THE MEANS Part 4 day 1

Part 4 - Day 1

As I recall, this is the first point where I met my fellow actors early on a cold January morning as we waited to enter an equally cold modern industrial unit.

Once inside, the main task was to set about clearing the main acting area which was quickly identified by the experienced guys. Once this was acheived and warming coffees distributed, we started to run thru the script for the first time with an aim to getting an overall grip of the story.

We were immediately involved in the interpretation of the story, adding our own "takes" on what we felt was the overall message and how we felt about the format of delivery, thinking about how our characters would be portrayed... all of us, without realising it, giving guidance to each other, on how our characters could progress.

We were given schedules showing what would be filmed and when, the order of which bore no resemblance to the natural sequence of events due to practical use of space, location and time.

All angles had to be considered ... light ..how scenes might look influenced by natural light at different times of the day,...sound....different times of day there would be heavy traffic which would be a nightmare if you were trying to a quiet tense moment.....continuity...unassociated cars being moved which we had no control over for example...... we were learning a new language.
We grew to respect each others abilities and early perceptions were quickly dismissed.

All of this I found absolutely fascinating... what a way to be educated!!!

Most of the day, if my memory serves me, panned out that way so we could start day 2 filming from the off.

I never realised there was so much involved! ...