North Wales Wildlife Trust– testimonial

As part of my role within the Wildlife Trust, I was involved in arranging the making of Greengage’s Cemlyn film in the summer of 2012. Cemlyn nature reserve is one of NWWT’s showcase sites, and I had contacted Malka and the team from Greengage, initially with the idea of documenting a biodiversity event we were planning for the beginning of June. They were keen to be involved, and we agreed that there was plenty of potential to make a visually interesting short film.

The event in question was a 24hr ‘Bioblitz’ – a coming together of expert ecologists and biologists with volunteers and members of the public, with the aim of recording as many different species of animals and plants in a given area. For the film, we envisaged a mix of people content and wildlife footage that would tell the story of the event, whilst giving a taster of some of the more characteristic species and habitats.

Malka was quick to grasp the intention of the event and the essence of what we were hoping to capture with the film. She made arrangements to try and document as much of the many activities – walks, recording workshops, rockpooling sessions etc as possible, and also to try and spend some time separately gathering wildlife footage to intersperse. In the event, many of the activities fell foul of unseasonal weather (as did a lot of outdoor events in the summer of 2012), and we reluctantly had to cancel several planned sessions.

Despite this, Malka and the team managed to get some good bits of (unself-conscious) people in action footage which strung together a narrative of the event – from the public (families rockpooling and discovering sea creatures) through to the scientific (identification of species and data entry of records). They also interviewed people indoors talking about the event. Malka was good at drawing out people’s knowledge and enthusiasm, and her informal interview style helped put us non-professional media contributors at ease.

Because of the unfortunate shrinking of the event due to weather, it was decided to make the focus of the film more of a celebration of Cemlyn as a reserve, and a focus on the various work of the summer wardens there. Malka and the team agreed to stay on in the area after the Bioblitz and try and gather footage of wildlife and the wardens once the weather allowed. This allowed them to weave the different elements into a general Cemlyn film.

The result was a documentary that is a fantastic resource for the Wildlife Trust, giving a real sense of the excitement of the place and the work that goes on there and a taste of some the wildlife that makes it so special.

The film has been very well-received – both by staff involved with the reserve or the event, and others outside the organisation who have seen it through the website and other publicity that we put out. It has generated really positive responses like:

“I just thought I would mention that I really enjoyed the Cemlyn film that is online (which I saw yesterday) – it’s great!”

Adam Cormack

Communications Manager

The Wildlife Trusts

“I know Cemlyn, and this film was a beautiful, calm and informative piece that really brings together what Cemlyn’s about…”

Dawn Thomas

“Malka & the team filmed in a way which was non-intrusive and meant that we didn’t have to change what we were doing or cater to their filming schedule. They made myself and the people taking part in the event comfortable to be around a camera, we hardly noticed when they were filming which I think is reflected in the naturalness of the film itself.”   

Nia Hâf Jones

Marine Awareness Officer

North Wales Wildlife Trust

I thought the film was very professionally made, managing to be simultaneously beautiful and interesting… It genuinely was a good film, I didn’t really know about the work at Cemlyn so it was interesting to see.

Tom Hiles

Communities and Nature aims to highlight and develop the economic and social benefits of Wales’ amazing natural capital, and the beautiful short film by Greengage Films does this very well by showcasing the wildlife and people at Cemlyn.  They also incorporated acknowledgment of our funding in an appropriate and sensitive way.

Charlotte Barnet

Communities and Nature Officer

Countryside Council for Wales

What I personally like about the film is the sensitive way it has been edited and paced –  the separate elements woven together so that the character of Cemlyn is what comes through. It manages a nice balance of factual / enthusiastic / subjective people footage and lyrical wildlife and landscape content, and keeps a sense of movement throughout, without seeming hurried or fidgety. This is helped by the discreet use of music throughout, and the choice of tide lapping on shingle as the ending image, which together provide a kind of motif of gentle, elemental movement that unites the whole film and is appropriate to the place.

I would absolutely recommend Greengage as a company to anyone wanting to make a wildlife or environmental-related film. Malka and the team were really nice people to work with, and I was impressed by their professionalism and attention to detail throughout filming and post-production. They understood and respected our intentions for the film and were faithful to the overall brief. They responded well to suggestions, comments and feedback during the editing and production process, whilst having the confidence to get on with the business of shaping the content and making the whole thing flow. I would look forward to working with them in the future.

Ben Stammers

This is a beautiful film that comes straight from the heart. The Curlew is Malka’s spirit bird, reminding her of the wildness she loves so much and of her beloved father. Curlews evoke strong emotions, and this film captures the force of her feelings in lovely images and soundscape.

Our Wilderness is a visual treat and brings back happy memories of weeks spent on the Migneint during the 1980s.
Iolo Williams BBC/S4C presenter.

Montgomeryshire’s Precious Pearls.

Greengage made a challenging project a reality and we are delighted with the high quality, professional film produced. Flexible and helpful throughout, we look forward working with them again in the future.

Tammy Stretton. Conservation Officer

Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust

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GREENGAGE FILMS TESTIMONIAL

Working with Greengage Films was a pleasure from the first day to the last.
The resulting short film for the Merioneth Beekeepers Association (MBKA) exceeded all our expectations.

One of our members is a former TV cameraman with many years of experience working with numerous European and US production companies. So we asked him to help with our association’s project for the Royal Welsh Show as a liaison between the film crew and some of our beekeepers during location shoots at various apiaries. After the first day’s filming he was full of praise and reported back that with Greengage Films our project was clearly in exceptionally good hands

The nature of the project meant that Greengage Films had to take our various ideas and general concept and mould them into a short film with just the right balance of landscape, people and wildlife.
They had to work independently for much of the filming of the landscapes, the notoriously difficult macro photography of foraging bees, and much of the editing and voice-overs.

Their knowledge, experience and practical expertise is as good as it gets. And most wonderfully they made it possible for us to access very high production standards with a very limited budget.

In a friendly, calm and reassuring manner they went further than just the extra mile.

MBKA Management Committee
19 September 2016