Feedback on BitchesTeaBoys video project

Enjoyed meeting you guys properly, love what you're doing and I wish you luck in the future. I will try to keep in touch!

John Paterson. Illustrator and animator

I thought it was well crafted, how you created a story line and how it was cut together, you made really good decisions. I didn't even register that it was your first video. Your footage worked well, as when it was edited you don't see the two types of media (not easy when you had two different styles of footage from a hidden camera shot in 4:3 and another shot in 16:9.) A well done nicely packaged piece of work.

David Yu. Nine Trades artist

Great idea. Very Funny!

Aloysius

I just love your film, the use of music is brilliant. Well done!

Annette McTavish. Nine Trades Project Manager

Great idea, funny and thought provoking too

Veronica

Very clever video. In the public presentation they complimented each other wonderfully. It was a nice mix, both informal and informative.

Jonathan Baxter. D-AiR Dundee Artists in residence

They're good guys, really good guys. I don't meet many men who make me think that. They do.

Alan Grieve. Nine Trades Artist/Hairdresser

It's been great to see the amount of hard work you've put into this finally pay off. Stardom beckons!

Alistair Wilson Library worker and LIFE group worker.

Very enjoyable film.It was good as you were both present at the exhibition and to hear your side of the story. You were open to feedback. I thought it was really effective agitprop. What was clever was I didn't feel that I was being preached at. In terms of campaigning it effectively delivered the message. It's a success.

Ben Robinson. Writer, critic and Nine Trades artist.

Bold stuff for a first art project and in your home town. It makes people think which is always worthwhile. Well done lads!

Frazer Macdonald. Nine Trades Artist.

I liked it, especially the way you used the buskers soundtrack. It was quite surreal with the tent. Doing it in your home town was pretty bold. It was good work.

Ewan Taylor. Artist, Inefficient Solutions.

You should be really proud of yourselves. Excellent work from the concept to the final exhibition. Its been a real pleasure working with you.

Ange Taggart Nine Trades Artist

Dear BitchesTeaBoys,

I really enjoy your film each time I watch it. I think you made a great balance in the actions you took and how you edited the film of incedental things (saying hello to a guy standing outside a bar as you walk past), the amazing, quick thinking acting (in the chemist shop) and the surrealism (a tent with legs marching past McManus.

It's clear that you gave the ideas and the work enough time and thought out what you were doing carefully. It's really admirable that you were able to keep your cool and really concentrate while you were doing the performance in public - well done. It must have taken a lot of preparations to be in the right head space for that and needs confidence.

You managed to get the feeling of the street with the busker and tied in other good music too.

Hope to see your next project soon,

Laura

Laura Simpson

Assistant Curator

Exhibitions Dept. Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design

I think your first work turned out really well, retaining your humour and
adding a surreal twist. The tent looks great, it certainly is arresting to
see it in shopping land, especially adding the astro turf outside the second
boots with its dead/ dying plants. Very funny. And the Mr Babbitch
electronic 'er er' buzzer noise. Quality. I liked the confusion of the
security man who didn't have a clue what was happening and you boys
just smiled and carried on making it work. It turned out really funny,
engaging and informative. That's a result in anyones book if you
ask me. Pity I couldn't get to the exhibition, but if it went half as well
as the video looks, then you boys are onto a winner.

AND all that and you didn't have to pay for it! A free natural high
(and a good first hit on your art CV's). Keep on adventuring men, let's see
where you go. Remember to keep in touch with all the people you met, keep
the ideas coming and use the contacts to get what you need. Don't let them
forget you.

Up the lads!

Chris Graham Artist and mentor.

Link to the video at the BitchesTeaBoys site

Boots Camp edit complete

Wow, what an undertaking that has been.

These boots are made for walking

And that’s just what they’ll do

One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you...

Work -In-Progress - Boots Camp

Some background information on the project from Billy and Bruce...

The idea for this project came from working closely with the library substance and alcohol mis-use group. One of the talking points has been about the way some pharmacists treat Methadone users, as well as the high supervised dispensing charges and distribution of "Methadone" in relation to the amount of prescribed users.

We did our research and the most accurate and up to date information can be found in the Drugs Misuse Statistics Scotland 2009;

Prescribed users per 1000 population

Tayside = 46

Scotland = 96

That's nearly 10% of Scotland that are prescribed Methadone on a daily basis...

Bruce and I were stewarding at a football match earlier this year, we looked at the size of the crowd ( about 5,500) and started to envisage the amount of Methadone users in Dundee. That really put it into perspective for us.

Then we noticed that in some areas pharmacies are opening several stores just in one street. Take Albert Street in the Stobswell area, we noted Boots have two pharmacies within a few hundred metres of each other.

We started to think about the daily charges x 5,500. Thats a lot of money being made on a daily basis. The pharmacies charge extra for dispensing as well as the actual cost of the medicine.

Unsupervised between £1.75 - £2.65 per day

Supervised between £3.10 - £4.06 per day

We looked at both the pro's and con's of the dispensing service and the idea of coming up with an alternative service to rival its sillyness was born...... which began as a street performance and is now being edited into a video.

It will be premiered at the Visual Research Centre (downstairs at DCA) as part of the Nine Trades of Dundee Final Gathering on Saturday 17 July. We hope you will come and see it, the event is on from 10.30- 17.30.

Edit in progress

Just to prove we are doing some work, here's some images of us editing the Boots Camp footage that we shot in Dundee last week. It's been incredibly frustrating to just get to this stage as we've hit technical issues with the format of the video. The camera saved the files in .MOD format and we had a lot of trouble getting them recognised by the editing software.

The footage had to be compressed, so we had to learn about compression software and how to compress. To complicate matters, because we used two different cameras some of it was shot in 16:9 and the other in 4:3. So it's been a fast learning curve, we've learnt new terminology like the difference between PAL and NTSC and the fps ( PAL is 25 frames per second) having had no knowledge of using a camera or even editing before.

Now we're scouring 3 hours of footage, putting in markers to identify the frames that will possibly be used. We're having to make decisions where the best place to cut is. The whole job is made easier having a special edit controller so we can jog/shuttle through the footage.

Posted by Billy and Bruce

Introducing Billy and Bruce

I originally met with Billy and Bruce to brainstorm ideas for a performance way back in March, in the last two weeks it has suddenly come to fruition and we've been working around the clock.

Hailing from the LIFE group, they've been working with video at the art college, this week they based themselves in the old MAP magazine office next door to the Nine Trades offices. They have also been out performing and filming in the city centre and Stobswell returning to capture and log the footage.

Next week the duo will be editing out of town, meeting arts practitioners, checking out the art scene and reporting back to you from the city of Nottingham.

Their work will be installed at the Visual Research Centre (downstrairs at DCA) as part of the Nine Trades of Dundee Final Gathering on Saturday 17 July.

Are you ready Boots?

Start walking.....

Ready?