Putting one footage in front of the other
Andrew White
Q How do you first decide what areas of Britain to cover?
A There are two different processes I go through when deciding on where we go in the series. Firstly I’ m minded the series is Walks Around Britain – not Walks Around the Lake District – so I’ m always trying to make sure the series is going to new areas in every season, and not just the same places. But having said that, they are areas which are very popular which I’ d be silly not to include more often – such as the Lake District. So it’ s a balancing act between making sure there’ s enough popular and recognisable places to draw in viewers, but enough new and varied locations to be able to say we’ re are still Walks Around Britain.
Secondly, a large source of income for the series comes from product placement- where advertisers can put their products inside the programmes- and increasingly now, destination management companies, tourist boards and accommodation providers are paying us to include a walk in their area. Any such walk has to fit into the ethos of the series, but usually the areas who want to pay are those who wouldn’ t normally get coverage as a place to go walking, so that fits my first part too.
Having said all that, the areas have to work in relation to the whole season of programmes. I can’ t have fourteen walks in Rutland, just because they want to pay me, so it’ s about having a plan across the whole of a season about the geographical spread of the walks.
Q What research is required when planning a series of Walks Around Britain?
A For my series, it’ s all about telling stories. Great views after a while can become a bit boring and old hat-‘ Oh look, there’ s another drone shot of a mountain’- so what we do is tell stories. Now those stories could well be the story of the great view; but more often than not, the story is something unique to the walk. Perhaps it’ s where the coffins where taken for burial at the only church in the area; perhaps it’ s where an author got inspiration for a book; perhaps it’ s where a long-forgotten battle took place- it’ s all about stories. And we all love stories. I know it will come as a shock to many Guild members, but not everyone wants to walk all the Wainwrights … but stories engage everyone- and it’ s about finding those walks with stories.
Then, within each walk there’ s research to make sure we know as much as possible about the route, so if there’ s something that was there but isn’ t now, we can make sure we film it- either just to talk about it or maybe to add CGI effects over the top. It’ s also so we can possibly arrange to meet up with someone significant for that walk and do part or all of it with them.
Q How many episodes are in a series and how long does the shooting take?
A There are seven episodes in each season, and that is for scheduling purposes. Many of the channels which show Walks Around Britain will every so often show them at the same time every day – known in the trade as stripping- so a seven programme season adds another full week of programmes to the collection. We’ ve made three seasons so far, and we’ re part way through filming season four now.
How long it takes to film depends on whether it’ s a‘ full’ walk, i. e. one where we have a cameraman with us, or a‘ self-shot’ walk, where I film and present it alone. It usually takes two days per walk for the‘ full’ walk and one day for a self-shot walk.
Q What equipment and editing software do you use?
A The early walks were all filmed on a Canon HDV camcorder, which gave pretty good images, but they weren’ t full HD broadcast quality. I then moved onto filming with my Canon DSLR – which gave fantastic images, but absolutely shocking sound! Now, I’ ve just taken delivery of a Sony 150Z camcorder, which is 4K / UHD capable( pictured above). On the walks filmed by my cameraman Dave is filmed either on his Canon DSLR or, more recently, his new Ursa Mini. We also use a DJI drone and a Steadicam, all of which are 4K capable … so it’ s only a matter of time before we see Walks Around Britain in 4K..
Editing is all done on Sony Vegas, a competitor to Adobe’ s Premiere, which I find to be more user-friendly than Adobe’ s.
Q Do you have a back-up plan if shooting doesn’ t go to plan?
A This is tricky, as usually we have the one chance to get the footage in the can – so if bad weather strikes, we just have to keep going. Fortunately, we haven’ t yet been in a situation where we’ ve not been able to film anything because of the weather … and because I’ m the producer, I can decide just to shorten a route so we get a complete walk in, rather than come away with something which isn’ t finished or useable.
Q How do you keep track of your footage over the course of recording a walk?
A It’ s not normally a problem keeping track of what footage we’ ve filmed, as I’ m there every time we film! I’ m either filming it – when we have other presenters like Leah or I’ m self-shooting- or I’ m presenting it- when Dave is the cameraman- so it’ s pretty easy to remember the stuff filmed and what it was for.
10 Outdoor focus | autumn 2017