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The Modern Antiquarian Forum » Standing with Stones DVD |
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ocifant 1758 posts |
Jan 27, 2008, 20:12
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Well, I've watched it now. What can I say? An excellent DVD, well worth the money, but at the same time it left me wanting... I can't help feeling there's TV series in there somewhere - so many sites were included, many only in passing but so many more were omitted. I can understand the reasoning - as was said in the film, we could still be watching in a year's time! So why not? The regional split was good - I can easily see a series where each region is the subject of one or two episodes giving wider coverage of the various sites - the Rollrights section was a good example of what could be done with each site - a bit of history, a bit of folklore, and a bit of archaeology thrown in. This is in no way a criticism, BTW. I just want more!!
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FourWinds 10943 posts |
Jan 27, 2008, 21:00
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ocifant wrote: I can't help feeling there's TV series in there somewhere - That's one of the reasons I'm not buying this DVD yet. There's a project afoot here in Ireland, which may come to nothing, but I don't want it to be influenced by something else. This pisses me off a tadge, because this DVD sounds great. I don't trust myself to buy it and not watch it. For those with access to RTE I have a piece coming up on Nationwide soon featuring a bit of Dublin and a bit of Carlow. I ain't seen the final edit and doubt I will before it goes out so I can't say what it'll be like.
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Michael Bott 60 posts |
Jan 27, 2008, 21:28
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ocifant wrote: Well, I've watched it now. What can I say? An excellent DVD, well worth the money, but at the same time it left me wanting... I can't help feeling there's TV series in there somewhere - so many sites were included, many only in passing but so many more were omitted. I can understand the reasoning - as was said in the film, we could still be watching in a year's time! So why not? Thanks for that ocifant. If you've watched the interview and the original Pilot in the Special Features, you'll know that it was our original intention to make a series for television. To cut a long story short, although there was interest in our original idea of a series of 10 minute shorts that ran 'till we ran out of sites, the writing on the wall seemed to be that our idea would be taken and twisted out of all recognition from our original intent. So we walked away at that time. Whatever got done had to be sensitive to the spirit of these marvellous places. Our instinct was proven right by my experiences a couple of years ago when I was involved with making a doc for Channel 5 - it's a jungle out there! Anyway, a couple of years ago we just said: "sod it!" let's do it anyway. Which was crazy 'cos it's taken those two years and cost a lot of money and it'll be some time before we see it again. NOT that we begrudge that - we have had a complete blast making this film - but the point is that it would cost a broadcaster 10 or 20 times as much to make and there's the rub, it all comes down to money. However, now that we've shown that it can be done and that there's an interest out there, we are optimistic that 'Standing with Stones' could prove that a TV series might be well worth commissioning. We won't be able to do anything like this again - not on our own and with our own money anyway. This was a crazy one off. Let's hope we can move to the next stage and get that commission.
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ocifant 1758 posts |
Jan 27, 2008, 21:53
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I've not worked through the Special Features section yet - it's been a busy weekend! Good to know that the idea is planted 'out there' now though. He's hopign you get sufficient sales a) to recoup the expense, and b) to prove to the broadcasters that there's a market for this sort of thing out there.
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DaveF 45 posts |
Jan 28, 2008, 18:30
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I have sent the website link to someone in the US I thought would find this interesting - and was going to pop it onto a forum - however I noticed that the US is not listed on the places you ship to Is this just due to DVD regions, or is there some other reason not to ship to US. I would have thought there was a sizable market there to show that we have more to offer here than Stonehenge I know some people who are coming later this year and both couples have listed Stonehenge as one of thier must sees In both cases I have said try to get special access & make sure you see some other sites nearby
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Michael Bott 60 posts |
Jan 28, 2008, 19:37
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DaveF wrote: Is this just due to DVD regions, or is there some other reason not to ship to US. I would have thought there was a sizable market there to show that we have more to offer here than Stonehenge Hi Dave You are absolutely right, of course - there is a massive market in the US - but the bottom line is that we could not afford to do a replication run (minimum 1000 copies) of both PAL and NTSC versions this time around. The American version will come in time, hopefully sooner rather than later, but other than the cost, there is no reason not to sell across the Atlantic and every reason to do so. I don't think the exchange rate is even that much of a put off for enthusiasts. Michael
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Jane 3024 posts |
Jan 28, 2008, 19:52
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Hi Rupert and Michael Well, the DVD arrived today and me and Moth sat down immediately to watch it. Moth had already 'accidentally' watched it earlier in the day while I was at work... It's truly superb. A labour of love. Beautifully paced, beautifully photographed. Great music, Michael, and great graphics, too. We love the computer enhancements and the lovely maps.... Rupert, your comments and delivery style was friendly and honest, and the narrative was clear and you constructed a real story. So much so, I feel like you're a friend! (Corny, but true.) So I just wanted to say THANK YOU for taking me on this journey. I sincerely hope that you make some cash enough to pay back what you have invested and better still, it gives you the chance to get a TV production company interested in something... Can't wait to watch the outtakes and commentary now! We were very VERY interested to hear your theory about the petrified tree pillar in the middle of Bryn Celli Ddu... It makes so much sense. I'd like to know more! What do other viewers think? Lots of love J x
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Rupert Soskin 234 posts |
Jan 28, 2008, 20:49
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Hi Jane, Thanks so much, Mike and I are both pretty thrilled that our time wasn't wasted. Regarding Bryn Celli Ddu, I have much more experience in geology than archaeology and have a fair bit of petrified wood in my own collection. It's quite true that I sat on the floor of the chamber like a gibbering idiot and still don't really understand why it hasn't been picked up before. The thing is that, even if it is a freak piece of stone (unlikely), its reason for being there makes total sense in terms of representing life and death. It was definitely one of the high points of our journey. best wishes and thanks again Rupert
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scubi63 463 posts |
Jan 28, 2008, 21:05
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I couldn’t agree more with you comments on the making of the DVD Jane and the fact that they have made it regardless shows a commitment I can only envy. Jane wrote: We were very VERY interested to hear your theory about the petrified tree pillar in the middle of Bryn Celli Ddu... It makes so much sense. I'd like to know more! What do other viewers think? The fossilised tree is a little bit of an enigma and I hope you have now seen the commentary. Obviously the tree was already in that state when it was placed in the barrow and was probably very precious object. As Rupert and Michael mention, the combinations of both wood and stone in the same object would have brought together the two symbols of life and death (or afterlife?) Trees may fossilise in a relatively short period of time but how common could this be? Is there any way of dating such an object? To me the compression mark have probably been made as and when the tree fell. The cut marks however, looked quite regular on the DVD. Could they have been made by an animal or insect of some type? I am not sure if they could. I am also not sure that the trunk rolling along the ground or down a hill would form such defined and regular marks either. Could they be scrape rather of hacking marks caused by movement of the tree rubbing against something when it was alive? All very interesting and open to a good healthy debate. :o) Scubi
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Rupert Soskin 234 posts |
Jan 28, 2008, 21:28
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Hi Scubi, I agree with you that the pulped indentations could have been made when the tree fell. The most exciting thing about them though, is the fact that they can only happen on soft tissue. Actually it was those marks more than anything else that convinced me it was really wood and not a freak piece of mudstone. As for the notches, it's not unusual to have crystals forming in irregular rock surfaces, in fact, if you mooch around the rocks close by in the field, there are calcite crystals which look superficially similar. The thing is the way they have affected the 'tree trunk' matrix. If it was normal crystal growth in stone it would not have caused the lateral shift... if you see what I mean. The 'dragged' bark would simply not be there. There was one geologist I really wanted to check this out for me, Dr Alan Timms, ex Natural History and Geology Museum, a man who taught me more about the earth than anyone. Unfortunately I can't track him down since he took early retirement and I just haven't had the time to find a dendrochronologist to get on the case. The sad fact is that there is no non-destructive way to verify it. You'd have to take various samples, possibly even a core, and I can't see the authorities rushing in to that:-) Bloody ought to though! Rupert
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