An almost practical guide to living with Queenslanders
June 7th, 2009 by Dan Hill"What is it about Queenslanders (the house, not the people)? They're cold in winter, hot in summer, prone to white ant attack and in need of constant work, but many thousands of people wouldn't live in any other kind of house"
A great documentary about the unique domestic architecture of Queensland (here are a few of my photos of Queenslanders from a couple of years ago; or the Wikipedia definition if you prefer), but this is really about stories, memory, domestic life, families, Australia, and so on. Somewhat nostalgic, but that's how people feel about these things - rarely is a city, and state, so uniquely entwined with a particular kind of building. Very nice work by Tony McGregor. (Listen out for the crows, and also for Steve Godstone, with whom I have shared several good conversations about David Peace and Liverpool vs Spurs, but here talks beautifullly about building, structure, Australian hardwoods and suchlike.)
ABC Radio National: 360: An almost practical guide to living with Queenslanders [mp3]
June 17th, 2009 at 5:41 am
TOPIC: A very nice documentary, especially for anybody who has ever lived in such a house… They will know the creaky sounds of the architecture, as the wood expands and contracts from the morning to the evening on Queensland summer days… And of the feeling of heat, when the wind blows through the house the hot summer air… PRODUCTION: Many of the interviews are recorded somewhat “off mic”, but this is not about any fault, rather a very nice method that manages to record/retain the sound of room ambiance that reflects the subject matter of “houses,” “rooms” and “spaces”. At the half way point (just before the song – or around the 26.30 minute mark), the documentary starts to lose focus. Also at this point is a comment about “for many young children, under the house was their first experience of sex”… I thought this was an odd comment to include… It may be true, but because it was referring to VERY YOUNG, it seemed strange (and was not followed up in any way)… It would have been better scripted “first kiss” or similar. I don’t think I am being too conservative about this. Back to the song, which starts at the 29.00 mark; – this is so obviously a filler to get the piece up to the eventual 55:00 mark. But actually, it could have been done better. The singer’s voice is not to my liking and I can bet, not to the liking of many other people. A method of making the transition to -what is essentially- the second half of the documentary, could have been some more appropriately themed prose with totally fresh background and extended/enhanced ambiance that had not been used before; – that would have worked better. Instead, by trying to drag the general ‘feeling’ from the first half hour to the second half hour of the doc, makes the entire listening experience a bit long winded… Back to a positive point… There are some nice prod techniques used here about ‘memory’ or ‘reflection’, where just the right amount of echo is used. In fact, it’s not just echo, but an effect called ’spaceman’ that also makes the background echo sound like it is coming from far away (a long time away = memory)… I like this effect; not many people have tried it before… X-Files were good at it!