Update

Things have been fairly quiet of late but preparations are almost there for the Waterfront Museum Launch on 20 September.  Also, going on in the background is the preparation of the information packs to go with the DVD. 

On a slightly different note - I am running the Cardiff Half Marathon on October 6 and raising funds for the Calon Lan Centre at Mynyddbach.  Yes - I have been training for this event and am looking forward to it!  I am in the process of setting up an online donation link and would be extremely happy if you would sponsor me.  I will post up more information about this as soon as it is ready.

News update!

If you are coming to Mynyddbach on Wednesday 10 July then put a reminder in your diary to catch up or record Wales Today on BBC Wales on that day.  There will be a small feature on our project which is a fantastic opportunity for us.  A big thankyou to Cemlyn Davies and his camera man, Jamie Owen and BBC Wales.  All of the project team really appreciate your interest and Bev and I enjoyed the experience!

Wednesday 10 July 'Film Premiere'

Wednesday evening in Mynyddbach Chapel will be the Premiere of the animation that has been produced on the life of Daniel James. The programme of events will be as follows:

1.  Croeso/Welcome – Parch/Rev Grenville Fisher
2.  Dirpwy Arglwydd Faer Abertawe/Deputy Lord Mayor of Swansea: Cyng./Councillor. Mrs. Ceinwen Thomas
 3.  Calon Lân
 4.  Perfformiadau gan blant / Performances by children of:
Ysgol Gyfun Bryn Tawe Comprehensive School
Ysgol Gynradd Tirdeunaw Primary School
Ysgol Gynradd Gwyrosydd Primary School
 5.  Cân / Song – Ble Mae’r Amen - Ysgol Gyfun Bryn Tawe Comprehensive School
 6. Cyflwyniad gan fyfyrwyr ymchwil Prifysgol Abertawe / Presentation by Swansea University   student researchers: Beverley Rogers, Teresa Hillier, Catrin Haines- Davies gyda chyflwyniad gan / with introduction by: Kate Spiller, Cydlynydd Prosiectau Cymunedau Cysylltiedig /Connected Communities Project Co-ordinator, Prifysgol Abertawe / Swansea University
7.  Nick Price, Cwmni animeiddio Turnip Starfish animation company
8.  Dangosiad cyntaf o’r ffilm animeiddiedig am fywyd Daniel James / Premiere of the animated film on the life of Daniel James.
9.   Parch/Rev. Grenville Fisher
10. Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau
11. Lluniaeth / Refreshments

We look forward to seeing you in the Chapel

Interviews and animation

Exciting things are afoot! We are going to have a small feature on our project on BBC news. It should be going out this week but will update later on this evening on the developments. This is very exciting for us and all of the project team. Please come back and visit our blog in a few hours for an update!

Planning Meeting

We are having a planning meeting today to prepare for 10 July.  We need to 'tweak' the programme, focus on our presentation and discuss other 'important points' relating to the evening - so keep watching!

'News' round up!

Upcoming events include:

• Report on progress of oral hisories
• Translation of some of Daniel James's poems
• A feature on Mynyddbach Chapel
• July 10 - viewing of animation at Mynyddbach Chapel
• Information on the exhibition at the Waterfront Museum in September

Animation Workshop

The animation company Turnip Starfish http://turnipstarfish.com/  has recently made visits to the three schools involved in the project - Tirdeunaw, Bryn Tawe and Gwyrosydd.  Nick and his team, along with the children, have been working really hard in bring the story of Daniel James to life.  I was lucky enough to pop into Gwyrosydd School on 10 May to see 'work in progress'.

It was a hive of activity, the children enthusiastically setting up scenes to be animated with the Turnip Starfish team guiding and advising along the way.   The atmosphere was full of excitment as clips were viewed and it was a fantastic opportunity for the children to work as a team, using their own artwork to create a film.  It was enjoyable observing their actions as they devloped an understanding of the technical skills needed in the creative industry.

There is still quite a bit of work to do as Nick and his colleagues have to cut and edit  the output and record the music and voices to the film.  They are going to visit Bryn Tawe again in order to record the soundtrack and to complete this part of the work.

I am sure that all of the children have enjoyed the experience.  They will be part of the audience on July 10 at Mynyddbach Chapel to view the finished work!

School Workshops

All of the 'pre-animation' workshops have now taken place.

Geraint Williams and Ivor Williams met with the children in Tirdeunaw school on Tuesday 26 March and Geraint and I met with the children in Bryn Tawe on Thursday 28 March.  They all know have lots of information about Daniel James which they will be using in conjunction with the animation company Turnip Starfish.  Gwenno Ffrancon also visited Bryn Tawe where she inspired the children with her talk on their forthcoming work with the animation.

In addition to the above, some of the project team were put to the test on Friday 22 March by pupils from Tirdeunaw.  We were quizzed on topics which included Daniel James (of course), Mynyddbach Chapel and local history.  It was a great effort by Ivor, Geraint, Kate, Catrin and myself and of course the pupils!  They took lots of notes and were really interested in the topics and were well informed.  They had already been out to visit some of the sites of interest and shared their information with us.

The next steps for the project will be the animation after the Easter holidays so things seem to be moving at a fast pace.

Gwyrosydd School Visit

I went back in time to Gwyrosydd School last Friday 22 March - it is where I attended school as an infant and a junior!  

Geraint Williams, Catrin Haines Davies and I spoke to a class of children about Daniel James.  This group are going to be involved in the animation process.  I had prepared some slides giving information on different aspects of Daniel James's life  and we used these to illustrate our talk.  The children were very interested and asked lots of questions.  They are going to be doing some further research on Daniel James before the animation day and will be using the slides and this blog as part of their research activities.

School Workshops

The project team is looking forward to forthcoming workshops at:

 

•  Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg, Tirdeunaw
•  Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bryn Tawe
•   Gwyrosydd Primary School

These will take place in the next two weeks with the children and the project team focusing on the research completed and gathering information together for the animation.  These workshops are an important milestone in the life of the project and a fantastic opportunity for all involved to work together to achieve our goal!

 

 

 

 

Animation Progress

We met with Nick and the animation team at Mynyddbach Chapel on Friday.  Despite bone chilling temperatures, we soon had the chapel warm and welcoming and the meeting went really well.

The Daniel James Project team spent an enjoyable two hours chatting through Daniel's life to enable the animation team to put together a storyboard for the film.  Although we can't get every piece of research into the animation (that would take many many hours of viewing!!!), we have all highlighted the important aspects that should be covered and which will be really interesting to watch.

Animation Meeting

First meeting going ahead today with animation people...very exciting!