At a Car Boot with…trader Danny aka Afro Junk
One of the top ten Car boots is Wimbledon Car Boot Sale. It offers pretty much everything a bargain hunter would wish to hunt.
Every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, traders arrive before sun rise to set up their stalls at the Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium Car Boot. The ground is packed with wheelers and dealers, turning their trash into cash by recycling unwanted goods. Wimbledon Car boot sale offers everything and anything a bargain hunter wants and needs, from antiques to second-hand clothing.
Giant Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium Car Boot in South London.
Every Wednesday, Saturday Sunday & Bank Holiday Mondays 52 weeks of the year.
No bookings required or taken. All hard standing.
Sellers to arrive on Saturdays & Bank Holidays from 6.30am & on Sundays 7.30 am.
Cars £10 Vans £20.
Buyers £2 to come in before 8.30am £1 after 8.30am.
At a Car Boot with…: A trader – such as Danny aka Afro Junk, allows us to take a sneak peak at what their selling and telling, so you can see for yourselves…
Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, Plough Lane, SW17 0BL.
Directions and Map: Wimbledon Car Boot sale just off B235 on Plough Lane, toward Copper Mill Lane.
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car boot all the way…
I had many ideas before my car boot sale, such as ‘getting a tattoo’ and showing people get a tattoo and/or the tattooist’s story and body art. The one I chose due to my knowledge and experience of the place and the fact that something liek this should be online and isn’t?!?! People search the internet for the biggest, best or local car boot sale and what ones sell certain things – Wimbledon is a popular and large boot sale but it doesn’t have it’s own website or photos or anything like reviews etc so you wouldn’t know what its like or know wheteher you’d want to go or not. Car boots are all about selling it to ‘you’ but car boot sales, and Wimbledon Stadium in particular doesn’t try and sell it to you online – where people search for it. So my audio slideshow would sell it I feel (I hope).
putting the bits and bobs together
When recording my audio – I knew what images around me would complement and emphasize the words being said. I recorded my entire audio first so I knew what to capture with a camera but i also took pictures of images that could tell you a mood, emotion or story without words which is what I planned to use when playing actuality so the viewer can have time to compose and take it all in.
When it comes to putting the photos with the audio – I wanted it to reflect a car boot sale. I want the audio which is busy, fast paced and loud to mirror the speed I would show the pictures to show how much is there and compliment what is in the picture, which most were busy and cluttered. I wanted that fast busy and cluttered overflowing feel as this is what the day is like. I don’t think using less pictures and showing them in a relaxing slow tempo would express what the car boot sale is like – and how choppy the audio is from one trader to the next.
This was a decision I made that would juxtapose and work against an audio slideshow for another topic but not for the topic and point I’m trying to make and how I want the viewer/listener to feel when they see/hear it.
A car boot sale is full of bits and bobs – so I want the photos to show all the bits and bobs and seem packed with colour and ‘junk’ from the trunks of cars!
audio and images
Before putting my work together I had collected – I researched other audio slideshows and focussed on the ones I found effective – its style, pace and point. The reasoning behind making it and sharing it with others to see. I took on board the importance of the voice of the interviewee and character, the ambience and diegetic sounds I could take, the ordering and placements of pictures and audio and the angles and focussing on photos and how they all try to build SURPRISE! and serendipity!
Audio Slideshows that inspired me and helped me form my piece together were ones such as ‘On the Street’ ‘A stretch of leg’. I love the simplicity of voice talking over the pictures linking to what is being said but said in a very calm relaxed approach – as if speaking to a friend, it doesn’t sound scripted. I love the simple idea turned into art and the consistancy of pictures representing what he is speaking about. It works!
Cyra: A teenage life in care - I would have improved by playing with better angles to show her isolation and only use music if neccassary. It didn’t work as well for me and the pictures were either too slow in what ad just been said – or was trying to hard to play at the right times something had been said and it didn’t work for me.
Back from the boot
So its 11.30am and I am back home from the car boot sale! I succeeded in what I wanted to get – interviewing around 5 people and gathering actuality and dealings. I also captured 465 photos of the morning, so should have enough material to tell the story and show off the boot.
I was there today for five hours and it feels like its about 4pm because I’ve been up so early and seen so much already!
I met some interesting people as always and as always got sidetracked and roped into buying a few bargains I just coudn’t resist. My main interviewee I’m going to use for my final assessment is ‘Danny’ aka Afro Junk. Like a true trader, he made a deal with me that if he answered my questions, I had to buy something….which I did – a plate for £1.
Its Saturday! Car Boot day!
So its SATURDAY 28th April – 6AM!!! and im on my way to the car boot sale in Wimbledon! its been raining all week witht he April showers – but today is fine so the boot sale should be busy! im hoping to find a few bargains! but mostly some colourful pictures of the surroundings and some interesting audio from the people out today!
The day is all about the thrill of dealing with people and making a sale and the irrational excitement you get from finding that treasure, so this is what I aim to achieve in my audio and photos.
Audio Slideshow – on a day at the car boot
As I am a keen car booter, where I sell and buy at the Wimbledon stadium car boot, I thought it would only make sense to create an audio slideshow on something I love and that I can share with others. Making an audio slideshow for a car boot sale allows people to have an insight at what it sounds like and what goes on, from the atmosphere and traders characters but also the images of stock and buyers. Using both audio and imagery means the viewer can be taken on a journey through the story being told. The audio slideshow could be featured on the Wimbledon car boot’s own page to show what its like before coming, and get to know the traders and what bargains you can find there. I focused on one person in particular to portray his personality, stall and story of how he interprets a car boot. I used other buyers and traders voices when there was deals, haggling and bartering going on around but making this audio slideshow could be taken from the perspective of a buyer and/or a trader. If I made more I would do 3 minute audio slideshows from people who are regular traders perspective/security/buyers etc so give you the whole feel from each point of view and help make the car boot have status and familiarity and turn its traders into known traders (celebrities in the car boot world). This audio slideshow could also be featured on ‘Danny’ who I interviewed own website about where you can find him and see his stock, so you can get to know your trader and make yourself more known to buyers and dealers. When I did my first car boot sale, I wasn’t sure of all the tricks of the trade until I had done many and wasn’t making much of a profit. You have to know how to talk, haggle and trade to survive a car bootsale, from both ends of buying or selling. So I think people that havn’t been to a car boot sale, or havn’t sold at one before and they want to – then audio slideshows show people how popular they are and make them known but also teach you and prepare you by having an insight from someone who knows all about them, what you can find, how the day goes, what to look for, what the people are like who buy from you etc etc…so it is to give a sneak peak at what its all about!
The car boot starts at 7.30 AM and finishes around 2 pm…so that means arriving at 6.30 AM! to get a good spot…its a long day so an early night is suggested, which is what I am going to do now…and I will be on the hunt for a good trader and interesting stall tomorrow!
Audio Slideshow
Today I decided to make my audio slideshow on: A car bootsale.
Following the day in the life of a trader or the other side of a buyer…
I would cover the peoples characters and stories about what goes on at a car bootsale – the pictures would depict what they are selling on their stall e.g house clearances, junk, paintings, antiques etc.
The pictures would compliment the sales and trades and ambience of a car bootsale so all the hustle and bustling and bartering being shouted around.
The point of doing a slideshow is to capture the atmosphere of a car bootsale through sounds and photos. I would make it as creative as the car bootsale is with colourful trade and colour characters.
This audio slideshow could be put on the car bootsales website – so people could watch and see what its really like at ‘the wimbledon car bootsale’.
What to watch on the web
This article links to both my ideas for SBTV online TV channel and the TV programme Soccer AM working online as an app to watch/ upload videos and interact.
Youtube channel such as SBTV falls into this category of having a TV programme – online and it working successfully.
