Audiovisual Cultures

Paula Blair chats with Dean Simone, Val McAdoo and Pete Postiglione about making their sports-themed family drama independent feature film Game Day (dir. Edgar Michael Bravo, 2021). Each talk through their production experiences in front of and behind the camera, Italian-American culture and family, and growing film production and storytelling embedded in Philadelphia. Includes plot details...

Paula Blair chats with Jenn Francis about making her podcasts Tools of the Podcast Trade and SoloMoms! Talk. We also hear about Jenn’s work with mindset coaching and mentoring, and about her travel experiences. We learn about getting started with podcast production, the importance of meeting people virtually and in person, and the ways Jenn is disrupting lasting stigmas around solo motherhood. If you get someth...

Recorded on location at the Strand Arts Centre in East Belfast, programme manager Johanna Leech and cultural freelancer Robert J. E. Simpson chat to Paula Blair about the venue’s history, its current status and plans for its future. We then learn more about Robert’s work as an artist, an actor, a for-hire freelancer and with the CinePunked podcast. And finally, there is a post-viewing discussion between ...

Paula Blair visits Susan Hughes at Orchid Studios in Belfast to chat through her work. Susan is from Belfast and graduated with her MFA in 2021 from the University of Ulster and received that year’s Centre for Contemporary Art (Derry) and Platform Arts (Belfast) graduate awards. She has completed many artist residencies in Ireland and Scandinavia where she has used her traditional fiddle-playing as a bartering tool to...

Paula Blair reads her article on Duncan Campbell’s Turner Prize-winning film It For Others – see full citation and link below for open access to the published text. Topics include prize culture, capitalism, Marxism, colonialism, cultural appropriation, looted art, documentary, commercialism, the art market, and film culture, particularly the late-twentieth-century Left Bank film-makers in France. If you get something out of ...

Paula Blair talks through a successful grant application to Arts Council England, radical honesty, and time-saving strategies. In this episode you’ll get advice on the stages of applying for a grant including the necessary preparation, where to find specific guidance, compiling a budget and networking. Issues that arise include paying yourself and others fairly, identifying eligibility, what fund is right for your needs, and...

Paula Blair speaks to Jordan Lam about being creative and developing a studio arts practice. In this fun and loose conversation you’ll get some insight into studying art at degree level, some details about graphic design and digital collage, and how it is to take a creative approach to life as well as to art. There are some details about Photoshop and other digital creative suites that the uninitiated may find surprising. We...

Paula Blair speaks to writer and director Leslie Goyette and producer Michele Englehart about their film Maysville (2021). In our conversation you’ll learn about their 3-year journey from script to finished film, their experience with crowdfunding and the kindness of communities, and the sheer tenacity it takes to achieve a goal you really believe in. This is an enjoyable and illuminating conversation which I hope you’ll get someth...

Paula Blair is joined by digital marketing professional Brandon Leibowitz to talk about the technologies, best practices, ethics and effects on culture of search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, and website ownership. In our conversation you’ll learn some quick tips for advancing up Google search results and lessons about who really owns and makes money from the data we share online. Do enjoy this conversation and...

In time for the platinum jubilee, enjoy this remastered reissue of lost episode 34 in which film doctors Paula Blair and Andrew Shail talk about the Queen and Freddie Mercury biopic from 2018 (BBFC cert. 12A). We get into the film’s troubled production context, Andrew’s love of the band’s music and its significance in film culture, and we touch on the depiction of Mercury’s sexuality, persona and AIDS, the amalgamated supporting ch...

Host Paula Blair reflects on four years of making the podcast, the writing projects she’s been working on so far this year, and some decisions about the podcast going forward.

If you enjoy this episode, please give it a good rating and share it with a friend!

Full show notes and transcript: https://audiovisualcultures.com/2022/05/18/audiovisual-cultures-episode-117-paula-checks-in/

Auto-captioned videos: https://www.youtube.com/chann...

In time for May the Fourth 2022, enjoy this remastered reissue of lost episode 32 about the 2018 Star Wars instalment directed by Ron Howard (BBFC cert. 12A) and revisiting Paula Blair and Andrew Shail having a rant 4 years ago. There are loads of plot details, chat about this and other sci-fi franchises, the actors, the music, production contexts and gender politics.

Original episode with auto-captions: https://youtu.be/mW1Pm8g...

This conversation with artist Bethany Stead was recorded and broadcast for the Slack's Radio residency as part of Blazing New Worlds at the NewBridge Project in January 2022.

Topics:

• folk art, drawing, creativity, sculpture, painting
• gender, sex, sexuality, vessels, bodies, awkwardness
• storytelling, intergenerational storytelling
• the arts in Newcastle upon Tyne and North East England
• being a member of NewBridge
• working for art...

This conversation with artist Richard James Hall was recorded and broadcast for the Slack's Radio residency as part of Blazing New Worlds at the NewBridge Project in January 2022.

Discussion topics include:

• performance art, drawing, creativity, video, Instagram Live, curating
• disability, autism, bodies, being queer
• engagements with other artists such as Sally Madge and Victoria Gray
• the arts in Newcastle upon Tyne and North Ea...

This conversation with directors of Vane gallery and artist-led organisation, Paul Stone and Chris Yeats, was recorded and broadcast for the Slack's Radio residency as part of Blazing New Worlds at the NewBridge Project in January 2022. This is a longer cut of what was originally broadcast, with a lot more detail on the 25-year history of Vane and how it has fared in recent years, including the recent move from Newcastle to Gateshe...

Andrew Shail returns to discuss his pandemic odyssey through all things Star Trek with Paula Blair. Be warned, we do not hold back on (possibly misremembered) plot details!

Topics:

• Series discussed: The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Discovery
• Series mentioned: Short Treks, The Animated Series, Lower Decks, Picard, Strange New Worlds, Prodigy
• Films discussed and mentioned: Star Trek: ...

Paula Blair speaks to John Badger about making Mercury Theatre Podcast. Topics include:

• audio drama – directing, writing, producing and casting
• sound design, sound editing, sound effects, foley
• creative writing, storytelling, characters, anthologies
• working with voice actors, remote recording, studio recording
• genre – mystery, comedy, thrillers, crime, historical drama
• the Audioverse Awards
• audio drama recommendations

If you enjoy...