Day three and we were shooting the arrival of my character at his parents's home. With twelve characters now interacting in a small lounge it took us all day to do just two scenes (though one of these is a pretty long one).
I was much more nervous than on Monday, as I not only had to remember what I had to say and to think about what face I would pull as I said it, but also had to move around and reach the right place in the room for the particular shot.
Little bits of tape are put on the floor to show you where you are aiming for - this is called your mark. But we had to reshoot my entrance as I had obviously looked down at the floor as I attempted to find where I was meant to stop. This is not good. But I don't really see the point of marking where you're meant to get to if you're not allowed to look at the mark. Acting is really bloody hard and I hate the rest of the cast for making it all look so easy (apart from Tony Bignell who is kind enough to make it look much more difficult than it is - I still hate him despite this).
The director asked Julia if she would try to guide me to the correct place in a motherly fashion, but on the next take as we entered the house she went to grab me, but just pushed me a bit and I ended up walking into a door frame. Maybe it'll turn up on one of those hilarious out-take shows.
I made plenty of rookie errors during the day and was later told off for preempting when another actor was going to speak, by turning to them too early. It was a bit embarrassing, but none of the others gave me too much of a hard time about this. We did the scene so many times that I am sure I must have got my bits right at some point in the day.
It was a gruelling day, but there were still light moments, even though everyone was tired. My character Ian and his girlfriend are both actors (oh the multiple ironies) and Anton is meant to ask us if we met on a job, but on one later take, when we were in danger of losing all important daylight he instead said "Did you meet on the job?" I was professional enough to let this accidental double entendre pass, but out of the corner of my eye saw Gordon Kennedy and Claire Skinner (I would expect it of him, but am surprised at sensible, grown up Claire Skinner being so childish) cracking up. Which made me laugh, much to the director's annoyance.
Later Julia had to do a lovely bit of extra business where she picked a canape off the floor and put it on Gordon's plate when he wasn't looking, which he then eats. As she passed the camera she burst into hysterical giggles at the naughtiness of this little gag. Her and the director then both carried on silently laughing, stiffling their giggles as the rest of the scene played out. The scene had to be taken a second time and on this take Julia started to laugh the minute she put the canape down, whilst still on camera.
Her mirth was so infectious and charming that everyone was soon laughing, despite our weariness and tetchiness. It was utterly charming and made me feel a lot better that someone of Julia's experience and standing could corpse and be as silly as me.
We didn't quite get everything we were scheduled to do finished, but near enough and once again there were many lovely moments captured. It felt more like a job today, but all in all hopes and spirits remain high.
I have persuaded Tony Bignell to have a go at writing a blog too. You can see what my pretend nephew has to say by
clicking here. I will grudgingly admit that he maybe isn't all that bad after all. He is very entertaining, sometimes even deliberately.
