Rain halts play is a familiar expression and no truer when it comes to the film making process of the Bald Explorer productions. This is not because I am particularly adverse to working in wet weather. It has more to do with not having the right sort of waterproofing for my camera equipment, gaining access to certain locations when knee deep in boggy conditions and asking people to help out with the filming and having them get cold and soggy in the process.
The nature of my documentaries as a history/travel adventure is to show off the landscape. I want my viewers to appreciate the location, the architecture the buildings shot and beautiful imagery presented when the sun is shinning or the sky is bright. These videos will be hanging about for a while, one hopes, and rather than impatiently knock them out, I do prefer to wait for the right conditions. That said it is incredible frustrating when the weather lets you down day after day.
The other irritating thing that happens to annoy me is how wonderful the weather is when I am not actually available to get out and film. This is continuously happening and drives me mad, but you do learn to shrug your shoulders and try not to let it get to you too much.
The key to these none shooting days is to make use of the time as much as possible. So I am currently researching and planning episode five. If I can get the script ready for that one two, it is then feasibly possible to shoot the next two back to back and just utilise the good weather for filming when it comes.
Well, that is the plan. Ideally, one should write several episodes in the winter and use the spring and summer months for production purposes only. Maybe this winter I will do that.