Feels like I didn't sleep at all last night, though I'm sure I must have passed out for an hour or two eventually. So that's nice.
I have the morning off work at least, so have a minimal lie in, then get up and get on it. In between typing up camera notes, making sure everyone knows call times, and chain-drinking coffee, I send an email to the police department just to let them know we'll be shooting a fake hold up with a fake gun. I get an almost immediate response telling me they're very worried about this and more or less don't give us permission. F.u.c.k. Try to remain calm, continue with my work until I get a call from a copper who deals with the area we'll be filming in. His main concern is that on the Sunday, when the hold up scenes are scheduled to be shot, there's a big football match (Arsenal v Chelsea) on, and we're only about 500 yards from the Chelsea ground where it's being played. I'm fully aware of this; indeed, we've been scheduling everything around it as the production base is within walking distance of the pitch so we don't want all the extra noise that a big London derby football game will involve. Somehow manage to get through the conversation until the policeman-officer finishes with "Well Hannah, you've put my mind at rest." Music to my ears. We'll get no trouble from the feds for shooting with a fake gun at 8am on a Sunday morning.
I have the morning off work at least, so have a minimal lie in, then get up and get on it. In between typing up camera notes, making sure everyone knows call times, and chain-drinking coffee, I send an email to the police department just to let them know we'll be shooting a fake hold up with a fake gun. I get an almost immediate response telling me they're very worried about this and more or less don't give us permission. F.u.c.k. Try to remain calm, continue with my work until I get a call from a copper who deals with the area we'll be filming in. His main concern is that on the Sunday, when the hold up scenes are scheduled to be shot, there's a big football match (Arsenal v Chelsea) on, and we're only about 500 yards from the Chelsea ground where it's being played. I'm fully aware of this; indeed, we've been scheduling everything around it as the production base is within walking distance of the pitch so we don't want all the extra noise that a big London derby football game will involve. Somehow manage to get through the conversation until the policeman-officer finishes with "Well Hannah, you've put my mind at rest." Music to my ears. We'll get no trouble from the feds for shooting with a fake gun at 8am on a Sunday morning.
Despite this one small hiccup, everything else seems to be fine; no real nerves just ridiculous tiredness from lack of sleep... until just gone 5pm when I get a call from Cara, our camera person, who's basically in charge of all things technical.
"So I went to pick up the kit and there were no radio mics or shotgun mics... we've got a boom pole though... Oh.. umm and there was only a Handycam left. I've got it - I'm going to see if I can locate another camera, asking around friends-"
My brain starts to fuzz over with panic. Have put too much time and energy into this to have to shoot on a bloody Handycam. If that's all we've got I'm tempted to postpone until we can get better. Decide not to have a massive meltdown and focus on the part I can fix - the sound. Leaving Cara to sort out the camera situation, I send frantic emails to Laura to see if her prodco have any radio or shotgun mics, then start searching online for the nearest rental place. Talk to a guy at a place up near Warren Street - who, it now being about 5:20pm, are about to shut, but he kindly points me to Central Rentals, who are just round the corner from us on Newman Street and, more importantly, open till 6pm. Give them a call (the guy on the other end is almost laughing at my panic), get a shotgun mic hired for a princely £20 for the weekend, which is pretty good. Run round there and pick it up, then come back and end up stuck at my desk till almost 8, sorting out shot lists and contact sheets and other paperwork which we need tomorrow.
Get home and still haven't heard from Cara. Talk to Cici and explain the situation, then crack open a bottle of wine - at this point it seems like the only solution - and try to calm down and watch Fish Tank. Mini eggs also help, not gonna lie. Cici calls back after a while - Cara's found a good (better than a handycam at least) camera. Breathe a massive sigh of relief and finish watching the film. So great. God bless Andrea Arnold.
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