Ben's Straw House

On tuesday we had our first day of filming. Me and Lauren went to see a man about a straw house he had built in the bottom of his garden. We thought it would be intersting to ask him his motivations for building the house, who his inspirations were, what he planned to use it for in the future. It was made from a mixture of lime, sand and straw, with the inside furnished with reclained wood. The roof was also made into a green roof.

These are some of the pictures we took whilst filming. When filming we were stuck a bit for time because we were loosing the light so some of the shots were quite dark. We manged to get some good sunset shots of the houses and did a quick interview with Ben with the camera on a tripod. Then as he gave us a tour of the house we decided to put some moving shots in where I held the camera and followed him around filming specific things he was explaining. We then made sure to go back and do up close shots of for example the lime material and the starw walls to get more detail. When we finally lost the light we decided to take advantage of this by lighting a candle inside the house to create some atmosphere and create a cpsy warm feeling that you get from the house anyway when you look at it. We filmed the candle flickering in the wondow and then blew it out to add a final shot to the sequence. 

Overall I think I learnt how to cope with time constraints when filming , due to light fading and also Ben had to get back to studying so we had to think carefully about what we asked him. I think I learned how to use the camera appropriately and how to use a tripod. I feel like the trip was very successful and next week we will be editing the tape. 

Research on stories in the news

http://www.theargus.co.uk/archive/2006/02/23/The+Argus+Archive/6809914._Green__houses_plan_for_marina/

This is a link to an article I found in the Argus newspaper from 2006 about the story of an eco village ( or earthships )planned to be built at Brighton Marina.The designer Michael Reynolds built the first example in Taos, New Mexico, in 1988, and still lives in it.The main exterior is made up of the waste materials of car tires and beer cans.

"Heating is via large, south-facing windows and extra-thick walls made of worn tyres and discarded beer bottles or cans which capture the sun's energy then release it as the rooms cool, using the same principle as a storage heater.
From the roof, rainwater runs into 20,000 litre storage units, where it is filtered for tap water, before being used in "planters" to water home-grown vegetables and then being recycled into the toilets.
Electricity comes from solar panels and wind turbines. Even human waste is sent from a septic tank into a reed bed, which converts it into fertiliser for a nearby tree nursery."

It would be interesting to see if the plans ever went ahead, if not then why? What problems did they encounter? And also what they think of the new waste house being built in Brighton. 

http://transitionculture.org/2006/02/27/eco-build-%E2%80%9906-three-beacons-of-sanity/

this website commented on the building of one of the earthships in Brighton so I could explore how to go there visit it and its designers, people living in it?

These are pictures of Mike Reynolds house in Mexico, it was built in layers of tires and empty cans and bottles which you can see in the wall decoration, similar to that of "Kenvin's house" in London.

I could also contact the local council about the waste problem in Brighton. I live around the Lewes Road area and there is always heaps of rubbish and open bin bags on the street. It would be interesting to get their opinion on how they think the house might chnage people habbits about throwing things away.
http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1231057 CITY COUNCIL WEBSITE

I also am keen to talk to Kat Fletcher who I know is the coordinator for reseources for the whole project so to get info on materials I could interview her.