Olena Pavlova
Viet-Hai Phung
Yuriy Ushakov
Lourdes Benegas Cabezos
Frederique Poujades
Wendy Johnston
Helena Suarez
Rocchino Franchelli
Peter Zabulis
Paulina Bark
CHILLED PRODUCE

The Thank you cards are coming out to the supporters next week and the DVDs will be following a bit later as we decided to add extra feature – the interview and the making of the video.

Indeed, we managed to raise only about 5% of required budget and will have to cut down on some things, but we are very happy with the support we had , even if it did not materialise in monetary value.

Once again, thank you for every single person supported us, including The Nottingham Evening Post and Grantham Journal for covering the story.

The video is finished, BrettMetal films are presenting us their work on Tuesday and I’ve heard it is breathtaking! Below is the cover I designed for a DVD. Still have to do extra features for a DVD- an interview and production of DVD itself. You can still have your name in the credits and receive other perks, visit the project page by clicking the box below.

After about two months of planning, location research, creating a list of shots and video drafts, Brett Turner and Jason Elbert from Brett Metal Films took MuHa and the crew to the first day of video shooting to the Peak District Derwent Reservoir area.

———————–Though we had more clouds then we would ideally want for the best light, at least the morning was dry- that’s the best thing one can hope for in English weather. It was all more or less okay till we began to climb the mountain passing a dead sheep when the it started to rain…

————Standing on top of the mountain and looking over the the horizon far ahead we could see the sky was changing very rapidly from grey clouds to dark blue ones, then feeling the cold wind, the rain and even hail pouring upon us… As for the sun- it was teasing us all the time, appearing for a few seconds just to raise our hopes, to only then hide again behind the clouds.

It was very cold and wet. In spite of this we loved the experience ( thinking back about it, being at warm homes). We all stayed strong throughout the day. Some even fell in mud and all of us were soaking wet, especially Clare Maskell – our Lomography photographer – she just refused the umbrella and was happy to take it all!

After several hours in such conditions my professional make up was not good for any close up shots any longer. Not having any shelter apart from umbrella , Iona Tamburino- the make up artist- had no choice but to apply new make up right there, up in the mountains – that was the moment when we were hit by the hail…

—————–To my own surprise I found it very liberating to take my coat off just before the shout ‘Action!’ and be in a light dress in such an unwelcoming environment. It felt like as if I was refusing to be intimidated by the weather and wrap up in layers of clothing. I was there, in my red dress, looking over the horizon, embracing the environment to the full.

—————Thanks to Mel Weedon and Lourdes Benegas for the photos.

You will be supported to lead the project from directing, editing through to final production.

Budget £350, logistical support will be provided.

The video is for a Russian folk song titled Kaby Vedala ( If I olny knew)

Find the lyrics and music below. If you can not see the player below, listen to the track here

email your short proposal outlining a possible concept (max 1 side A4), CV, links to previous videos, website to iryna.muha@gmail.com or contact us through our website

Application deadline is October 31st 2010

04 Kaby Vedala by Muha

Kaby Vedala (rus)
( If I only knew from Rus)

If I only knew when my time
Would come to go
And come to you
Oh Lord, my dear dear Lord
I would buy a plot in
the graveyard
Oh Lord, my dear dear Lord
And I would lie myself at rest
and my soul would fly away
to you my Lord, my dear dear God
I know I have been a lot of trouble
for you Lord, Oh my dear dear Lord

Oh, silk of grass
Oh silver dew
Shining bright
Rise and Shine

Oh Lord, take me from
The heaven down to the ground
Oh Lord, my dear Lord
From heaven to dear earth,
Lying on golden sands
It’s Heaven on Earth
Oh Lord, my dear Lord
If I only knew..

(Russian folk song) Adaptation by Kapka Nilan

MuHa – Richenka from Darius Powell on Vimeo.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. We had a song, we had a story behind it and we wanted to make a video for it. We knew approximately what we want to see in the video, but we had no idea of how to make it happen. Neither of us in MuHa didn’t have much experience in making videos, so we needed a director.

After a few brief couple of meetings between ourselves we arranged a day for MuHa to travel to the Peak District to make a shooting of the band playing the instruments first and we left the storyline part of the project for the next week. At that point we still did not have either a director or a camera man and hoped to rely on own resources- after all, we are talented people!

Luckily for us, just a day before the shooting Sunday, Louise has managed to get her friend – a film director Gaylan Nazhad – to help us out just for this part – and I am very happy she did. As a professional director, Gaylan just made it happen. He was giving us clear instructions where to be, where to look and what to do.

When you watch a film, the actor may seem all glamorous and important, but in fact, during the shooting process, an actor is just a ‘servant’ to the director- an actor does what he has been told to do; and it is a director who is the master.

Good fun it was. The sun was shining, we were playing the music and singing and dancing on top of the mountain with a fabulous view on the valley of Peak District; passers-by and Rambler’s walkers were taking pictures of us and we were reflecting the freshness and brightness of the day. The video project is on the roll!

The further blogs about the storyline shooting with a dedicated director and a group of Indian Dancers will follow. The actual scene of Rusalkas ‘seduce-and-kill-the-guy’ and the post video production blogs will appear here, on the MuHa web blog later! Watch this space.

Read the Background of the music video here

…continue to part 2

Richenka was written in a traditional Ukrainian folk music style and has a theme typical to folklore of many cultures. It is performed with African instrument Beriumbau, which is used in Brasilian Capoeira martial arts. The rhythm of Richenka is also enhanced by Indian rhythm Kathak.

More posts about the process and the progress of our video (ad)venture; about the people who got involved, will follow later (watch this space!), for now is the story:

A girl looses a guy she dearly loves because the River of Life offers
him pleasures he can not resist. The guy gets enchanted by the lively
and beautiful, but evil spirits that play deadly game with his mind and the guy
forgets about his real life and Love. The girl doesn’t see any other
way then to drown herself in a river and become one of the rusalkas.

read the translation of the lyrics of Richenka here.

Continue to read Music Video Diary Part 1. The Peak District.

An Absent Face is a portrait of the mask-maker Stephen Jon. 20 minutes film by Gaylan Nazhad. 2009

An Absent Face will be screened in 9th October 2009 for the first time at Nottingham Trent University (the student union in the Byron House No.11) Refectory, Byron House (City).

An Absent Face (Trailer) from Gaylan Nazhad on Vimeo.