PETER PRICE

Live performance: Public Service Broadcasting

Mashing up old pubic information films into new music is the hobby of geography teacher J. Willgoose, Esq.

He’s one half of Public Service Broadcasting – a guitar and drums outfit that’s been playing live venues since 2009.

PSB have been championed by Tom Robinson on BBC 6 Music for the way they combine old public information films with new music.

This unusual combination of sound and vision is played out on stage with the help of a vintage TV.

In November 2011 I worked with Owain Rich to produce this video of their performance. Steve Hillman mixed the sound while Owain and I collaborated on the lighting and direction.

Signal 30 performed by Public Service broadcasting – November 2011

The video’s being sent to organisers of festivals in 2012 – get in touch if you’d like them to play at your gig.

Upcoming gigs include a night at KOKO

• 19 December 2011 – Symptomatic @ The Social, Little Portland St
• 31 December 2011 – New Year’s Eve Party @ The Selkirk, Tooting
• 14 January 2012 – Videocrash @ KOKO
• 21 January 2012 – Revolve @ Junction Room, Dalston (solo show)
• 28 January 2012 – Nights at the Market @ Tooting Market

There’s more about the band at publicservicebroadcasting.net.

Lego Pudsey – easily the coolest…

Lego Pudsey – easily the coolest thing I’ve seen this week

Depth of field on the Mall

I’m pleased with the epic depth of field in this standup I shot on the Mall this morning.

We did it for this BBC Turkish TV report on the state visit of the Turkish president.

Following the royal procession but before the road was reopened we had the run of the place to grab a great shot.

Guney Yildiz reporting for BBC Turkish on The Mall

I watched workmen replace the traffic lights in the middle of the road (it really does involve plugging them in!). I wonder if the Queen’s ever noticed that the lights are swept away before her?

Earlier on Horse Guards Parade I watched the Queen formally welcome the Turkish president and his wife.

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh arrive at Horse Guards Parade

My poor Z5 camera wasn’t the best thing for the task and I was annoyed that I’d left the DSR450 in the office… Luckily I did manage to get a handful of shots – like this one of the Queen jumping out of the royal Rolls.

Me, the Household Cavalry and The…

Me, the Household Cavalry and The Queen – sadly slightly obscured by my head.

Another day, another piano

In St James’s Church, Piccadilly to shoot the Russian-speaking Azeri pianist Renara Akhundova with the BBC’s @khkonul

Lighting without lights

I love lighting. I find lighting performers so enjoyable that I can happily do it all day long. Then give up my weekends to do a bit more. I love playing with angles and colours – making the mundane visually interesting or simply sheding enough light on a subject to tell the story.

Sometimes though it’s just as satisfying to light without lights. Cheating the wisdom that lighting an interview takes 3 lamps.

Guerrilla lighting is nothing new – just think of the money producers can save by harnessing natural light and leaving the heavy kit at home. In reality however, the two methods go hand in hand. Having the chance to light guerrilla-style often takes you by surprise so without backup equipment you’ll end up in a tight spot.

Panama's Minister for Trade and Industry talking to BBC World Business Report

Yesterday I shot an interview for BBC World Business Report at the St Pancras Hotel. I had the run of a room which was massive and beautiful but totally unsuitable for interviews.

I decided the best idea was to squeeze the interviewer and guest behind a marketing stand. Why? To get them near the biggest window and the only part of the room lit by daylight.

In this case I used the window as a giant soft light. Asking the guest’s to sit looking towards the window can feel a little strange for them – and even worse for the interviewer who is squashed against the glass. But when your key light is structurally integral part of a building, you must adapt your plans to fit.

St Pancras lighting plan – using a window as a soft key

Lighting without lights requires working with an open mind – spotting opportunities on location and adapting your plans on the hoof. But so long as you keep the relative positions fixed – between guest, interviewer, key light, camera – then it doesn’t matter if your light is courtesy of a lamp, a candle or a window. (There will be more on using the sun in future blog posts.)

To round it off, I used a Dedo with daylight gel for a backlight to separate the guest from the background. With more time it would have been good to throw some lights on the curtains in the background but as ever, time was against us.

How not to do ads on the web.

How not to do ads on the web.

The spirit of Olympic…

The spirit of Olympic competition? In the deserted London 2012 shop in Stratford – lacking both customers and taste.

A kit of drums getting the…

A kit of drums getting the @peprice and @owain_rich lighting treatment.

My artfully-lit Steinway ready…

My artfully-lit Steinway ready and waiting for the piano-playing winner of China’s Got Talent. #bbcbushhouse