In this day of digitally scheduled broadcasts this may seem foreign to modern viewers, but back in the day, TV was live. Shows were started with the push of a button, determined by an analogue control room clock and stations frequently had to make up or fill a few minutes here and there to stick to the advertised programme. Long pauses while presenters stretched until the incoming feed came online, test cards put up during breakdowns and silent, stately black screens were commonplace. When I was a kid the old NZBC TV station DNTV2 used to run this filler piece - basically an early music video of the Pixie Town animatronic display set to "So What's New" by the Tijuana Brass. I loved it. The display used to be housed in the DIC department store until it went out of business in the 80's, but now it's kept at the Otago Settlers Museum, dusted off and switched on every Christmas.
Handmade, driven by gears, belts and levers; lit by Xmas lights, I wonder what today's kids make of it. I've taken Miss C(7) and although she didn't exactly linger for hours, it's become something she looks forward to, something of a Dunedin Xmas ritual, like the Santa parade. Well last week I got the job of shooting some new publicity pictures of it. Another little dream job.
To be truthful, it doesn't pay the kids to linger, as closer inspection reveals these Pixies are a slightly sinister lot: Hard drinking, donkey-kicking tricksters. But I was in Pixie heaven. I shot them with a 2 light setup - my Canon 430 EZ at low power and high for key to simulate the Pixieland sun, and my Yongnuo 460 into the Orbis ring flash adapter for fill. Nice and quick. Occasionally there'd be challenging shots, like the Carousel. It was lit with fairy lights inside that came on and off intermittently, and it also turned, so getting the exposure and frame I wanted took some patience. I could have spent more time on it, but am reasonably pleased with the frame of the Lovers Nest here.
The scenes captured, I did another quick pass with just the Orbis and my 100mm Macro lens, getting closeups of the wee faces. Not exactly Dora the explorer friendly or pretty for that matter, but these are from another time, handmade made by Kiwi grownups for Kiwi kids to enjoy - not some corporate drone designing a merchandising product. Last year I shot Humpty Dumpty - a companion piece to the little pixies - it had real human teeth, and was seriously Gothic/sinister. These little guys could just have real human hair, I wouldn't be surprised one skerrick, but it's those quirky little details and surprises that are part of Pixie Town's enduring charm. Go see it some time.
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