The World Cup is finally over. It’s been an amazing month in South Africa that has seen my team travel from Rustenburg to Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein. I’ve been working with Correspondent Andrew Harding and we’ve been lucky enough to have many films commissioned for the BBC News.

In Thokoza park, Soweto. 11/06/10

As Bafana Bafana took on Mexico in the opening game we headed into Soweto to capture a taste of the atmosphere and to see what it all meant to the Sowetans. It was a day I’ll never forget, the atmosphere of excitement and togetherness bringing me close to tears more than once. The film we made really captured a sense of how people felt and reflected the fact that this country would never be the same again.

Soweto welcomes the World Cup – World cup begins in Soweto from caparkinson on Vimeo.

After the first day our priorities temporarily shifted to covering the England team and their fans. We headed to the sleepy village of Phokeng, just outside of Rustenburg for the England vs USA match. It’s an odd place to host such a big game and we made a film reflecting the clash of cultures between the hard drinking fans and the bemused locals. Just after we finished editing I shot this film on my i-phone to give a taste of the neighbourhood. And yes we did use that bizarre camper van as our edit vehice

As the tournament progressed and England were knocked out following that disastrous showing against the Germans we moved on to cover Ghana’s big game against Uruguay. The night before we produced a piece that really gives a taste of the spirit that helped the Ghana team to do well. Here’s two clips I pulled from the rushes that you might enjoy. In the first Ghana’s biggest supporter gives his match prediction and in the second the fans sing a song about me:

With Ghana crashing out to Uruguay on penalties we concentrated on putting together two end of tournament legacy pieces. The first looked at South Africa’s improved image abroad and the second was a deeper, more thoughtful piece that examined how South Africans themselves saw the impact of hosting the World Cup. I had an idea to use “postcards” to introduce each character in our film rather than the more traditional set up sequence. I feel it worked.

South Africa World Cup – final film from caparkinson on Vimeo.

Covering the World Cup has been an exciting, nerve wracking and tiring experience. Although I’m glad it’s over it has been a pleasure to see this much-maligned country step up and impress the rest of the world. I hope it can keep it up.

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