Filming started on Tuesday. Mum and I left our tiny hotel room to find Pamela. She ushered in all the kids and their parents into a white nondescript van and drove us to the basecamp. I was pulled off from the line to Ms. Burton's class to be fit into my costume. Anne and Lorraine had me dressed up in two minutes and spent a dozen minutes fussing over my makeup. The makeup room was combined with the wardrobe; three massive vanity mirrors were set up in row. Two actors occupied the seat on those getting their makeup done.
"Hey, kid," a man with a thin moustache welcomed me.
"Hi, Craig!" I greeted him with a smile.
I wanted to talk to the more experienced actors. He had not been in too many films, but he was in Titanic! Now you might think of him as a big actor because of the massive film he was in—a movie that just last year had smashed all records and was still showing in the theatres to this day. Unfortunately, Craig was a tiny part of the film.
"Mr. Titanic in the flesh," the last man at the other vanity said.
"Oh, cut it off, will you, Ralph," Craig said with a mock pretentiousness.
"I mean, you've worked with James Cameron—Aliens and Terminator. That's brilliant, mate. If I were you, I'd be talking everyone's ear off." Ralph chuckled.
"Hmph, since you watched it already, there is no ticket for you," Craig said before bursting into a laugh.
"He's not lying, he brought me out to a theatre in London. Kept screaming, 'that's me! Right there, see!'" Louise, one of the makeup artists, said sadly.
"Oh-oh!" Ralph said with a hint of danger.
"Ah, come off it, I've not seen you before today," Craig said, looking worried this time.
"No teasing the actors, Louise." Lorraine chided her.
"Aww, you're no fun."
"You were great, but I couldn't tear my eyes off the radio. That whole thing looked so cool," I added my opinion.
"Oh yeah, the wireless telegraph. You wouldn't believe how loud that thing was, I can still hear it buzzing in my ear, bzz bzz all day!" Craig recalled, rubbing his ear.
"What was Kate Winslet like? Is she as beautiful as she looks on Titanic?" Lorraine asked, her curiosity apparent on her face.
"Well, she's lovely, but I only shared a scene with her. My first take was printed; every other time there were hundreds in the studio, hardly spoke to her." Craig sighed.
"Great role to get, instant stardom," Ralph sighed.
"You want to play the love interest?" Craig laughed.
"You know, I would." He said seriously and wholeheartedly laughed.
"Can't believe she was on the same show as me just five years back. You know, we shot our episodes days between each other. And now she's a huge star and I'm still doing BBC shows."
"Oh, which show?" Ralph asked curiously.
"Casualty."
"Bah, everyone's on Casualty. That don't count," Ralph mocked.
"Were you on Casualty?" Craig asked, his eyes glinting.
"No…" Ralph replied slowly.
"Well, so not everyone's on Casualty." Craig grinned.
Ralph shook his head, "Show of hands, who was on Casualty?" Ralph said, lifting Craig's hand.
All four women in the trailer who did the makeup had their hands up.
"Five out of seven in this trailer were on Casualty, acting or otherwise. The kid don't count, it's his first filming experience here. You and I both know that in a few years, all seven of us will have been on Casualty."
"Right, point taken." Craig shook his head.
The second AD came in to let us know of the shoot starting soon. Everyone cut out the banter while our looks were finalised. On the full-length mirror I studied my appearance; I could have passed for a homeless child or a Jawa with the hood off. Pam chaperoned me and Mum on a walk through the forest, where a rough camp was set up with actors all around. My first ever scene was going to be shot in the forest at 8 a.m. I wanted some Tetley's Tea to wake myself.
"Pam, is there tea somewhere?" I asked.
"Tetley?" Mum said.
"Sure."
"You want nothing but a round bag!" Mum sang.
"Don't be a teabag square!" Pam joined in good naturedly.
"Ugh, please stop doing that," I said in annoyance.
There was something so stupid about how all this started. I was born in the summer, and supposedly Mum was buying a new Tetley's product when her water broke. You wouldn't believe the amount of jokes that she would make about birthing a round baby. It didn't help that Tetley was everywhere, nor that the round bags were a new invention that summer. That stupid song followed me everywhere, which really meant that my Mum followed me everywhere. Even with my constant complaint, Mum hadn't stopped this ongoing joke.
"Come on, my round bach. Let's get you some round bag." Mum laughed on.
I swore that I would find something to tease her with in the future, and I would never stop it. Even if she insisted.
Mum went to get me tea while Pam and I stood around with the other actors at various spots. The exact same deal as the day before. I needed to get used to standing around a lot while people went over their camera and spoke about technicals of the shot. Thankfully there were a lot of actors with me this time, so I passed time making conversation. There were the two speaking characters from yesterday, Taggart and Fancy, but also two women and a girl who just happened to be the daughter of one of the crew. One of the women in a full Caroline era work dress was a producer for the BBC and here because she wanted to be on TV. I was learning that the industry was full of nepotism.
I had my Tetley tea and woke up considerably. Andrew stepped forward and grabbed everyone's attention.
"First scene for this entire production will be shot now," Andrew said. People cheered, but he held up his hands. "You'll be cursing me soon. We'll shoot a lot of scenes today. Let's get it rolling. Everyone got their lines?"
At receiving nods from only the guys who played Taggart and Fancy, Andrew turned around.
I had read this scene, but the script had no direction of what I should do.
"What do I do?" I asked Rob, my kidnapper-to-be.
"Just wait, the director will be back with the marks. Look, second AD is coming."
"Hey, let's get on our marks. Hip hip."
So we did. There were no actual marks on the ground as we had in the house, as all the shots would show the full body of the actors with how wide it was going to be. So the second AD gave me a point from behind the firepit to start walking from, then turn around to trip over a log. I was not the only one being told what to do. All the movement of every person was broken down by the second AD, while Andrew, the actual director, still conversed with his assistant director.
"We're ready. Let's shoot it dry," Andrew shouted.
The set became chaos except for the area that would be in the shot. The clapper loader came in; a woman I hadn't seen before joined Peter the producer to be near the camera. Andrew stayed to the side of Nick, who was operating the camera and doing the actual shoot.
"Finals," shouted the Assistant Director.
The makeup department checked us, and I had a photo taken of me in my homeless costume.
"Quiet on set. Pictures up."
Alex, the third AD, and another guy held up a sign, essentially blocking off an area and letting everyone know a shoot was going on.
"Roll Sound!"
"Sound Speed!"
"Roll Camera!"
"Mark it."
"Scene 129 Alpha, Take 1. Marker." A loud sound accompanied the clapper loader.
"Background," First AD called out.
People started to move around me, especially Peter the Fifth, playing Fancy, who started to run towards us from a small distancea away.
"Action!" Andrew called out.
I was not present on the camera because the BBC producer lady was in the way; one of the extras, a dwarf man, walked towards me while the camera moved on a dolly from my right to the left.
The dolly stopped and Fancy said, "Troopers!" as he jumped over a fallen branch.
"What are you whistling?" Rob, now in the Taggart role, said.
"I was trynna warn you," Fancy replied.
"Damn fool."
"No, listen." Fancy grabbed Rob and lifted him up.
When Rob stood up, the camera zoomed in.
"Cut," Andrew shouted, the line echoed by the first and second AD.
"Alright, closeups. No moving for all of youse," Andrew directed.
"Scene 129, Beta, Take 1, marker."
"Action."
Rob listened to the non-existent noise around us.
"What are they doing?"
"Singing hymn," Fancy replied with a shrug.
"Right, shift yourselves."
"Cut."
I was just standing there, just off the frame, and two scenes had been shot to success. Were Rob and Peter V really that great actors? I had no idea.
The clapper loader came by again, making the loud noise.
"Scene 130A, Take 1. Marker."
"Action."
My brain went completely blank as I started to act. It was like that moment where you feel awkward about doing something. I thought I'd freeze in that situation, but instead my legs just started to move. All the actors and extra actors around me started to move at the same time. I got up on my knees, then on my feet, trying to run off. I made a few quick jumps to get over the firepit. The BBC producer woman seemed to forget her instruction as she walked off the frame just to come up behind me. Eager to be on camera? I had no idea.
My big moment came as the log closed in. Next step would go over the log. For some reason, I forgot to 'trip' over it; I just walked over it and right as I realized that I should be falling, I froze. That indecision of what to do caused me to fall for real. I was bound up in the legcuffs, after all, and with one of my legs in the air and over the log, the other had to follow soon after. Me just stopping caused my balance to shift, and as my legs automatically moved to the ground the legcuffs dragged. Almost in slow motion to my eyes, I fell, scuffing my knee. My hands came up to my chest to push away the earth. The natural reaction to falling was to get up.
"Leave him. That'll teach him to jump when he's told," Rob said.
The BBC producer lady walked past me, as did Rob. My brain finally got caught up in that moment. I remembered that I would have to walk off now. So I got on my knees and started to waddle my way toward the tree and off the frame.
"Cut!" Andrew called out. "Alright, moving on."
That was it. My first ever scene. No retakes, no second chances. Either a very good sign or a terrible omen.
"Hey, bach." Mum came over, hugging me close to her.
"I just did my first scene, Mum."
"Yep. You're a big bach now."
"That doesn't make any sense." I laughed.
"Good luck for the next scene," Mum said, looking off to the side and walked off.
Alex came over to me along with a guy in armor holding a prop sword.
"For the next scene, we'll shoot right here. Run from this spot, to there. Look up and behind you over that tree once you hit your mark."
I nodded as they set up the camera on a tripod. In moments they clapped the soundboard, and I was off. I stepped over something with my bare feet and grimaced in pain, right in the middle of my scene. Second scene of my life, and I had already screwed it up. I almost looked at the camera by reflex but kept my head moving past it to rest on the mark.
"Cut!"
What? I just fucked up my scene and the director was moving on.
"For the next scene, jump onto that mattress from there," Alex instructed.
"Yea…" I said as the clapper loader came in and the process started again.
This time, I ran to my mark absentmindedly and jumped off the frame onto the mattress.
"Cut!" Andrew shouted again.
Now I knew something was wrong. I had paid almost no attention and just knew—knew—that was wrong. Yet, the director just didn't care or didn't mind.
"Right, now lay down next to the stump. Like this, cowering in fear. When we shout, you'll look up in fear, run off to that mark. John will grab you. Grunt when he lifts you up. Make sure to struggle, kick off your legs if possible. Like that." Alex demonstrated the motion to me.
I just nodded. They forgot about me as they shot John the armored guy on a chase, looking after me. I reflected on what the hell was going on—maybe the reason I had never heard of this show was because it wasn't even a flop. A show was so bad that it had never even been released.
"Will, get ready," Alex called out to me.
Suddenly I realized everyone had come near me. Action was called so quickly that I hadn't even registered my knees hurting.
"Up!" Second AD shouted. I looked up in shock, running to my left. Before I could take two steps the director called cut.
What was going on?