There are numerous forums and Facebook pages rallying for the awards to be renamed 'The Sh$! Awards' and I have to admit that I'm full of skepticism for the awards that are meant to represent the 'Best of British Music'.

I'm aware that not everyone shows the same cultural appreciation of Kraftwerk as I do, but what better time to have an introduction to this unique and intense band as now? I love all bands electronic, but it was Kraftwerk that sparked my obsession. Their ability to sound like a strange computer game whilst looking quite robotic provoked my interest early on.

However, music is the thing that keeps me going. It's the one indulgence I can rely on to bring me happiness on a bad day, to make me cry, dance, scream and even daydream.

Some girls remember places or moments by what perfume they wear but for me it will always be what soundtrack was the accompaniment.

My blogs will be mostly about music; whether that's new bands, the local scene, music tech or just general musical chatter.

My first subject is the music documentaries:

Awards Season

The film awards season is now beginning in earnest. BAFTA have published their long list, from which the 6,000+ membership will choose the nominees and then the winners. I'm one of the voters. The trade press say that less films have been made this year but those completed are of higher quality. Having less films to consider is certainly a blessing and I have to say I'm really enjoying my movies at the moment. But, the big question - how am I going to vote? Tricky, with a lot of good films on offer. I think in my top three though contains two films based on true stories, the third is directed by a Brit in his 70th year. Can you guess the films?

One of my day jobs whilst we are making 'Turbulence' is running a Thursday evening film course at The Midland Arts Centre or MAC. To celebrate the awards season, I am going to dedicate each week to a different category. There'll be evenings on cinematography, actors, script, costume etc. I'm hoping to include special guests and even a special awards ceremony on the final night!

So what do the awards actually mean? For me I'd say being nominated is the most significant thing and being on that list year in, year out certainly does no harm to a career. The actual winner is much more of a lottery and ultimately less significant. Also there tends to be the lean towards one film picking up nearly all the prizes. Whilst this makes a good news story, I have to say I do think it's a shame and generally doesn't reflect what's out there. For my own work, I tend to think about the words of Martin Scorsese, famous for not winning an oscar for most of his career. He always said its not the prizes that matter but being able to make the next film. Here's to that.

So, I'm off to vote! You can see the BAFTA 'long list' using the link below, these will become nominees, and after a third round of voting, winners. Can you see any of your favourites from 2010?

http://www.bafta.org/awards/film/entered-films,65,BA.html

Also check out MAC's evening courses and of course, our film Turbulence. We are now looking for completion finance of £75,000. if you know someone who might like to invest, please ask them get in touch. Businesses can invest in the film and offset this against corporation tax before April 6th 2011.

About Turbulence http://www.turbulencefilm.com
For Turbulence investment e mail Natasha@dreamfinder.net
For MAC's courses see http://www.macarts.co.uk/page/3704/Learning+Participation
To follow me on Twitter it's @bikefilm

I have just found myself in the peculiar situation of simultaneously making my longest and shortest film. My longest film is 'Turbulence', which you will be familiar with from previous blogs. It currently weighs in at 2 hours - the assembly edit. The assembly is your very first edit, basically an 'assembly' of all the scenes, in the order of the script. It's as rough as Desperate Dan's chin but basically offers you a starting point out of all of those hours of material. I'm now looking at it to see how well the story works, bringing down the length through tightening and deleting scenes and adding in music. There's a lot of music. I decided that the best way to deal with such a length is to take it 15 minutes at a time. So far it seems to be working!

This is all in marked contrast to my shortest film - 'How to Speak Big Cat'. This is a one take wonder, me and my daughter pretending to be lions - shot and edited in 30 minutes on a flip camera and running at a mere 55 seconds. I made it for a competition - Land Rover and Biosphere's 'Go Beyond' with the prize a place on an expedition to Namibia. Well, after being put through my paces on a selection day involving driving Land Rovers down rivers, imagining scenarios like being stranded in the desert and spotting lifesize cardboard cut outs of Zebras in the Herefordshire countryside (to name but a few tasks), I am glad to say that they have decided to put me on the plane! Yahoo! Thanks to little C, Aquila TV, Land Rover and Biosphere.

#lrna

Links -

http://gobeyond.landrover.com
http://gobeyond.landrover.com/entry/86130
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5M5KNUWp-M