Solidarity Kitchen FIlming project

Discussion
1

Hi everyone.

My name is Aaron - I have been volunteering in the kitchen on Saturdays for around 6 weeks now and would just like to say how much I’ve enjoyed coming down, meeting people and getting involved in such a worthwhile project.

I was thinking recently it would be great to film and document what has been going on, both to spread the word of what is happening but also to hopefully create a bit of interest in the Warehouse Cafe for such a time when things are back to some sort of normality and potential customers might be tempted to come down and spend some money.

I have a background in film and media - I currently teach those subjects at a college in Birmingham and have just recently got back from a year or so in Peru, making films for a charity to spread word of what they do. If people were happy for me to do so, I’d love to film and edit some visual material to convey the project and the people behind it.

My ideas so far are one 5-10 minute short, documenting and introducing the project and where we’re at now, celebrate how many people we’ve helped, who we’ve collaborated with etc. Thereafter, we could put together some quick 30 secondish films just to show what has been happening in the kitchen on a particular day or during the week, to hopefully send out every 1-2 weeks. Perhaps people who have been receiving food might also be willing to go on camera and record some of their thoughts/feedback etc, likewise with volunteers and staff members.

I will be doing a mixture of working from home and at College from now on, but will be happy to come in during the week to get some footage if people were up for it. If so, please advise on days that might be best and we can go from there. Likewise, if people have ideas on what might be good to be film, then great.

I have spoken to Sergio already and he suggested posting on here, so please feel free to suggest anything you like and I’d be really excited to try and make it happen. Also, if you want to see any of the work I did while in Peru, the vast majority of the content on here, except the most recent two videos, is all stuff I put together: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsUgpazA2kMQ6DoHGq_5fuA/videos

Hope you might like the idea and to get started soon!

Aaron

6 Likes
2

That would be so awesome! We’ll get some of the chefs/kitchen folks to speak to you and coordinate the next steps.

This is very exciting :heart:

3

What a great idea. Look forward to seeing it come together

4

Sounds super cool, thanks for taking the intiative to suggest it!

I’m wondering if there could somehow also be some of the behind the scene folks included? Lots of people do backroom each week which is a super important task and I’d love to see some backroom crew getting recognised too. Perhaps they could be filmed in their garden or outdoor space? I’m happy to contact people to see if they’re interested as I’m mostly on backroom coordination. Also some of the rota crew as well maybe?

5

Hey @french14 there is a video production whatsapp group which i can add you to if you’d like? I think some filming has already been done by two people so like dylan said it might be worth focussing on one aspect or maybe there been a meeting between filming people to discuss the output so there isn’t any duplication sort of thing.

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Yeah that sounds great - could even be made into its own short film as well to give it the attention it obviously deserves. If you would like to contact people to see if they’re interested that would be great!

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Yes, please add me to the whatsapp group - my number is 07515789500.

I’d like to chat to people to see what’s already been done and also hopefully get see if some of the footage that has been taken can be used for cutaways

8

We need to move quickly with this though as its possible the nature of the operation may change if the warehouse cafe has to reopen in July. We should try and capture the project as it is now.

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I arranged with Ciara today that I would go in and do some filming next Tuesday - 9th.

Hopefully the bulk of the filming can be done that day and I can do some more soon after if needed.

What would help me is if people have specific ideas, to tell me soon as they can so that any other filming sessions can be arranged.

If the cafe is opening as normal in July, perhaps a more ‘this is what we have done’, retrospective effort would make more sense? With the ending being a ‘come on down’ invitation?

Let me know what you think.

1 Like
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Hello, my name is Ben and I haven’t actually volunteered with you yet although I have been speaking to Leon in the last couple of days about joining you. Having done a little looking around on this forum, I wanted to offer my help to this project specifically as well. I am a filmmaker and would love to get involved assisting the production in whatever way. I’ve seen you mentioned filming today Aaron, am I just too late to the party?

2 Likes
11

Hi Ben,

Nice to hear from you. Unfortunately I have only just seen this now - I did go down today but didn’t get as much as I’d have liked, mainly because of a memory card formatting problem. But in a way this might be a good thing, because it would be cool to have some help and more ideas on it.

I’ve arranged to go down and get the rest of the footage next Monday (15th) - does this work for you? Would be great to collaborate with you.

Give me a call if you would like to - 07515789500.

Aaron

2 Likes
12

Hi everyone. Here is a rough cut of the video - any feedback welcome.

Ben has also been working on a different edit which should be coming soon. Cheers.

6 Likes
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@french14 This is brilliant! Well done. The edit is great!

Music-Dialogue volume

On my little speaker, the music is coming through a little bit loud relative to the dialogue in places. Maybe the music 4-6dB too loud in places to my ear.

Mention Cooperation Birmingham

Could you possibly also mention Cooperation Birmingham. The Solidarity Kitchen is a project by Coop Brum which includes lots of folks outside of the Warehouse cafe and we’re expanding into other areas (such as a cycle delivery coop to create jobs) as the solidarity kitchen evolves.

We want to big up Warehouse too but it’d awesome if you could add some text for Coop Brum at the end before the cafe. You should be able to get all the info from the website. Just let me know if you need any clarification.

Thanks everyone

Well done @Ciara honestly you speak so well. So proud of you and everyone! xxx

1 Like
14

This is amazing! You’ve done an incredible job. Just to say that we are definitely NOT reopening on the 4th of July, maybe instead say we will be opening for takeaway during the weekends from the 3rd of July if you want?

15

Thanks for the feedback, really useful. Glad you think its okay!

I’ll sort the volume, no problem there.

What would you like me to say specifically about coop brum? And how much? And do you mean to include it just before the text thanking the people involved? I know thats a lot of questions but probably better for the text to be roughly worded by you guys if that’s okay, so that it comes across in the way you would like it to.

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Yeah sure, no worries. To be honest that was just a guess so that can be changed no problem. Do you want an opening time on there too?

17

@Lai
Just listened to the dialogue again and I’m not quite sure on where the places are that the music needs turning down - would you mind listening through again and telling me the timestamps where you think it needs adjusting?

Thanks! Aaron

18

No problems! Just FYI I’m an audio engineer so hope I’m not being too perfectionist. I’ve mixed some films before and the music shouldn’t be fighting with the voice so that it’s hard to make out what people are saying. You have to fade it down a bit when people are talking.

First piece of music 0:00 to 0:50
Second 0:50-1:28 (once its faded down a bit there, it’s about right)
1:40- 2:00.
2:30-03:23

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Thanks so much. I’ll get back to you tmoz about this. Do you want audio or just text?

20

Well that’s up to you guys, but I think it might seem a little jarring if we had audio of a different voice to Ciara’s that hasn’t already been introduced. My suggestion would be that text is better, but I could put either in depending on what you prefer.