This is an account of filming the choir at Tamale Studios on Saturday 15th April 2023.

Leading up to this filming day, the choir had sessions where the creative team at Splice Boys appeared at our Wednesday night rehearsals with lighting and many video cameras moving about, and sometimes necessarily ‘in your face’.

So, we got used to performing to the ‘magic’ that is documentary filming by following the rules; “look and be normal and don’t look at the camera”. Michael Brandon had quite subtly been coaching us in this craft of ‘looking natural’ and I think by then it was starting to show. So far so good.

The 15th of April session was to be an added but ‘different’ experience, as we took a well-rehearsed
group of choristers, accompanist Simon and of course our music director David Ashton-Smith (DAS), to a day of filming at Tamale Studios in Brunswick. How was it different? For a group of well-seasoned concert performers arranging a group on familiar stands at venue and belting out the songs was nothing new. But we were shooting for what was to be a documentary-style of production, so the filming was about recording all of our movements and interactions but obviously with a focus on the choir singing in its performing format.

Here’s how that day went!

As well as the many details of preparing our repertoire and dress code, on the day there were the added logistics of ‘bumping in’ while the studio was being set up. The piano had been hired and the tuner was at work fine tuning it. A number of cameras, a dolly and boom (very heavy and expensive) numerous gantries and microphones were wired in, and all pointed at the ‘sacred’ filming space which was lit with attention to sundry visual details. In other words, a lot of gear and clutter. Studios are sophisticated technical spaces somehow bringing this average Brunswick warehouse into another dimension.

The lads were arranged for performance. Again, it’s all about the aesthetics for video. We found our best ‘marks’ and so moved on to what is that ultimate and most anticipated and tense moment of the day – how would this room sound?

We sang to test the room. DAS with his signature technical ear described the room’s sound as acoustically clear but very crisp. Not surprisingly, this room didn’t have that ideal acoustic warmth,
but the technicians conferred on microphones and that could be ‘ironed out’ in the post-production suite. The lads could hear each other, and we could hear Simon on his well-tuned Yamaha Grand.

So, we were set to go to film and get the magic ‘in the can’ as they say. All the time there were thoughts of the predicted rainstorms and how rain on a tin roof would further influence the sound. Film production is a fickle affair, isn’t it?!

There were numerous runs and takes of songs. The clapper board appeared numerous times for
‘marking’ the video and sound feeds. Calon Lan was the tune which was most worked on. It was sung
in what seemed like dozens of takes, but I think six times was closer to reality. Various takes had the
boom sweeping before our eyes. Sometimes we were asked to look at the camera as it panned and other times not to! Mostly we focussed on an imaginary single spot in the distance somewhat to the right and above of the hand-waving DAS. We could still see his hands conducting but not always those signature expressions on his face! And that was… very different.

As subjects or objects during the filming, one never knows what the camera itself is seeing. How small? How distant? As the boom passed by, my mind sometimes strayed! We all rely on sensitive postproduction editing, don’t we?

The day was punctuated by numerous breaks. We were feasted like royalty through Michael’s
formidable catering connections. The lads could get very used to this!

By day’s end there was the feeling that good quality material was safely in the recorded database. Extra filming was done too. Bits, like choristers arriving at the venue were shot at the end of the day, whereas these get edited into day’s start. That’s ‘movie magic’ isn’t it!

We are having this video produced to tell our choir’s story and once finished it will promote the
Melbourne Welsh Male Choir collectively. It will also start to unpack our individual endeavours and
motivators as choristers – about who we are and why we do what we do. Explaining the benefits
ourselves shows us in at our authentic best – albeit within the artificiality of shooting in a different
setting and context. So, a documentary, like the one on the way, will be an important tool for the
Melbourne Welsh Male Choir.

This article goes nowhere near enough in explaining and acknowledging the many organisers and
planners for this day. Clearly, their hard work and attention to detail was most evident on the day. The MWMC is an awesome production team worthy of any Hollywood set.

Take a look at the Choir’s Facebook page for further images from the day’s shooting.