Scotvis

08/11/2024

I had the privilege to film and edit this UHD4k mini doc for the East London Late Starters Orchestra - an amazing community based music-making project which has been running for over 40 years. It’s run entirely by volunteers with professional players doing the tuition and conducting. Check it out.

31/10/2021

A wee four song (four camera) edit of a livestream of my brother Robin Adams, featuring songs from his new upcoming album Wrong Road Home. I used Castr to multicast, so actually went to Facebook timeline and Youtube Live simultaneously. Vision mixer was the trusty ATEM Mini Pro, an amazing piece of kit. Keep your eye out for some more livestreams in the near future!

Premiering four songs from the upcoming album Wrong Road Home Out soon on Holy Smokes RecordsFilmed by Chris Adams

31/10/2021

Two big September projects - working with 4 piece rock outfit Judged by Twelve, to record four demo tracks. Cracking long weekend at a cottage out in the sticks towards the west coast. Been mixing the tracks and they’ve turned out really well. As you might expect it’s been a while since the full mobile studio setup has been in action but it still works great. Recorded 24 bit 96KHz of course, for maximum fidelity. It’s subtle but I always get the sense that eq and dynamics processing is just that bit more forgiving and even analog like.

And, over in Greece, working on a recce for next year’s Lethe project, an operamentary directed by the amazing Lore Lixenberg … we scouted lots of locations, shot plenty of test footage and of course time left to get some swims in the pool temperature Mediterranean and some top notch grub too.

A challenging aspect of the project was of course the burden of admin created by the unfortunate mix of COVID19 and Brexit. So many forms and tests. Still it was great getting out of the country for a bit and hopefully things will have improved by next year.

A few drone shots - one of our transport on a dirt track and the other of the village of Kapsali where the project is based. Stay tuned for more info.

28/10/2021

Working with marketing specialists, Elektrik this was a real pleasure to film - lots of shots of, and inside places which had been shut since March of 2020, especially my favourite cinema, the Odeon Luxe. It was great to be back and actually got to see A Quiet Place 2 a few days after the video was completed when it reopened. Everywhere I visited, they’d done a really good job of balancing keeping the experience as you’d expect and making sure risk of catching or transmitting COVID was greatly minimised.

26/10/2021

This was a promo / mini doc piece created with lots of footage, music and interviews taken from the 2020 National Festival of Contemporary Music for All. I recorded concerts and rehearsals in London, Gateshead (the incredible Sage!), Macclesfield and Manchester University’s concert hall so it was a major piece of work. The last of the concerts was over the weekend of March 8th and 9th 2020 and for a lot of the performers was the last live performance till pretty recently. Great interview contributions from Tamara Kohler, festival director and Tom Service, Chair of CoMA (and Radio 3 presenter). Along with the promo I also edited lots concert pieces, lockdown selfie clips, zoom concerts and graphics which were then used as inserts for the live online launch of the 2022 festival.

Welcome to the biennial Festival of Contemporary Music for All. Learn more about this adventurous weekend, watch highlights from the 2020 edition and be insp...

24/10/2021

Composed by Larry Groves - title is self explanatory. The mix of Riot Ensemble and House of Bedlam players is first rate and I really love the ending. The way the concert worked, a lot of the orchestra were in the (already decent sized) making this not quite a full house but good for a contemporary classical show.

A CoMA commission for the 2020 Festival of Contemporary Music for All. Performed by the Manchester Allcomers Orchestra (including players from Bolton Music S...

22/10/2021

This is a large piece for full orchestra which which encapsulates the kind of scale, texture, emotion and drama which is rarely composed with non professional players in mind. On the day, there was a large contingent of the Bolton Youth Orchestra along with a mix of amateur and professional players who joined up for the rehearsal and evening concert. I recorded the audio with a mid and side setup using to AKG414’s and a spot mic on the piano for a wee bit more detail. There were four cameras, though for the main wide shot I used the GH5’s 5k 'open gate' option. This was designed for anamorphic work, but by using the whole sensor it gives a lot of flexibility to do crops, zooms and pans in post. Works great!

Performed by the Manchester All Comers Orchestra and conducted by Stuart Hazelton as part of the National Festival of Contemporary Music for All 2020.

20/10/2021

This was a longer mini doc style piece focused on a really cool job creation scheme which helped people who’ve been out of work for a while transition back into the workplace. One of the elements which makes for a challenge is the mix of interviewees. On the one hand there are two senior politicians and the principle of one of Glasgow’s main college groups. These kinds of roles bring practical experience - and often specialised support - in speaking to camera for a ange of purposes. On the other hand, are a mix of everyday people who found work through the ILS but had no prior experience of speaking to camera and as might be expected had some reservations. Narratively, the key thing is to interview sympathetically, ask the right questions and know when there’s sufficient material to stop recording. Obviously there is a significant socio-economic step between an entry level job and the leader of Glasgow City Council but through the right approach and editing it’s possible to avoid making such differences overly jarring.

Introduced by Cllr Angus Millar, Chair of the Board of Jobs & Business Glasgow with contributions from Alan Sherry, principal of Glasgow Kelvin College and S...

19/10/2021

Manlio Graziano's talk on borders at the University of Glasgow’s concert hall was an interesting challenge. Beyond the multi camera approach, the low lighting in the hall versus the brightness of the projector screen is problematic. Having one right made the other wrong! The solution was to split each camera’s footage into two streams - one with the room optimised and projector screen masked; the other with the projector screen optimised and the room masked. Combining the two streams gives a very usable result.

Guest lecture for the University of Glasgow's School of Culture and Creative Arts as part of the launch event for the the 2018/19 session theme: Inclusive / ...

18/10/2021

https://youtu.be/myRidzo7ieQ

This was produced as part of the promotional footage for Glasgow Life’s volunteer campaign for the 2018 European Championships held in Glasgow and Berlin. It was a very short notice project, with confirmation Friday, filming on Saturday and edit delivery on Monday. Rapid turnaround was much aided by the range of fast moving action shots it was possible to capture and the cracking interview with the MTB course designer and cycling coach Jason Barnes.

16/10/2021

If you spend long enough pointing cameras at people it’s probably going to be your turn someday. Mine came in the prep for CoMA’s 2022 national festival online launch event. It became apparent that with all of us in lockdown, contributors (commissioned composers, sponsors, partner organisations) needed a little help to get best out of their phones, laptops and tablets. So ... yours truly, complete with lockdown ‘hairstyle’ put together this short vid to help people get the best result possible. In the spirit of things I ditched the usual cameras and mics and used my ancient iPhone 6s and an even older iPad … yes, some of it’s a bit naff, but to a good extent it actually worked and if you find yourself needing to submit a clip for something somewhere it might help a bit.

A short guide to producing video clips for contributors to the CoMA National festival online launch.

15/10/2021

So, the Panasonic GH6 looks like it’s going to be announced in a few weeks and released sometime early next year. I’m definitely tempted. That said, I still love my GH5, it’s a truly brilliant piece of kit. I was so thrilled with getting one back in April 2017 I actually made an unboxing video ..

Getting a new camera is always fun, testing it out and seeing what it can do ... a wee film then about getting my GH5