Process
The first pilot video talk was filmed against a green screen set up in the Machynlleth golf club. For subsequent films we have used a studio at the University of Bradford and one in London.
After discussing what I wanted to cover with Sarah, the director, I split my original talk into three parts. We just filmed the first one as the pilot. They are planned but not scripted. Each contributor talks to Sarah beforehand about what they will say and she plans out the shots and takes them through the talk.
Richard has a nifty little box he puts in front of the camera lens and Sarah's face is reflected in it, so you appear to be talking to her rather than looking into a dark lens. Even so it is a bit unnerving.
She and Richard do an initial edit. For the pilot, I watched it and gave feedback, and they put some images behind me or a blackboard up to highlight key points.
After field testing the pilot and bringing in others to help with the format, images and graphic design for the series, we came up with the format you now see. The original pilot was re-edited to fit this.
By filming against a green screen other images can subsequently be dropped in. Mike Barrett, the graphic designer, and I watch the initial edit, make the images to go with it, the editor makes a rough cut which we and the speaker review, then we make further changes, the director and editor do a final edit which we check over. Then it is ready to go onto the page prepared for it, where there is information about the speaker and suggested further reading and links.
The audio talks, which are simpler to make, were done with those unable to come to a UK studio, if there is a problem with the video or where they are quite short. Once the sound recording has been made, I edit it, share it with the speaker, make any changes and the page for them to go on.
After feedback from some of the students on Lancaster University's Global Food Security MOOC, whose native language was not English, I also made transcripts of the talks for people to download if they wish.
Filming
Go to a talk
- The Food System - An overview
- Food regimes and their transformation
- The crucial century, 1945-2045: Transforming food systems in a global context
- The Right to Food - An overview
- Food and thriving people in the 21st century.
- Changing our fatally flawed food system
- Sustainable diets and public health
- How to feed a city - and change the world
- Food, nutrition and poverty - An overview
- Gender issues in food and farming - An overview
- Seeds of contention, control or diversity? - Global rules, intellectual property and the future control of food
- Understanding intellectual property - 1. An overview and 2. How business lobbying changed the world
- From food regimes to food sheds - the case of Southern Ontario.
- Biology and chemistry for peace not war