Daphne in the Glamorous World of Showbiz
Your task is to guess which city I was in yesterday, using the photo below as your guide. Tricky, I know - - but I think you'll get there. There are one or two clues in the picture.
In case you haven't got it yet, here's another photo and may I draw your attention to the big red bus as another subtle clue?
Yessss! You're right! I was in London and a beautiful day it was too, though very cold.
The reason I was there was for a day's filming. Oooh!
Now I'm not an actor - - but I am a very experienced roleplayer, used to improvising from a brief to play patients for the training and assessment of healthcare professionals. In 2008 I was fortunate enough to do some work in Paris - four trips, wonderful! - and the company who had employed me kept my details on file.
Then, amazingly, they recommended me to a company in Milan who wanted to make an educational video for the first company's website. They are a huge international company and Paris is just one of their bases.
The Milan company rang me and asked me to do it, and then asked a London-based film-maker to make the video.
So off I went to London on an early train - - blissfully uncrowded, because that train is so expensive that most people can't afford it - the company was paying for me of course.
And thence to a five-star hotel. I wandered in, in my long black coat (grateful thanks to Olli's friend Natalie who gave it to me!) and tried to radiate Importance.
I was shown up to the suite on the ninth floor where the film was being made. There was the director, the cameraman, the producer and a lady who did costume and make-up who also runs the company with the director.
I had taken some choices of clothes but in the end I wore some that they had brought (ohhh it was SUCH a good thing that I didn't lie about my dress size on my CV!). They did my make-up, which was strange. Although I have made quite a few training films etc I have never needed make-up before - - this was far more of a Proper Film. I did explain to them that the last time I wore make-up I got married - - and that that was in 1980!
Then we ran it through - I had a series of "bullet points" to include in the interview and - thank goodness, because it was quite a complex brief - I managed to include them all, so I was pleased to have proved myself in the first take. They did seem delighted so I felt very relieved. And then they filmed it lots more times, from different angles and in different ways.
It was very, VERY hot in the room with the lights for filming and I nearly melted since I was wearing a warm jumper as part of the costume. The director rang the hotel and asked for a fan. The fan was duly brought - - and then, this being a posh hotel, they rang the room right in the middle of a take, to ask if we were enjoying our fan. Sighhh.
They were all delightful people and they did say many times that they were very happy with how it had all gone, so I think they meant it!
And, after four hours or so, off I went back to Kings Cross Station and then back to Up North. It was a really interesting day.
It helped that I really believe in the content of this short film, which is to put across the patient's thoughts and feelings about a long-term medical condition, to help doctors and nurses to understand better how it feels. I hope that this video will help. It was a privilege to be asked to be part of it.
In case you haven't got it yet, here's another photo and may I draw your attention to the big red bus as another subtle clue?
Yessss! You're right! I was in London and a beautiful day it was too, though very cold.The reason I was there was for a day's filming. Oooh!
Now I'm not an actor - - but I am a very experienced roleplayer, used to improvising from a brief to play patients for the training and assessment of healthcare professionals. In 2008 I was fortunate enough to do some work in Paris - four trips, wonderful! - and the company who had employed me kept my details on file.
Then, amazingly, they recommended me to a company in Milan who wanted to make an educational video for the first company's website. They are a huge international company and Paris is just one of their bases.
The Milan company rang me and asked me to do it, and then asked a London-based film-maker to make the video.
So off I went to London on an early train - - blissfully uncrowded, because that train is so expensive that most people can't afford it - the company was paying for me of course.
And thence to a five-star hotel. I wandered in, in my long black coat (grateful thanks to Olli's friend Natalie who gave it to me!) and tried to radiate Importance.
I was shown up to the suite on the ninth floor where the film was being made. There was the director, the cameraman, the producer and a lady who did costume and make-up who also runs the company with the director.
I had taken some choices of clothes but in the end I wore some that they had brought (ohhh it was SUCH a good thing that I didn't lie about my dress size on my CV!). They did my make-up, which was strange. Although I have made quite a few training films etc I have never needed make-up before - - this was far more of a Proper Film. I did explain to them that the last time I wore make-up I got married - - and that that was in 1980!
Then we ran it through - I had a series of "bullet points" to include in the interview and - thank goodness, because it was quite a complex brief - I managed to include them all, so I was pleased to have proved myself in the first take. They did seem delighted so I felt very relieved. And then they filmed it lots more times, from different angles and in different ways.
It was very, VERY hot in the room with the lights for filming and I nearly melted since I was wearing a warm jumper as part of the costume. The director rang the hotel and asked for a fan. The fan was duly brought - - and then, this being a posh hotel, they rang the room right in the middle of a take, to ask if we were enjoying our fan. Sighhh.
They were all delightful people and they did say many times that they were very happy with how it had all gone, so I think they meant it!
And, after four hours or so, off I went back to Kings Cross Station and then back to Up North. It was a really interesting day.
It helped that I really believe in the content of this short film, which is to put across the patient's thoughts and feelings about a long-term medical condition, to help doctors and nurses to understand better how it feels. I hope that this video will help. It was a privilege to be asked to be part of it.
posted by Daphne at 2:38 pm
5 Comments:
What a wonderful experience for you, Daphne. It'll look good on your cv too. ;)
Missed all those subtle clues but honestly, I did have London as my second choice.
Hope you don't go all 'diva' on us now, Daffers. Requesting a case of Dandelion & Burdock and a mixed platter of black pudding and tripe in your dressing room.
Can't wait to see the movie at the Sundance Festival.
Do you think they might have any parts coming up for a middle-aged Yorkshire gigolo with a small but rather cute beer gut? If so, please recommend me. I promise to perform to the best of my ability.
Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been? "I've been to London to make an educational video."...doesn't have the ring of the original, somehow.
I've been to London, too, back in 1969. I didn't visit the Queen either.
Sounds very exciting! It's an ambition of mine (and probably a silly dream) to be an actor in a tv drama that I've written myself. One can but hope!
CJ x
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