Bitter Politics - An interview with musician Alec Chapman

As a way of reigniting this blog I wanted to give some publicity to a friend of mine who has followed his dreams and become a musician. Actually, that's not true. Alec Chapman was a musician from an early age when his father bought him a bass guitar and he played along with his other brothers as they learned their craft.

I first met Alec on a film set. We were filming a commercial for a crisp company where we had to spend the whole day at a football stadium doing crowd replication. Long, boring, tedious, but made more enjoyable by the company of Alec who has a dry wit and an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of films. Since then I have followed his progress with interest as he has turned his wit and expertise to film reviewing and - more recently - to producing a film-based podcast.

Earlier this year, though, he started to talk about another undertaking he was involved with: an album release. I followed this with interest as it was obvious this was something he was doing as a serious endeavour. The album was released recently and it’s is called ‘Bitter Politics’. It is available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Google Play and it is marketed under the name ‘Oh Hi Mark’. If you want to know the source of that name you'll have to check out the story on Facebook. I spoke with Alec recently to ask him about the challenges of producing his own album.

We started talking about how Alec went from being a member of a “function band playing cover versions” to “singer/songwriter creating an album”

Alec told me “They're more concurrent than that. I've been writing songs forever, even before I learned any instruments. I pretty much had to learn instruments to be able to write songs properly. That start in purely mental writing means I am able to write wherever I am - without relying on an instrument to make the sounds for me. I can have the song in my head first.”

We moved on to talk about the mechanics of making the album. Presumably when Alec started writing it was a lot more difficult to physically make and release an album. Technology has moved on since then. At what point did he think "I could do this now", I wondered?

“Well, there wasn't that thought process exactly. I guess in the first place when I started on the project I was frustrated by the fact I was relying purely on other people's availability to move it forward at all. I struggle with motivation sometimes so it simply wasn't working at any speed - so it was really important that I learned to do digital recording and editing myself.

According to Alec there are a number of distinct steps in the album creation process:

Write
Demo
Guide Track
Record
Mix
Master
Release

“You can join together the demo and guide track, or, if you're working on your own you can go straight to recording. The recording itself is different depending on which instrument everything is hanging off in terms of time. It's trivial to play to a click track to keep tempo for you, but it doesn't help that much if you're playing in swing feel or you have conflicting syncopations.”

I asked Alec what software he uses : “Well, on the first album we ended up using lots of different things. Sonar, Cubase, Logic or even GarageBand in one case. Compatibility isn't really an issue as you can export each track as a .wav file or another form of lossless audio.” In terms of bringing it all together, modern DAW (digital audio workstation) software does this all in one. So as you are recording one you can hear everything else, actually watch the waveforms etc. “But if you're working in various locations, it's trivial to export one recording in, say South London, share it via Google Drive anywhere in the world and have them import it into their DAW. It's not ideal, but it works. I did a lot of bass parts that way.”

I asked Alec for his thoughts on mastering and distribution. “Mastering is a dark art. I have no idea! It was done by a professional. Digital Distribution was surprisingly easy. There's companies that will do it for you - I used tunecore, but others are available. This basically means that an independent artist can kiss goodbye to the questionable joy of needing a record company to get your material released. Marketing becomes the real issue.”

We talked about social media and how it plays more and more into the whole marketing ethos.  My concern was how does he go about getting the word out about a first time album by an artist who goes under the alias Oh Hi Mark?

“Well, it's still in progress, but the important thing to realise is that it's going to be a lot of work. The days where an artist will get lucky and have a dramatically expanding fanbase within weeks are over. There's simply too much music out there to rely on luck. So for me it's about the long game - almost using the first album as a marketing tool for the live shows and then cycling that back around. Making it available on Spotify was motivated by the desire that not being willing to pay £7.99 up front shouldn't stop people being able to hear it, while still trying to maintain some sense of good business.

In a way there’s a catch-22 of music production nowadays. The tools are there relatively cheaply, it's the expertise that's expensive. That's also true for video production. For many years now musicians have used video as a way of promoting their songs. I asked Alec for his thoughts on this and also if he has any plans to use video to promote his album?

“True, but remember some of the greatest music ever recorded was laid onto four or even two track tape in tiny smoke filled rooms. The modern, super polished highly compressed shiny sound people used in records now, doesn't have to be the only aesthetic. Plus there's a temptation when surrounded by modern technology to feel it has to be all used, which can cause major delays. Video, now then, I am still learning that side of it, but to save people having to look at a static picture when listening to the single, I had a little go.... Apparently it causes motion sickness.

I asked Alec if he finds encouragement in the likes of The Arctic Monkeys and Justin Beiber, who were Internet phenomenons before they were ever signed by the big labels?

“Yes, but they are edge cases. Justin Bieber particularly. The Arctic Monkeys had a large live fanbase before they went viral after all. Plus they're actually really good. Bieber I simply don't understand - it seems crazy to me. But I'm not alone in that. Plus, MySpace (where the monkeys broke from) has pretty much died. I enjoy playing live and interacting with an audience, but as for emulating their level of success, I swing back and forth between wanting the recognition and hating the idea of fame. But who wouldn't want to headline Glastonbury? Seriously, I'll do any stage.”

Alec has had to make a fairly major life change to accommodate his ambition. “I made a major lifestyle change to work nights, but it's really a case of wanting the four on/four off pattern rather than the hours. It means that I'm not cramming the music into tiny slices of time and can really get into it. I'm extremely good at losing enthusiasm if it’s constantly stop/starting.”

On the topic of motivation. I was curious how Alec keeps himself motivated, and at what point does he bring in other collaborators? “It's a real challenge for me. The simple answer is that I have learned to be willing to accept that I am not in complete control of my emotions and accept that when it isn't working I need to do something else. Forcing it breeds disillusionment. I know - I've been there before.” So any routines? “Unfortunately I have a very difficult relationship with routines and their resulting pressure. What I've done instead is create a battery of creative outlets that have related skills so that even if I'm not working on one, I am informing it via another.I won't lie, some of my creative process is calculated. But the most satisfying and robust parts are usually products of inspiration.”

Alec told me that Bitter Politics is an album intended to be consumed en masse, rather than in single songs. I asked him if it was written that way or did it evolve? “It was arranged that way, out of ideas that came individually. And actually, the stated intent is that it works best en masse.”

We talked about what things he would do differently on his next album “Sooo many things! But chiefly to spend more time on the vocals in advance and less on fixing problems in the mix. Also to trust my instincts more - and try to have more fun with it.”

As we signed off our time together Alec had one final comment for me “The strongest marketing tool is a good review - if any of your readers listens and enjoys the album, a positive review on iTunes, Google Play or Amazon would be a great way of helping me get this to more ears. Thanks for inviting me to chat to you!”

To listen to Alec’s music try Spotify. To purchase, go to iTunes, Google Play or Amazon and - if you like what you hear - leave a good review..

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Top Gear....?

Sunday evenings caused me a bit of a problem earlier this year. It's all to do with the television, you see.

There are two programs which conflict in their viewing. One is a ten-part period drama about a shopkeeper from the US who opened a department store in London. The other is Top Gear.

The first programme - 'Mr Selfridge' is ITV's attempt at creating something akin to Downton Abbey that they can show in prime time, get good ratings for, and sell to the American channels. It should become popular there as well. They've even included an American actor in it, the excellent Jeremy Piven. Normally I would look at this programme with a 'Meh' in my voice and switch straight over to the other side. But I have something of a vested interest in it, you see. During several months of last year I spent considerable time wandering around with slicked-back hair, 1920's clothes and a hat brandishing an old fashioned magnesium flash and plate camera playing the part of a press photographer on the show. So I have some skin in the game. We shot in Central London, Chatham Dockyards (where they built the exterior of Selfridges on a quayside) and in a carpet warehouse in North London which had all the interior sets. I even got to shoot at the Albert Hall where an extraordinary number of people/tourists wanted their photograph taken with me, but nobody actually asked why I was dressed like a 1920's character.

But on the other side is Top Gear. Lemme explain.

Top Gear is a sort of English institution. It's been going for several years and it is (or at least was) a motoring programme. Back when it first started it reviewed cars and had sensible pieces about the speed limit, fuel consumption and similar items relevant to the average motorist. It has been run by a veritable cornucopia of motoring journalists over the years, but is now presented by three gentlemen:.

First there is Richard Hammond. Known as the Hamster for his diminutive size. He is 'The youngest'.

Next there is James May -  "Captain Slow" - who was a respectable motoring journalist with Autocar magazine until he created an acrostic in one issue which led to his dismissal (read the letters in red on the article he wrote here). He is staid, traditional, and slow.

Finally, there is Jeremy Clarkson. He has been with Top Gear the longest - probably since it started. In fact I can't remember a time when Clarkson wasn't on the show. He has survived all manner of presenter reshuffles, program redesigns and media blunders. And he's still here. He is, of course, widely hated in various parts of British society - The Daily Mail, especially do not like him, and I can understand why. He is brash, opinionated, callous, loud and, sometimes, just plain wacky.

But he's the reason I, and many others, watch Top Gear.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I find him infuriating at times. His love of all things big, fast and gas-guzzling drives me up the wall. The Top Gear piece on electric cars was simply a hatchet job designed to ridicule anyone who owned one, and his christening of Porsche's "Caymen" as "A Cockster" has probably condemned that car to ignominy.

But he also has the ability to bring the show to life. He thinks nothing of diving head-first into the flights of excess that now form the show that is Top Gear. Whereas previously the show used to road test the new Ford Escort/Focus/ Sierra etc, the new Top Gear mentions them in passing and then moves on swiftly to the newest Ferrari, Lambourghini or (on occasion) Bugatti Veyron. Each of these cars is taken around the Top Gear test track (part of the new GTA 4 driving game) to determine which can lap quickest. And - in order to prove the superiority of the internal combustion engine - they regularly hold races where the presenters have to take different forms of public transport between two points and try and beat the car. Over the years they've done London to Paris, London to Verbieres and London to Gothenburg. Clarkson, invariably takes the car - pushing it to almost illegal speeds to win, and the other two guys are usually stuck sitting opposite each other on a train that is bound to get delayed at some stop out in the boondocks gifting Clarkson with the win. On the odd occasions that he doesn't win there's always a suitable explanation "It was the French" was the latest one.

But that doesn't matter. Because Top Gear isn't about winning or losing. It isn't even about cars. It's about wish fulfillment and entertainment. If you want road tests and MPG comparisons, and cars that you can buy in the showroom any day of the week you need to head over to a rival channel and watch Fifth Gear. Their show is excellent with quality presentation and great camera work.

But it isn't Top Gear.

Top Gear is about having fun in a way that may - tangentially - by related to cars. like the time Clarkson decided he could outrun a pack of hounds by playing the fox in a 4WD suzuki. Or the time they boys decided they could borrow some heavy duty mechanised equipment and destroy a house scheduled for demolition faster than a professional demolition crew. Or the time Clarkson decided that the best way to test a small car (at a viewers insistence) was to race an American muscle car round the inside of a shopping mall in Basingstoke.

The list goes one. None of these stunts has anything to do with real life. None of them is applicable to our day-to-day existence. They're flights of fancy. Whimsy, even.

But they don't half make exciting viewing.

And they make compelling, if infuriating, television.

They also make me wonder whether watching Top Gear and recording Mr Selfridge is sacrilege. Or whether doing the opposite is worse.
Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk via Compfight cc

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An Inspector Called

This week is the opening of the latest play I am in, "An Inspector Calls'. The classic JB Priestley piece is an indictment on the class system and the ability of people to think on a selfish basis about themselves.

As a quick recap, for those who don't know the general story: Upper middle-class industrialist Mr Birling, his wife and son, and his daughter and her fiance Gerald Croft are all celebrating the engagement after dinner one evening when a police inspector calls and gives them some bad news. 'A young girl swallowed some disinfectant and died after several hours of agony in the Infirmary this evening.' What follows is a savage dissection of the middle/upper class attitudes towards the lower class as each person in the room is found to have known and interacted with the dead girl in some way shape or form.

I first read the script about a year ago. Unlike a lot of school kids nowadays I was never forced to read An Inspector Calls as a set text during English lessons and I must say when I first read it I found it to be quite slow, static and - to be honest - boring. However the group decided that they wished to put this on as a performance and I applied for a couple of roles. I was fortunate enough to be offered the role of the Inspector (In fact in one of those 'It only happens in the movies' moments I was actually on the set of Steven Spielberg's Warhorse' when the call came through telling me I had got the role), and I set about learning the words.

We went into rehearsal shortly before Christmas and after a few weeks of blocking, moving around the set and trying clumsily to act, emote and read with a book in my hand I managed to get off the book and start delivering the lines in a less than amateur manner.

But here's the thing I always seem to forget when rehearsing a show: When you've worked with the text for so long you start to learn things about it that you don't pick up on the first reading. You identify the subtly little interplays that go on between characters. You learn the underlying emotional drive of certain roles and can bring them out as and when you wish.

But what you also do is you lose the overarching thrust of the play.

It happens everytime I do a role. Working so closely with the text you lose the major moments that can draw you towards a text. You lose the humour that can be there and you lose the ability to look objectively at the piece you are performing.

That's why when we get to the performance - in particular the first performance as we did last night - It is always a huge surprise when the audience picks up on these things that you had forgotten.

I've directed and acted in classic plays (Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde), modern plays (Alan Ayckbourn), comedies, dramas and even musicals. Everytime I come to the opening night I am always amazed at the differing reactions we get to a particular piece. Of course if it's a comedy and you've read the piece once or twice you know where the main laughs are. There are always the set-pieces and the great one-liners. But you also forget that there are little pieces of business that the director has put in which - although they seem innocent enough while behing performed in a rehearsal hall - become something much different when viewed by 150 people in a performance venue.

It also never ceases to amaze me how much an audience can make or break a performance. If we have people in the audience who are genuinely enjoying themselves (whether in a comedy manner or a dramatic manner ) it can lift the whole performance of the actors. Conversely if the audience sit there like a load of wet fish it's often hard to summon up the energy to make the characters come as alive as they could be. I've had performances where I wanted to go into the audience in the interval and apply the defibrillator paddles to jump start them again!

So we head into the second night of the run tonight. And it is - once again - a discovery. We, the actors, know what the play is. We know the bits we like and we know the bits we don't like (and there are always bits you don't like as an actor). What we don't know is what this particular audience will bring to the show. Will they be suitably liquored up and ride along with us through the rollar coaster of the play, or will we have to drag them kicking and screaming with us to the shocking denouement?

Who knows? And that's half the pleasure of performing.
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Cast in stone. Well, clay and silicone...

I tweeted recently that I was watching "Jaws". It's a classic movie and one which I can watch on a regular basis. The movie has numerous great scenes: The midnight swim at the beginning: The shark popping out of the water as Chief Brody pours chum in to attract it: "You're gonna need a bigger boat": The 'USS Indianapolis' speech. But I think the scene that most people tend to remember more than any other is the discovery of Ben Gardner's boat floating in the night mist and the head popping out from the bottom as Hooper dives under to investigate ¹.

Having seen the movie numerous times that scene always makes me jump. But last night it was a little different for me. You see last night was the first time I had watched the movie since having a 'life cast' made of my body.

Life Casting is a way of making copies of body parts for casting in silicone or rubber. It is used quite regularly in movies and television. Any scene where bodies are seen to be damaged, run over, crushed or displayed in a badly decomposed state ( a la Ben Gardner) are usually casts. Anytime an actor has to wear prosthetics for a scene these are usually made and modeled around a head cast. Having said that, the number of people who have actually had a full body life cast made is quite small. I am now one of that elite group.

Up around the back of the Shepperton Studios lot, along David Lean Road and behind the Korda Theatre, somewhere across from 'A' and 'B' stages is a small, dirty, slightly run-down set of single story, unheated buildings that are the home to Animated Extras. This is the company that does a large number of prosthetics, mannequins, articulated puppets and make-up effects for films and television. If you've seen a Paul W.S Andersen movie (Resident Evil or AVP, for example) they've probably been involved in creating some gruesome scene for it. The also created one of the tigers for the ampitheatre scene in 'Gladiator', severed heads and hands for 'Elisabeth I', the boar make-up prosthetic for Sir Ian Mackellen in 'Richard III' and numerous other films, television programmes and commercials. It was to these uncelubrious surroundings that I headed just before Christmas. As the rest of the productions that were filming at Shepperton had taken their Christmas break the place was pretty deserted. After wondering around for a few moments I ran into a stocky young man with a pleasing amount of facial stubble who introduced himself as Waldo.

Waldo explained the situation. For an upcoming feature film the director had requested a couple of prosthetic bodies be created. One of them needed to be a 'fresh' corpse that had just died and was seen to be in a reasonable condition. The other one needed to be older, thinner and decomposed. I was going to be the decomposed body. He showed me a picture of a similar body that had been made for a BBC TV series. I saw empty eye sockets, worms and decaying flesh. Cool!

Taking a full body life cast is a long and intricate endeavour. The material used to make the cast is an alginate similar to the stuff used to take dental casts for false teeth and crowns. However, despite common-sense opinions to the contrary, this product appears to defy the laws of general physics in that it works best when cold and then solidifies as it heats up (I would have thought the opposite would be true). It also needs to be set in plaster of Paris when it has solidified so that it can be used as a mold. The result of this is that it produces a heavy cast and therefore cannot be used as an 'all-in-one' mold. The day would therefore be split into multiple sections: The head: The torso: The limbs.

But first a trip to the make-up area. Nicky was a lovely young lady who specialised in make-up and prosthetic make-up and her first job was to fit me with a bald cap.

Bald cap's are extremely flattering (!) pieces of latex which completely hide the hair and are glued in there to stop them coming off. In addition to this the rest of the facial hair is then covered in some face cream to stop anything adhering to it and ripping it off when removed. Nice....

Having done this a number of times Waldo decided that the head was the best thing to start off with. There were a number of reasons for this: a) The head is, without doubt, the most daunting part for people who've never had this done before and should be done first to remove any anxiety and b) If the head is done early enough in the day there is always the possibility of being able to show a complete cast to the subject before they leave.

So Waldo talked me through the process. The whole idea was to completely cover every part of my head in alginate with the exception of a breathing hole to allow me to, well, breath. Normally head casts involve having holes cleared to one's nostrils to permit breathing and the rest of the head being covered. In this case Waldo wanted an open mouth pose and decided to block the nose with cotton wool. I laid on my back with my head on a specially prepared plastic covered board. Waldo asked me to close my eyes and mouth and take a breath. He then smeared cold alginate over them before asking me to open my mouth. This allowed a complete impression of the lips to be made. I opened the mouth and started doing my best 'mouth-breather' impression as more and more of the gelatinous gloop was added to my face. The bald cape was covered, the ears were covered, the nose, chin, neck and forehead were covered. Soon all sense of sound, smell and vision was gone.

I was dimly aware of movement around me and all I could hear was the beating of my heart and the rasping of my breath as I struggled to inhale through the partially open mouth - a mouth which was rapidly starting to fill with saliva! At this point the alginate started to set. The overall impression was actually one of peacefulness. As the alginate set, it started to get warm and the sensation was quite pleasant. The guys then started to add the pretreated bandage strips over the top which would form into a plaster of Paris cast.

As the plaster set, the weight of the cast became apparent. I was lucky in that I was being cast laying flat, however someone had gone in recently for the same treatment and had to do the cast standing up. The weight can get quite overpowering at times. Pretty soon my head was completely cast in alginate and plaster.

It's interesting to recall what was going through my mind at the time. Amongst other things I was thinking 'This is quite peaceful', whilst at the same time thinking 'I am completely encased in a rapidly hardening plaster cast with a small air passage as the only way of keeping me alive'. I can fully understand how claustrophobic people would freak out at having to do this. I could dimly hear Waldo saying things like 'Another 5 minutes and it will all be set, Gary'. I raised my thumbs to indicate my understanding.

After what seemed an eternity I was lifted up into a sitting position, the hardened alginate at the back of my head was sliced through with a blunt knife and the whole cast was eased off my head intact. Waldo and his team then put the cast back onto the wooden 'pillow' I had been laying on and nailed it in place.

The head was done.

As I sat blinking in the light, pulling bits of cotton wool out of my ears and nose, and removing the little bits of blue alginate that had solidified against my teeth and remained there, Waldo was pouring a special liquidised clay into the mold to create the internal impression. That would need to set and solidify before the mold could be taken.

Next we did the torso. The procedure is identical to the head. Waldo decided that we would go from mid-thigh to neck and out to the upper arms. This would provide enough overlap with the individual arm and leg casts we were going to do to enable a complete body to be made. Once again Nicky set to work with the Nivea cream and we coated all the hair on my body with it (bearing in mind that I was naked other than a pair of boxer shorts). Waldo decide to make extra sure that no hair would get trapped by applying a layer of clingfilm to my chest and coating that with cream. At this point I was starting to feel a little like a Christmas turkey being dressed for cooking.

Once again I lay on a plastic covered board and this time the guys started using the plaster of Paris to build up a little frame around my body to hold the alginate before they poured it. With two folks working on each side it still took around 15 minutes to build the 'cradle' before we could start pouring the gloop. Once the pouring started my whole torso ended up being encased as can be seen by the photo. This was slightly different to having the head done for a couple of reasons a) I could actually see and hear what was happening and b) the surface area being covered was substantially larger and therefore took longer. I think overall I spent about 45 minutes having the torso done. The 'bars' which appear across the torso are actually folded strips of material to create 'handles' with which to move and manipulate the heavy cast when it has been removed.

One further difference between this cast and the head cast was 'setting'. As the alginate warms up and sets it forms a hard outer case inside which the body could then start to move within it. Prior to that any movement (such as breathing) caused the alginate to flex with your skin. Now it stayed stationary. The upshot of this was that I could then start to break the vacuum caused by the substance and wriggle inside the cast. The feeling was a little weird, but I soon got used to it.

Releasing from this mold involved having someone lift the top part of the mold up and then pull it away to allow me to climb out of the 'bed' and into the (rather cold) ambient air. As Waldo started to nail the cast shut and attach it to the wooden base I prepared for my limbs being cast with a cup of tea and a biscuit.

The limbs were almost a non-event. Each arm was done separately after being attached once again to a piece of wood. Both legs were done at the same time with two people on either side dealing with the molding and casting.

By the end of the day Waldo had a head, a torso, two arms and two legs which was more than enough for a complete body to be made.

The next steps are for the molds to be used to produce a copy of my body. This will then be assembled, painted, individual hairs will be punched into it for realism and it will then be distressed with empty eye sockets, missing flesh and worms (Think of the decaying victims in the cinema sequence in 'An American Werewolf in London'). At some point in January or early February it will be wheeled onto a sound stage in Shepperton and filmed for the movie.

For those of you who are wondering how much a full body life-cast costs no-one was able to tell me the full amount, however a detailed head alone can cost upwards of £800/$1200 so use that as a starting point.

Thanks to Waldo, Nicky, and the guys at Animated Extras for looking after me for the day. You guys were great.

Oh, I never did get to see the completed head before I left. No doubt I'll see it in the film...

¹ Incidentally that actual shot was filmed in the editor's swimming pool with the fake head, a piece of the boat set and some Carnation milk added to the water to make it murky. It was shot after the rest of the film had been edited  together when Spielberg decided he wanted a shock earlier in the movie than the Brody-throwing-chum-into-the-ocean scene. For more on the making of 'Jaws' I recommend 'The Jaws Log' by screenwriter Carl Gottlieb .

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10 tips for being a great supporting artiste

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Having spent the last couple of years doing supporting artiste work in films and television the one thing I have discovered is that there are two types of folks who do this: The first is the one who really enjoys the job and looks forward to working on a set with other folks. The second is the one who see's this as a pain in the neck and merely a way to make some money without a lot of effort. If you're one of the second group of folks then I suggest you read this post and hope it can change your attitude a bit. If you're one of the first group I hope you get something useful out of these tips.


I have put together a list of the ten things to remember to help make you a great supporting artiste.

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Hindsight and retrospect

Jaws was a great movie. I still love it as a cinematic experience. Being able to imagine the shark in your minds eye without having to be able to see it (technical difficulties meant it wasn't ready when needed) made it much more than it would have been had the shark been visible all he way through.

But is it actually a scary movie?

People didn't want to go swimming for ages after watching. But if you watch it nowadays it actually seems pretty tame. Can you imagine anyone who wasn't genuinely scared of sharks already deciding not to swim in the sea as a result? I can't.

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Greening up the film set

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As regular readers will no doubt know, I have spent a lot of time recently on film sets. Whilst there I tend to do a couple things during my down time: I focus on the process issues that arise as a result of the slow and cumbersome way that films are made (and money wasted) nowadays and I look at wastage from an environmental point of view to determine what could be done differently.

Having spent a long time on film sets and around locations and production bases, I have identified a number of items that should be focused on by film companies. My hope is that a little bit of time focused on these items will save them both money and effort, but will have no detrimental effect on the quality of the films being made (regardless of whether you think that’s a good thing or not)

Let’s have a look at the current issues that arise with a production:

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So you want to work in films?

 As regular readers of this blog will know I've been doing some work in film and television recently. In fact over the summer I was in three of the top four movies being shot in the UK along with prestigious TV shows such as 'Cranford', 'Larkrise to Candleford', 'The Legend of Dick and Dom', and my personal favourite ever job which was a music video for a long-time chart artist making a come-back in the new year. (I can't tell you much about it as I am under a non-disclosure agreement. But it was a lot of fun and should be out February time)

I've had a number of people ask me how to get into this business so I thought I would write a few words about the whole process.

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It has been some time since I have written a post on the Musings Cafe so I wanted to take the opportunity to write a few film related musings.

Those of you who are following me on Twitter will realise that I have been doing quite a lot of work recently on film sets. It sounds glamorous - and sometimes it can be - but generally it is a lot of boredom and waiting around. The whole mantra of filming is "Hurry up.. and wait!'. The days usually start early -I left the house at 5.30 the other morning to travel to the shooting location - and involve rushing around getting costume and make-up on or having your hair done (I spent 1 hour 45 minutes in the make-up chair having a full wig, beard, mustache, skin colouring and ancillary mud 'n' stuff applied a couple of weeks back)only to sit there for three hours waiting to be called. Indeed a week or so later I was marched out into a forest in the middle of Surrey to wait - along with 210 other background actors, 60 horses and riders, a full film crew and 8 principal actors - for 7 hours while the scene we were shooting was re-written. This was while wearing 6 layers of costume (including chain mail) during that recent heatwave. We all came back the following day to shoot the re-written scene.

I like doing background work when you are one of a handful of people in the shot. Being part of 210 background and 60 horses reduces you to a 'commodity' and the film unit will generally treat you as such. However being a member of a shoot where there is just you, a couple of principals and a 2 other background can result in a more fulfilling experience. And before you start shouting about 'being a diva' and 'wanting screen time' I shall have to correct you and say that it isn't about that at all. It's about feeling as if you are contributing to the scene in question rather than being somebody who is just 'filling in the gaps' at the back of a shot. As an example: I spent a day recently on board The Concorde at Brooklands filming a scene for a new movie coming out next year. Altogether there were 4 principals, 2 'press guys', myself and 8 other background. We were all sitting on the Concorde. We were all contributing to the scene in some way - and what's more for most of the shooting I wasn't actually visible on camera. But it felt as if there was a reason to be on the shot rather than being 'just a body'. The director took us through the shot, he explained our role in the scene and what his expectations were. These comments were addressed directly to us as a small group rather than being relayed to us through an assistant director and broadcast to the masses. It was a far more satisfying experience than sitting with 210 other folks waiting for a scene to be re-written!

In other news: For those of you who are film buffs or nascent film-makers, I can recommend two DVD's to watch. The first is the Extended Special edition DVD of the Lord of The Rings movies (all three of them). Watch the films if you want, but I would recommend focusing on the bonus features which are on the supplemental discs. These show - in detail - what it takes to make a big budget, multi-film shoot and they also show how little of a set needs to physically be built to allow filming. The second movie is John Carpenter's 'The Fog'. Regardless of how much you like this movie or not it is an excellent example of how a film maker on a low budget (he made the whole movie for around $1 million) can get as much production value as possible out of the money he has. His tales of shooting pick-up shots over a period of a month and adding them into the final mix are a testament to this. Both are highly recommended.

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Getting work as an actor (A mini rant)

Some of you may know that from time to time (along with my friend and fellow blogger Algo) I have been known to spend a day or two acting in front of a camera in film, television, commercials and music videos.

It's a fun life - although it can get a little boring waiting around - which is why I have 'Pass the Pigs' to help keep me occupied.

One of the downsides to doing something like this is getting the work in the first place. It doesn't just fall magically into your lap. You have to go find it. Granted there are sites that can help you get these - and agencies who will work on your behalf (and take a commission) but it still takes hard work and effort.

One of my favourite is a site called Starnow. I have been on this site for a year or so and have had some interesting leads from it.

The problem I have, though, is that lately the level of expectation is starting to increase considerably with people who are casting.

As an example:

A shoot where a dozen men are required to be shot alongside a high profile female British Radio 1 DJ. The image is being used for a billboard advertisement promoting her club night in Ibiza this Summer 2009.

Nudity may be required

Payment details: No pay

In other words "We are the BBC. We want to promote ourselves in one of the hottest club locations on the planet. We want you to prance around naked in front of a well known female DJ. Oh, and we aren't going to pay your for it"

Or how about:

UK based breakfast show always on the look out for interesting and entertaining guests!

Quirky, fun, informative etc...people with a story to tell, something that will make our listeners go "wow!". This listing is purely to find people who will be entertaining to listen to for some reason

tell us what the reason is!

Payment details: no pay

In other words "We are a commercial company who want to be able to fill our timeslot without paying anyone for it"

Written by D***** B*****l and starring O*** D*****i, two of the UK’s premiere comic talents, this is a comedy about family and identity in the 21st century.

The film is shooting in May and June in locations around London and needs a wide variety of extras from all ethnic backgrounds, particularly Jewish and Muslim.

This is a Slingshot production and is partnered by MUJU theatre company, working with Charities Advisory Trust and partnering with Comic Relief

Payment details: expenses paid

In other words "We're using the funding for this to pay real actors for our feature film and anyone who wants to work with us will get their tube fare paid. If you're lucky"

Now don't get me wrong, there are loads and loads of casting applications out there for students and extreme low budget film-makers who just cannot afford to pay their actors. The actors use them as ways of gaining experience and entries for their show-reel. I understand this and have no problem with it. But when the likes of the BBC, nationwide breakfast broadcasters, and well known British comic talents start expecting people to work for free to help them make money I would suggest the situation has gone a little too far the the extreme.

Or am I being unreasonable?

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eBooks: Friend or Foe?

A room without books is like a body without a soul - Cicero

I am an avid reader. At any point there will be three or four books on the go in my house. At the moment I am re-reading Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", as well as passing several peaceful hours with one of the latest Robert Ludlum's. On top of that I have recently finished the Warren Buffet biography "Snowball", Sidney Lumet's fascinating 'Making Movies', and James Utterback's "Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation". This is an addition to the three stageplays I am currently learning for various roles I am acting in over the next couple of months.

Most rooms in my house have at least one or two books in them. Some are there because I've left them mid-read, others are there because I've started a small library in that room. But they are there. In the flesh, so to say.

They're not some electronic stream of bits and bytes to be accessed through the latest Kindle ("Other e-book readers are available"), and I'm happy about that.

But I wonder how much longer this will last.

Think about it. People used to have racks and racks of shelves containing the latest 7" and 12" vinyl records. These gave way to rather fewer racks of shelves containing CD's and these have giving way to a small electronic digital music player which contains all the music known to man and still has room for your photo's, calendar, to do lists and a clock.

Likewise people used to have large storage areas devoted to VHS videos. These were superceeded by DVD's which had higher capacity and smaller footprints. Now these too have been replaced by electronic streamed versions to things such as a PSP, iPhone and other such viewers (With the user having to re-purchase the intellectual property as well as the new medium!).

Now it looks as though books are going the same way.

Here's the problem I have with this: A lot of people get enjoyment out of the physical act of handling a book as well as the act of reading itself. In other words for books, the medium is often half of the experience of reading a book. If you've ever found yourself reading a PDF version of something on your PC you'll understand that this is in fact the case.

So are electronic books going to replace 'real' books? Will bookstores go out of business in the same way that record stores and video stores are starting to crumble?

Probably. The wise ones will embrace the new medium in much the same way as Amazon has embraced the purchasing of books electronically rather than in-person. It's the price of progress.

But I would like to think that somewhere there will be a couple of small independent book stores that will survive due to the fact that a lot of people want to be able to pick their books up and physically handle them. Sure, there won't be many of them, but maybe the laws of supply and demand will ensure that just enough of them survive to make it a viable proposition.

It would be nice to think so, wouldn't it?

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Things I didn't know last week - April 11th 2009

This is the next in a regular series of posts about things I learned over the last 7 days or so.

This week "I don't know the verse to 'Build me up, Buttercup'"

I do a bit of acting from time to time and I was sent to a casting this week. For those who don't now, a casting is when loads of potential actors/extras etc are sent to see a casting director, wait for ages while everyone has their time in front of the main guy, and then leave wondering how much better they could have done given more preparation time.

The job was billed as 'Karaoke' and I believe it was a commercial for one of these console based sing-along games (although nobody told us).

As usual the queues were long and the wait was interminable. But - as we were waiting - word came down that when you go in there (in groups of 6) you would be asked to tell an embarrassing story about yourself and then sing bits from one of three songs- "Don't go Breaking My Heart", "Walking on Sunshine" and "Build me up, Buttercup". My little group of six got together and decided we would go for "Build me Up Buttercup" as we all knew the words to the chorus and could get quite a good sound going when we started singing.

So before I go any further I ask you to think about the tune and the words to "Build me up, Buttercup". You've all seen "There's Something About Mary" where everyone in the film ends up singing it over the end credits, right? You can all put together a reasonable impression of the song, right? Good!

So my group went in. We stood in a line in front of the casting director. We told our embarrassing stories and then the music began. The microphone started down at one end of the line and everyone sang a couple of lines before passing it down to the next person.

Now here's the thing about 'Buttercup". It's actually one of those songs that starts with the famous chorus that everyone knows and then goes into a verse (How many other songs do you know that do that eh?) So the bit that we had all rehearsed came up on the screen and we were all nodding our heads and mouthing the words. The microphone was being used to belt out the lyrics by the first two or three people in the line and everything was going fine.

And then the first verse came.

Now quickly. Can anyone hum the tune to the verse of "Buttercup?" (Hint: it's the bit that starts '"I'll be over at ten", you told me time and again') No? I didn't think so. I bet for every person who reads this and thinks "Yes, I know that. I could have done that." there's about 30 others who think "I have no idea what the tune is...."

I'm one of those 30. Believe me, trying to read karaoke words off a machine and sing them to a tune you don't actually know is not easy. Unluckily I was one of two people who got this nasty 'verse' before we all picked it back up and went onto the chorus Which we sang with gusto.

So the thing I didn't know last week that I know this week is that I don't know how to sing the verse from "Build me up, Buttercup" (Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it might have cost me a job)

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All the best music - all the best bands...

Image via Wikipedia

For many years now I've been on a bit of a quest. Well, it's something of an obsession more than a quest. I want to hear my all time favourite songs played live by the original artists.

For certain songs this is going to be impossible - Hendricks playing "Voodoo Chile (slight return)" live is probably a lost cause, I would suggest. But there are others which did sound impossible but have still occurred:

I was able to listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd play "Freebird' despite that fact that a number of the band died in a plane crash in the late 70's. They reformed with the remaining band members and the original lead singer's younger brother to produce a fabulous show at the old Hammersmith Odeon in London. I was also able to get tickets for Eric Claptons last world tour to hear him play "Layla" in Sheffield about 4 years ago.

Anyway here's the list (and no laughing at my weird and eclectic musical taste!)

Already heard live:

• Don Maclean - "American Pie"
• Eric Clapton - "Layla"
• Eric Clapton - "Wonderful Tonight"
• Rolling Stones - "Sympathy for the Devil"
• Rolling Stones - "Satisfaction'
• Rolling Stones - "Honky Tonk Woman"
  
• Joe Walsh - "Life's Been Good"
• U2 - "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
• Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Freebird"
• Lynyrd Skynrd - "Sweet Home Alabama"
• Eurythmics - "Sweet Dreams are made of this"
• Aerosmith - "Jaynie's got a gun"
• Katie Melua - "Closest Thing to Crazy"
• Genesis - "Mama"
• Paul Simon "Bridge over Troubled Water" (Even though it was an atrocious reggae version!)
• Ton Petty "Free Fallin'"
• Bon Jovi - "Wanted. Dead or Alive"
• AC/DC - "Hells Bells"
• AC/DC - "Back in Black"
• Paul Rodgers (from 'Free') - "All Right Now"
  

Not heard live:

• Jimmy Hendricks - "Voodoo Chile (Slight return)"
• Jimmy Hendricks - "Foxy Lady"
• Pink Floyd - "Wish you were here"
• Eric Clapton - "White Room" (it wasn't in the set he played)
• Madonna - "Ray of Light"
• Eagles - "Hotel California"
• Paul McCartney - "Hey Jude"
• Guns 'n' Roses - "November Rain"
• Aerosmith - "Living on the Edge" (it wasn't in the set they played)
• Elton john - "Your song"
• Rolling Stones - "Angie" (not in the set)
• Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Probably not going to happen!)
  

There have been a number of memorable occurances during these concerts:

The Paul Simon Concert. Wembley Arena, London. It took him about 25 minutes to play a song the audience were enthused about. That song was 'You can call me Al' which he then played again! The encore was the atrocious reggae version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" which it took everyone about 2 minutes to recognise. Possibly the worst concert I have ever been to.

On the plus side I attended a Bon Jovi concert at Southampton's football stadium where Jon and Richie Sambora played the acoustic guitars for "Wanted, Dead or Alive" and THE WHOLE audience just provided the vocals while they smiled and strummed away without singing anything. I got chills!

The Rolling Stones concert at Twickenham Rugby Ground in London was great. I was in the middle of the field about 30 yards away from the stage. At the midpoint of the concert, the drum riser and a small piece of stage actually detached from the main stage and rode out on a rail to about 8 feet away from me where Mick and the boys continued to play . We got a mini concert of about 5 songs including "Satisfaction" before the mini-stage rode back to join it's bigger brother. Magical.

As I mentioned earlier on, a number of these on the wish list are never goig to happen. But then again they said that about the Eagles reuniting (even going so far as to call the reunion tour "Hell Freezes Over") so I still hold out hope that a number of those on my list will happen...

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A 'Must' for all movie buffs...

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Sometime in the late 1970's three gentlemen sat down in a room in Southern California and held a "design session" to discuss a new product they were looking at. Each of the gentlemen in the room had had success designing similar products in the past and it was felt that combining the expertise of all three of them would result in a world beating product. They were correct: the product they designed went on to become one of the bestselling product in its market. But we'll cover that in more detail later.

Recently a document has been released which details conversations that took place in that room in California back in the mid-1980s.

The three gentlemen in the room were: George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Larry Kasdan. The product they were creating was "Raiders of the Lost Ark". I fully recommend any movie buff to spend a couple of hours reading through the 126 page document to understand the thought process that goes behind creating a blockbuster movie. It is very enlightening

Reading the transcript of the session it is obvious that Lucas is driving the meeting. He has gone into the session with an almost fully formed idea about the story and the various plot points. Spielberg spends most of the first third of the session listening, with only the occasional clarifying question. Kasdan says very little. However, once the overall plot is laid out (a plot which will subsequently change very little) both Spielberg and Kasdan start to interject their own thoughts and comments into the narrative. Lucas, anxious to keep his vision intact, does initially responded with counter arguments, if only to later realise that the expertise of the other gentlemen in the room is improving the end product whilst still adhering to his initial vision and the concept.

What is also interesting to observe is a few of the cycles that the group go around. One of the discussions concerns "the girl" (who later turned out to be Marion Blackwood in the movie) and how she should be portrayed. She was initially identified as being a "double agent" and everybody agreed that this was a good idea but, as the discussions developed, she moved away from being a spy and more towards being the love interest.

Another interesting phenomena from the session was the introduction of plot points which would not used at this point but were recycled later. An example of this is the love interest being a spy, as mentioned above. This plot device was used in the second sequel to the movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". Another sequence that was mooted for Raiders of the Lost Ark but wasn't used is the sequence on the mining trolleys in the underground mine. This sequence was discussed in detail by the three gentlemen but ultimately never used in the final movie. It reappeared with very few changes in the sequel "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom".

Of particular interest to film buffs is the detail of the conversations that went through around the character arc of Marion. As detailed above she was originally conceived as a spy before being changed to the love interest. However there were several discussions about how she would actually interact with Indy throughout the movie and whether she would even be included in the finale when the Ark of the covenant is finally opened. I actually find it quite interesting to try and imagine whether the movie would have been better - or worse - if some of the suggestions had been followed up and made it into the final movie. As an example: the original ending of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" involves the Ark being opened and completely destroying the submarine base and island on which is located. The fate of Indy and Marion would not be known as the credits rolled. Only when the first part of the credits had passed would the two characters be seen surfacing in the sea surrounding the destroying island, followed shortly after by the box containing the Ark.

However the final scene of the movie, the Ark being stored away in the massive government warehouse was one of the first things that Lucas, Spielberg and Kasdan discussed. It made it all the way through subsequent drafts into the final movie.

The document (126 pages) is actually quite a easy read and serves as a interesting and enlightening reminder of how three focused individuals pulling in the same direction can collaborate and produce something extraordinary.

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The Movie Quote Quiz : "Hereeeeeee's the answers"

Image by merfam via Flickr

The answers to the movie quiz are listed below: As I said at the time some of these were easy, some less so.

My thanks go out to Algo who answered the highest number of correct entries. By his own admission he did this without using Google. He also got "He'd kill us if he got the chance" from The Conversation which I had hoped would be my most difficult one. Well done, I am awed and amazed by your talent.

Here are the answers: ("Quote" - Movie, Character and actor.)

1) "Plastics!" - The Graduate. Benjamin Braddock, Dustin Hoffman
2) "Get in there, you big furry oaf! I don't care what you smell" - Star Wars, Han Solo, harrison Ford
3) "I think he's attempting re-entry, Sir" - Moonraker, Q, Desmond LLewellyn
4) "Ever since I can remember, I've always wanted to be a gangster " - Goodfellas, Henry Hill, Ray Liotta
5) " Oh, he was a little guy... Kinda funny lookin " - Fargo, Mr Mohra, Bain Boehlke
6) "Your clothes... give them to me, now" - The Terminator, Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger
7) "No you gotta get up like this and, badda-bing, you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit" - The Godfather, Sonny , James Caan
8) "Slow ahead." I can go slow ahead. Come on down here and chum some of this shit"- Jaws, Chief Brody, Roy Schieder
9) "I understand you're a man who knows how to get things" - The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne, Tim Robbins
10) "Wait a minute. If we let it in, the ship could be infected. You know the quarantine procedure. Twenty-four hours for decontamination" - Alien, Ripley, Sigourney Weaver
11) "What are you going to do, charge me with smoking?" - Basic Instinct, Kathryn Trammel, Sharon Stone
12) "Fists with your feet? Huh!" - Die Hard, John McLane, Bruce WIllis
13) "Back when I was picking beans in Guatemala, we used to make fresh coffee, right off the trees I mean " - The Usual Suspects, Verbal Quint. Kevin Spacey
14) " Modern cars - they all look like electric shavers" - Sin City, Marv, Mickey Rourke
15) " I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do" - 2001, HAL, Douglas Rain
16) "Rather anatomical " - Atonement , Cecilia Tallis, Keira Knightley
17)" Not the greatest anecdote, then? " - Notting Hill, William Thacker, Hugh Grant
18) " Remind me to thank John for a lovely weekend" - Jurassic Park, Dr Ian Malcolm. Jeff Goldblum
19) "California, tell your people to stay away. Stay away now, don't - don't come in here. Whatever you hear, stay away! " - Se7en, William Somerset, Morgan Freeman
20) What are you, an idiot? Do you think they ever asked Cecil B. DeMille if he wasted his time on nudie shots? No! They respected the filmmaker! They showed some class! Not that YOU would know what class is, you cheap lowlife - King Kong (2007), Carl Denham, Jack Black
21) " You want a sandwich, Bacon? " - Lock, Stock, and 2 Smoking Barrels, Soap. Dexter Fletcher
22) "If anyone was to ask for my opinion, which I note they're not, I'd say we were taking the long way around" - Fellowship of the Ring: Gimli. John Rhys-Davies
23) " He'd kill us if he got the chance " - The Conversation, Ann, Cindy Williams
24) "Ask her if SHE greased the brakes " - The Queen, Alistair Campbell, Mark Bazeley
25) "Decaffeinated?" - Hot Fuzz, Det. Nicholas Angel, Simon Pegg

Hopefully after seeing the results a lot of you have slapped your foreheads and said "I knew that. Of course that quote was from....(fill in the movie)". Although hopefully there were one or two others that you looked at and said "I would never have guessed that" especially if you haven't seen the film!

Thanks to the people who replied. Thanks to everyone else who read and, maybe had a stab at the answers.

I might do another one of these later in the year.

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I see your lips moving but all I hear is.....

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Monday is usually the day when I sit down and try writing as many different blog posts as possible. Today is no different from any other Monday. Well, it is slightly different. Today I'm not writing anything: I'm speaking. That's right,

I'm speaking.

Talking.

There is also a large amount or hand waving, pacing, and staring out of the window.

The reason is because this post is being created using the Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition software.

I'm following the lead taken by Havi at The Fluent Self and starting to get more and more into speech recognition software. So far it's working out quite well. Of course there are always problems with using software like this. You can't just talk and hope that it will understand everything. What you have to do is teach it to recognise how you talk and how you pronounce certain words. The manual, which is 256 pages long, contains chapters entitled "Starting to dictate", and "Correcting and editing", along with the ones you would expect such as "Formatting, numbers and punctuation", and "Hands-free computing".

The one thing I have found about the software is that if you try and speak slowly so that it will understand you it tends to make more mistakes than if you speak at a normal speed. I find this very peculiar.

So, I suppose I will have to spend the next two or three days just talking into the microphone in an effort to try and train the software to better understand the words I'm speaking. But, at the moment it's not doing too bad a job.

Havi of course is a great proponent of destuckification, and using something like speech recognition software is one way to remove the obstacles which are causing you to stick in your writing. All you have to do is think and talk the computer will do the rest - almost. I suppose that given enough time it will become second nature to be able to talk in such a way that the computer will completely recognise everything I say and still be able to create useful, informative, and well written posts.

I recommend visiting her site, especially if you're suffering from something which needs destuckification.

Dragon Naturally Speaking can be found here:

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Did the truth have a major heart attack?

The web is abuzz with news of the reported heart attack of Steve Jobs (Apple CEO), not merely because it was a heart attack, but because it was reported by an unsubstantiated article on a web site, that was picked up and went global. As a result Apple stock dropped 5% within 20 minutes until the company were able to issue a statement denying the heart attack.

A recent article I read has now started to question the validity of allowing 'news' articles to be posted on web sites and is decrying the lack of professional journalism in this sphere. As the author says:

Today's extraordinary popular Web 2.0 delusion is the idea that anyone
without any journalistic training or experience can accurately report
the news. A cure for this delusion is a visit to CNN's iReport.
A few minutes with these citizen-lunatics should convince even the most
deluded critics of mainstream media that professional journalism is
more valuable than the "reporting" of amateurs.

But, hang on a minute. Aren't professional journalists the same people who work at sites like 'The National Enquirer"? Doesn't Rupert Murdoch employee professional journalists at The Sun and The News Of the World here in the UK? Aren't these examples of publications that have printed scandalous (and some times libelous) articles about celebrities? The Sun is famous for creating a headline which said "Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster". Of course he hadn't, but the so-called professional journalists who wrote it had taken their information from Starr's publicist. Without checking it they printed it on the front page. This incident actually boosted Starr's popularity and he didn't sue, but the UK courts try regular cases where newpapers have produced reports which have later been found to be inaccurate or damaging. The most recent example was the News of the World which posted photo's (and video) of Formula 1 head Max Mosley engaging in acts which it described as have 'Nazi connotations'. Mosely sued the newspaper and won. Surely the journalists in this case were professional? Surely they checked their sources? Surely they didn't just print anything that they wanted?

If so, why was the case thrown out?

Apparently the one girl they interviewed who claimed it was Nazi-based later changed her mind. They didn't corroborate the claim with any of the other girls who were there, nor did they check the reliability of the girl making the claim.

So tell me, how is that more professional than some guy writting a story - on a web site which bills itself as an "unedited" and "unfiltered" news resource - which inaccurately claims a heart attack on a major figure?

I'm not condoning what the iReport contributor did - spreading a rumour about the ill health of an individual can never be condoned - but what I am trying to highlight is that any reporting has to be taken with a grain of salt. Take the recent vice-presidential debates for example. Everyone saw them. They were the most watched programme of that evening. Yet no-one can seem to agree who 'won'. TV news stories, newspaper articles, internet buzz and social messaging all 'report' differing versions of what happened. Are they all wrong (or, more particularly, are half of them wrong)? No. But it does highlight the old adage that things are different depending on your point of view.

Remember that next time you read the news.....

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Extras - The unsung folks who make the film world go round.

Working on a film sounds glamourous. Believe me it isn't. Film work is the equivalent of working yourself into a state of stress and exhaustion just to watch a patch of paint dry. It's a typical case of 'Hurry up and wait!". Everything on a film is vitally important but not really urgent. Until it is urgent.

I work as a "supporting artiste" (extra) on film, television and commercials. So I know what I'm talking about.

If you've ever wanted to get into this field it is extremely interesting if you are interested in the process of film making, otherwise it is endless tedium. Let me take you through a typical day:

I was asked to do a days work on a large Hollywood blockbuster which had been filming in London before heading out to the Far East. I was cast as a newspaper reporter working in a newsroom in the 1940's

A couple of day before I had spent a few hours up at Elstree Studios North of London (Which is where the original Star Wars was filmed) to do a costume fitting. The room was an old rehearsal venue on the 2nd floor which was completely filled with racks of period costumes. Trousers, shirts, jacket, three-piece suits, ties, shoes hats etc,. You name it, they had it. The whole idea of a costume fitting is that someone (usually a young lady) takes your measurements and then disappears off into the serried ranks before reappearing clutching an outfit you might like. This is followed by several rounds of fitting - where the clothes are swapped out for ones that are actually your size, or ones that are a completely different style to the ones that were originally brought - until you end up with a look they 'like'. These items are tagged with an identification for you and that's your fitting done.

On the day of the shoot, it is usually an early start. We were shooting in a building just by Covent Garden, London, and I was originally given an 8.30 call-time (Which is fairly late for a film shoot). The night before this was swapped for a 10.30 call time - which is VERY unusual.

I duly arrived at the location where the first thing that happens is.. you wait. This is where you meet your fellow extras. There were about 40 of us in all and we milled around introducing ourselves to each other. Sometimes you see somebody you met at the fitting, sometimes it's someone you saw at a previous shoot.

After a while you will be called in for your costumes and make-up. The outfit that was chosen for you at the fitting will usually be there on a rack, so you slip it on and hope it works. The costume designer will usually be there casting a learned eye over the finished product just to make sure it looks right. This is usually the time on period dramas where I am fitted with a different tie, or made to wear/carry a hat of some sort.

After that it's into make-up.' Make-up' in this sense refers to having your hair plastered down with some gelatinous gloop similar to the stuff they use on children's TV to coat guests in when they get 'slimed' (If you don't know what I'm referring to here then you've obviously led a sheltered childhood), after which you... wait.

A some point in the middle of the waiting you will be sent off for breakfast. Catering is usually a high-point on a film set and, almost without exception, the food has been very acceptable on all shoots. Generally the cast and crew eat first then the extras. Then it's back to....more waiting.

Usually a good book is the order of they day. More frequently than that is the discussion about what we are going to get paid, how long the day is going to be and what other work is being lined up for you. Payment is standard and uniform - which means that everyone will be paid the same hourly or daily rate unless they get asked to do something different such as say a line of dialogue. A typical working day is split into one of three types "A Standard Working day" which finishes at a set time in the evening usually 6.30pm, 'A standard Working night" which is identical to a standard working day but starts and finishes later, and a "Continuous Working Day" which starts at any time finishes at anytime, but consists of a set number of hours. Once those hours are finished the production goes into overtime. The period film I was working on was a continuous working day. This meant that anything after about 5.30 was considered overtime.

Eventually we got called onto the set. This is the part that excites me the most. Usually there are two facets to a set: The things the camera sees and the things the camera doesn't see. The things the camera sees are usually very meticulously set-up, clean (when needed) and minutely detailed. The things the camera doesn't see are usually lined with cables, travel cases and sweaty grips talking about "What's the next show you're on?" It certainly is a world of two halves.

Co-ordinating this mayhem - from a supporting artiste point of view - is usually the role of the second assistant director. He is generally an overworked, harassed individual who is trying to decipher the wishes of the director, manage conflicting priorities and herd gaggles of extras around the set. Also this is usually the only point in the proceedings where the extras come first. We are usually the first on the set. This allows lighting to be finished, set decoration to be completed and camera's to be positioned. All through this you are supposed to.... wait.

There is more fiddling around with lights and moving the camera, and then the assistant director will tell everyone what they are supposed to do. "In this scene the lead will walk in and be introduced by his boss. Everyone is to acknowledge him and then get back to their work. I want lots of energy - but no sound". We were to hear a lot of this during the day "Lots of energy but no sound". I like this part of the shoot. This is when you're actually on the set, the camera is pointing towards you and you have some idea of what is expected of you. This is the point where you can decided how to 'work on' the action to make it more deliberate. On this particular film I had a typewriter, a stack of papers and an old Bakelite telephone on the desk in front of me. The direction was 'Look busy', so I started by doing some typing. I than added to this by whipping the paper out of the typewriter. Finally I decided that would be an appropriate time to answer a phone call.

Eventually the stars will arrive and take their places. The star of this particular shoot was very friendly and even said 'Hello'

A 'take' of a scene can last from 30 seconds to well over 3 minutes. Depending on what the director is looking for there can be multiple takes. On one film I actually did a complete 3 minute take 16 times! When the director is happy there will be movement around the set as the camera's are repositioned for 'the reverse angle' and the whole thing starts again. If the move can be done within a minute or two everyone will be asked to ... wait. Otherwise you are all marched bak to a holding area where you can engage in that worthwhile activity of .. waiting some more.

Lunch will be taken at some point during the day and this will involve further waiting. Eventually the second AD will release you and - after having your pay slip signed - you can go. On this particular day I left the set at 10.30pm having arrived at 10am. This resulted in a huge chunk of overtime as well (which was nice)

It's pretty much the luck of the game about whether you will end up on screen. I worked on a film with Jessica Biel recently where I played a pit mechanic on a car she was driving. I had a close up shot as well so there is a reasonable chance I'll be on the screen (unless they cut the whole scene). Plus I got to have lunch sitting next to Jessica! However, on Shanghai (with John Cusack) I was directly in front of John as the scene was being shot and even had co-star Hugh Bonneville standing next to me delivering lines. There is a very good chance I will be on screen for this one. The flip side to this is a recent commercial I did for a well known brand of potato chips. I was one of 250 extras who were being shot in 20 different configurations for a large crowd scene. I recently watched the finished product and - even though I am on there over 20 times - I am completely indistinguishable from everyone else.

Such is the work of the supporting artiste.

Supporting Artistes in the UK are covered by the NASAA Union who's web site is here

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