Progress report

Okay, so it's the firsts day of December 2007. This means it's been a long time since my last blog. For all those who've followed this project since its inception in 2005, you'd be forgiven for thinking it has gone into one of its hibernation periods. This is not the case. I just haven't had time to do anything since coming back from holiday.

Talking of the holiday, our three week trip round central Europe was fantastic. It was a brilliant, though unseasonably cold, insight into that part of the world. I also managed to get a few extra cutaways for My DDR T-Shirt and had some fascinating conversations.

A few things have happened:

1. The latest 25 minute rough cut has been passed around a few trusted friends for feedback.
   
2. Conversations have taken place about how to get the film viewed when it's finished - suitable festivals, websites, funding possibilities etc etc.
3. Potentially worrying problems with faulty DVD burns (causing severe screen freezes etc) have been identified and solved.

With Christmas around the corner, I hope to set aside sometime for editing. Let's hope 2008 is the year for My DDR T-Shirt.

My DDR pie in the sky

In just over a week's time, my partner and I fly out to Berlin. My third visit, her first. It is part of a bigger, three week tour of central Europe. We go to Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Lithuania.

Other than a fantastically exciting prospect, the trip has worked as something of a My DDR T-Shirt deadline. In fact, one of the reasons for starting the tour in Berlin was to enable the Hawkinsian camcorder to capture finishing touches to My DDR T-Shirt. As readers of this blog will know, things have been up and down for the project over the summer, but it's good to report that things are nicely on track to take advantage of the coming visit to Berlin.

The My DDR T-Shirt working edit currently stands at around 25 minutes. There's a lot of polishing to do - in fact, it's still at the sanding down stage but a test DVD burn took place the other day and things are looking quite good. The original estimate of a 40-45 minute final running time is still about right.

And for the pie in the sky bit...
The other day, while reading some underground style club and band posters on a bar wall, it struck me as a good idea to organise a My DDR T-Shirt 'premiere'. Ideally, I'd like this to be in Withington, Manchester and there is a perfect room at a bar on Oxford Road. No contact has been made with the bar, and any public screening is many months away, but maybe this kind of thinking is a measure of the growing confidence here at Hawkinsian Productions.

All systems go - again

The impact of the corrupt project file reported in my last update has fully hit home - and what a body blow it was. However, it is great to report that most of that lost ground has been regained. Editing staff down at the Institute have been piecing the project back together and we are now back up to around 13 minutes running time.

We have taken the opportunity to assess and polish the edit wherever possible and it is generally accepted that the new 13 minutes is an improvement on the old 16 minutes. There have also been one or two mini-innovations (minnovations?) that bode very well for the end product.

Aside from these project details, there are a couple of small points...

The Hawkinsian software package has been upgraded in a measure to irradicate the buggy/crashy elements that caused the file corruption in the first place. It was actually sheer good fortune that a friend of the Institute happened to have the latest version of the Hawkinsian editing software program of choice. The newer version seems a little slow at some simple tasks but notably more stable. It also features some exciting new export/format options that will certainly be exploited when the film is ready to be distributed. People will be able to sit and watch My DDR T-Shirt from the comfort of wherever they are with a whole raft of downloadable options compatible with portable and hand held devices such as iPods, Nintendo DS, PocketPCs and a variety of others.

Good and bad news

There is good and bad news to report. After several weeks of fairly intensive editing activity, My DDR T-Shirt reached the heady heights of more than 16 minutes running time. In a project expected to be around 40 minutes, this is a considerable achievement and very pleased we are too. That's the good news.

However...
The other day, after attempting to burn a test DVD, the Hawkinsian System crashed. No big deal - this happens from time to time and we are now accustomed to frequently saving our progress. The big deal is that when re-booting and re-opening the editing project, the file has somehow become corrupt and unopenable. Without wanting to be melodramatic, many hours of intensive activity have been lost.

This a considerable blow to the project and massively disappointing. However, in the grand scheme of things, it isn't the end of the world - or the project. The biggest loss is time and early estimates suggest that it will set the project back 2-4 weeks. That's the bad news.

Testing times

Work is progressing with some positive results. With the new start, the initial edit had been stripped back to just over five minutes. Total time now stands at nearly eleven minutes.

These eleven minutes are just the beginning but they have helped establish a provisional narrative structure - though still subject to change. It is much easier to estimate the overall running time of the project and this is looking like around 40 minutes.

A rough cut of the first 10 minutes was made available to a select few a couple of days ago. Feedback was very positive - including a great response from a German colleague of Ian's. Being able to show just an intro to the project was particularly rewarding.

On a slightly different note, the longest Hawkinsian film to date is 'Our Man in Harrogate' at around 13 minutes. Jumping to about 40 minutes is presenting its own challenges. Editing staff down at the Institute are grateful that the interviews have such engaging content, but innovation is much harder to maintain on a longer project. We aren't looking to cater for short, choppy attention spans with short, choppy editing. My DDR T-Shirt is designed to let people speak and communicate their views and experiences - but does a series of unbroken talking heads make these experiences a little too dull?

It's the current hot potato down at the Institute.

Archive breakthrough

Having been teased by the IT Devil and toyed with by the Money God, The Hawkinsian Intsitute has a tendency to be a little polytheistic (believe in many different gods). Although not the official Hawkinsian spirtual belief system, it works in a part-time kinda way.

Anyway, if we blame the gods for problems, we should also celebrate them if good things happen. In this spirit, we'd like to offer thanks and laudation to the Film God.

Believe it or not, this project isn't the first to be fascinated by what happened in Berlin. It means it's very hard to do anything original on this topic, but it also means there are lots of resources and materials to take advantage of - like archive footage and newsreels.

My DDR T-Shirt has already utilised some of these but it's a prohibitively expensive resource for a no-budget documentary. The clips used so far are brilliant. They really add to the edit but they are preview-only files from a commercial film archive with a deliberately intrusive watermark and catalogue number on each frame. If My DDR T-Shirt is ever to be screened, or even just submitted to a film festival, full rights would have to be secured at great expense. It was a big concern that this would be an unaffordable cost when the final edit was done. Until now.

There are certain archive sequences in the existing edit that really cannot be replaced. They are just too good. However, in the hope of reducing future licensing costs Hawkinsian staff trawled the internet to replace more generic clips with similar ones from open source film archives. Several black and white American newsreels were downloaded and some may be useful to the project. But one, by some massive stroke of luck, featured all of the short clips already used in the My DDR T-Shirt edit. They are good picture quality, free of any watermarks or catalogue numbers and most importantly free of copyright restrictions!

In the next few days, these excerpts will find their way into the edit and the old copyright restricted versions will be deleted.

Thanks be to the Film God.

23rd July 2007

This weekend has been a good one for My DDR T-Shirt. The Hawkinsian Institute has been a blur of log sheets, MiniDV tapes and FireWire cables. Well, kinda.

Having been forced into a two-year break, a little catch-up time is inevitable. No actual progress was made in terms of length of edited video but there's so much more to editing than total time. It's also fair to admit that the prospect of re-starting the project has been quite daunting. It's a big subject and the biggest editing project ever undertaken by Hawkinsian Productions - but suffice to say that real work is being done and the cogs really are whirring again.

On a slightly different note, given mistaken messages of hope and progress in the past, this blog entry confirms that systems really are go at Hawkinsian Productions. There was a small blip (an odd system crash) at the weekend but nothing to put the brakes on the project. Capturing, editing, exporting and burning are all functioning well.

Plans for the next few weeks include an interview with Christina Seidel (yet to be agreed/finalised) and baby steps along that editing timeline. That's the way we do things down at the Institute but as most of you sleep soundly in your beds, the Hawkinsian head will be churning ideas over - and over, and over.

A new start - 25th June 2007

Well, Friday 22nd June 2007 was a momentous day for My DDR T-Shirt and Hawkinsian Productions.

In autumn 2005, all progress on My DDR T-Shirt was halted due to inexplicable hardware and software problems. These issues exhausted the knowledge and resources of Hawkinsian Productions' IT department. We are delighted to announce that we have finally overcome these problems and the long winter of IT discontent is over.

A similar (and sadly premature) announcement was made just two posts ago but a video-capture, edit and export/DVD burn trial were successfully completed on Friday. It has cost hundreds of pounds (our entire IT budget for the last two years) on three different PC upgrades but our elated staff will now begin work on the project in earnest.

Other news...
Flights have been booked for a visit to Berlin in September. This will be Ian's third visit and his last chance to film material for the final edit. There is also talk of one or two new interviews and plans to explore new media and internet resources (like YouTube) for relevant stuff.

Look forward to regular updates from now on. Let's hope the IT curse has been permanently lifted.

First posted 26th February 2007

Well, as usual I've been very busy - some of the photo galleries reflect this. But the My DDR T-Shirt project is still present in the minds of all down at the Institute.

We are pleased to announce that a new page has been added to the My DDR T-Shirt website. As it turns out, Johnny Tarver has generated some interest from some of his old comrades in the Communist Party of Great Britain. Some of these people spotted Johnny's picture on my site and posted the link on a political forum.

After a short exchange I agreed to make the Tarver interview available for download. You can find the whole interview as a series of MP3s on my new Johnny Tarver page.

First posted 13th November 2006

NB. The update below about IT faults turned out to be not entirely accurate. The faults were not fixed (as it was believed at the time) but the information about new galleries was true.

GOOD NEWS!!
We are delighted to report that Hawkinsian IT and Hawkinsian Productions have been very busy over the last few months. A year and a day after acknowledging some serious technical problems, the faults are fixed and My DDR T-Shirt is back in business.

We look forward to making progress over the next few months with improved IT facilities and new gusto. The first development to report is the release of some new My DDR T-Shirt Photo Galleries. Some of the pictures will already be familiar to frequent visitors, but some are published for the very first time.

We are prepared to commit to many more updates over the next 12 months. So please do pop back from time to time to find out the latest news - we can't wait to tell you.

For the record, thanks must be given to Kirstie Adamson for her wonderful encouragement. Thank you, Kirst.

First posted 10th July 2006

Yes. A disgraceful amount of time has lapsed since my last update. We basically have very little to report. Some significant changes have taken place here at the Institute since November 2005 - mainly of a personal nature for Ian.

However, fear not. The My DDR T-Shirt project will resume at some point. We cannot recommend that you 'watch this space' because we don't know when we will have progress to tell you about. But tell you we will.

In the meantime, take a look at the photograph galleries for the latest Hawkinsian activities - in particular the Walks page.

Kindest regards to anyone who has helped on the My DDR T-Shirt project. Your help has not been in vain.

First posted 12th November 2005

Good and bad news to report. We hinted at technical problems in our last report when we said we were 'now almost fully operational again'. These slightly annoying problems have proved to be much more serious than first thought.

The new upgraded Hawkinsian IT facilities work perfectly for everything - except the FireWire card. For those of you who don't know, a FireWire connection is vital for video capture. Without this facility, we are unable to go any further with the editing My DDR T-Shirt as we simply cannot get the material on the computer.

Little clumps of torn out hair can be found scattered arround the Institute. The odd scream has been heard and one of the cleaners even found a snapped pencil. Ian certainly picked a bad time to give up smoking.

However, our technicians don't like to be inactive for very long. Whilst we will continue to work on the FireWire problem, we are delighted to announce the following news:

Our Man in Harrogate is available for download! This popular little video diary now has it's very own section with the complete film split into two downloadable files. We hope you like it.

A brand new Miscellaneous gallery has been added to the Hawkinsian Photography section. Made up of twelve pictures taken over the last, say, twelve months, the gallery is not earth-shattering but always worth a look.

Enjoy!

First posted 23rd October 2005

It's a little scary how long it has been since the last update. Time sho' do know how to pass by. There are a couple of causes - since the launch of the diary pages, most spare computer time has been spent working on the film. This work revealed some serious deficiencies in the Hawkinsian IT set up and called for some investment. Forms were filled in and submitted to the Hawkinsian Finance Team. After due deliberation, it was acknowledged that without adequate systems, there is no Institute.

And so, this is the first update written on essentially a new computer. Considerable time was spent backing up data, replacing old hardware and re-installing software. We are delighted to report that the Institute is now almost fully operational again.

As for project progress, early rough cuts of the first ten minutes or so of My DDR T-Shirt are proving very exciting indeed. Unlike any previous project, My DDR T-Shirt requires considerably greater resources. The first being the legal use of archive news footage. Costs for this have proved to be terrifyingly expensive. This may well result in the first ever Hawkinsian application for outside funding. Contact his been made with the regional film office, Northwest Vision. Meetings are in the pipeline but yet to be confirmed.

When asked for an update, Ian issued the following statement:

"When things are going so well, so quickly, the temptation is to go rushing into a compilation of the existing footage and come up with a rough cut. However, I want My DDR T-Shirt to be better than any previous project. There is so much to balance, so many voices to represent, it would be foolish to allow haste into the equation. Sometimes, the art and craft of filmmaking can be discovered in the most inconsequential transition from one clip to another. Ultimately, it is this that will help me develop and make a better programme."

So there you have it - watch this space but don't hold your breath.

First posted 15th September 2005

Things have been quite busy since the last update. First of all, we are delighted to announce the launch of a brand new section of this website. The new Berlin Diary section features the complete and unabridged web publication of Ian's filming diary while in Berlin. Browsers and enthusiasts alike can now follow the ups and downs of the trip complimented by previously unpublished photographs and video stills. It's there, so why not, like, you know, read it.

We also have the fantastic news that Dagmar Lane has completed the task of translating and transcribing both of the interviews conducted in German. Huge thanks to Dagmar for all her time and effort.

The final thing to report is that editing has begun! Ian was spotted capturing video to the Hawkinsian hard drive over a week ago. The process will be a lengthy one but we are all very encouraged that the ball is finally rolling. Don't book any annual leave for the premiere just yet, but it may be worth a flick through Littlewoods catalogue for your outfit.

First posted 2nd September 2005

There are some very positive developments to report after a good week for My DDR T-Shirt. First of all, Ian met photographer and historian Ian Sanders for an interview. Ian S. was fortunate enough to visit Berlin during the last weeks and months of the GDR. Ian S. compiled a book of fascinating photographs called 'From Hitler to Honecker' and offered his support to the My DDR T-Shirt project. Huge thanks to Ian S.

On a different note, Ian (back to Hawkins again, now) has enrolled his nephew Adam Richardson as a cutaway cameraman. Adam will be in Berlin for his twelfth birthday and will take a Hawkinsian camcorder with him. We have searched through the Hawkinsian archives and can confirm that Adam is the youngest member of staff ever to work for the Institute. Even so, we're confident Adam can do a good job and eagerly await the results. Thanks Ads.

And finally, a friend of a friend called Mareike Barmeyer has agreed in principle to fill a couple of MiniDV tapes with Berlin cutaways. Mareike is a writer and photographer who lives in Berlin. Sincere thanks in advance to Mareike.

First posted 25th August 2005

Well, well, well! Another landmark has been reached in the progress of My DDR T-Shirt. All 13 hours of video tape have now been dutifully logged and accounted for.

Strangely enough, this process has proved to be one of the most vital yet tedious tasks so far. It has been great to get back in touch with the project after the distractions of the last few months, but sitting through 13 hours of anything is quite a challenge. The official Hawkinsian attention span, said to be that of the average goldfish, has exceeded all expectations.

Some work still needs to be done (and is being done) on the transcription and translation of the German language interviews. We also have news of a brand new interview scheduled to take place in Manchester on Thursday 1st September. The interviewee is an English photographer who captured some of the changes that took place in Berlin from 1989-1999.

Some slightly sadder news. A new potential My DDR T-Shirt interviewee (we'll call him 'Ron') had agreed in principal to help out with our project. Ron was an East German living in Manchester. Fascinatingly, he was in the East German army at the time the DDR collapsed. Unfortunately (for the Institute, at least), Ron has been offered a job in Valencia and left for Spain last week. The Institute would like to wish Ron and his family well for their new life in the sun.

First posted 2nd August 2005

Since returning from Budapest, things have been a little slow to get going again. Of the weekends and evenings available for work on My DDR T-Shirt, most have been hijacked by one thing or another. Out of four weekends, only two days have been available for all the things you need to do when not at work.

For example, two weeks after returning from Hungary, Ian was once again seen at Manchester Airport waiting to board a plane. This time he was off to Stockholm for a four day work trip. Please note that the Institute will always jump at the chance to travel. It was great to take a look at Stockholm (see the brand new Stockholm gallery in the photography page) but it wasn't good news for My DDR T-Shirt.

Even with such a busy schedule, we are proud to announce that progress is still being made on the Berlin project - mainly due to the kindness and skill of Doreen Ringham. Doreen responded to an advertisement on craigslist.com asking for transcription and translation. Over the last few weeks, Doreen has been working on audio files of the two German language interviews conducted in May. Doreen is German, grew up in East Germany but now lives in Florida. Huge thanks to Doreen for her help and kindness.

First posted 17th July 2005

Ian has now returned from his holiday in Budapest and Transylvania. Although it was potentially a new angle for the Berlin project, no interviews took place. There was however, a little bit of filming at Szobor Park (Statue Park).

After 1989, the Soviet and Communist era statues were removed from Budapest's public spaces. Many were scrapped but some found a new home at Szobor Park. As the iconography of the DDR and the Eastern Bloc is all part of the My DDR T-Shirt project, some very useful cutaways were filmed and photographed. Incidentally, two new galleries can be found in the Photography pages.

Apart from this one opportunity, Ian felt that the Berlin focus was central to the project. Interviews with any person who experienced Communism are tempting, but not always relevant. Now that Ian is back, having enjoyed himself thoroughly, My DDR T-Shirt is back on the 'To Do' list and the ball is starting to roll again.

Firstly, even more responses came in from the requests for translators on Craigslist. The audio of the Erika Kammer and Ursula Petzsch interviews has now been captured, cleaned, chopped into bitesize pieces and made available for download.

Secondly, a couple of interviews are planned with some former East Germans living right here in Manchester.

Thirdly, rumours have been spreading around the Institute that Ian has been seen, more than once, browsing the Easyjet website. It is thought that he is exploring the idea of another visit to Berlin. These rumours may or may not be true, but either way, My DDR T-Shirt will have to progress considerably before another trip can be taken seriously.

That's all for now.

First posted 25th June 2005

Over the last week, we have had two volunteers to help transcribe/translate the interviews in German. The first is Dagmar Lane - the quick-minded amongst you will recognise her name as the most recent interviewee (photo below). She kindly offered to help out and we are just agreeing the most convenient way to approach it. The second is a person who responded to my posting on Craigslist. Again, details are yet to be worked out, and until I get permission, we won't name this kind person. Huge thanks to both.

The most important news is that Ian is going on his summer holiday tomorrow - to Budapest and Transylvania. From a My DDR T-Shirt viewpoint, this isn't the best timing. But travel is travel and "grab it while you can," is the official Hawkinsian line. Moreover, the two don't have to be mutually exclusive. As former members of the Eastern Bloc, it is thought that Hungary and Romania may offer a new angle for the film. Then again, they may not, but who knows? Without wanting to lose the Berlin focus, there may be something relevant to be captured. One thing's for sure, and we'll all sleep easier knowing that Hawkinsian cameras (still and video) will accompany Ian on his trip.

We look forward to the results and will, of course, post updates when Ian returns.

First posted on 18th June 2005

Well, the first thing to report is the setting up of the News page on My DDR T-Shirt is News page. Designed to encourage repeat visitors and give our web team something to do.

So, here is the news...
It would be fair to say that the filming trip in May was a great success. All of the arranged interviews took place and we covered some fascinating ground on the way. Huge thanks to everyone involved for making it happen.

On the downside, those who have read the 'The making of' page will know that the plan was to return from Berlin with everything necessary for the complete film in the bag. Sadly, this isn't the case. Not a word to the Hawkinsian Accounts Dept. but a second Berlin trip may be needed later in the year.

The filming schedule was so packed with interviews that we didn't shoot enough cutaways, incidental footage or background video. What we did manage to get was either not enough or not good enough. Yes, this is frustrating but it must never be forgotten that this is a learning process. If Hawkinsian Productions was the BBC, heads may have rolled by now. Instead, we have to learn as we go along and keep focused.

Progress?
We are currently logging all of the 11 hours or so of Berlin footage. This vital but lengthy process will make the editing process easier in the long run. Also, the first non-Berlin interview took place in Bristol the other day. Dagmar Lane was kind enough to talk to us on camera and tell us some of her opinions and recollections of the DDR. Finally, we are looking to find people to transcribe and translate the two interviews shot in German. Email us if you would like to volunteer.