The End Within Sight

So onto the final day of the festival we go, the Sunday. At this point my levels of exhaustion from the event were beginning to become more apparent, as I had been fighting a cold during the festival which had been making an already busy weekend even more tiring.

On this particular day I spent almost all of my time in the Old Fire Station, as I had been told to film about three or four events in there that were all in a row. This did make things easier to a degree as I didn’t have to go running from building to building having to go to sessions all over the place. But it still wasn’t a complete walk in the park as explained in my previous post on this blog.

One of the sessions I attended on the Sunday was one about someone surviving the terrible fires which occurred on Black Saturday in Victoria back in 2009. The story he told of how he survived was one that was quite something to hear, it also really enforcing that sometimes we take for granted how lucky we are.

But I think one of my personal favourite sessions which I attended for the whole festival was the ‘Words and Emotion’, which was a session which talked about song writing and how songwriters come up with the lyrics they do. This session had Charles Jenkins and Liz Stringer talked about creating the music they do, also playing a few songs of theirs which were very enjoyable to listen to, showing to me how talented these two artists are, while also giving me an insight into their profession.

So then after attending a few more sessions on Sunday for filming the festival came to a close and the class for Writer’s in Action assembled on the Monday to debrief on the festival. It was also a odd and saddened feeling to meet all of these strangers only a matter of days earlier and work alongside some of them for the program I was a part of, only to say goodbye a handful of days later after one of the busiest and most enjoyable weekends I’ve ever had.

It was one which for me was full of activity, as I went along to a number of the sessions and did hours and hours of filming for the upcoming program centred on the Bendigo Writer’s Festival. The cold I had to deal with during the event did make it harder but I still thoroughly enjoyed the festival and heard some very talented writers and artists talking about all things writing, while also covering a broader range of topics.

Did I enjoy the festival as much as I thought I would? In all honesty I think I had more fun than I thought I would, and I’m certainly glad that I attended it. Hopefully I can try to go to more writer’s festivals in the future to continue improving my writing skills and keep my passion for it alive.

And on the Third Day...

Suddenly the weekend was upon us and the festival proper began, my energy levels already having been depleted enough from the full days previously on the Thursday and Friday. But I arrived on Saturday keen to get back into the swing of the filming I had been doing the previous day.

 My first filming session for that day was at the Bendigo Bank Theatre in The Capital, my first one I filmed in that theatre for the festival. This session did have Jackie French in attendance once again, as she talked about gardening and the ways in which one could build and maintain one. There were some interesting thoughts that were brought up during this session, it definitely being one which I did enjoy listening to, despite gardening not exactly being something I’m too interested in.

One of the other sessions I went to that day also to film was the session about Greece and people from there who have moved to Australia. It was quite interesting I felt to hear these stories of their lives and having to adjust to the differing lifestyle of the countries.

Of course, doing the filming was what I was concentrating a lot on during the festival so at times I may have missed parts of the session. Despite what you may think with advancements in technology, doing camera work for these kinds of events isn’t an absolute breeze. For each session I would have to set up the camera on its tripod and make sure it was level, while also making sure the camera wasn’t too high or unstable.

Next up was getting the audio cable connected to the camera from the audio guys who were controlling the microphones of the guys talking and performing for the festival’s sessions, something which ended up being easier than I thought and also helped a lot with making the sound quality better. The camera I had did contain a microphone, except it was only really barely adequate if I were to describe its quality.

And of course lastly was getting the camera powered up and then getting the shot set up liked I wanted. That’s when I would hit the record button and let the camera do what it was designed to do. Though even after starting to record the sessions, I would still not be able to leave the camera alone, as I would have to adjust the microphone levels for the voices of the people speaking, so as not be too loud or too quiet. This could be a pain at times, as some voices would end up being louder or quieter than others, so a compromise would have to be made. I would also on occasions during the sessions move the camera around on the bipod to get different shots of the people doing the talking.

Overall I would say that the Saturday of the festival was a fun one for me, and certainly did take a lot of energy out of me with the amount of running around I did for the filming. But I did also learn some interesting things about what writers do, such as how some prefer to have meticulous planning for stories they write, whereas other do better with barely or no planning at all.

Onward to Day 2

So we assembled on Thursday, the day before the festival began. The group of people doing the course was actually rather large, I didn’t actually expect there to be as many people doing the course as ended up being the case. So we all assembled to go through the preparations for the festival, most of us complete strangers to one and other. What I expected from the course was something I still wasn’t sure of, as I hadn’t done a course like this one before.

 I also hadn’t been to a writer’s festival before in my life, so just going to the festival in general was a completely new experience for me. We were told what was to be done over the festival and what was going to be shown at the festival. This was a nice way to get ourselves ready for what was to come as I certainly was a bit clueless as to what to expect from the experience I would have at the Bendigo Writers Festival.

 This is also where I got confirm and finalise what my festival would be centred around, filming for the program that is planned to air on channel 31. We meet up on the Thursday between sessions of planning for the festival, confirming what each person would do and what sort of theme the program would take. So filming was what I would do and that is something I was happy with, as having done a bit of camera work before I found it quite enjoyable. This gives me a perspective of the festival that I feel is quite unique from others. Having to get positioning of the camera correct allows you a view which is something a bit different.

So what did I learn from the festival? Well quite a bit actually. I learnt some techniques for writing which could certainly be helpful in the future, as well as saw some very successful and well known authors talking about a variety of topics.

The first day of the festival on the Friday was quite interesting, as my very first filming project was to film the ABC radio national broadcast, which was quite intriguing to watch. Some of the experiences of the people that they had on the show were quite interesting, as well as their ways of writing and what they wrote about. On a side note, the two guys they had doing the musical tunes during points of the show were actually really good I felt, something a bit different which was also nice to listen to.

I also got to see Jackie French speak which was rather inspiring, as she seems to be a very powerful public speaker.  All in all, the first day went very well and was quite busy, as I was running around filming different sessions for most of it. But it was certainly still very enjoyable and got me looking forward to the next two days of the festival.

Let the Action Begin

It’s always the toughest thing in writing to try to start off the piece you are trying to write, be it an essay, creative piece or something completely unique. How do you begin? Do you start off with a humorous line; try to get some laughs out of the reader? Or do you go for a high impact and deep line to really hit the reader right off the bat? This all of course depends greatly on what exactly the piece you are creating is about and what context is within it. Of course, once that start is created the rest of the piece can flow quite quickly if you know what to write about and have an idea of what to say. Until that start is achieved however, getting into the meat of the piece can be hard to get to.

This is one of the many challenges which writers face when writing. The Bendigo Writers Festival was something which brought together numerous writers to delve into a number of subjects to do with writing. Some attended to learn about ways to improve their own writing, others to learn about the writers themselves.  

Personally I went to the festival for my own different reasons. I went to the festival as part of a class which I was doing that centred around the festival, one of those ‘everything at once’ kind of deals, most of the it happening during the festivals, in what turned out to be a stressful and hectic weekend, but a very enjoyable one indeed.

Most of my time at the festival was filled up with doing camera work of the sessions which were needed to film for a project which I was involved with, a program about the festival which will be aired on Channel 31 in October. So I feel that doing this has given me a more unique perspective on what the festival was like and the atmosphere which inhabited it. Working with the camera and seeing the events through the lens makes one observe things that they otherwise may not, such as how a certain view of a shot that would be unnoticeable or less impactful with the camera to look though.

So if you came here to read an extremely detailed blog on each event that was on during the writer’s festival than this probably isn’t the blog for you. If however you want to read a different perspective on the festival and writing in general, then this is a blog which may interest you.

  This first post is more of a general welcome one, a taste of what’s to come as well as what sort of content to expect in future posts.