Mike at Cannes Film Festival next year….

Hello
[update 25/06/2017] The film is out! Watch it here.
Over the weekend I was filmed to be in a movie! I had to play a delivery guy with a speaking part (which means I get paid double, right!?)

The general plot (of the bit I’m in)

A guy called Joe does not like his job, his job is sorting souls into Heaven and Hell. The Souls arrive in jars with name tags on, based on info about that person’s life he sorts them into Heaven or Hell.

There is a knock at the door, Joe, looking miserable, gets up and groans, slouches over to the door where there is an upbeat delivery guy (me!) with a box of 80 souls for him to sort.

I say “Alright Joe, another batch for ya, 80 of em!” -Joe sighs and signs the delivery form- I say “Cheers! Have a good day!” -Joe slams the door in my face-.

Actual filming

The bit of the film I’m in (probably less than 30 seconds in the final edit) took about 2 hours to film. I kept saying the wrong words, then the flat owner’s cat walked past. Then we realised some of the owner’s photos were behind us in the shot. Then it started raining which messed up the sound.

There was a lot of hanging around but I had a really fun day.

I didn’t get to shout “Quiet on set!” or “That’s a wrap” though which was a little disappointing. But we are having a wrap party!

Technical setup

Shoulder mounted thing for a camera to go on. Makes it more stable

Microphone on a boom to get sound from the action!

The camera goes on the rails and the tripod under it keeps everything stable

Filmed in High Definition (1080p I think) with Stereo sound. 1 shoulder mounted camera stabiliser, 1 tripod with rails (so you can move the camera forwards and back with a fixed position on the floor)…

See photo below for the two cameras in use…

It wasn’t all high-tech gadgets and acting…

This is me holding a light fitting out of the way of a camera while trying not to let go and take someone out with it… I’m also wearing my ill-fitting Delivery guy polo shirt… Look closely and you can see some jars of souls on the window ledge! Also a bottle of water (which was just water, not a soul).

Pre-filming meeting – script read through and camera setup. Sound boy in the background, Director with the camera and the actor who played Joe on the left, me with my back to the camera! 🙂

What I did learn was…

The clapperboard is used to sync the sound up to the video. I had no idea that’s what it was used for (Well, why it was clapped and not just shown)! We didn’t have a board but someone did a clap in front of the camera before we started acting.

And that’s it really…

This time next year I will send you all a postcard from Cannes Film Festival where I fully expect to win some kind of award?, maybe “Best supporting actor who plays a delivery guy, who has 2 lines of speech and delivers 80 souls and is on screen for less than 30 seconds award.”??
The film is as yet unnamed.
Mike – Movie Star. For all casting enquiries please speak to my agent, Tim.

Credits – in no order

With thanks to Kitty for allowing me to share my brief acting stuff with you and for allowing me to share parts of her plot and also for allowing me to be in her movie.

With thanks to the actual actor who played Joe for putting up with my amateur attempts at acting.

Photos with thanks to:

https://www.genustech.tv/collections/camera-shoulder-mount

https://www.videomaker.com/article/15149-rode-shotgun-mic-pistol-grip-shock-mount-and-boom-pole-reviewed

https://suggestionofmotion.com/blog/panasonic-gh4-stabilization-sliders-overview/

Clipart with thanks to: https://openclipart.org/

Presented in Technicolour where available

Dolby surround sound not used so don’t crank up your speakers

Best viewed in black and white on a ‘square’ TV with dodgy fuzzy analogue signal

This is for your own private entertainment only and must not be shown for profit without written permission from The Helpful Film Company – a trading name of The Helpful Book Company Ltd.

All rights reserved (c) 2017 Helpful Film Company Productions, the plot is not owned by us, any representation to people alive or dead is purely coincidental and all characters are fictional.

Movie or Film? It’s the endless debate… comment, as ever, below.