Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Three Men in a Boat

Okay, not three men in a boat. Two men and me. You may remember our narrowboat trip with Silverback in June, along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

Silverback made a great hour-long film of it, which is a fantastic souvenir of the trip to have: and now he has done the Director's Cut, edited to fifteen minutes, and posted it on his blog here.

I'm the skinny blonde. Okay, there isn't a skinny blonde, so I must be the one who isn't a bloke. Stephen's the one in the red T-shirt who is running around working the locks and I am the one whose skilful handling of the boat resulted in the centre rope slicing the aerial clean off. Fortunately, that bit's not on film so you'll never know I did it.

So you can see for yourself my stylish green mac. Not for nothing do the credits on the longer version have the telling phrase "Costume by Stevie Wonder". You can also see the moment where I try to do that clever thing where I pull into the bank, put the boat in neutral and keep hold of it so the others can get back on. Except the boat just kept going so I had to do an embarrassing shuffle along the bank, trying to look as if that was what I meant to happen.

It starts just outside Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales and the scenery's great, and it's all accompanied by evocative going-along-the-canal music.

And just before the end, there is a rare shot of Silverback himself, on the boat in some rare British sunshine. Who did this brilliant piece of camerawork? Yes, it was ME. The very first time I have ever wielded a video camera, I kid you not, and I was rather nervous, though pleased with the result.

Go on, sit yourself down with a nice cup of tea and a biscuit or two, and watch it here. We had a lovely weekend, and I hope you'll see that from the film.

6 Comments:

Blogger Silverback said...

Cracking travel film from this first time director...The Times.

Races along at breakneck speed and the tension rarely lets up....Daily Express.

Gem of a movie. The future of the British film industry is in safe hands....The London Standard.

No violence; No sex; No big tits. What's the point ?....The Sun.

7:44 pm  
Blogger Daphne said...

Contains Mild Peril. I might have fallen in.

8:07 pm  
Blogger Yorkshire Pudding said...

I was thinking of paying to see "The Dark Knight" but this action-packed canal movie seems to have sated my desire for edge-of-the-seat cinematic thrills. The only thing missing was intimate scenes in the cabin but I guess these would have been too lurid for the average adult viewer.

8:34 pm  
Blogger Silverback said...

The lurid cabin shots are on the 'out take' section of the dvd, YP.

I'm still awaiting a rating from the British Board of Film Classification but as Daphne forgot the shower cubicle had no curtains, it may be an X.

Or as she had 3 showers that weekend, an xXx.

8:48 pm  
Blogger Kate said...

A wonderful surprise from this new director. Soundtrack delightful. A moving, serene slice of canal life that is a must-see. - New Zealand Herald.

10:25 pm  
Blogger Kate said...

Daphne - have the glasses been found yet?

10:26 pm  

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