So today, Mike, Tom and myself took a road trip to the Halloween Tattoo Bash in Cardiff. And. It. Was. AMAZING! The week before I had called them and spoken to a girl called Jess about access and filming. Sadly they told us we wouldn't be allowed to enter the convention as they already had other filming crews at the Convention on the day and there wouldn't be the room or access.
So very early this morning I got the bus to Bristol, to meet the boys and hop on the MegaBus to Cardiff for 10:45. We got there at around 11:10 and walked to the Millennium Stadium to set up outside the entrance. We decided that the best place to set up was just around the side from the main entrance so that we could catch the 'hype' of people arriving to the Convention and then at the end leaving so that we were near enough for me to ask them a few questions and a short interview.
After 30 minutes of setting up and preparing ourselves, two guys came out and asked us if we were the College students that had rang the other week about entering the convention. They said that last year students from another College had filmed the event but had sent the Convention Organisers no footage, which they weren't happy with. After a short talk and a little deliberation they decided to let us enter the convention for free on terms that we sent them any footage we got. This was great news as not only did it mean that we weren't stuck in the wind and rain all day but we got to walk around the event and film it as it was happening!
The event was brilliant! I cannot fault it. The people we so friendly in a way that all but 2 person I asked to interview said yes! They gave a variety of answers, in length, detail and quality but it means that we have a nice lot to sort through. Some stalls even had a little theme and by this I mean there was one stall of Tattooists on the first floor in the corner of the room all set up and called The Needle Asylum. 3 guys and 1 woman were dressed for the event in white coats, a wheelchair, heavy, smudged make-up , slings, bandages etc. The guy doing the tattoo was dressed in a top hat and smart attire. The girl he was tattooing was bound up in a straight jacket, sprawled on the chair with a gag ball in the mouth and a CD was playing constantly throughout the day with screams, moans and cries of terror. This really added to the mise-en-scene and overall feel of the convention.
Our bus back was at 3 pm so sadly we had to leave before the end of the event, but still had an amazing day and got some great footage from tattooists, people being tattooed and general people here for the convention. Monday morning we will go back into College and transfer the footage onto Photoshop ready for editing.
