Hannah Mahony's Glastonbury Experience
Having never attended Glastonbury as a punter, showing up as a researcher/interviewer made for one of the best festival experiences I’ve ever had.
A camping-phobe and not too good at coping with mud and rain, the whole six days (we set up camp on Tuesday), went far too quick.
For the first time I can recall from television and radio, Glastonbury festival weekend was sunny. Not a cloud in sight. In fact, it was sweltering. On returning from Glastonbury I was asked where I had been on holiday, my tan was that strong.
The heat did make things a little difficult though, I’m not going to lie. Instead of mud, the site was covered in dust, which made for a great temporary tan, but hardly good for eyesight. Portaloos also turned into little greenhouses of smelly doom, not that I had to experience the unsanitary conditions often. Being a part of a documentary team meant access to the press area, which meant flushing toilets, which meant festival luxury.
My role at Glastonbury included a lot of pre-production organisation and research. The particular documentary that I was a part of was entitled ‘The Politics of Glastonbury’, which focussed on the main Glastonbury sponsors: Wateraid, Greenpeace and Oxfam. We also featured the political stage that made its return to Glastonbury after a year out: The Leftfield.
Initial preparation included research and background information on the Leftfield and the history of Glastonbury. A lot of which was carried out online and through documentaries and programmes. Once an initial understanding of the festival, and indeed Leftfield was established I began attempting to organize interviews.
Having conducted and organized interviews with many bands before, I thought that the interview process for Glastonbury would be simple enough. However, organizing an interview with a band at the biggest festival in the UK, was not was easy. Tracking down bands at said tents was a case of seeking out band managers, dragging them to one side and asking permission to interview the band in question.
Interviewing members of Greenpeace, Wateraid and Oxfam required us going to their respective tents and asking for the main campaigners and personnel in charge of the weekend’s campaigning. Many phone calls were made (mostly first thing in the morning), to guarantee much of the interview. The footage of sponsors was wrapped by Friday and the remainder of the weekend was spent capturing cut aways and interviewing artists. We gained interviews with Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Jon from Reverend and The Makers, Tony Benn, Tony Benn, Leroy Rosenior as well as Billy Bragg of course.
The amount of content we collected certainly outweighed the amount needed for the documentary. We wanted to make certain that the editor was provided with enough content to make a substantial documentary. As the director was leaving for LA the week after the festival (the week in which post production was due to take place), I was also later assigned the task of Assistant Director, to assist the editor in post production. As I was to be stepping into the role, I made sure that the sound bytes collected were clear and concise.
During spare time when not gathering footage we had the chance to catch some of the music and explore the site. Having not worked with any of the team before, blending into a group who had been working alongside each other for three years was not half as tough as I expected. Working in a semi-professional (professional by day) environment, meant that the team worked extremely well together and focussed on the work at hand, rather than running riot about the campsite as one might expect from university students.
The perks of being part of a press team were fantastic. The hospitality area contained the press tent (access to internet and news), private bars, relaxed seating and did I mention the flushing toilets? A press launch on the Friday was also a perfect opportunity to see Michael Eavis and to join a free BBQ and bar.
Whilst I’m on the topic of food, being a part of Solent’s documentary team also meant that we were given three meals a day, and not just your average burger van monstrosities. The cafeteria backstage of dance west, in which we dined three times a day, was also the eatery of choice to big acts such as Kelis, Tinie Tempah, Plan B, Chase and Status as well as Professor Green. The free festival ticket and meals, meant that Glastonbury was the cheapest festival I have ever attended, ironic, seeing as it is one of the most expensive in the UK.
The overall experience can’t be summed up in a word, or even marks out of ten. The opportunity to expand my journalistic skills and indeed start new skills from scratch (being assistant director), was an opportunity I might never be offered again. With my main focus on music journalism, assisting on a documentary at Glastonbury could not have been more perfect. It was a great piece of university organised work experience to end my three years at Solent.
