In the past few weeks I started doing some work experience for Minimal Media a new company based within the north wales area. One of the first jobs I worked on for them was for the Welsh National Opera who are doing a 9 month project called ‘Nine Stories High‘ which is a 5 minute opera soap opera style flash mob on the streets of Wrexham and is created using stories from the people of Wrexham. Which is part of a larger project called Wrexham Street Songs.
Each episode will be available to view online a few days after each performance. Each performance takes place on the last Saturday of every month some where within Wrexham.
My first day, the day before the performance, we went to a rehearsal within Wrexham museum and also went down to the location with the cast, directors and producers of Nine Stories High so we had a clear idea of where we were working. In the rehearsal we did some sound recording to test as an opera is something we’ve not recorded before and also we were using some brand new equipment.
The next day was the day of the performance we were on location for half 9 so we could set up and be ready for a 10′clock start with 3 performances between 10am and 12pm.
The idea to begin with was for us to film it discreetly so a try not to bee seen but it soon became apparent that in a big open space it’s quite difficult to hide. It was especially difficult to go unnoticed during the first performance due to the presence of welsh channel S4C covering it. It was difficult to hide as you can see from this screen shot from S4C new where I’m right in the middle holding a boom pole.
I’m very much looking forward to the next episode and the next 9 months of work with the WNO as it’s a different experience to work on something like this.
BBC News video about it.
