perfection.

Short, poetic and speaking to my heart. I hope it speaks to yours too (comments always really welcome, details about the poem and music below)

The poem “To the Desert” is by Benjamin Alire Saenz. The music is from the soundtrack “Desert Capriccio” by Yo-Yo Ma.

‘”The classes and tutorials that I have taken with Benjamin (duck) have not only been inspiring but opened my eyes to the possibilities and power of working with photo-films. His experience, insights and suggestions have proven invaluable in taking my practice to another level.”

If you would like to be trained by duckrabbit we have a few spaces left on courses running in May/June and July.

Beautiful, eloquent, thought provoking. Damn thing made me cry.

duckrabbit — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:34:42 +0000

Those are just a few of the words that come to mind watching Margaret Cheatham Williams’ photofilm Goodnight Moon (first spotted on the excellent Innovative Interactivity).

There’s been a lot of debate around the use of cinematic techniques to film traumatic events. Dan Chung’s video of the aftermath of the Japanese Earthquake is a classic example (for which I think he was unfairly beaten up).

For me the problem is not the use of cinematography in journalism, it’s that too often that’s all there is in these films. The audio is crap. There is no story, and it doesn’t look like the person making the film is thinking much beyond dollys and shallow depth of field. A sense of authenticity goes out the window and we end up thinking about the person behind the camera more than the person in front of the lens.

Margaret Cheatham Williams’ film is beautiful, but it’s not the grace of her camera work that we are left thinking about (or her choice of music).

Goodnight Moon from Margaret Cheatham Williams on Vimeo.

“First it was her face, and she always had a beautiful face.”

A story of my grandmother, who lost her courageous 13-year battle with Parkinson’s Disease in February.

Special thanks to Chad A Stevens.

April is Parkinson’s Awareness month. I’m in, are you?

Music by Thomas Gamble

WOW WOW WOW. The most beautiful timelapse photofilm I have ever seen.

duckrabbit — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 12:34:39 +0000

WOW. No Really. WOW.

WOW.

One day someone will make a photofilm as beautiful as this and combine it with a story and blow everyone’s minds …this will blow your mind anyway and I guess the story is MOTHER NATURE.

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

“I have four babies, beautiful, gorgeous, why should I ever think about suicide? I had these thoughts in my mind. I was messed up.”

duckrabbit — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:51:11 +0000

This is an astonishing photofilm about how one small fishing community has been affected by the BP Oil disaster. What the photofilm lacks in context about the disaster it makes up for in emotional punch and as good a set of documentary photography as you are likely to see.

I take my hat off to Director/Photographer Melanie Burford.

“Its not a job, it’s who you are. We are losing it. I don’t think we’ll ever get it back.”

Please watch this, share on Facebook and Tweet. You may not see a better photofilm this year and guess what, no shallow depth of field in sight.

“It was afterwards that we heard the whispers about the oil and that’s when I thought, fuckinghell I might be on the wrong side”

duckrabbit — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 08:05:08 +0000

Its very hard to keep an audience glued to your photofilm unless you offer them a gripping opening 30 seconds and openings don’t get stronger then in Florence Royer’s photofilm about one soldier’s attempts to come to terms with life after combat in Iraq.

Florence was one of the students at LCC last year who benefited from duckrabbit’s photofilm training. As a piece of feature journalism, it doesn’t get much stronger then this.

Raw, real and essential viewing. Please, please share on Facebook and Twitter.

Hidden History: The Irish At War, Damian Drohan

duckrabbit — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 18:28:34 +0000

Goddamn this is a project and a half barrel of whisky.

Immense.

Damian Drohan is one of the most committed students duckrabbit has had the pleasure to train. It gives me great honor to introduce you to his monumental project about the unknown, unrecognized Irish veterans of World War 2 (be sure to check out the full project here).

I wish I could take some credit for this work, but I can’t. Its driven by Damian’s passion to capture memory before it flares to smoke.

‘WW2Vets project is a visual/audio and photo-film project which seeks to tell the story of war memory in Ireland. These memories have been buried for many years. Although 70,000 Irish men and women fought in WW2, their service has never been recognized officially, except through token gestures, and occasional mentions. The stories here represent the direct experiences of veterans from, or living in Ireland and the experiences of those indirectly affected, such as Brian Smith, whose family war memory spans several generations, and the story of Paddy Bassett, a child during the war, his memories, preserved through the many military items he has accrued, the first being a piece of a spitfire he collected as a child.

Photography alone would be too limiting for a project such as this, there would be a danger of preserving the veterans as relics of history, monuments if you like. Instead the audio and photo-film approach helps to bring their stories to life.

A big thanks is due to duckrabbit for various types of support during the project, advice, guidance and encouragement, and various plugs and mentions have helped keep the project alive. Cheers Ben & David.’

Damian Drohan

Paddy Bassett was born in England and remembers World War II as a young child. He was evacuated on several occasions, but survived. He worked in England in the Forestry Service for a time after the war, and moved to Ireland in 1952. Paddy has retained a lifelong fascination with collecting all things military. He has a large collection of uniforms, bayonets and other items, some of which he’s had since he was a child. One of the first items he collected was a piece of a downed Spitfire Aircraft.

Brian Smith was born in Swansea in South Wales into a family with a long military history. His father served in the Great War and survived being gassed, twice. His uncle was in a Cavalry division and survived being buried alive by shellfire. Both of Brian’s brothers flew with the RAF during wartime. One brother flew in a Lancaster bomber and survived unscathed, except for hearing damage sustained due to high altitude flying. His other brother was a wireless operator-airgunner on a Beaufort torpedo bomber, he also survived unscathed. Brian describes being surrounded by the war, Swansea was a hive of wartime activity. The large harbour meant it was used in training exercises in the lead up to D-Day. Brian was too young to join the RAF during hostilities but he served as a pilot for three years in the early 1950′s. He later joined the Merchant Navy and then the Coastguard. Until recently he provided safety courses for sailors. He has now retired and lives in County Cork.

Sound Portraits:

Margaret McGrath

Margaret (Peggy) McGrath moved to England to take up nursing training at the age of 20. She trained in the Royal Waterloo Hospital and then moved to East Grinstead to Archibald McIndoeís pioneering plastic surgery ìGuinea Pigî hospital. She recalls meeting her husband-to-be on her very first dayís service. He had lost his toes through frostbite and was traumatized after returning from a Japanese P.O.W. camp. She continued to nurse her husband after the war ended as he was unable to take up work. He eventually found work in a new initiative program which was designed to get injured ex-servicemen working. She lived in England for most of her life and moved back to Ireland in the last few years.

Paddy Mooney:

Patrick (Paddy) Mooney is 89. He joined the RAF at the age of 22 in 1943. He wanted to join sooner but his mother didn’t approve. He was posted to Egypt and maintained aircraft engines, with the intention of becoming a flight engineer. However the squadron he was posted to didnít train flight crew, so he worked as ground crew for the remainder of the war. He also served in Palestine. After the war ended he returned to Ireland and ran his own bar businesses for the much of his working life.

James Redmond:

James Redmond’s father served in the Great War. James joined the RAF in 1942, and ended up serving as a rear gunner in a Bomber squadron. There was a long waiting list for Pilots and Navigators so impatience led him to accepting a position as a rear gunner. After the war he trained as a doctor and lived for many years in Zimbabwe before Robert Mugabe’s land confiscations forced him to flee.

Jack Allshire: D-Day Veteran

Jack Allshire served in the Second Battalion of the Royal Ulster Rifles. He lied about his age to gain entry to the army at 15. He landed on Sword Beach on D Day, and was part deafened in action a few days later whilst firing an anti-tank gun. He continued through France to Germany and left the army in September 1947. He spent the post-war years as both a painter-decorator and a truck driver. In common with many of the veterans featured here, his father fought in the Great War.

“Peeing standing up is part of being a man”

duckrabbit — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 11:14:48 +0000

Here is a lovely, powerful and thought provoking insight (photofilm) into one man’s journey into blindness.

It was sent to me by Emily Macinnes, a young photography student at Nottingham Trent University, who rocked up to the duckrabbit/rhubarb training at the Format festival on Saturday (cracking event, thanks to all).

Remember that name, Emily Macinnes, she is going to be a great filmmaker.

Blindsight from Emily Macinnes on Vimeo.

RESPONSES:

Damian Drohan

Really beautiful and touching piece of work, very well crafted, well done Emily!
Lisa Hogben

Really, really the best piece of multi media story telling I have seen and the audio is delicious! Bravo Emily, wish I could do as well with my feeble attempts. I also have to say it definitely has that beautiful duckrabbit feel… Its the sanguine nature of the piece that gets to me… lovely, lovely stuff…

Ian Forsyth

Brilliant!

David White

First class work. The music does add to the piece … very carefully crafted audio, well done Emily, and thanks of course to Dennis also.

ciara

best thing I’ve watched in ages.
Made even better by one of the best tracks by one of the best bands around.
Thanks Emily, and Dennis.

Niamh Nic Carthaigh

This moved me deeply. A member of my family has lost a lot of her eyesight already and this beautifully made piece helped me ‘see’ her reality a little more clearly. It is so beautifully made. Dennis is inspiring. Emily captured his story with incredible dignity. Thanks!

Tom White

tomwhitephotography.com

I can relate to this – my eyes aren’t that bad but I am very short sighted and without my glasses I can’t make out anything further than a couple of inches from my nose, so a lot of what he describes resonates. I too get that odd firework display thing when I close my eyes, it’s kinda like the end of Kubriks 2001, which is pretty cool sometimes, except when you really need to sleep and your optic nerve is misfiring (or whatever it is)and keeping you awake …

I love the way this is put together. Great stuff. And yes, peeing standing up is definitely part of being a man.