Birmingham: It’s Not Shit

“This motorcycle runs on blood”

Birmingham: It's Not Shit loves Birmingham and has loads of news and features. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

It should be a big one

The Crescent Theatre is playing host to a production of ‘Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick’ (the play about the behind the scenes goings on - ooer missus - on Carry On films over the years) By Terry Johnson. They’ve been blogging, infrequently about it.

The Crescent Theatre 15th - 29th March 2008

Back to reality

Spaghetti Gazetti with a timely list of “contestants from The Apprentice and Big Brother who came from the West Midlands”. So now. You. Know.

Toast by DAB Multiplex

On BBC 6Music’s Breakfast Show they have a bit where someone has a few minutes to ‘big up’ (ahem) their local area - and play a tune associated with it. So, if you’re awake, DAB’ed up and not obsessed with Wogan, Humphries, or heaven forbid Moyles, then tune in tomorrow at about five past eight and you’ll hear me ‘toasting’ Brum.

I won’t tell you tune that I’ve ‘picked’, but it wasn’t my favourite one of the two I asked for – that honour goes to Listening to Marmalade by Go Kart Mozart, the glam rock work of Lawrence ex-of Felt and Denim.

I’ll post a ‘listen again’ link when there is one.

Basie, how low can you go

If you’d like to hear Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler talk about Count Basie’s influence on Sabbath, and some other stuff about ‘metal’, then you could do much worse than going round to their houses and asking listening to this documentary from Radio 4 - Metal at 40.

Link comes from the brill Speechification blog, who point out all the little speech-based gems you may have missed on the radio. They also have a MP3 of the programme to download.

BiNS, mildly offensive since 2002

I spent this Sunday morning freezing cold and being threatened with arrest, and no it wasn’t another early morning kick-off down the Blues. I was being filmed for 21 Stories - the film about the Rotunda being made by Nic Gaunt - holding a placard (you can see it above) while all around me people got on with their Christmas shopping.

I wasn’t called upon to act as such (which is a good job, my thespian skills are a little broad to say the least), but to walk up and down New St and stand still so Nic could film some slow shutter-speed stuff. It was, what we call in the trade, a long shot - which meant that I was standing about 100m or more from the camera. This meant I spent a lot of the time fending off comments from passers-by “who said it was” “it is” or more bizarrely “they are”. It also meant that every time (three in the space of half an hour) one of our boys-in-luminous-yellow trotted up to me I had to explain: that it was a film, that the camera was down the road a bit, that we had permission from Film Birmingham, and that they’d just spoilt the shot. Eventually I was told “you’d better move on, you can be arrested, that sign is mildly offensive “.

‘Mildly offensive’? I hope you know BiNS and my good self well enough to realise that being mildly anything isn’t in my nature. ‘Mildly offensive’? How can a positive statement, almost prudishly self-censored, be even mildly offensive? I’m also at a loss as to exactly which law I would have been breaking.

Apart from that it was a lot of fun, and we had a good chat and a pint (in the Bull Ring Tavern) afterwards. I’m really looking forward to seeing the results - and those of when I did my “talking head” bit the other week - but more importantly the whole project - go check out some of the pictures and thoughts on the site and even contribute your own story.

Beeb tube

We mentioned that Big Screen Birmingham were to set up a YouTube Group for easy submitting. Well they have:

From November 2007, Big Screen Birmingham will be situated in Victoria Square. Over the last three years it’s home has been next door in Chamberlain Square, and it has played host to over 800 short films. This is your opportunity to get your film seen in the centre of Birmingham. Your film can be about anything….drama, documentary, animation, experimental, anything….as long as it is suitable for a public space (i.e. no sex, no full frontal nudity, no swearing, no brutal violence). Upload your film here and the curator for the screen will be in contact if we have a slot for your film. nb. all copyright stays with the filmmaker, we just need your permission to screen the film. The filmmaker must also have full permission for any copyrighted material i.e music, used within the film.

If you wanted your film on screen, but didn’t want to put it on YouTube I’m sure you can still contact the team directly.

Brollywood or bust?

There’s been a bit in the press about possible plans for a film studio in Birmingham - and how it would attract more media (well money it means) into the area. The article lists how many programmes made requests to film in Brum in the last couple of years (Totally Jodie Marsh, anyone?) - almost all were factual programmes that used exclusively location shots. Was this because we don’t have a studio, or is it because the days of the studio are pretty much numbered and most programmes are shot this way now. With HD it’s more difficult and expensive to get a studio to look good - location work is going to be even more prevalent in drama too.

With the BBC and partners already building a new studio in Salford, would a specially built studio really pull companies into Brum? Or would the money and effort be better spent in making it easier film in all sorts of Brum locations (witness the way that New York bends over backwards to allow companies to use their city)?

What do any filmmakers think?

fighting on the beaches

Adrian Goldberg, out of The Stirrer, has done a piece for Radio 4’s You and Yours all about the fight betwixt the council and the bullring over the two (count ‘em) fake beaches we’ll be getting in Brum this summer. It seems to have been treated as a bit of light relief from the Radio 4 lot - but raises a fine point about how it’ll look when we get the inevitable downpours (building site anyone?).

Good to hear some Brummie voices on the radio, although Rich Batsford’s falsetto Beach Boys cover wasn’t as welcome as his amusing comments - the most disturbing part was hearing Council Leader Mike Whitby using the phrase ‘chill out’ on a couple of occasions. Cool Maaan.

You’ll find a ‘Listen Again’ link here soon enough - it’s about 40 mins into the programme.