Film on coal mining in Leipzig (1): Preparation and production
Film on coal mining in Leipzig. Part 1: Preparation and production.
Coal mining: a topic that was and still is omnipresent in Leipzig. I made a time-lapse film about this in 2017. As part of an A-level project on climate change, I chose the topic of coal mining in Leipzig.
Do I need to prepare anything?
As this was my first coherent project, I spent more time on preparation, i.e. pre-production. My previous films ("A Trip to the North" und "Everyday Timelapse") were more spontaneous films. For "A Trip to the North" I always looked for a nice place where I was and set up the camera when I travelled through Norway and Sweden. "Everyday Timelapse" is really "just" a collection of different clips that were made over a period of a few months. These approaches were rather unsuitable for this film. Therefore, I talked to friends and researched on the internet beforehand. So the locations were more or less fixed and I "only" had to go to these places on a few nice days, find the exact set-up and start recording. In the end, I spent three days in Leipzig: at Lake Cospuden, at the Rötha reservoir, at various vantage points, at the Vereinigtes Schleenhain open-cast mine and at the Lippendorf power station.
Cooperation with the Mining Technology Park
I also wanted to take a few photos at the Mining Technology Park ("Bergbau-Technik-Park"). Yes, these are the machines you see on the A38 between the Leipzig Süd and Leipzig Südost exits 😉 . I simply sent a request and received a very nice reply and an invitation to the technology park. This is also how the shots at the big clearing machines in the film came about. After the film was finished, I even received a small mention on the park's website.
Equipment
For photography I used my standard 2017 equipment:
- Sony NEX5R
- + Sony SEL1855 (18 - 55mm F 3,5 - 5,6 OSS)
- Syrp Genie Mini (Motion Control Device)
- Zomei tripod
- and a homemade slider
