Saturday, August 30, 2008

Koala Back at Keyboard

Filming went great. In that we teetered on the edge of catastrophe on multiple occasions, but every time we managed to think on our feet and make things work. Not the teleprompter though. That didn't work at all. On the day when one of our filmees was depending on it. It turns out that dodgy cables cannot be fixed with a combination of determination and ingenuity; it takes somebody to drive down to Sydney and back overnight to fetch a new one.

What else happened... It rained on a day when we were supposed to be filming outside. The girl who we were filming on Tuesday went away and didn't come back until Wednesday. The guy who we planned on filming from 6pm to 10pm declared that he had to leave at 5pm. The main presenter had the flu and had pretty much lost his voice, plus he had some of his stuff stolen on the train on the way up and arrived in a deeply grim frame of mind. One of our sets turned out to be a dubious old industrial plant with strange-looking folk wandering about who liked to turn on loud compressors whenever we started filming.

And yet...it was great. I'd forgotten how much fun filming was. As for directing...mostly I just told people how fabulous they were, to keep them in a good mood, and let them get on with it, occasionally asking them to try a line slightly differently. It seemed to work. The presenter left gushing about how professional we were, and how he looked forward to working with us again. Which begs the question, who has he worked with before?!

Paca quizzers: it took me an hour of wandering around my hotel room with my laptop to find the best position to log on to a very shonky wifi. Eventually, crammed into a corner between the wardrobe and the door I managed to get sufficient signal to log on and...beat you! Such is my devotion.

9 comments:

Sarah Laurenson said...

Ah devotion. We love to see you so dedicated to kicking our collective asses.

Whirlochre said...

This has a Lost In La Mancha feel to it — only with a better outcome. And possibly more income.

Next time, maybe you can add one or two more accessories to your wardrobe of funk. Some white gloves? A cane? Goggles?

pacatrue said...

Gee. Thaannkkkss.

:)

Glad the filming went well. And definitely take whirlochre's advice about accessorizing.

Robin S. said...

Wow- sounds like an adventure. I love adventures - they make life worth living!

That and playing paca's trivia quiz, which I will never win but even so, am hopelessly addicted to from here to hell to eternity and back. Go, koala devotion!

And yeah with Whirl's funk ideas. And pics would be nice.

Blogless Troll said...

Glad it went well.

Four months in a row... we prostrate ourselves before you. Six months and you get a set of steak knives.

laughingwolf said...

wb mc!

always have plans b, c and d in your back pocket ;) lol

Stuart Neville said...

Good to have you back, and glad you had fun! So, have you found a new calling?

McKoala said...

Heh, heh quizzers. Paca so nearly caught up with me! I bet he's wishing the wifi connection was een even shonkier than it was.

Thanks for the thought, but no more steak knives! Even the school fundraising committee is sick of me donating steak knives. On the other hand, if you paid me enough in cash, I might just go away...

Yes, WO, next time I need fashion advice I will absolutely consult you.

Conduit, alas I suspect my tendency to sleep at night rather than stay up tinkering with electronics and editing film until my eyeballs fall out of my head may disqualify me for a full time position in this field. However, the crew has muttered about working together again some time, and I'd be up for it for sure.

Robin S. said...

OK, koala girl. Post away. And chekc paca's!