Tips and Tregothnan

We had our first feedback session with Mel today which went pretty well. She seemed to like my idea and gave me some good pointers which have really helped. Mel and my group helped me decide how to end the piece. I knew I wanted to finish at Charlottes Tea House, with someone drinking Tregothnan tea, but they said that if it were to look cinematic and stylistic like the beginning that will make it work better. So I just need to think a little more about how exactly to do it. We also screened our show reels and ours got quite a good review, I think it was a very insightful assignment and helped me come up with ideas for the 3MW.


Michael and I finally go to go to Tregothnan today. As I drove down the twisting country lanes the views were incredible, I could tell this was going to be good. Once we arrived we found Abby, she was lovely and extremely helpful, no request was too much. She informed us that ITV West Cornwall had been filming there earlier that day. They were doing a story on how Tregothnan, due to the warm weather, are still picking tea past the usual season. We also met Jonathon Jones who is the director at Tregothnan, he was very accommodating and also couldn't do enough for us. He showed us another tea crop which was fully mature and this is where I have decided to do the majority of the shoot, I was unable to do any test footage because it had gotten too dark by this time. Jonathon also showed us where they dry the tea and the machine that makes the tea bags (see the stills from my videos below). 

Jonathon has been interviewed many times on camera and as I have seen first hand and on the ITV piece he is very confident on camera. I think he will be a great contributor and will be the vital glue to bind this piece together. Jonathon also mentioned another possible film for us to do, Tregothnan has recently twinned with Darjeeling in India and they want him to go over to give a speech but he is too busy to make the trip. He would like to do a short speech to be sent over there telling them how excited he is about this new business move and sorry that he can't be there. I immediately jumped at the opportunity and said that we could film it at the same time as we film for the 3MW, I think this impressed him because it means less of his time taken up. There is also a prospect of us producing a promo video for Tregothnan using footage captured on the same day. Fingers crossed it all goes well. I really enjoyed my trip to Tregothnan and I found it such a stunning and inspiring place. I am really excited to see how it comes out on film, it has potential to look absolutely beautiful. Lets hope we do it justice...