Everybody I have asked for advice on how to make a film has told me the same thing: the most important thing is sound as it either can’t be fixed in post-production or will cost a lot to fix in post-production. Everyone says this, everyone means it, but in the film pecking order sound recordists … More Who would be a Sound Recordist?
What is not to love about Sheffield? Birthplace of Jarvis, a city in the countryside, and a university full of people I like. Now this great city has another bonus – it’s exhibiting the first showing of photographs from Pili from the 27th – 29th April as part of the Art, Expression, and Democracy seminar … More Get thee to Sheffield! Exhibition time ‘Pili and the Left Ones’ 27th – 29th April
Early fans (or, er, coerced friends) of this blog will recall that this film began life as a documentary and became a feature length drama. There was therefore no prop budget in the production budget. The story was my fault, as described here it was planned on the side of the road in Mbwewe, … More How We Made Pili Part 3: Props
Last week I attended the Axa Research Fund Celebration where existing and future research into environmental, life and socio-economic risk was showcased. Sitting through this research presentation I thought about how far I had come in 10 days – the tasty canapés and central Paris location were as far away from Msata and daily … More The Risks of Making a Film about Risk
Pili is a film based on the stories of women living with HIV/AIDS in Pwani, told by these women, and filmed where they live. The women in the film are played by women from the region rather than trained actors. The majority of these women are HIV positive. Although the character of Pili is … More How we made Pili Part 2: Cast
If there is one thing that divided the crew and me it was shooting the Vikoba meeting scenes. The crew, especially Leanne, dreaded the Vikoba scenes as it meant a lot of dialogue, shooting day for night (MEGA sound issues for Tom) and long days: I LOVED a Vikoba day as it meant I could … More I LOVE the Vikoba Women
The locations for Pili are set in the Pwani region of Tanzania. Without a budget to build sets we were entirely reliant on the kindness and trust of people to use their homes as Pili’s house, their field as a work space, their council offices for the Vikoba meetings, bits of beach to drive along, … More How we made Pili Part 1: Locations
Not Another AIDS Film 