NOVEMBER, 2009
Richard Mervyn, Founding Director of Skyworks Ltd., is one of the world's most experierienced Aerial Director Cameramen.
Starting with Thames Television aged 25 he cut his teeth on shows
like Magpie. At 28 he got into
arts/features, landing up producing series like Six Centuries of Verse and the English Garden
both with the wonderful Sir John Gielgud – Richard's idea of heaven. In the latter series he
went up in the air for the first time.
Flying
took over and Richard joined Flying Pictures in the mid 90’s to shoot and
produce Millennium Britain
entirely from the air. In 2002 he founded Skyworks in order to specialise in
aerial projects. Whilst he has filmed most of Europe and the United States for the extensive Skyworks HD aerial archive (now the largest in the world), the company has also produced Wainwright Walks and Railway Walks for the BBC, as well as Coast to Coast and programmes for other broadcasters worldwide.
Filming South Africa was a very special experience for Richard; in this series of diary entries he describes the shooting days, the highs and lows, and his experiences while filming South Africa from above.
posted by ADMIN November 05, 2009 12:00 AM Filming South Africa from the air - Richard Mervyn's diary comments (0)
This is coming from a hangar at Cape Town International airport, where we are rigging the system, or rather Josh is and I'm making encouraging noises. There is no internet at the hotel, so it's easier to write this on the baby computer here where there is a signal, otherwise its typing it on the Blackberry, which makes your fingers go numb after a bit. I also met Gert, our pilot, and took an instant liking to him. He seemed experienced and interested, but above he had already got a cool box full of goodies for the trip!
We had arrived in the pouring rain, and it was cold - not what I expected! However by 14.00 it cleared and I could see Table Mountain for the first time. Tomorrow morning the good weather should hold and we will pick up a park ranger who has to be in the helicopter with us when we are in National Parks.(both Table Mountain and the Cape of Good Hope are National Parks). Bad weather is spreading in from the west, so we will need to head east by midday and try and keep in a good weather patch. Fingers crossed.
Josh and I have the delight of having to eat in the airport caff tonight, as the hotel only serves breakfast.
Goodnight from Cape Town
posted by ADMIN November 05, 2009 12:00 PM Filming South Africa from the air - Richard Mervyn's diary comments (0)
I drew the curtains back at six this morning expecting a glorious day and was greeted by grey clouds. But luckily it cleared and the sun broke through, though the top of Table Mountain was still in cloud. I decided to shoot wide shots of the city and Table Mountain and leave the close stuff until later, when we have to have a park ranger on board to tell us not to be naughty boys up on top of the mountain.
By the time we took off the weather had improved off the coast and was good enough to get out to Robben Island, where, as I'm sure you know, Nelson Mandela was a prisoner. The view back to Cape Town was wonderful, which must have made it all the more miserable for the prisoners. I filmed the prison and the quarry where he had to work, as well as the governor's house.
From Cape Town we headed to the sea and flew for about three hours along a glorious coastline with fantastic waves sweeping in from the Atlantic. Along the way we passed the most southerly point of Africa marked by a lighthouse and a plaque. But the real excitement was the whales. I thought we would not see them - but we did. I filmed a mother and albino calf (can't remember what type they were - big anyway!), and one breaching several times, which was a spectacular sight - though difficult to judge where it would emerge next.
Tonight we are in a place called George, near Mossel Bay and staying in a B and B. We treated ourselves to supper in a very salubrious golf establishment - well to be honest it was the only place near us. The highlight was all the staff coming out to sing local African songs, which was delightful. They all apparently sang in their local church. The voices will send me to sleep, if the birds would just keep quiet!
Goodnight from George – nice chap!
posted by ADMIN November 06, 2009 12:00 PM Filming South Africa from the air - Richard Mervyn's diary comments (0)
It was a good job I had to be up at five thirty because the birds clearly decided it was time to wake up. By the time we got the airport and cleared security it was eight thirty before we lifted for some pick up shots of Mossel Bay. Our pilot Gert met another flyer who was doing some lifting work in a big Kamov Russian helicopter and we went up into the mountains to get some shots. It was an impressive sight.
After refuelling back at George we met the park ranger who was to fly with us, as that way we have someone on board who can point us in the right direction, and because we are filming in a National Park we have to have him on board anyway. We then filmed some of the most spectacular coastline I have seen. In fact one of the coastal parks was the first marine conservation area in Africa. In the park is the Otter trail, which is a five day trek, with basic overnight huts. Only twelve people are allowed on the sixty forty mile trail at any one time so that people can really feel a sense of wilderness. The trail goes along the beach, up on the cliffs, in the forest and over rivers.
Further along the coast we filmed a huge seal colony on a dramatic section of coast. Human like seals could be found trying to surf in Jeffreys Bay west of Port Elizabeth. Apparently it is one of the top sites in SA. (The waves were not right, so not too much action).
Finally today we hit Port Elizabeth, well not literally, and filmed a new football stadium getting ready for the World Cup next year (In fact I hope to film all ten stadia on this trip). There were also some fine Victorian buildings in the city and it is in this city we will rest our weary heads tonight. We flew five and half hours today, which was exhausting work when filming and concentrating continuously.
Goodnight from Port Elizabeth
posted by ADMIN November 07, 2009 12:00 PM Filming South Africa from the air - Richard Mervyn's diary comments (0)
It was a good day today with mostly fine weather. I have been thrilled both in good ways and bad. Good because we have seen some fantastic places I would never have known about without Gert, the pilot. We have filmed waterfalls from inside deep gorges and others dropping into the sea from high cliffs, towns and cities up the coast, catlle on the beach, local people swimming, a tea plantation, resorts, dramatic coastlines with crashing waves and a small plane low over a beach, which we overtook. The only disappointment was the lack of game in the reserves in open ground, as the elephants were hidden in the trees. However, we do have Zebra and Wildebeest. Gert will find us game at his contact's place near Ladysmith. The bad thrill was finding sea mist and flying low at around six foot to get under it with looming cliffs a bit too close. We could do nothing else as to go up meant no viz and there were no gaps in the cliffs. Oh, and later on we had some nasty turbulence around the hilly landscape and cliffs. Gert is a superb pilot and truly knows his aircraft's capabilities.
Tonight we are in Margate about 50 miles south of Durban. Tomorrow we hope to get to the Drakensburg Mountains.
Goodnight from Margate
posted by ADMIN November 08, 2009 12:00 PM Filming South Africa from the air - Richard Mervyn's diary comments (0)
|
