Crossings of the River Thames 2b - Hampton Court Bridge

Sauntering downstream from Molesey Lock, you quickly come to Hampton Court Bridge. The first of the many bridges across the river in London and a relatively new bridge by the Capital's standards. Opened in 1933, it was part of the spate of building that this part of London experienced in the 1930's. As I have mentioned earlier (second post) this was the time when forward planning and expansion were in the minds of the people who ruled London and its surrounds with an iron fist and loadsamoney. Then the greenbelt kicked in and London became trapped in its own sprawl. The approaches to Hampton Court are relatively long, straight and wide, something that did not come from an old trackway upgraded to 20th century (we won't get to the 21st century for a while in this city) standards. This was a purpose built road, a highway of the 1930's (for want of a better phrase) and in some ways, thanks to the greenbelt, the rest of London and its surrounds did not end up like L.A.

This bridge is as simple as it gets. Three arches, brick lined. Four lanes of traffic and two wide pavements with a cycle path badly marked out on the upstream pavement. In the rush hour it is a bottleneck (which bridge isn't?) and at all other times it is pretty free flowing. It is built in a style that is sympathetic to Hampton Court Palace (at this moment lost in the cover of it's front garden's foliage). And it actually works pretty well. Easy to drive over, a bit hairy to cycle over and a pleasant stroll over the Thames.



As with many crossings across the Thames, Hampton Court Bridge is currently in its 4th incarnation. The previous three structures of either wood or iron proving too weak for today's standards. In fact the old approach still remains. On the southbank there is a wall and plaque commemorating the fact while on the northbank the Mitre Hotel stands in the way of the past alignment.



In some ways this is an unusual Thames crossing. Not for what it is but for what it isn't. It doesn't have that long a history to it. It isn't architecturally impressive (though it is actually quite a nice construction). It isn't a major pain to cross the river at this point and there is nothing quirky about the crossing. In fact, it is perfectly functional. Something that is quite unusual about the crossings of the Thames, as you will all find out.



However, there is one treat for visitors to this part of the river. Hampton Court Palace. A grand and imposing building, started by Cardinal Wolesey with touch ups throughout the ages including a refit by Wren in the 1700's. Along with two massive parks nearby, Hampton Court Bridge possible has one of the grandest locations in London. It is one of three river crossings that stand next to a Royal Palace (the others being Westminster and Tower) and it is a very underrated spot in terms of its surroundings. With the river slowly curving into the centre of London, this happens to be one of the most beautiful parts of the Thames. And now that summer is here, it is possibly one of the better places to visit as there is a lot of outdoor space to enjoy. Until next month...

And yes, one day, I will blog about the Palace. But that is another blog post and another year...

Bus Routes: 111, 216, 411, R68 as well as 451, 461 and 513. 267 on Summer Sundays. Nearest Rail: Hampton Court.

Currie House

It has been one of my favourite locations in all of London, and I have used it multiple times for shooting films. When I was first getting started I shot my friends running about and zapping each other with bolts of lightning. Later on I used it for real, in my first broadcastable short, The Fight. And last year I used it for my opening scenes to An East End Tale.

I know Currie House and the Abberfeldy Estate as one of my very good friends used to live there a few years ago. And it was a beautiful setting for locations, but it was poorly kept. The lifts never worked, there was filth everywhere and film makers kept on turning up to run up and down the stairwells. Tower Hamlets used it for temporary acommodation and so never really looked after it. It's a shame and it did give a very bad view of the local housing stock. Not all of it is bad, and Tower Hamlets does have a huge job on their hands being one of the biggest provider of council housing in the UK. Still, Currie House made a fantastic location.

I revisted the estate earlier this year to photograph some possible locations for a sequel to An East End Tale and found the place boarded up. It seems that the council have finally shut down the building and when I went back to shoot the third documentary for An East End Tale that there were very few people housed there. In fact if you go around the Abberfeldy Estate (and it is huge) there has been a lot of new housing recently built.

So enjoy part three of the documentary series of An East End Tale and some images of Currie House.



Nearest Bus: 115, 309 and N15. Tube: East India (DLR)

What's driving round London?

Well, here is my monthly observation on what is driving round the sides of London's big red buses. First up on the list of the adverts is Ocean's 13. There are a few Spidey posters up, but it's the return of the rat pack, and I know this sounds really bad for someone who is meant to like films, but until I saw the ads, I didn't know there was another sequel to the 'Ocean' series. Ooops. Looks like I'm not too clued up on what's happening. Thank goodness for advertising!

Secondly are the adverts dominating the fact that England is to follow the rest of the UK and go smoke free from July 1st. Yep, we're following the health advice and the Americans in slapping public smoking bans. It's a good idea, but most places are already smoke free, with the one obvious exception, the pub, for which this law was really aimed at. Broadly a good law but expect the police to arrest people for sparking up on the thresholds of public buildings as they are technically smoking 'in an enclosed public space'.

Interesting to note that last month's adverts was also dominated by government, at the time the Food Standards Agency telling us to eat less salt. Singapore (you can see I love this country), Norway and even Kiribati have invested their public funds into businesses, some countries with greater success than others, but all could be considered a wise approach to spending tax revenues. The UK decides to tell people to stop smoking and eating crisps as a more effective way to spend the public purse. Mmm.

With the sides of buses taken up on one side by propaganda from Whitehall and on the other side by sunshine from LA there doesn't seem to be much room for anyone else to jostle in and it was a tough choice to choose my third advert for the month. Nevertheless, the pink colours of 'lastminute' won. Still, I won't be going anywhere for a while...

Crossings over the River Thames 2a - Molesey Lock

It has been raining a lot recently, and in the non-tidal part of The River, this has meant high water levels and muddy riverbanks. And of course the locks are fully opened to stop the wealthy areas to the west of the Capital from being flooded. This is the stately and sedate part of the river, but disturbed by the power of water falling a few feet through the weir







We're back on the river (scroll to the bottom) for the second part of the travels across the Thames. And I made a boo-boo. I thought it was possible to cross the river via the locks and weirs at Molesey.

As you can see by my cunningly placed bicycle, this is not possible. In fact, the footpath over the weir peters out around 200 yards from the northbank, so even if you could get authorised access to the weir, it is not possible to make it across the river.

Oh.

Still, in this summer/winter like weather that we're getting at the moment, there's nothing I can recommend more than to dust down your bicycles and floor it around the riverside. While the Thames is a lovely meandering river, once it hits the Capital, parking space is at a premium. The best thing is to cycle it around and follow the trails along the river and close to it. But there's a problem, I still can't cross the river. Where to next? All to be revealed on Friday.








And Molesey Lock is a beautiful part of the Thames. There's a boat house nearby, plenty of open spaces, paddocks, a pumping house, a tribute to Shakespeare. All are within strolling distance of the lock on both sides of the river. But this isn't the main reason why people decide to come to Molesey Lock. If anyone comes here, it is usually due to the fact that they have strayed from the area's premire attraction. And that is a fantastic place to go, but that is another year's blog.

Bus routes 111, 216 (Northbank); 411, 451, 461 (Southbank); R68 (Both sides of the river). Nearest Train Station, Hampton Court.

An apology

I would like to say sorry to everyone. By video.

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Please forgive me...please!

The first interview

Wow, to think that Jay and Kay represent the new cinematic voice of London. It's a kind of scary thing, but I sound almost grown up! Wait a minute, I'm 27 now, I have to be grown up.

The first interview. Wow!

A new cinematic voice of London

Front Page News!

We've made it onto the front page! Slap yourself onto vmix.com and we're there! Milk filled fun at its finest!

Eat first then write the blog

It's interesting on some days you are inspired by the multiple joys of the world annd what it brings you and on some days the energy is sapped from you and you're desperately seraching the net for something inspiring to write. There are some weeks that I actually plan what I want to wrte about. And there are many days that I just bash something out in a vain hope that someone will actually like me...

Procrastination

How to be productive and do those things around the house that you normally wouldn't have time to do. Such as refit the taps, clean all the plug holes, cut the lawn (even on a rainy day like today). Also checking all your e-mail accounts, chatting online (normally you wouldn't be caught dead doing that), catching a couple of videos online, brwosing wikipedia and discovering the intricaces of the North Korean border crossing, The Virgin of Guadeloupe and Tooting. All these things become such necessities. Even editing the next video in the CWP series. Wow, how productive.

All right, I got to form a company. And I am so scared in doing it. I've been delaying. All right, I'll bite the bullet. I'll do it. Right after...

I spend to much time on the net

Only in South London

Getting round the system

Power!

My favourite place...

...I've lived in London. Mmm, a tricky one. And obviously biased. I haven't lived all over the capital and my knowledge north of the river becomes decidedly hazy once I go past Camden Town. But it is an interesting question. What is my favourite part of the city that so many have decided to call home.

---

Waterloo 2000, a summer of fun and a dive of a flat but the rooms were huge and the rennts were cheap. Overlooking the Millenium Wheel, this was a location I could never forget. Opposite the tube (a South London luxury). Funky flatmates, long since dispersed and a landlord who preferred to be payed in cash. The only problem was that I was in the ultimate McJob as a burger flipper beneath the London Eye. Oh well, it could have been worse, and it was. Later on that summer, I got stuck in Sri Lanka's war zone, but that's a different story.

But there was no street life although the neighbours were cool (we actually talked to them) and the fact that we called out to women from our windows (still never got any) and there was nowhere nearby that was decent to shop - in other words a ride down to Brixton or Peckham for any decent food.

It's weird, what do we look for when we live somewhere. Good transport, local nightlife, where the best place to get vegetables are. But we rarely think of the neighbours or the fun that we could have. I wouldn't want to live in Waterloo now. But it is probably the most fun place that I've ever stayed at.

El Birthday!

I've finally reached the grand old age of 27. Youth has finally ended, no more cheap air tickets for me. I'm now established as an individual and as a man of the world. I have set my path, and now it's time for me to blaze to a destination of Glory. I've set my foundations, I am ready prepared with all the teachings of a folly spent youth and I am well on my way up the mountain.

And after all of that, I am inspired by my most precious creation. Enjoy.

McJob

By the time you reach 27, most people have graduated from the mentality of a McJob. They have a career, they have moved on with their lives and in fact are pretty happy with their 'lifestyle choice;. Or they could be miserable with it, but at least there is some sort of respectability to their choice. Banker, Civil Servant, Financial Adviser, Solicitor, Archaeologist the list goes on.

Ah, as for me, I've decided to stick in the throes of McJob. Not so proud of the label, but needing to eat and pay the bills, a McJob is the lifestyle choice for wannabe film makers, artists and any other person who chooses the 'alternative lifestyle'.

We may not like our McJobs. Actually, no-one likes their McJobs, but we do enjoy using that term.

Hot Chick: 'So what do you do for a living?'
Me: 'I'm in a McJob'
Hot Chick 'OK, I think I will talk to that nice honestly dressed lawyer in the corner.'

All right, maybe I don't love the tag. But it's always good to see their reaction.

Anyhow, McDonalds seem to find the title quite insulting.

Tough.

Big Lorries, small Bikinis

You wake up in the morning, slump out of bed, the traffic horns blaring and waking you up. Put on the kkettle, have a cup of tea and walk over to the window. Lo and behold the surprise when I looked out of the window.



That poster is more dangerous when YOU are in the driving seat.

Kung Fu Pizza Guys

For anyone in the know, Jay and Kay live above a pizza shop. The guys in this shop are fantastic neighbours. Of course, they are my inspiration for the more major characters in 'CWP The Movie'. And in my desire to create a funky universe for Jay and Kay to live in, I imagined Pizza delivered by Kung Fu masters. Now that is fantastic.

The other day, I went down for a pizza. My sister had gone on ahead to order and she came back with the news that the guys downstairs wanted to be a part of the CWP shorts! Ha, and she told me that they knew Kung Fu. And boxing and wrestling.

He-he, the mind of 'El Director' started churning. Maybe we could have the Pizza Guys before the feature...

CWP becomes kinkier...

The elderly

Old people. Mmm, well I was standing in the queue for a cup of tea at a bakers in South London when this woman came up to me and asked if she could push in to pay for some cakes.

She was not a frail elderly woman. She wasn't ancient. She in fact just looked like she had cashed in her first pension cheque.

In other words, she was fine.

Of course I had woken up at 5am. And it was my lunch break. I wasn't fine, I wanted my tea...

Meet the postman

I didn't do it!

The morning news

Like many people of the 21st century, I no longer buy a newspaper. My main resource is the internet. In the mornings I get up and I look at the Beeb and The Guardian. That is my official daily news. I allso check out the news in my own backyard. Always good to see the fun that goes on. And then there is the analytical and then the Holy to read. I also enjoy flirting with the news from other parts of the world.

But all of these are bog standard news outlets. Some may have a local stance, but in the end, they are all fed from Reuters. What I really enjoy reading is the 'citizen journalists'. Blogs can be a fantastic source of information. I also enjoy citizen papers. And I've been a fan of Ohmynews for a while. It gives a different slant on the day's news. It's not all Blair and Bush, although it can be quite Korean biased as it is a Korean newspaper. This article explains the whole concept of citizen reporting better then I can.

Testing, tesing

Something terrible has happened to the wonderful production house known as 'Babarouge'. After four years of faithful service the right hand of the company, namely the camera is conking out. Now, as everyone knows, this company is a little too pikey to buy a new camera just yet. So I am hoping it's just dirt or something of the like. So I'm clening the heads in a vain hope to make it better. Will it work? Who knows? Otherwise, the 'kung fu fun' will have to wait.

Damn. I want my fighting now!

One for potential husbands

Guys, we're in trouble.

CWP3 - Coming May 25th

I'm now living with Jay. In my funky suitcase!


Trailer 2 for CWP3 - Click Here for more great videos and pictures!

Random Bits

I do ot like to go to the post office. There's always a queue, old people who are striking up a conversation with the clerk and screaming babies. It's like being on a bus, and to be honest I do not want to replicate the McJob atmosphere when I have to post some letters. And so it shocks me that Royal Mail want to close more post offices. Come on, how are these guys making a loss, it's like screwing up a cup of tea.

On something completely different, Kim has allowed a choo-choo train through. Scary.

A stalled start

You go to bed filled with optimism about tomorrows activites. And then when you wake up the next day you are just hammered by the fact you had a very funky dream and someone decides to do home repairs at 8am (bad if you're doing late shifts).

So my optimistic start was ruined by dreams (but not nightmares) of warewolves, and so it has taken me half an hour to get down to composing this blog. On the way, I have seen so much useless information on the internet including the reopening of St Pancras in November. Wow.

Actually, I quite like St P, but that's another story.

Today I got to look into setting up a Ltd Co, send off Two Glasses to film festivals and start editing CWP3. That is the hardest of the three to do. To make beautiful comedy.

The word 'fun'

All right, so I liked the Hampton Ferry. And I admit, it is quite a sad way to spend your day off, finding obscure crossings of the Thames. But, fun it was. However, rereading my blog, I found out that I used that three letter word three times in a paragraph. Should I have used a Thesaurus to find variations on the word 'fun'? I know I should have proof read it, but I was too tired last night. However, if you do find yourself in this remote corner of West London, don't forget the 'fun' you can have by hopping over the river on this ferry.

The Hampton Ferry: Bus routes 111 & 216 (Northbank). Bus routes 451 & 461 (Southbank). Nearest Rail, Hampton Court (1 mile).

Crossing of the River Thames 1 - The Hampton Ferry

Now for something completely different. Today, was a lovely day off. I spent it repairing bicycles, testing out my camera, shopping (ugh) and of course as a promise to my regular reader(s) my first crossing of the River Thames.

Although a cold and windswept day, it was with a nervous anticipation that I approached the ferry terminal. This shorn looking outpost of the quaint life, a tradition all but dead on the Thames - that of the watermen. Across the river was the English Capital city, ablaze in all its suburban, cloudy glory. I fingered my pocket for the shiny one pound coin that would carry me across the river. And at a pound sterling (US$2), it is the most expensive river crossing in London.



I approached the board and checked the departure time. And then I saw a luminous notice on the board. Due to the 'severe' weather, there was no ferry service for the day. Doh. After all the hype and excitement, it ended and suddenly my suburban adventure came to an end. This great series had stopped before it even started. I continued pointing my camera across the river, expecting nothing more.

Then suddenly a boat swept across from the other side of the river. Green in colour and large enough to take eight people, it pulled up to the jetty. Against the odds of the weather, the ferry had arrived! And so began my great Thames odyssey and number one of the river crossings could finally be done.

The Hampton Ferry runs in the summer only. Every half an hour in the day during the week and on weekends on demand. Believe it or not there are a regular bunch of commuters who use the ferry to get across the river. And at a pound, it is great fun! The ferries of the River Thames have been superceded by bridges and tunnels. The car has overtaken our very lives, but this little pedestrian ferry on the fringes of London is fantastic fun! If only all commutes were as fun as this.

The Funky Brothers

Jay and Kay, doing their thing...


The Funky Brothers - Click Here for more great videos and pictures!

P.S. - I didn't come up with the title. He did.

Pedal to the max

I often cycle to work. It's healthier, more fun and quicker in the ruush hour than the car - anyone who tries to cross the river by any other means will testify that cycles whizing past have a better time in the rush hour. Hey, it's spring-ish and so we can get on our bikes.

Now I'm not really too good on maintnence. I get the cheapest bike i the shop and ride it into the ground. This one has kept up for about eight months, but at around seven quicd a month it is cheaper than a car, but far less fun in winter. However, it is beginning to pack up. The crank is falling apart.

The bike has carried my wide backside over hills, through parks and past rivers. I've gone out on my bicycle, I've cycled for fun but most of the time I've cycled to work. At around a half hour cycle, it's a little too far to walk and a pain by public transport.

Now the great dilema. Do I actually repair this bicycle. Or do I buy a new one. Or do I repair another bike I have in the shed. This 'older' one is perfect, expect for the fact that there is no chain. Mmm.

Decisions, decisions.

However, I got to repair my bike soon. Driving to work is really a pain due to parking and to be honest, I like the cycle ride. It makes crossing the river a lot easier.

Downloading and other things.

An amazing feat of technology means that CWP is now available for podcast, rss feeds or videoroll here at dailymotion.com.

Feel the milky touch of technology!

The blog of milk and honey

Watch the milk warm itself on the saucepan of sunshine and rasins...CWP's first review.

Waaaaaaah!

Crosing the Thames

The Thames is not really a major river in terms of size, beauty or sheer hydrolic flow. However, its fame punches above it's weight, as it flows straight through London and all the tales of Victorian London involve the fog rolling from the river. For many Londonners today, the Thames is not a source of water (most of it in London is tidal aka salt water), leisure (unless you have weekends off and like to drink booze) or sceneic beauty (as too many luxury apartments are built onto it) but instead is a source of constant frustration.

It wasn't always like this. Before the age of steam and then the internal combustion engine we used to travel along the river rather than across it. For fans of South London, places along the river like Woolwich, Greenwich, Southwark, Richmond and Kingston were far more important than Tooting, Croydon or Bromley. But as modes of travel became faster, London stopped spreading along the river and instead began to bulge out like some pregnant lady.

The city continued spreading until the 1930's. And of course, Londonners wanted to cross the river. Particulalrly us lot, as the jobs, parties and cuter people all live to the north so the methods of crossing the Thames became ever more important to the daily functioning of London. But as the 1930's came to a close, the finishing touches were applied and there were no more crossings built over or under the river until the sixties when the planners, with their ultimate vision decided to build a second tunnel at Blackwall and stick a half hearted stub of a tube line south of the river to Brixton. Anyone crossing the Thames today may as well say a prayer and hope for the best. Such is the frustration of living in a city that takes a relaxed attitude to adapting.

Well, it's time to start something new on this blog. Along with the 'milk' and the 'locals', I have decided to take on another project. To catelogue the crossings of the River Thames - in London only. This is going to take a very long time. That doesn't mean that I will go into the countryside, and no I do not inclue the M25. I'm talking about Greater London the small area enclosing 7.5 million people all wishing to cross the river in some manner that would make any other civilised society laugh at the shambles we now have. Note on the map that lovely blue line weaving its way through the capital. That's the Thames and I will be looking at each crossing that's accessible by foot. That means no dodging cars in the Blackwall, nor will their be descriptions on the Jubilee line tunnels.

Here's the list of crossings, you are able to make by foot, over, under or on the Thames, that has at least one bank (side of the river) in Greater London. From west to east:

Hampton Ferry
Molesey Lock
Hampton Court Bridge
Kingston Bridge
Teddington Lock
Richmond Bridge
Twickenham Bridge
Richmond Lock
Kew Bridge
Chiswick Bridge
Barnes Railway Bridge
Hammersmith Bridge
Putney Bridge
Fulham Railway Bridge
Wandsworth Bridge
Battersea Bridge
Albert Bridge
Chelsea Bridge
Vauxhall Bridge
Lambeth Bridge
Westminister Bridge
Hungerford Bridge
Waterloo Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge
Millenium Bridge
Southwark Bridge
London Bridge
Tower Bridge
Rotherhithe Tunnel
Greenwich Foot Tunnel
Woolwich Ferry
Woolwich Foot Tunnel

Two ferries, three tunnels and a bundle of bridges (27) to choose from.

First crossing, on Monday.

Only in America!

Well, we can't enjoy evferything in life.

Suckle on this.

Happiness

The elusive elixir of Western civilisation is the pursuit of happiness. But what makes you truly happy. I could think of many things that make me happy. Red meat, large breasts, fluffy clouds, milk, laughter, fresh air, an unblocked nose (yes, still have hayfever), making my films, writing - lots of it. But note, all these things are fleeting. There is only so much red meat you can consume, fluffy clouds become hurricanes and large breasts...actually, I could spend all day there.

But what gives rise to long lasting happiness? Does such a thing exist. We have to look at our lives and we are comfortable; have a roof over our heads, no chance of famine in the near future. Compared to humans in the past we have it good. Basically, if you're reading this, you're probably not in the Dafur and we have a lot to be grateful for. And yet, are you happy?

I wonder how many would answer 'no'. And I also wonder, would my answer be 'yes'?

New book

Well, now that I've finished reading the talles of the musketeers, I need something new for the brain. Fiction, no, I've had my fill of it for now. Something a little different. Travel, always a favourite. Why fly there yourself when you can sit on the sofa, bus, toilet and read about the adventures of someone else. Ah, but I'm a pretty good traveller. Well, something historical, biographical. Biographies, er, I got to admit, I'm not a big fan of them. And history books are all about Western Europe or North America and the only time you get out of those areas is the Pacific in WWII.

I'm a fussy reader. And why, don't you forget it as soon as you read it?

Ok, I'll try this one.

Censorship!

It's not just youtube or myspace that I've posted CWP onto, but a whole host of other sites that don't make the headlines. One of them is Sharkle, and incidently it has been instrumental in pushing my viewing figure past the 1000 mark for the first week. Bus as you can see from my profile, three of my videos are set to 'friends only'. How can this be? It would be suicidal for me to have such a posting as El Director has no friends.

It seems that the content of CWP is too explicit for the eys of Sharkle's innocent viewers.

Hmm.

Well, here's my response to that, posted courtesy of Sharkle.

Back to normal?

Well, it's been one intensive week for me. After shooting the rest of the CWP series on Saturday, it was one full week of editing, uploading and marketing. Any regular readers of this blog would have seen the blurring between reality and milk. But I will take a short pause on the CWP front and go onto promoting my 'official' film at the moment. A week of sending off to film festivals and the lot. It resets the brain and makes you feel centred. And by the end of the week, you can't wait to release the milky centred fun inside of you, and so CWP3 is coming sooner than you think.

Other than the adventures of Jay and Kay, what else have I been upto? Well, there has been the finishing of The Man in the Iron Mask, and to anyone that has read the whole of the Musketeer Saga, it is a beautiful ending. The way that D'Artagnan, Aramis, Porthos and Athos grow apart and grow old is as tearful as it is beautiful. And it is great how Dumas allows the characters to grow old, as at the end of the book they are in their late fifties and early sixties. At the time of the piece, a grand old age to reach.

Also there has been my first interview for the press. I will soon be here and you will see a little more into the mind and the madness of 'El Director', something this guy has just begun to witness...

CWP2 - The Milkman

I like you...so I lick the bottle...Copy and paste to all you know... lick me

CWP2 - Coming tomorrow and Holiday Monday

I like you...and I will find you...

I like the trailer...Ok.

That last post was for the guys loving only Jay and Kay. For the guys that love me as well (noise of deafening silence penetrates the web), I will tell you a little about the trailer process.

So why do I do it? Apart from the obvious 'trailer factor', that all important publicity that can be more popular than your actual movie. Well, as an editor, it's a useful way to have a quick overview of the footage that's been shot. A lot of people make copies of the footage and then view it on the tv. Nah, can't be bothered transferring from camera to computer then doing another transfer to vhs so i can sit on the sofa. The lazy man...yeah, but also, I want to get straight down to the editing. Cutting a trailer flexes the fingers, gives a sense of reality to the mind. It's also good to fiddle and find out tricks with the software by accident.

So how much of the trailer footage ends up in the final product? Well, when I cut the trailer, I pick up the immediate stuff that jumps out at me. The funky shots, and in this case as I am doing a comedy, the funniest shots. And the trailer serves as a reminder to the 'funnier' shots to include in the real thing.

For CWP2, I reckon two-thirds of the trailer shots made it into the final version, in some form or another. But even the stuff that has made it in, I've fiddled with. So they may not be recognisable at first. And the rest, why left out. The main reason is that I found something that fits the chop better. When editing a trailer, I really don't delve that deep into the footage. But for the actual short, I will go through everything with a fine milk top. If something looks funnier, it goes in.

Ah and the other bugbear of the director, continuity. If I've spotted a boo-boo, someone else will. I know, it's only a comedy, but I do find it distracting, and so I got to make it look good. Thankfully you can get away with continuity with a bit of careful editing and cunning distraction.

There is also another one, fitting the sound. With budget equipment at the ready, sound isn't top of the list for perfection while filming. Of course, when editing you're cursing your own lack of indulgence for audiological receptors. And sometimes when mucking around with the sound, the picture has to change from the trailer edit.

But the trailer still gets the main point across. That Kay likes Jay. For some reason...part three will be coming hot on the heels of CWP2. And of course, I've already cut a trailer for that one.

I like you...Ok.

It's coming. Oh yes, the editing of the picture has been completed and now we're trying to bring the sound under control. But never before have we looked forward to a Monday more than now. And it is easy to see why! CWP2 - The Milkman...coming Monday May 7th (The Mayday Bank Holiday).

The 'Milkman'

Yum, yum, yum, yum.

Yum, yum, yum, yum.

I like you...and your milk...it is so delicious and cold. Fresh on the tounge, cool to the lips and comforting to the tummy.

A Wednesday Blog

It's dumb, it's a timewaster and surprisingly addictive.