Adverts..Advertising.

 Adverts:

Recently a very large Advertising Placement company carried out a survey on 'The Chelsy Swann Blogsite' to see if we were suitable too place ads on.

In spite of having a decent hit rate the Company stated we were not diverse enough to attract their Client ..Fair enogh.

The point about the site is it is aimed primarily at those people who want to be part of the Film/ TV/ Advertising world...at all levels.

Having spent a number of decades working at the top level in these categories I can honestly say that whilst all three are immensely satisfying in a number of cases as a career choice I  made infinitely more money working in the Advertising section. Sometime I would earn the equivalent of a full years salary working for a Drama production companyin a couple of weeks working on a commercial,,and I have worked on a helluva lot of commercials.

I am still fascinated by the process and find myself analysing an ad as it bursts onto the TV  screen.  How many set ups. How many times do I see the product..Why do car ads never show the  nterior..the most important bit.. the bit you get to see as you sit in the car for many hours a week. Why dont they concentrate on the selling bit ...This product is good, this is why..buy it.  Job done.

The visitors to the site are aiming to be employed in the industry, at whatever level, it is Highly paid, you get to travel a lot, creative, exciting, glamorous and they will all become big spenders..But the site is not deemed to be 'Diverse ' enough.

As most of the posts are from my own personal experience I seem to have covered many aspects of the business.  Two lost at sea episodes, A spell on a Nuclea submarine, being catapulted off a a massive Aircraft carrier, being in a war zone, Crashing in a chopper, the pilots amazing story, filming in all parts of the world..and thats just for starters..The site is primarily aimed at the folk who may want to be a part of all that. I would have liked to see ads on the site..they are samples of our work....maybe someday..   

Chasing the Dream

 That title could also be 'Chasing the impossible dream'

This situation may apply to many of the visitors to this Blogsite and probably to most people in the Industry of making TV/Films.

Most hopefuls who want to work in the business have dreams...in order to achieve those dreams they may have worked on and financed their own projects, which is why  my wife, Mary Lou Clarke,  and myself set up the very successful  'REELSHOW' site some years ago which cost us a lot of money but it did help a number of hopefuls to enter the system.We hope they are doing well.

After over fifty years as a jobbing Director of Photography, almost all of it in the TV industry, and shooting literally thousands of hours of Drama and documentaries all over the globe I happily stood down from the sometimes crippling discipline of working long hours and spending months at a time on locations. 

Now was my time to bring my experience and hopefully story telling expertise to bear and delight the world.

So far ..so good,  We now have six novels in print.  Two of them with Mary Lou and four of my own.

Now is the time to turn my eye onto theTV game...Easy..  or so I thought.

I also dream and came up with a concept 'HATRACK'...I wont go into too much detail but basically it is a streaming drama series, which are now watched by millions around the world.

The audience is basically the next generation of the richest and best educated people ever to walk the planet, they will be wealthy beyond even todays wealth..but at the moment they are teenagers.

I know...but you will get through it..enjoy..

What do teenagers want..? Like all of us who went through those tortured years  I can tell you we wanted everything and lots of it...but most of us finished up in the same disappointed heap..work slaves..nine to fivers..limited experience of the world and how we all finished up where we were.

HATRACK  is designed to change that in a small but hopefully significant way.

The concept is to supply the answers to the insatiable curiosity of who, when, where and how we got here. 

The Idea was sent to a number of contacts in the industry. All established and busy production companies with great track records. I had worked for most of them...All of them are quietly chewing the fat on the project..mainly down to the cost element. It would be expensive.

Each and every one of them want  to be involved and each of them stated it would be easier if the Elon Musk company was brought in..Mainly for the wonderful technology it had developd  AI..Grok..etc..  also because the subject matter was close to thoughts of the founder..  Elon Musk

How do we get this to the man at the top..Elon???

So far it has proved almost impossible to push through the protective ring of tempered steel that seems to accompany those individuals who rise to great prominence. The modern Praetorian Guard.

My efforts so far have been likened to a small rock bouncing off the latest heavily armoured tank on a battlefield.

I never realised at the outset that Elon  Musk had more impersonators than Elvis Presley..Hundreds of them.  All wanting to take a chunk of the action..all of them are basically scammers.

So today,  just like any other hopeful, I am about to attack the Musk Citadel..I am going to submit the Concept of HATRACK  to the official dept for hopefuls at Musk Central. knowing it will join the thousands of others that sit in a dust covered pile in a large warehouse in Texas somewhere...never to see the light of day.

Do any of you know a direct route..let me know..  my e mail is:   r.jdodd@outlook.com     

Comments:

 Lotsa hits and visits to the blog but no one ever leaves a comment..1,000's of hits per month and no comments..Its your site folks..get involved and talk. Expand on the posts..

Crits of productions...new equipment..Jobs..contacts...its all avaiolable...just comment and you shall recieve. DD

The interactive Chelsy Swann Blogspot

 Chelsy Swann Blogspot is a place where those interested in the Film and TV world can read some anecdotes, share stories and connect..There is a comment section so if you want to say anything then pleasw feel free..All comments are welcome as well as some experiences in the industry.. DD

The Reelshow..

 Some years ago my wife, Mary Lou Clarke and I set up a website to show student film makers Graduation films.

Why?...

During my years as a Director of Photography on hundreds of TV/Film shows I was always asked by new additions to my film crews..they were always called 'Trainees' if I couls spare the time to look at their graduation films..I didnt have the time really but I crammed them all in somehow.

When I asked the Trainees who had actually seen their creative efforts they invariably told me that their parents, grand parents and very close friends were the only ones they could force to watch.As usual the many agencies were not interested and wouldnt even accept the tapes or discs.

I knew how much effort and dreams had gone into those Showreels..it was a shame that no-one ever saw them.

So we set up a site where any graduate or avid film maker could upload to a Social media page and the world could see their creative efforts.The results were astonishing.  We had films from every corner of the globe..Some were fantastic ..some were ok and some were dire...no matter,  they al got an appreciated showing on The Reelshow.We ran International Show cases..Had financialprizes..small ones.. and the films just flooded in.

  Mary Lou did the organisation and we employed a massive server unit in America to stream the films on request..Lotsa fun..

Unfortunately at that time the world was hitting some bad times economically.. costs were always rising and we never charged anyone for the site..eventually a large organisation began to take over the idea, paid money and naturally the students moved there. We cut our finacial losses and closed the site..

A sad loss but  we often wonder how many of the students went on into the industry and found their dream job..We hope it was many of them. 

 Maybe we should re-start 'The Reelshow' ..Part two.. on Chelsy Swann 

ROACHES PART 2.

 ROACHES  PART 2:

Just to wind up Roaches I have known etc..The largest group of Cockies I have seen was in the centre of a city.

Melbourne..Australia:

Melbourne is a beautiful place.. steeped in history and very cosmopolitan.. Fantastic food and a wonderful night life and sports area...A major tourist place   and the Cockies think so as well.

One evening my crew went walking through the very lively commercial centre, as usual we were looking for a great bar then we planned to descend on one of the many restauarants..The pavement was wide and there were lotsa people around...just ahead of us we heard a commotion and we spotted pedestrian getting off the pavement and standing in the traffic lanes, some of the women were beginning to scream a little..and then we saw the reason why. A column of Cockies at least five feet wide were marching along the pavement and the column seemed to be endless as it moved around a bend in the roadway..Pedesrtrians were now crowding amongst the cars which had all stopped..hundreds of people were stunned as this column of quite aggressive insects took over the street. My crew were all big tough lads but we all got out of their way and watched them..Then the leaders of the columnn stopped and veered to their left.The street we were on had some impressive stone faced buildings, mainly expensive Hotels..I know because we were staying in one...this one... Someone inside had left a pavement level ventilation window half open and the column took one look and went over the cill and began to march inside...Thousands of them....they just poured in..We checked out the following morning...Had breakfast elsewhere.

Cockies love beer. Just like a lot of people Cockies seem to like an evening out in a pub..

As a yong man I was visiting friends in another town, caught a bus and as I left the Station  I found the road slightly cordoned off as a team of demolition folk were taking down an old abandoned Public house..a pub..

Most of the superstucture had gone and now they were working to clear the very large and dark cellar. Everyone slowed down to watch as slings were placed around a massive wooden barrel, about six feet long and wide..All was going well as the crane started to lift  it from is corner,  then one of the slings broke when it was about ten feet from the ground. The  barrel smashed onto the concrete floor and spectacularly burst asunder...It was solid cockroaches.  Millions of them. They scattered everywhere and like cowards everywher we all ran as they poured onto the street...No doubt they were all drunk..      

ROACHES..

 Roaches...aka Cockroaches...I hate them.

As a child in war torn UK  I grew up in a slum..no electricity, no hot water..no bathroom..a toilet, unlit, across a back yard..and it was infested by mice and a creature I came to hate..Roaches.

They were everywhere,  in the furniture, the little larder the beds, in the wardrobes...Everyday before I went to school I had to check all my pockets and make sure ther were none in my shoes.....

And then I went Globetrotting..Lets start with INDIA:  Indian cockies are a tough breed, they will stare  you down, maybe cos they think they own the joint. In Mumbaia, my hotel was air conditioned and I was about ten floors up when I met one in the corridor.It stared at me..I was obviously in its way. I took my shoe off and hit it about a dozen times...it should have been Cocky paste..it wasnt..It was still there, it shook its head, turned around and waddled off down the hallway..A draw.

Still in India:..Cochin..In my hotel room it only had a bathtub, no showere, so every evening I ran a bath and had a soak. I always took a shoe with me.As the warm water heated up the tub the Cockies came out to play. Splat time..my average kill rate per bath was an average of 40...every night...In the bar where we all met up to have  a beer the barman always sserved up a big deep dish of Potato chips/crisps..We never touched them but watched carefully, after a few minutes the chips would start to move and out they came, maybe a dozen or so..and big..we would always throw the bowl onto the lawn outside and the incumbent resident rats finished the Cockies and crisps in seconds..and then there alwas the restaurant..A prize went to the first crew memnber who found a leg or a remnant of a Cockie in his meal.

Still in India: Trivandrum in Kerala..A very nice hotel..good bar.On our first night there the Director, who had just joined the team arrived, said hello..went to check out his room and returned a minute later screaming for the Manager, who arrived very quickly. Apparently when the director opened his room door and put the lights on there was a scuttering as dozens of Cockies ran for safety.The Manager immediately dispatched a house crew with sprays to clean the room.The Director had a few beers and then went his room...Yep..a few minutes later he is back. He had showered and then pulled back the bedclothes..to find the bed was full of Cockies.The Manager apologised once agin and said\ that as they had sprayed the room the Cockies had no where else to go except get into the bed..It seemed to make sense to him.

I could go on about india for a while but lets move on.

USA:  The home of some of the biggest Cockies in the world..It may be all the junk food.

Lets start in Charleston: We were there for a few weeks and had settled in to a motel just outside of town..Nice enough for what we wanted to do there, except on a Sunday the Motel and other restaurants and bars seemed to close down.My room..lotsa beers and crew members were dispatched to buy huge amounts of KFC..Boxes of it..US football on the TV.. Great evening.

Bed time..empty boxes  piled up..empty bottles everywhere and lotsa batter bits from the KFC, they were all over the place, I was stepping on them on the way to the bathroom.Sleep called and sometime  in the dark of the night I woke up to hear a noise..lots of crunching sounds. Being the craven coward that I am in such situations I pulled the covers over and quaked myself back to sleep.

Dawn arrived and I peeked out of my bedclothes..nothing untoward..I went to the bathroom,  no crumbs on the floor, none in the KFC boxes, the chicken bones were bleached desert dry.The room was spotless..Well trained are those Charleston Cockies

New York:Shooting a doco in an apartment block to one side of the GCP.The subject was a meeting of Fat Women Fetishists..I know..It just popped up on the list..

Anyway the place was jam packed with very large ladies and  quite small men, drink flowed, lotsa a chatting and filming..then I needed a drink of water. My golden rule was never to drink booze on location, it was broken occasionally..I made my way to the kitchen, very small, found a glass and filled it from the tap...Then I noticed the wall was moving..all of it. I thought it was my eye sight but it was really the wall which was completely covered in small Cockies..  hundreds of them. We were wrapped and out in three minutes.

Next up  Australia..Next Post maybe.