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ARTHUR GODDARD DVD NEWSLETTER 2The latest news of the Arthur Goddard DVD, being prepared to celebrate the 2010 visit to the UK of the last-surviving member of the management team who designed, built and developed the Land-Rover in 1947-48. |
A title for the DVD, but not a chance to order it for Christmas, I'm afraid. But instead, the next best thing!
As you'll guess from the above, I'm afraid that my original (sincere and genuinely-believed) intention to get the project edited, pressed, packaged and available to buy as Christmas presents for 2010 is just not going to happen. I'll not go into full details, but I hinted at them in the previous Newsletter. The computer problems that kept coming up and up during the summer and autumn would, if written down, have the makings of a wonderful 'Geek Tragedy' for a television sitcom. Suffice it to say that in the end I've had to get a second new computer, specially built to a retro specification so that it will run my old, obsolete editing program. Now I have that, I've been able to make a start on editing the hours of material (and there's proof of this at the end of this Newsletter).
I'm also in the fortunate position (for the TV industry in the North East of England) of having plenty of work to keep interrupting me! Along with a cameraman colleague, we specialise in safety induction videos for industry, and we must be doing something right because word-of-mouth recommendations are bringing us a fairly constant stream of commissions. Much as I would prefer to be able to concentrate on editing a very special Land-Rover film, I'm afraid that my colleague and his clients have to come first.
We're also having considerable 4-wheel-drive fun up here in Yorkshire at present — we've not been able to get the Freelander down to the farm for a week, since the wind got up and blew snow drifts in over the lane. Every journey begins and ends with a 15-minute trudge with a sledge! Constant digging out of doorways, plus the hassle of feeding livestock in sub-zero temperatures, means that the proportion of the day available for work is not very high. But the snow has solved one problem — we completed Part 1 of an induction for a client back in the summer, but it took a long time to get the go-ahead for Part 2. As it would be necessary for me to dress the same in both parts, I wasn't looking forward to the prospect of working on the bank of the River Humber in December, wearing my thin summer overalls and no coat. At least the coming of snow put paid to that, as continuity would be impossible.
But let's be positive — for a start I've decided that the DVD will be called 'Stop Gap'. I originally shied away from a perhaps somewhat obvious title, but kept being drawn back to it, and as the script progressed it became more and more obvious that there were a number of facets to the idea. One of them required me to say the name of the DVD when I was presenting the linking material, and as there would be no going back — I'd managed to get a day with wonderful autumn colours down in a neighbour's field beyond the farm, but the weather was due to break, so there would be no opportunity for later retakes — I had to decide on a title and stick to it. So, 'Stop Gap' it is.
And what about that 'next best thing' I mentioned above? Well, obviously Christmas was a target for completion of the film. After all, DVDs are prefect for posting to the Land-Rover enthusiast in your life, and would have solved all your prezzie problems! I'm now working towards solving But in the meantime I may be able to rescue your Christmas plans with a Gift Voucher. If you go to the 'Stop Gap' website, you can follow the 'Buy Online' link to a voucher which will secure a copy of the DVD as soon as it's ready, but will give you something to send for December 25th. The price will be the same as the ultimate cost of the DVD (£20), and I'll send you by First Class mail a card voucher which will need to be registered by the recipient. It will come in its own envelope, so that you can mail it on if necessary. In order to cope with the post, I would recommend making your order by Friday December 17th if possible. This offer will continue until the DVD is released, but buying before December 31st will help defray the cost of making the DVD — after January 1st I'll have to pay a larger proportion of your money to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as UK VAT increases to 20%. The price of the DVD will not go up.
I'm sorry that this is not quite the same as a crisp, new DVD, but hope that you will find it a useful alternative. In the meantime, to offer encouragement to you, here's a taster of what the finished DVD will look like:
Actually, not quite... I remember when I first started to work in television in Newcastle as an Assistant Director on a local wildlife series, the presenter was a veteran broadcaster who was something of a hero to me. I was horrified to find that he made mistakes — fluffs and coughing fits, and so on. Then I realised that we only see in the finished programme the bits that worked — the duff bits usually get lost, so it all looks a smooth, polished, 'first take' production. That's not to say that one shouldn't strive to get it right first time... but it's not the end of the world if you don't (at least when it's not live).
Of course, nowadays we're used to 'blooper' programmes, so the idea that our heroes have feet of clay shouldn't come as a shock. So I'm not afraid to let you have an exclusive look at a few of the in-vision links that won't be making it into the finished DVD.
Wishing you a Very Happy Christmas, and a successful New Year, To subscribe to the Newsletter, and receive notice of updates, please visit the 'Stop Gap' Home Page
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GRAEME ALDOUS