Client Project #5: Finding faces

This past week has very much been a process of finding people who would be interested in being in my documentary.

Based on my first meeting with Danny Kaye, I have emailed several original lace houses that remain in Nottingham asking if they would like to be involved with the documentary.

I think perhaps the email I sent out may have given the wrong impression because I have been met with less than enthusiastic responses.

Overall I have found three places in Nottinghamshire that still manufacture lace, but all three have showed no interest in appearing in this documentary.

I think that perhaps from the nature of my email they have implied that I am writing this documentary in a manner where I have labelled the Lace industry as something that is already dead, and cannot be saved.

One manufacturer replied with as follows:

"We have had enough of the word "decline" and are now hopefully on the upward phase.  For this reason I am sorry to advise we would not be a typical example for you and would not want to waste your time."

This unfortunately, serves to be evidence of the typical responses I have received in face of my enquiry. 

For context, this was the email in question, sent to several different lace manufacturers:

"Hello,

My name is Alex Lea-Hayes and I am a 3rd year multimedia student at NTU. For a final project this year I will be producing a short documentary about the decline of the lace industry in Nottingham.

As a person involved in areas that are relevant to the subject of this documentary, I think you could be a valuable person to interview for the documentary and may even know of others who would be of interest.

If you would be interested in taking part I would ask to meet with you in the next week or so for a short preliminary discussion (15-30 minutes) and sometime in the next month to film the actual interview (30 mins-1hr). I understand you will have a demanding timetable and I will arrange to meet whenever is best for you.

If you are interested in taking part and believe it will not infringe upon too much of your free time, feel free to contact me via email or you can call me on (redacted).

Sincerely,

Alex Lea-Hayes."

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After the unsuccessful attempts on the email front, I have arranged to set up a meeting with Amanda Briggs- Goode, head lecturer for Textile Design at NTU.

I met with Amanda on the 19th of January. Our meeting was approximately half an hour long and we covered a range of topics.

Amanda seemed interested in helping me with my documentary and has said she is also comfortable being in front of camera and has done so before.

I also found out that Amanda is the curator for the lace archive in bonnington, which may serve as an interesting place to film some locational photography.

From the meeting with Amanda I got several potential contacts that she recommended may help with filming.

Of these contacts, one person she mentioned stood out in particular was Debbie Bryan. Debbie Bryan owns and runs a small shop in the lace market that is one of the last independent design shops that makes products using lace.

I have now contacted Debbie Bryan and asked her if she would be interested in appearing in the documentary, I will post any updates as they happen.