I talk a lot about my photography on this blog, but very little about my filmmaking, so, as I’m just about to enter a short film in Warwick Rocks’ Food & Film Festival, it’s time for a blog post dedicated to film.
How I got into filmmaking
I’ve dabbled with videography for many years, but I started experimenting with proper filmmaking a few years ago when I discovered my new DSLR camera had video capability. The ability to make films that matched my still photography style really caught my imagination, so I invested in training and extra equipment and now I regularly make fusion films (ones that combine stills and moving images) to
- show behind the scenes of the work I do
- as an add-on to wedding photography or family photography sessions
- or to expand on my fine art photography.
Finding a topic for Warwick Rocks Food & Film Festival
Warwick’s been my hometown for over 20 years, so when the Warwick Rocks Food and Film Festival team announced they were running a short film competition, I definitely wanted to enter. Coming up with something interesting that fitted the theme was challenging, though. Good old Twitter came to the rescue when my friend Clare, who’s learning golf at Warwick Golf Centre, saw her golf teacher, Julian Mellor, tweet that he was looking for someone to work with to create a film for the festival. She’d just seen my “How I got into photography” clip that I’d created to show that you could make video good enough for your website or blog using just an iPhone, so my video skills were fresh in her mind and she suggested me. Several tweets later, I’d arranged to visit Julian to see what he had in mind.
We bounced a few ideas around and settled on a documentary about this man, former Warwick golf pro, Jack Burns. It’s a story that the regular golf players down on Warwick racecourse know, but few others do, which meant it fitted the brief perfectly.
Making the film
To make a successful film, you need to do a lot of planning. It took a couple more meetings with Julian, and some family history research to find out a bit more about Jack’s life in Warwick before I completed the storyboard and script. We were lucky that this summer’s heatwave gave us an opportunity to get some great sunny shots around Warwick, so after a couple of mornings filming and a lot of midnight oil burning to edit it all together, our short film was born.
What makes Jack Burns worthy of a documentary film?
You’ll have to watch it to find out. But I reckon it’s a shame that he got little recognition locally at the time and he’s been largely forgotten since. Hopefully, our film will change that.
A big thank you to Julian for appearing in front of the camera. He did an excellent job as our presenter.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnOOf2J3h8A[/embedyt]
I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your excellent Jack Burns documentary. Given the astonishing scarcity of material on him, I had found it virtually impossible to uncover anything about his life before or after his 1888 Open victory until I watched the film. Superb work.
One final question: do you happen to know when (or where) Jack Burns died? If not, could you point me in the direction of someone who could?
Thank you once again.
Thanks Gordon – that’s lovely feedback – much appreciated. It was difficult to find out information on Jack but I did have a few leads from the folks at Warwick Golf Centre which helped. I managed to get Jack’s death certificate. I can’t lay my hands on it at the moment but, if I remember correctly, he died in 1927 in Scotland. His second son, Robert, registered the death. His profession was still listed as “plasterer” and he died of some sort of cancer of the sinuses so I’m guessing plaster dust may have contributed to that – sad when you think he could have had a career out in the fresh air. Since we made the film, I’ve found out that he designed the original golf course at our neighbouring town of Kenilworth. I did find a descendent in the USA (Jack’s eldest son emigrated there) but they were unaware of his achievement so we never did find out exactly why he went back to Scotland but we’re guessing that earning a better wage had something to do with it as he had a growing family when he went back. How did you come across Jack?
He is my great grandfather. His second son Robert was my Grandfather . We visited Warwick to see the plaque in his name on the 31st October 2015 . Very proud .
Lovely to hear from you. Hope you enjoyed your visit to Warwick.
That was so heartwarming and amazing. Thanks for a short film of my great great grandfather.
My pleasure – glad to see Jack’s descendants are still interested in what he achieved :-) All the best, Linda
Small world – Jack Burns is also my great great grandfather. He was my grandmother’s grandfather. Just came across this as I was talking to my husband about the family link to The Scottish Open and decided to see what I could find and came across this lovely film.
Thanks, Cheryl – glad you enjoyed it.