kit satalites and solar sailing

Today was a long day - as I write I’m on the way back from Glasgow. Set out at 7:30 - trying to buy a ticket, the ticket seller at East Dulwich tried to charge me £250 and refused to sell me the £98 ticket for my journey saying that it wouldn‘t be valid even though I‘d checked it online. I went to Euston where they told me the £98 ticket was fine and there was some problem in their system. That problem ammounts to attempted fraud in my opinion and I’m sure plenty of people have been duped into paying £150 extra for their ticket.

Anyway - the journey was fine - the train is such a great way to travel in the UK. I don’t think I could have done a return trip in a day - even by plane. And rail travel has such a limited carbon footprint. It also allows me to work - and I virtually finished scripting the documentary on the way up.

Glasgow was of course soaked in rain, but the interview was great - Colin was articulate and interesting. I’ll put up some of the interview once I’ve had a chance to take a look at it.

Again, my minimal set-up of HD camcorder, 3 lights, a lapel mic and a reflector proved more than acceptable (although a radio mic might be a good investment).

I could undoubtedly get better pictures by working in a larger way and have to keep re-examining why I don’t do it to make sure I’m doing the right thing:

If I had a lighting cameraman with me, and a full set of lights, the interviews would look a lot better. However, I’m forced to ask at what cost?

Well, let’s see:
Lighting cameraman: £350
Lighting setup and camera: £200
Transport - well, we couldn’t go by train - would have to drive, so that means transport costs of about £100
We couldn’t do it in a day, so that’s double the rates

That’s about £1,200 compared to the £100 it cost me to go alone. The cameraman and equipment would have to be booked in advance, so I couldn’t be flexible about times and places. Which brings me to the final and most significant point:

If I’d done it with a full lighting set-up, we’d have been 2 hours lighting the interview and we’d have had to crash into Colin’s office making enough disruption to have the organisation’s health and safety crew on our backs. The whole interview would have been a lot more hastle and taken most of my interviewee’s day, so he probably wouldn’t have been able to agree to it - even if his organisation had said yes.

Instead of which I could fit in around his schedule, there was minimal disruption, a relaxed and friendly chat and time enough for a pint before I got on the train home. I think the loss of arty interview shots is a price worth paying.

Although it just occurred to me as I write: I should have filmed some of the interview with the interviewee reflected in the solar sail foil he had hanging around the office. That would have made for a lovely shot.

Funny how these things occur to you just after you need them.

never mind.


One thing colin did mention which I find fascinating is that you can now buy space probes in kit form and have them launched for a minimal budget (50,000). In other words, universities can design their own payloads (providing they’re under 1kg and within a certain size limit) and put them into space. This is a fantastically inspiring notion and I’m definitely going to look into whose doing it!