My only experience of the film industry was a brief
encounter with the Shoestring team in the early eighties.
My wife and I were keen member of a local am dram group and were asked by the
production team to provide background bodies for a number of shots they wanted
to make locally. It was during the school holidays and so being a teacher
(as everyone knows we gently waste our 6 weeks doing absolutely nothing - I
thought I'd get that one in before any one else did) we could spend the time
doing the takes over two days.
Now I taught in a CofE Comp at the time and my Head was very conscious of image
and moral rectitude. Nevertheless, I didn't think he would mind me appearing in
the background of a couple of pub scenes (even if I could be recognised).
However we underestimated the wiles of the production company. Ensconced
in a mock-up pub (set up in a back room of a local hotel) we were given packets
of cigarettes to create a smoky atmosphere and pints of real beer to keep us
happy. Horror of horrors, they had imported a real stripper (not an actress)
from Bristol to dance amongst us, draping herself and her ample mammaries
around those she passed. All would have been well had we been seated in
the background, but no, we were part of a tracking shot where the camera
followed the dear lady's derrière at our face height. No way could I
avoid the inevitable.
I had a rather uncomfortable few months anticipating the worst. However
when the episode was broadcast I was enormously relieved to see that they had only
used a second or two of the shot and that the rest ended up on the proverbial
cutting room floor.
- 8/12/2009 2:49:32 PM
Hi Mike, I could only find this http://www.britmovie.co.uk/directors/v_guest/filmography/003.html