Producer's Diary - Autumn 2012
Julian O'Brien
Producer's Diary - Autumn 2012
It's great to be back on air with a new series and to see our many months of hard work come to fruition.
We've almost finished filming this year's series - partly because every episode needs weeks of post-production work, so we need to work well ahead, and partly because we like to shoot when the weather's good and when there are plenty of things happening down on the farm.
This season, shooting during summer to get the best weather didn't quite work - it may have been a good season for grass growth, but not for filming. However we've managed to get the job done - often with multiple return visits forced on us by the weather - and we're now settling in for months of editing, scripting and work in the sound suite.
We made a significant step forward last year by moving to high definition pictures, thanks to support from our new sponsor, Hyundai New Zealand. But for this year's series there are no big changes - just a few refinements such as new opening titles, and we've also started a Facebook page that's already proving popular - it's at www.facebook.com/CountryCalendar and it's a good way to keep up to date with what we're doing.
We've got some great stories coming up - over the next few months we'll take you from Mimiwhangata in Northland to the Hokonui Hills in Southland, plus lots of places in between, and our viewers will see everything from fishing to horticulture - plus plenty of stories about what remains our rural mainstay, sheep and beef farming.
I hope you keep watching - and keep enjoying what you see.
