We caught up with Carl to find out a bit more about him and his involvement with Five Lamps Films.
HM: Tell us about what you do?
CB: Along with Sam Jordan, I am one of the organisers and the host of Five Lamps Films (or 5LF). It's a bi-monthly showcase for short film makers from the local area and all around the country.
HM: How did you get into it?
CB: Well, 5LF has been going in various forms since 2006 and I'd been going to the shows regularly and entering films with Sam every so often. Then in 2010 I was asked by Paul & Graham, who ran it at the time, to guest host and that was good fun. Then in 2011 they asked if they could meet me and Sam. They said they weren't going to be able to carry it on and did we want to take over? It came a bit out the blue to be honest. We had a little think about it, agreed and we did our first screening about two and half weeks later. It was a little tense, I think we had two films. So we called everyone we knew and put the word out as much as we could. Somehow we gathered together a night of films. It's gone much easier since then.
HM: What are the best and worst aspects of what you do?
CB: We have a lot of regular contributors and it's great watching their work evolve and get bigger and better. One of our regular groups that enter announced at the last screening that they were going to be making their first feature. I felt massively proud at hearing that. From watching their initial films from a couple years ago to seeing them enter festivals and winning contests. Makes me feel old though. Another thing I love is the feeling of community that builds. If there was one thing we wanted is for 5LF to open to anyone regardless of experience and for them to feel welcome and think that is the case. We've seen people who have met at one show then work together and we see the results at the next one. We wanted people to meet and help each other grow and get better, like when Sam & I first started going to events.
Worst aspects? It's pretty negative free. Time management is a problem sometimes. We both work jobs with different hours and sometimes it's tricky to get together and go over things. I'm always really hard on myself hosting wise after the events. I get names wrong and sometimes I ramble between films. It doesn't matter at all in the bigger picture of it, but it bothers me sometimes.
HM: What's been inspiring you lately?
CB: I've been inspired a lot by podcasters recently. The thing I love about them is they are, in most cases anyway, set up with a very DIY ethos. The hosts do them because they couldn't break through the mainstream channels so they took it into their own hands and in some cases it has worked really well. The Nerdest Podcast is a great example in that it's grown into a Youtube network, a podcast network, a theatre and a TV show on BBC America. It's the doing things your own way and making something with it that I love. It must be massively rewarding.
HM: Finally, is there anything in the pipeline you'd like to tell Hatch'd about?
CB: I said 2013 was the year I decided to get busy creatively.. and I'm not regretting it yet. In March I'm going to be launching a bi-weekly podcast which I'm still debating the title of. Each month It's going to have one episode of chat and one which will be a sit down interview with a guest. I'm also talking about producing a Youtube show with my friend Jax Cobb which is in early stages. There's also an outdoor movie event I'm planning for Summer. It seems a lot now I list it off! Plus more 5LF including the 24 hour films competition as part of ID Fest 2013. Might also do a few more things if I can work them in. I don't sleep much....