Introduction:
The Munro Society (TMS) was
approached a number of weeks ago by ARD (full name: Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland)
who wanted to film scenes relating to Munros which would form part of a
programme on Scotland which is due to be broadcast this upcoming November.
As ARD is a joint organisation of regional
public-service broadcasters in Germany the programme will be broadcast in that
country. However, we hope to have a DVD
of the programme and the part about Munros may be put on the Mapping Mountains
site if permission to do so is given. ARD
also expressed a keen interest that the surveyors who were involved in The Munro
Society’s Heighting Project should also be present for the filming.
Filming:
We met at the car park
on the opposite side of the road to Ben Lawers above the town of Killin in the
Highlands. The weather forecast for the
day was not good with rain predicted to fall during the morning and
afternoon. However, when Iain Robinson
and Peter Willimott greeted us it was still dry, within a few minutes Stewart
Logan had joined us. It was good to see
Iain, Peter and Stewart again as friendships have been built since our
involvement in the Heighting Project first began.
The location that had
been chosen was ideal as the car park gave access onto Beinn Ghlas with Ben
Lawers beyond. These are big mountains
with Ben Lawers being the 10th highest in Britain and with the plan
to visit its summit and film we hoped that the forecast would be incorrect as
inclement weather is not ideal for standing around waiting for discussion and
re-takes.
Soon after we arrived a
large van pulled into the car park and within a few minutes the ARD film crew
of Joachim, Alexander and Oliver were introducing themselves. They were accompanied by Katherine who was
their assistant. Katherine was based in
Scotland and had arranged much of the organisation and logistics before the
film crew flew in to Glasgow.
Surveyors, TMS members and the ARD film crew |
As Stewart had been
TMS’s liaison with ARD, Joachim and Alexander wanted him miked up, he had also
revised his Ben Lawers history as had we.
The plan was that we should walk up the mountain and talk about the
Munro’s and the Heighting Project, empathising details about Sir Hugh and the
origins of the list, the formation of TMS and the surveys conducted since the
Heighting Project was initialised.
Therefore they wanted one of the surveyors also miked up; John and I
quickly volunteered Graham who stepped forward for his day in the limelight.
Stewart miked up and ready for action |
Graham getting miked up |
We set off up the path
toward Beinn Ghlas and waited as the film crew wanted a number of shots of us
approaching their camera position and then walking past them on the continuation
of the path. Each take would be repeated
until the Producer was happy. The path
led up into forestry which forms part of a circular nature walk, ahead lay the
mountains with their upper ground cloaked in clag which occasionally rose to
reveal darkened high ridges.
We stopped for quite
some time next to the Burn of Edramucky which formed a good foreground for
filming. As Oliver wanted our
reflections in the water he crouched down and filmed us as we walked over rocks
through the stream to the other side.
This was done three or four times until Joa and Alex were happy with the
footage. By this time intermittent
showers were breaking out and a grey silkiness of sky heralded what was to
come.
On the way to the Burn of Edramucky |
Waiting patiently - (L-R) Iain Robertson, Peter Willimott, John Barnard, Graham Jackson and Stewart Logan |
Filming us walking over the Burn of Edramucky |
We wondered how far up
the hill we would go as the gear Joa, Alex and Oliver were carrying was
extremely heavy and also bulky. We soon
found out that they had summit fever as they asked us to walk up the steep path
toward a prominent rock where we would rest, eat and talk about the Munros and
the Heighting Project. As we continued
up they filmed from above as the heavens opened with heavy rain soaking all
involved, they then filmed us heading toward the prominent rock where we
waited.
The next part consisted
of us chatting about the Munros, TMS and the surveys whilst we rested and ate
our lunch time snack. By this time Peter
had ate all his sandwiches so he had to borrow one of Graham’s for the filming,
this he duly ate.
Filming at our lunch stop |
Above us the path
continued at a steep gradient to the south ridge of Beinn Ghlas, thankfully
during our lunch break the sun had miraculously materialised and the rain had
stopped, but as we were asked to continue up toward the south ridge the rain
came back with a vengeance and set in for the next hour. I decided to pack my camera gear away at this
stage as although it would have been good to document the wet conditions I
didn’t want dampness pervading the delicate lenses of my camera.
By now it was evident
that Joa and Alex had their sights on the south ridge, we couldn’t imagine that
they would want to go any higher as the conditions were foul, thankfully when
we huddled on the ridge and they joined us the verdict was that this was far
enough. This was a wise decision as
water had started to invade their camera and sound gear. However, they now wanted us to walk back up
to the high point we had reached, which we did so on three occasions as they
filmed. Happy that they had got enough
footage on the hill they said that we could descend and that they would meet us
back at the cars. By now I was shivering
as we had stood around for about 20 minutes in sodden gear in cold conditions,
as indeed had they. Their perseverance
was something to be admired as they had a goal to achieve and even though the
Scottish weather did its utmost to dampen proceedings, they continued filming
until what they wanted had been digitally saved.
Once back at the cars
they now wanted to film us with the surveying gear, therefore Iain and Peter
got into dry clothes and said their goodbyes.
This now left John, Graham and me and Stewart. We drove further up the road and found a
soggy lump which would pass as the summit of a small hill and proceeded to
carry the surveying gear to its top.
The next 30 minutes were
spent with John taking imaginary readings to the staff that Graham was holding
whilst all was being filmed. After the
imaginary high point had been determined we set the Leica GS15 up on the tripod
and Graham then chatted about what we had done and how the equipment
works. The last shot was of him and
Stewart talking about the Munros whilst looking at a map and then staring
contentedly into the camera.
Graham with the staff ready to be filmed |
By now we were all well and truly wet! Stewart looks on as Graham and John describe the fineries of surveying hills |
It had been an
interesting, albeit very wet day on the hill.
I wonder what we’re all going to sound like when dubbed into German?
The ARD film crew were:
Joachim Bräuninger – Producer
Alexander Stenzel – Producer
Oliver Staubi – Camera
Katherine Brown – Assistant
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