What shall i make a film about next?

About a year ago i made a mini documentary on spinning as part of my degree which some of you might have seen on the bbc website.

Now ive graduated and have been trying to make my way in the big wide world of tv and film and have found a company that want to use my spin film as the first of a 4 part mini documentary series on channel 4 (shh dont tell the bbc) and they want me to make them.

Obviously im dead chuffed about this but i have a problem, what am i gonna make the other 3 films about? Im gonna do one on kite boarding and one on capoera (assuming i get the commision) but im having trouble thinking of the subject of the last one. I was gonna do something on free running, but channel 4 already did jump London and jump Britain so thats already been covered. I also thought break dancing but thats also kinda old news now too.

So... any ideas? it needs to be urban and fresh (god im starting to sound like one of those buzz word producers already) and relevant to Britain.
Any sugestions will be greatly apreciated.

Let me outline my interests:

XMA!
Xtreme Martial Arts! (flips and tricks! yay!)

Stuntmen

channel 4 didn't do parkour very well. There's a lot more there that you could do, on method natural and the real hardcore traceurs in britain. (as well as the big ideology fights in parkour)

buildering! Yeah! The night climbers of cambridge, all over again!

urban exploration.

non-spinning circus arts... aerial, and all that...

otherwise...

I've got to go out now but I'll send you a message when I get back dude.

Trickin! hell yea meg thats great Liking the urban climbers too. I like the idea of non spinny circus stuff but i dont think Channel 4 will go for it cos its not urban enough.
Fantastic ideas tho thanks

Is urban exploration urban climbing?

graff / wallspanking?

set up some flashmobs and do a film about the resurgence of flashmobs?

happy slapping?



difficult in this day and age as everyone's sat at home or at work, filling their brains with internets instead of getting out there exploring the big wide um... yeah. think I might just go outside for a minute.

urban exploration is more like finding your way into abandoned buildings / catacombs / bunkers / tunnels (subway or otherwise) just to see what's in there... take pictures etc...

kinda like illegal tourism. in your home city.

Whether or not something is 'Old News' doesn't mean you don't have your own spin on the subject.

If you wanted to make a documentary about Breakdancing, you still can! You can talk about the (now distant) origins and how it has evolved in its modern context - Your 'Spinnero...' er sorry... 'Twister' move as an example...

Failing that here's a brief - 'Hippies - Why?'

not urban enough? Tosh, is what i say.

you can talk about how jugglers have evolved and are now using urban arts to compliment their juggling. For example, the many people that think about body movements instead of 'big trick big trick' EG, contact and popping/illusion juggling, street performing

breakin', popping and locking are coming back, you know...

You don't necessarily need to base the film about contact and popping. psssh, a Docu about me? even I'd turn it off after 30 seconds. probably even before that. I'd rather the film was based around a group of people, than just one or two individuals.

More about Jugglers using ideas and concepts and even moves from Dance in their juggling. There's loads of people in the country that do care about how their performances look. How the world of juggling is changing, from people that cared only about what stupidly hard tricks they could do in order to get recognition, to people that have realised that it's all in the presentation.

plus, you don't need to be in the same country as somebody to talk to them, and even get footage of them doing what they do, as I'm proving here.

Even Clowning is studied in depth in circus school, and many people think it's all about slapstick comedy. There's a whole lot of thought and work that goes into becoming a good clown, more so than just being able to fall over and wear a silly nose.

Nowadays the juggling scene is comprising more and more of younger people, who, whilst enjoy juggling, also want to look cool, and are adapting juggling (as an old old artform) and bringing it into the new millennium.

Do a documentar about tea. I like Tea.

Well done Sandy....

Nice work on the project, and I'm looking forward to seeing it...

That footage I saw last weekend was fantastic

Yea i like the urban exploration idea too, although since its technically illegal i think C4 might have a problem with it.

I like all the juggling and circus stuff but ive just had an email from the company im working with with a big no no on any more circus stuff cos they recon its too obivous.

Thanks clare i hope you feel special there are very few people who get to see that footage before its ready. Of course if Strugz wasnt so much of a slacker there would have been more

Yep, I feel special. Hurrah! At last

Strugz/slack... pretty much one and the same thing.


How about something music based?

You've got something with a cultural slant (capoeira), something new (spinning), something extreme (kite-surfing)...

Something artistic - either musical or alternative art based, might fit well.

im trying to go with phisical stuff because its easier to get good 'action' footage although now i think about it maybe some kind of phisical theatre that work with a band or something. hmmmmm

orkestra del sol

How about a documentary about breakdancing strippers?

contact improv!

or contact dance as it's also known.

plus it has contact in it!

WIN!

If you're serious about doing it on physical theatre, I could put you in touch with a successful phys theatre company that incorporate lots of music into their shows. And they'll have contacts and leads an ting.

Company's called Foursight and they recently had lots of success with Six Dead Queens and an Inflatable Henry, and Thatcher the Musical...

Ill let you know when the guy gets back to me about what we should submit. Loads of ideas here people, i cant thank you enough

Meg beat me to it!

I was going to suggest urban climbing. There's a guy called Johnny Dawes who is widely credited as being one of the most talented British climbers ever. He's mainly known for his efforts on rocks but he had a whole host of photo's of urban climbing. He has scaled nelsons column twice during protests to unveil banners. I think he'd probably know just about everyone you could possibly want to speak to as well.
His website is http://www.johnnydawes.com

pavement art:



this guy rocks: http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/pave.htm

If you were going to do street art you'd have to track down banksy!

That man is a genious!!

breakdancing strippers dammit!!!

How about a topic that should be on everyone's minds at the moment - zombies.

To be honest, I'm surprised no-one's suggested it already

Nice one Rory...

But I reckon Meg's completely right with Contact Dance... with music supplied by Orkestra del Sol

Good luck Sandy, let us know how it goes
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