It's all about logistics and lying under benches...

Hello folks! So much has happened in the past few days that we'd thought we'd better update you all.

So we left you in suspense on Friday afternoon with a "will they/won't they get their first draft in?". Well we did! After taking some work home and doing some small tweaks we managed to release our video to those who had been waiting patiently to see what we've been up to, so they could critique it over the weekend. We then rolled into Kings Manor on Monday morning, after a weekend of relaxing in the sun, all ready to hear some feedback. We got some really lovely comments; we even got told that it 'happily would go out on TV' which was a nice surprise! Some thing which were said we already knew we had to improve, like the white balance, the 'stripey lines' and the sound (one of the interviews was too quiet compared to the others).

It was also suggested that the music we used, which is Lexis own composition, was too 'lulling' and we should try something a bit more upbeat. We were very grateful for the suggestion (as we were for all of them!) however, we don't find the 'lulling' effect too much of a problem and we like having a piece of original music as part of our masterpiece so we think we'll keep it.

"I'm sure this will be fine with Health & Safety?"

Another suggestion which was really helpful was about the structure of the video. It was said that the 'what is special about Star Carr for you?' section seemed like it was a separate video to the first 'drawing' section and, on watching it back, we agreed. They didn't really flow and the concept of 'drawing what you see' was a bit lost at the end. We've therefore taken it out and added one more archaeologist to the mix! We've also changed our introduction and ending... again (told you a lot had happened!). It was suggested that the final question we were going to originally use - 'What does Star Carr mean to you?' - was also a bit lost and didn't really tie the video, or our overall concept, together so we've changed it. I'm afraid you'll have to wait and see what it is though... we want it to be a surprise! We have got a sneaky shot of us filming it though, just to tease you further (it was a bit of a logistical nightmare!)

Moving on to the introduction... that's different too now. It was suggested that the text we originally had (see our last blog post to remind yourselves...) shouldn't move to make less distracting and this, combined with other reasons, has led us to scrap the idea of having text overlaying the landscape. Instead we've decided to write the introduction over some simple (but beautiful... according to Lexi) watercolour drawings completed by Katrina. This looks quite good, we think, and also ties in nicely with the hand-drawn theme of the video. We filmed it this morning (talk about last minute...) and luckily for you we've thrown together a sneak preview which you can view at your leisure - minus the music. It would be great if you could let us know what you think in the comments below. 

So we're on the home straight and, despite having some technical difficulties - our thanks goes to Simon for trying to fix it... again! - we can see the finishing line. So hopefully, the next time you hear from us we'll have the final thing ready to reveal and you won't have to sit there in suspense any longer. Okay, maybe we're being a tad over-dramatic.. but still, we can't wait to show you what we've been making!

Back off to editing we go then, and until next time...!