Crows Nest Films

We're filming California's wildlife this week.

Carney and Kate are currently in San Francisco Bay, Northern California, filming with the deliciously mind-blowing Professor Philip B. Stark.  Philip Stark is Associate Dean and Professor of Statistics in the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of California in Berkeley, and in addition to a huge body of work embracing inference problems and all the science and maths you can muster, he's also a passionate forager who is studying whether urban foraging could contribute meaningfully to nutrition.  

Along with The Botanist Carney has been trotting the globe, hunting for innovative souls who are truly connected with their environment. Professor Stark is one such enthusiast and is investigating nutrition, food equity, and sustainability, starting by investigating the occupancy, nutritional value, and possible toxicity of wild foods in the East Bay as part of the Berkeley Open Source Food Project.  According to the project's research wild and feral foods can improve nutrition, expand diets,

excite palates, save water, reduce waste, increase food security, increase farm biodiversity, and increase farm revenue.  Members of Berkeley Open Source Food advocate for legislation that would replace the use of pesticides on weeds with legal foraging.  The group is also encouraging chefs at Chez Panisse and Mission Chinese to use weeds in "wild" menus.The exciting thing about foraging in the East Bay is that there's an abundance of both urban foraging opportunities and natural spaces in which to look for edible plants. A hike through Berkeley's fire trails, Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, or Tilden Park will yield plenty of foraged finds. In the summer, there are wild blackberries and strawberries — the pretty white flowers popping up in early summer will turn into ripe berries by August. Himalayan blackberries are an invasive species that you can find all over the East Bay: Just pick any hiking trail and look for the white flowers or dark fruit.

If you are in the Bay Area, check out this Field Guide to wild growing indigenous edibles - The Bay Area's Baker's Dozen Wild Edibles.

The crew have also had the distinct pleasure of filming with Dr Daphne Miller.  Patients in her San Francisco family practice just call her Dr. Daphne.  It’s a fitting moniker for an upbeat M.D. known to prescribe soup recipes for cold-symptom relief.  Daphne Miller was educated at Harvard Medical School and teaches medicine at the University of California, but her views of health break through convention. Raised by Peace Corps volunteers and back-to-the-landers, this dedicated gardener firmly believes that food is potent medicine.  Her fascinating book The Jungle Effect asks why relatively poor populations in Mexico and Africa have low levels of chronic disease compared to the USA and explores the healthiest diets from around the globe. Farmacology: Total Health From The Ground Up discusses the simple yet critical idea of food as medicine.

Wild fires are currently raging in Southern California, and although there are no active fires in the region, the air is thick with smoke from the Camp Fire in Butte County giving poor visibility and air quality.  Thankfully the crew are safe and well and being very well looked after by Philip Stark who is keeping them in homemade Bay Nut Cookies and good company.

Pioneer & much besides...

Carney and Graham are filming on the South coast with Colin Newman, founding member, primary vocalist and songwriter for legendary art rock band Wire today.

According to Rolling Stone magazine, Wire have always been as much of an art project as a band.  "Originating in a unit at singer Colin Newman’s art school, this experimental quartet explored through their much-lauded 1977 debut Pink Flag a detached and savage minimalism, which, in the former, would inspire Brit-pop bands such as Elastica and, in the latter, provoke American hardcore acts like Black Flag."  In a 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, Newman said the band were yet to achieve real recognition, "Basically, the world divides into people who know Wire and they think that everybody knows it, and the rest of the world, which is 99.9 percent of it, who’ve never heard of Wire."  This is all about to change.

The legendary punk generation art rock band are making a film about themselves with Graham Duff and Malcolm Boyle who brought Carney in on the project.  Filming began in August this year when the captain captured Wire's performance of John Cage's 4'3", a 4 minute and 33 second composition of uniterrupted silence.  They have also filmed with the band recording earlier this year at Rockfield Studios and interviewed Robert Grey at his home in the National Forest.

Crows Nest are unleashing our full 4K force at the feature and are thrilled to be filming with Malcolm on this project, having worked with him for many years on Hoppy: Underground Head.  

Colin Newman is probably most widely known as the frontman/tunesmith of the art/rock band Wire, who through various incarnations in the 1970s, 1980s and 2000s have trashed as many genres as they have created, ranging from the austere future punk of their 1977 debut Pink Flag to the "intelligent, adventurous, 21st century rock n roll" of their most recent opus Object 47 (2008), passing through many colours of twisted pop, avant psychedelia and techno throb along the way. The list of bands Wire have influenced is long and diverse, and ranges from U2 to Elastica to Aphex Twin, from REM to Fisherspooner to Liars.

As well as his involvement with Wire, Colin has also worked on many other projects. He has made six solo albums, and produced, remixed or arranged music for The Virgin Prunes, Minimal Compact, French megastar Alain Bashung, Hawkwind, Dead Man Ray and Silo. In addition to this, since the early 1990s he has run the groundbreaking Swim label with Malka Spigel, who is also his wife. The pair have made many artistic collaborations, the best known of which is Immersion, although in fact any Swim-released work under either of their names is actually a collaboration. Swim has also released work by many other artists (often realised in Swim's studio), including: Lobe, Ronnie & Clyde, g-man, Silo, Symptoms, Akatombo, Toucaen, and Githead!

In addition to running the Swim label, Colin also runs the pinkflag label (all Wire's recent releases have passed through the Swim studio and Colin's hands).

We're with Darius Rucker at the Albert Hall.

As Country Music Week kicks off in London, Darius and the Carolina Grey Boys are playing a sell out UK tour and Carney has joined them to capture stills and documentary footage of the Grammy award winning musicians as their play their way around Europe.

Having played Birmingham's Symphony Hall and Manchester's Albert Hall the boys are rocking the Royal Albert Hall tonight with support from Russell Dickerson, before heading to Amsterdam's Paradiso on Tuesday.

Carney's been working with the band since 2014, and their manager, Mike Kelly, for a couple of decades.  They've been round the planet together a few of times including a rave with Paul Oakenfold on the Great Wall of China in 2003 which Carney shot with a Sony VX1000 and two Super8's.  You can watch the film here.

This week we're shooting in 4K in a Southern state of mind.

UNCONQUERED

We are terrifically proud to be a part of Invictus Games.

Crows Nest Films have sent Mo El-Fatih out to Sydney to live with Team UK for Invictus Games 2018.  Throughout the event Mo is sharing highlights for Help For Heroes, Royal British Legion and The Ministry of Defence.  Beyond injury, beyond adversity these brave incredible people get up, pull each other forward and fight the next fight, they keep going, they are unstoppable.

Mo is with them for every bead of sweat, and every second, every hour, every day of determination, sharing daily updates from Sydney.

More than 500 competitors from around the world gathered for the fourth edition of the Invictus Games, which is taking place in the southern hemisphere for the first time.  Mo flew out with the team and has been with them through the Opening Ceremony from the Sydney Opera House, and for all the daily events.

Founded by HRH The Duke of Sussex in 2014, the Invictus Games are an international adaptive sports event for wounded, injured and ill active duty and veteran service personnel and is attended by both Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

Most of us will never know the full horrors of combat. Many servicemen and women suffer life-changing injuries, visible or otherwise, whilst serving their country. How do these men and women find the motivation to move on and not be defined by their injuries?  On a trip to the Warrior Games in the USA in 2013, HRH The Duke of Sussex saw first-hand how the power of sport can help physically, psychologically and socially those suffering from injuries and illness. He was inspired by his visit and the Invictus Games was born.

The word ‘invictus’ means ‘unconquered’. It embodies the fighting spirit of wounded, injured and sick Service personnel and personifies what these tenacious men and women can achieve post injury. The Games harness the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding and respect for those who serve their country.

The Invictus Games is about much more than just sport – it captures hearts, challenges minds and changes lives.  Every personal best is a victory, every entry, every cheer from the stands, that's what The Invictus Games Foundation is about.

Crows Nest Films has had the great privelege of working with many forces men and women; Royal Marine Commandoes, R.A.F. pilots and Help For Heroes personnel.  Carney, Fleur and the crew have formed great friendships with some of these individuals who continue to be a part of their lives and inspire them to keep going and experiencing new things.

Can you smell what the 'Rok is cooking?

It has been a fantastic year for us at Crows Nest Films. We have moved from the industrial milling heartland of Derbyshire to the rolling hills of Cheshire. Not only is the grass greener here, life is a lot more physical. In the wise words of Jake The Poacher; “I've been watching you ... prancing like a tit. You want working on boy”.  For that and many other reasons we have upgraded our main company wheels. Carney settled on the new Volkswagon Amarok.

The Amarok, apparently, is an Inuit wolf that kills hunters who hunt alone at night. So what is it like? It’s made light work of the snow we have here recently (as you can see here) and is just simply alarmingly practical.  It’s a massive beast so kit-wise even our extensive filming arsenal can be easily accommodated.  There’s room for five crew and coffee holders for four. That could be the only problem, so Mo will be forced to stick with espressos.  Its permanently four-wheel drive so is just as happy off road as on.  An eight-speed auto gearbox ensures excellent power delivery. Perfect for those hard to reach locations where Richard Hitchcock-Wynne can’t be bothered to walk or Dan Harrison might get his jeans mucky.

We are up and running in one of the barns at the farm but it’s taken us a while to work out where exactly to have our bespoke office and voice over facilities. The new office will be built this year as it starts to get warmer and we re-house the current occupants.

The Amarok is Crows Nest Films' newest and largest piece of kit, and it is truly a wolf in wolf's clothing.

Buxton Mountain Rescue reaches the grand old age of 50 this year.