The Farming Film -- and Media

[Dry Rot]

A few months back there was great enthusiasm for making a film promoting farming and contributions from the farming community would mean it would have a budget of millions with big Hollywood stars playing all the major roles. Well, I've possibly exaggerated a bit! I quietly tried to make the point that a good film isn't a question of money. It is a question of what people find interesting. Farmers are a mixed, varied, and sometimes odd lot which makes them generally interesting to "normal" people. OK, so the story still has to be put across professionally but that really shouldn't be a problem nor expensive.

Then on Radio 4's Farming Today (02/04/2021) I heard the radio version of what I had in mind. Worth a listen how a selection of cheese makers have made contact with their customers. The reaction is inspiring.

Thanks to the BBC's genius for making simple things impossible, I am unable to post a link. Maybe someone here who understand technology can? It was on R4 Farming Today 02/03/2021. There also appears to be a video version.

The program's description is....
"An on-line cheese tasting might sound like a virtual leap too far but the internet video conferencing websites we’ve grown used to in lockdown have created a perfect platform for taking farmers and food producers right into the homes of their customers. Meet Your Cheesemaker is a live monthly on-line introduction to small scale farmer cheesemakers – and most importantly, their cheese. The man behind it, Francis Gimblett, tells Caz Graham how it works and why specialist cheese-making could be a rewarding diversification for some smaller dairy farmers. Cotswold farmer Jonathan Crump who makes single and double gloucester cheese admits this was his very first Zoom call and introduces us to Molly and Pansy, his rare breed Gloucester cows, while he’s milking them. Tanya Byrne and Holly Banham are regular participants and explain why they love hearing the insights only a farmer can bring to the cheese they make and advise on how to avoid rookie cheese mistakes like buying a whole wheel when 200g might be a more suitable amount!"

 

[primmiemoo]

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 02/04/31: Cheese Producers in Lockdown

As restaurants closed in lockdown, fine cheese producers went online to sell their wares.

www.bbc.co.uk

Is this the audio, @Dry Rot ?

 

[Dry Rot]

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 02/04/31: Cheese Producers in Lockdown

As restaurants closed in lockdown, fine cheese producers went online to sell their wares.

www.bbc.co.uk

Is this the audio, @Dry Rot ?

Yes, that's the one.

 

[primmiemoo]

Yes, that's the one.

I can't quite spot a video version, sorry. It could be it's no longer available, but that's generally for content that's more than 6 months old. I'll have a nother fossick, though.

 

[Dry Rot]

I can't quite spot a video version, sorry. It could be it's no longer available, but that's generally for content that's more than 6 months old. I'll have a nother fossick, though.

From the blurb, it was done on Zoom which is way beyond my technical horizons but I gather it is a video conferencing tool? Apart from attempting to be a catalyst to get something moving, I know nothing. I understand that modern mobile phones have the ability to record video at almost broadcast quality. I am completely out of touch these days and not at my best first thing in the morning. But I was chatting with an ex-BBC cameraman the other day who says the quality obtainable from fairly cheap modern equipment is quite staggering, What is lacking is the will to record and edit what is already out there.

What impressed me were the comments from the cheese producer's customers and how much they enjoyed learning from the farmers (who produce the cheese) themselves. Not difficult or expensive to do -- and they've done it.

 

[primmiemoo]

Ah, I see ~ think you're right that zoom (other virtual meeting spaces are also available) aren't always recorded. I have been to webinars over this last year that were derived from formal, live, zoom conferences, and found them interesting to watch. The old tech here is too clunky to join in with the live formats, but upgrades are imminent.

If you are using your computer to access TFF, I'll bet you will find using a smartphone or tablet for taking photos and video satisfyingly intuitive, @Dry Rot .
There's a computer and IT forum within TFF with resident techies to ask, isn't there?

V impressed by what the cheese producers are doing. By using zoom, it's almost as though the customer is at the stall at the point of sale, but with the addition of in depth, behind the scenes video and explanations.

 

[Dry Rot]

Ah, I see ~ think you're right that zoom (other virtual meeting spaces are also available) aren't always recorded. I have been to webinars over this last year that were derived from formal, live, zoom conferences, and found them interesting to watch. The old tech here is too clunky to join in with the live formats, but upgrades are imminent.

If you are using your computer to access TFF, I'll bet you will find using a smartphone or tablet for taking photos and video satisfyingly intuitive, @Dry Rot .
There's a computer and IT forum within TFF with resident techies to ask, isn't there?

V impressed by what the cheese producers are doing. By using zoom, it's almost as though the customer is at the stall at the point of sale, but with the addition of in depth, behind the scenes video and explanations.

No tablet or smart phone. Not doing much filming now but more recently it would be short movies to advertise my Highland ponies on a web site. My video camera is a Sony DSR PD150 (DVCam tape) which you may remember. What you probably won't remember is the gear I used to use and edit on -- Hi Band Umatic SP, of BVU. Poor man's betacam. That's 3/4 inch tape! The kit was used by a two man team, one to carry the camera and the second to carry the recorder with an umbilicle cable between the two. But I was a one man band, either using a truck or a modified ATV to carry the kit. Editing with Final Cut Pro. Before that 16mm Bolex film camera -- 2.5 minutes to 100ft of film costing £100 to process. Now I'm dated, but it was the way to learn! I even learnt to service that old BVU stuff.

 

[primmiemoo]

You're overqualified for recent equipment! Most of it is click a button and away y'go. My 4 year old digital camera is 12megapixels with HD plus video, plus it uploads via a transfer app (), but the camera on my new smartphone that was delivered this week has 13mp. Phone cost a third of the camera, does umpty things more, and can be used under water, or so the instructions say.
The next one might fetch me a cuppa tea, and fill in the VAT and tax returns.

 

[Dry Rot]

You're overqualified for recent equipment! Most of it is click a button and away y'go. My 4 year old digital camera is 12megapixels with HD plus video, plus it uploads via a transfer app (), but the camera on my new smartphone that was delivered this week has 13mp. Phone cost a third of the camera, does umpty things more, and can be used under water, or so the instructions say.
The next one might fetch me a cuppa tea, and fill in the VAT and tax returns.

That's all very well for you bright young things but we've recently been trying to get my sister, late 80s, onto Talking Books. The family's conclusion is that she'd never manage the on - off button! I am not quite as bad as that!

I forgot to mention thatI also have a Panasonic DMC TZ60 which is handy for quick short videos than can go straight on the Internet. A picture really does speak a thoudand words and video is even better. Complicated is no use to me, if I accidentally press the wrong button on the TZ60, I have to go home to the desktop to look up the manual to see what to do next.

My first video, on dogs, got excellent reviews but it was cuts only, no fancy editing. The reason it got a good reception was because people found it interesting. That is always the bottom line and why I liked that R4 broadcast.