Malik And Louis Say Hi From Turkey

Quad Biking, Horses, Filming and Dancing

Today the group had been split up in to two. One half set out to scale Cappadocia’s valleys in there rented quad bikes. The other half, of which I was part of, decided to ride horses through Cappadocia’s valleys. Enio morricone eat your heart out.

Me and my horse

The horse farm was owned and managed by a man named Ismail, an ex hippie. We decided to interview him and gain a perspective from him of life in Cappadocia. We learnt that he preferred living a non-materialistic lifestyle and felt that Cappadocia allowed him to realise this type of life he wanted to live. The interview went smoothly despite the clouds coming and going which affected the lighting at first, but soon they dissipated. From a corner of the small farm classical music found its way to our ears and our hearts. It was being played from an old, dirty, seedy broken cassette player, yet the music it spewed brought a sheer ambiance and character to the place and the man. Under his lowly worn cowboys hat were the eyes of a worn, isolate man yet they were full of happiness. I often fantasised in my adolescence of living such a life, though my love for film making has far penetrated my past ideals and no more can I see myself doing anything else and having that same glee of happiness that resonated in Ismail’s character.

The horses bared our weight for an hour, scaling the dipping and rising valleys. Landscape open then cascading then revealing drops which our horses galloped down, throwing us back in our saddles; the sun was setting and our silhouettes lay on the meandering trails. The fairy chimneys stood tall hanging over us like goliaths. It’ll all be forever etched in our minds. All this in our short-lived spaghetti western-esque journey. The pain in our buttocks was all worth it.

Latter that night we travelled to Goreme and watched a traditional folk dance and music amidst a buffet, where  tourists laughed, and danced like horses. We had a day that encompassed us finding out about ourselves as filmmakers and got more then we bargained for. Each day we learn something new. The learning continues….

YTV, Up, Up And Away

“If travelling half way across Europe wasn’t enough for us, when we were told that we were yet to experience some of the ‘Must do’ activities in Cappadocia, all eyes lit up”

Youth Television is a Youth led media organisation which has developed a wide range of opportunities for young people in the UK throughout 2013 so far.

11 Young people, including myself were given a life changing opportunity to explore the historical land marks, cave homes & fairy chimneys from a bird’s eye view.  During the making of the full feature documentary in the heart of Cappadocia, we discovered some of the most breath taking views & finally understood why thousands of tourists visit the town Goreme every year.

It was an early start for us all, as we set out from our hotel at 5.30am before sun rise. On arrival to our location, we were welcomed by other tourists, Hot air balloon staff, Hot drinks & refreshments accompanied by a camp site fire. The view from where we stood was lovely. We had never been surrounded by so many uniquely shaped rocks & fairy chimneys that stood behind us. Slowly the sun began to rise, as our Hot air balloon was prepped before us. It was time to board what seemed so big to begin with, but so small as we all entered into the basket which was about to carry us thousands of feet into the air. There were moments of excitement as we started to ascend higher & higher into the clouds.

The view was like nothing we had dreamt or imagined. For 40 magical minutes we travelled across the town overlooking some of history’s most uniquely shaped land marks, known as Turkey’s cultural treasures which wait to be discovered by thousands of tourists that visit Cappadocia each & every year. We slowly descended back to base; it was all over way too soon. As we safely landed, the team made a round of applause.  To complete the experience, we were hosted with a Champagne reception & flying certificates for taking part of one of Cappadocia’s must do activities.

“This was most definitely an experience to die for, and I recommend it to anyone who intends on visiting Cappadocia any time soon. Thank you YTV” -Lameia More

Day 6 Kam, Bunmi, Malik and Lateshia At The Fairy Chimney

Caves and Horses

Today our group has gone from strength to strength. We first kick started it by visiting the mayor of Goreme, feeling privileged to be in his presence he then allowed us to interview him asking various questions about the roles he plays in his community and Cappodocia, he also spoke about how he thinks tourists and the environment play a huge role in the development of Turkey. Overall he seemed like a very humble man. 

Here I am prepping my team for the interview

We then moved on to visit the Antolia cave pension 'cave hotel' not to far from Nevsehir town. The amazing sculpted cave had an unexpected traditional feel within the interior and gardens, here we again interviewed the owner and his wife and filmed shots of the hotel bedrooms ect. 

Here we are again interviewing the Hotel owner 

To end the day beautifully we went horse riding at the Dalton Brothers stables and had an amazing experience whilst simultaneously presenting to the camera and filming cut aways. We added more great footage for our documentary.

My Team Leader on one of the horses at the ranch!

Personally this trip so far has not only been inspiring but a huge learning curve. I hope to end our trip with superb footage for our film and amazing memories 

Roll on week 2!  Latisha xxxx 

YTV Meet The Mayor

Today was a very constructive day. We began with a breakfast in the dining area and then embarked upon the journey towards the Mayor of Uchisar’s  office which was within walking distance of the Uchisar Castle. At the Mayor’s office we had a criterion of set questions from which we would gather qualitative information in an interview. The staff at the office were very hospitable and provided complimentary chocolates and tea for us to consume after our session, which was pleasant.

Here I am meeting the Mayor

Following the Mayor’s interview we headed outside the governmental building to record some presentation shots and pans of the surrounding area including the Pigeon Valley landscape, it was a truly beautiful site. Whilst filming around the area we encountered a group of construction workers who were constructing the interior of a cave which would eventually become a cave hotel, this highlighted the emphasis on tourism and how it ‘s a key, integral aspect of Turkey.

Teams filming from rooftops over pigeon valley

Following this we headed on over to the Uchisar Castle where we also obtained and created more camera shots, presentation scenes and general overviews of the scenery. The peak of the castle is the highest point in all of Cappadocia, everything is visible from the topmost part of the castle, the views and landscapes are truly amazing and captivated everyone to the point where we couldn't believe what lay before us.

The castle we climbed right to the top

We then went on to have lunch at the Mayor’s building after which we went on to the most extravagant hotel in all of Cappadocia. The CCR hotel cost an estimated £18 million pounds to make and in addition to this there was still ongoing construction, this again stressed the fact that this area of Turkey is now benefiting from the holiday business.

The pinnacle of the day was later in the evening. We separated into our respective groups and went to meet some Turkish families to understand their culture and delve deeper into the components which actually define the people of the city. The families were extremely cordial and made us feel exceedingly welcome to the point where we were smothered with amazing sweets and delicacies. They even offered to package them for us to take back to the UK which was very nice of them.

                Overall Day 4 has been very educational and inspiring.

Settling In

Hello, I’m Bunmi, I’m a student at Birmingham City University studying Media and Communications specialising in Radio Production.

I aspire to be a Radio Presenter but also get involved in things to do with TV.

I joined YTV about 2 months ago and I already feel blessed to have such an opportunity to go to Turkey and film a documentary. Not only that but I feel so welcomed to be part of the team! I’m so excited to see what’s to come in the future.

The Journey And Introduction

Day 1:

Merhaba and Hello, I am Louis Stoves-Racz here from the beautiful Turkish region of Cappodocia to capture and produce a thirty minute observational documentary about the life and culture of this lunar landscape. As a freelance videographer and recent television production graduate from Birmingham City University, I am always seeking to expand my skills in a variety of conditions. Therefore, the opportunity YTV and Uflah Arts offered with the ‘Global Media Placement’ was that it will provide an extended notion of potentially working abroad.

After a long trek across Europe via many planes and automobiles, a team of YTV bandits landed at a surprising quiet Nevsehir airport around the 11pm mark. During the night on our arrival, group meetings, split in two, were arranged to confirm exactly what the core objectives and features were aimed for in our respected documentaries. My production team’s set brief is to shoot a documentary about ‘Life in Cappadocia’; therefore identifying various focuses about the Cappadocian region in regards to its culture, people and history was vital. Using our schedule and research, we laid a solid framework in how we were to approach our shoot and finalizing that our documentary was to be from an observational and factual based standpoint. Post- meeting, every person hit their pillows harder than a ‘bull in a china shop’.

Day 2:

The next day both YTV teams continued further research and discussion about our documentaries to conclude a well-planned pre-production period. Lunch and bellies full on pita, we met Tuncay, our EU project coordinator for a formal introduction about what this placement was about and a brief idea of the various locations we will be eventually shooting at. Personally, and I think collectively everyone were feeling a sense of excitement in discovering the magic of Cappadocia. Pre-ceding this was a frantic decision to declare what our production teams were to be called, my team went with the simply ‘Luften Productions’ because we do like to ‘please’ with our content. The others called themselves ‘Authentic Media’. The funfest really began when we were set team building activities.

The main challenge being that we had to parade the streets of Nevsehir using a list of 20 things that had to be found and photographed around this area. These things including taking a picture of a Turkish taxi driver with a moustache (not very difficult) and Bosca square. This wasn’t just a challenge but a duel between two sassy crews who meant business, it also helped us to get familiar with our surroundings without the bog-standard (stock techniques tour guides traditionally) adopt ‘here’s this and here’s that’, it was really refreshing! Fortunately, ‘Luften’ came out on top and we were the champions. Tomorrow, we are doing a ‘Cappadocia Tour’, where each production will location scout various places that will inspire the upcoming day shoots.