Matt Baker
THE PRESENTER GOES BEHIND THE SCENES ON HIS SHOWS AND FAMILY FARM DIY FILM-MAKING WITH THE BAKER FAMILY
Matt finds the perfect vantage point for filming the garden – just don’t step back!
Having left via a laptop on my ironing board, it quickly became clear filming during the pandemic was going to be challenging.
I’ve been very reluctant to leave home but passionate about keeping on air. As a family, we offered to film an episode ourselves from home. Via a Zoom call,
sorted out all the kit and, a couple of days later, it was left in the front yard. It felt like a mixture of Christmas morning and an important exam. As well as presenting, directing and producing, I had to give the rest of the family a crash course in film-making. My son volunteered to be on camera one so he could spend more time off-screen than on. My daughter was a production assistant (complete with clipboard) while Nicola, my wife, was on camera two and sound, while also logging all the footage we recorded.
As a family, we learnt a lot about the intricacies of radio mics and the finer points of camera work.
A few early shots were ruined by a rogue microphone cable that kept dangling in front of the lens that wasn’t noticed until we watched it back afterwards. My wife got some great shots of our next-door neighbour’s peregrine falcon but hadn’t realised the magnify button in the viewfinder was on, so what she captured was a lot further away than she thought and not quite as spectacular!