Day 2, part 2 of Lost generation

As I said previously I cut this into two parts, so here is the second part!!!

   

The BBC hasn't fully moved up-
Does mean the other B and the C are to follow?!lol

We arrive at Mediacity at salford Quays and I was in the car waiting for them to set up a shot when security came over and asked what we were doing. I thought we were on public property but apparently not. Our producer Sarah-lee had a chat with him and was using her persuasive skills to talk them round but they weren't having any of it. Without proof we had permission we weren't allowed to film there- which i suppose is fair enough if thems the rules. It was ironic when you looked at his jacket :-P

But your not allowed on the property - hehe

So the actors were allowed on the property but the camera wasn't so quick restructuring of shots and positioning of the camera (on the tarmac on the pavement) we got it!!! :-)

We then went inside The lowry Outlet and used there service yard and back corridors for the next few scenes. By this point I was really feeling it but was excited as the action shot was coming up soon enough - I won't be telling what exactly that was, you will have to wait for the film for that ;-) 

There was a shot without me so whilst they were taking that we worked on getting some stills for the poster. If you haven't seen one of the finished products, then  click here to see the poster and the interview with the director! 

Again the glamour came back and me and Meg the make up artist were in the loo again to do make up! The only problem with it this time was that this was the only toilet and the staff used it so we were out into a service corridor! The eye was playing up so more make up was being applied. the bloodshot eye came in handy for the scenes coming up so it wasn't all bad!! 

we finally wrapped about 20/30 minutes over and it was time to take off those heels!!!! I was really looking forward to it as now it had been over 9 hours in these boots and they were extremely high! As i took them off and realigned my back, hips and entire body I felt pain!!!!!!! My hips were so sore that i went back onto my tip toes to ease it!!! I was in agony and this pain actually lasted for about 3 days. it felt like a muscle strain as if i had over done it in the gym, so at least it was a bit of a work out! hehe

Because we had begun the day in the city centre and got the tram to media city, I had to get a lift back to town with some of the guys. it was very funny as it was a small car and was full! Paul got the short straw and was in the middle- funny thing was he was the tallest! hahahaha

I was a little peckish after all that time trekking round all over town and Salford Quays so because I had been extremely naughty and had Mc'D's the last couple of days I decided against getting that. I got KFC!!! I know, I know, It was no better but least it wasn't McD's twice in one day :-P 

I got home to a very excited and happy puppy who loved me to death so i took him out for a walk. I tried to get an early night- well as early as possible so got a shower and got to bed about 11.30pm. I had to be up and at Stockport college for 8.30am! 

Clearly I took this because of the name! lol

Day 2, part 1 of Lost generation

So....... day 2, part 1-it was a long day so I am going to split it in to two so its not too much to read in one go!

 Well like I said in my previous blog I had to be up early!!! Our call time was 8.15am in Manchester City Centre at a hotel which is a very large Brand with a very famous American female heiress! haha
I showered the night before today i was already getting up early enough as it was! I had to make sure I had my costumes ready, I only had 2 changes today so not as much to haul around with me. I fed my little pooch and off i went! I decided on a McD's breakfast, terrible I know but it was easy and I wanted coffee! I'm not normally a coffee drinker but at that time and thinking about the day ahead and the lack of sleep i felt it was necessary.

Luckily on a Sunday parking is free in the bays and at that time in the morning it wasn't too bad, although I was surprised how many cars were parked about, probably from the night before people driving into town and leaving their car overnight. Only one way in taxis I suppose. When we got to the hotel, I got my camera out and took some pictures as they have a glass floor you can through to the street! 23 floors up!

Breakfast one one hand, pointing at a car with the other!

They begin to rehearse the first shot, which isn't with me so I sit to get my make up done again, This time i got a picture of me being airbrushed! It feels very funny and like nothings going on just cool air! The scenes up here were nice and simple and easy to do!!! The only problem was staff walking in and out and turning the hoover on during takes. haha the joys of filming in a working space. We had to be out of the hotel for approx 11am because it then opened to the public.Luckily for us we were pretty much done inside by that time. Then it was too outside and doing exterior shots......... bbbrrrrrr it was wet, windy and chilly! The weather wasn't too bad when there wasn't wind but there was alot of wind! The jib went up outside and we did a quick shot of me walking towards the hotel, we actually stopped traffic this day, people wanting to have a nosey. We then did the dreaded street filming. I say dreaded because this is where you put your trust and faith in Joe public to walk by as if nothings happening. It worked most of the time, i did notice a couple of guys walk by the camera quite a few times, together then separately haha

The shots we got were amazing and the DOP, Mariusz did some great work. I saw one shot and it looks like something out of a blockbuster film but was just little old us in Manchester on a very low budget :-) 

Marius (DOP) and Mark Ashmore (Director) watching a playback, you can see Marius Homemade Jib Behind.

Once we got the street shots done we went to the next location which was a quieter area of the city centre which was useful. We broke for lunch and I had to have a costume and make up change, only problem was- where??!!! We didn't have trailers and things so we had to be inventive! We decided to go to a restaurant to eat and then used there disabled/baby changing toilets as a changing room whilst it was quiet. Very glamorous! haha 

We were now outside in an open area which was rather chilly and windy and My eye was extremely sore!!! Whether it was a combination of the wind, the make up and tiredness I don't know but it was sore to open sometimes, watery and blood shot! I made poor Meg, the make up artists, job a little more difficult. These shots were really fun to do and we were walking all over the place. I actually had some girl tut at me during a take, I don't think she approved of my costume?!! hahaha

Costume 2 of the day and I was in them shoes for a good 9 hours!

Mark the Director!

Apparently after one shot (i didn't know this till afterwards) it looked that good the crew all clapped and cheered after it. Not because of my acting but the quality of the shot! haha

We then had to do a scene from Manchester to media city Salford Quays via the tram! We really wanted to use one of the new yellow trams but unfortunately, of course, one didn't turn up! haha We did some filming in a great old tunnel bridge which echoed and looked so old, wouldn't want to walk down it in the dark. We waited and waited for this yellow tram but we had to have a blue one and of course it was packed!!! The plan was to go and come back a few times to get the shots but the pro's we are we got them all within the shot journey to the media city!! yay!

So the arrival at the next destination, at this point my eye is in agony and I'm not loving having to walk from the tram stop, not because I'm a diva but because it had been 5 hours already in the 5 inch heels!! haha

To be continued............................................ ;-) 

Day 1 of Lost generation

so today is Saturday 5th and its day 1 of filming on 'The lost Generation' and I'm super excited! i play the lead character which the film revolves around so was feeling like i had a lot to achieve especially as I know in this business not everyone agrees with people's casting choices.
The director, Mark Ashmore is a very talented man with great ideas and visions. Besides his passion for directing he is the co-founder of Future Artists which if your involved in the entertainments/arts in anyway get on the website and keep informed! That's how we all came together for this film! He is an innovator, a leader and thoroughly lovely man to work with and be considered a friend!

Our call time is 11am so a nice ease into the filming schedule, trust me this soon changed :-P I meet the crew and go to one of the bedrooms to sort costume and make up! I had about four costume changes that day and had brought more than one selection for each therefor resulting in ALOT of stuff! I ended up having one of the bedrooms in the apartment we were shooting in to myself with the make up artist. I was the only one she was making up that day really anyway so made sense. got to know her pretty well for the first day after my changing a million times in front of her! ha ha Her name was Meg and she 'airbrushed' me for the first time. Its a form of putting  make up which is better for when your shooting in HD-you learn something new everyday!

Oh the glamour of it all! A bedroom!! ha ha 

We began shooting and the DOP (Director of photography) had built his own track for the camera- he was a very creative man! First scene done and then onto the next scene and a costume change. I get changed then I'm told to hold, we are doing the scene again so i changed back to then be told nope, its OK we are moving on! ha ha The next the costume was a little more revealing so I was a little anxious but the Director was very courteous and told everyone to go out unless they were needed. I was fine after about 5 minutes, it was just the first moment. Like Meg (make up) said 'its like when you go swimming and you first walk out you feel nervous, then after about 5 minutes your fine' which i agreed with until someone pointed out, everyone else is in bathers and were not! ha ha
This shot was also going to be used for publicity so there was a photographer there who took some shots, I had a look and although they look great I wasn't sure i look my best but he informed me he could airbrush them :-D I was relieved to hear that!!!!
We worked on that scene for quite a while as it was all about getting the right shots. It was against a white wall which looks very bland on camera so there were numerous prop movements, light movements and we even made (well i say we, i mean Sarah-Lee our co-producer) something from paper to go in front of the lights to give a shadowing effect, it was very creative and affective! You can do anything if you put your mind to it-doesn't always need millions of pounds ;-)

we moved on to one of the dialogue scenes where we used another of Mariusz's home made contraptions and what lovely visual shots he created!!! I haven't seen much of the footage but I did get a sneaky glimpse at a couple of the playbacks.
The next scene was emotional, although to be honest there was a few of those today but i was really pushing myself and getting myself 'in the zone' as i kept saying.
Lots of people and new actors think crying on cue is important and defines an actor, IT ISN'T!!! the best of the best can act and feel upset but tears don't always come, that's why we have make up artist who own tear stick, glycerine's and all the other tricks to make things realistic. I wanted to be in an emotional state but that doesn't necessarily mean crying with full on tears. The scene felt good and I felt in it although sometimes I was in my head and thinking way too much, only natural though, it came and went! :-)

The last scene was an interesting one and one I haven't ever done before but was great fun!!! It was a shower scene but you you don't see anything!!! ha ha i was cold most of the day so to get in a hot shower was lovely!! ha ha That was the 2nd of the day so therefor i knew a 3rd was coming because i had to wash my hair for tomorrows shoot!!! ha ha It was an en suite so was really small, and we had the director, cameraman, sound operator, make up, and few other bodies squeezed in! Apparently it looked great and Mariusz (DOP) took some stills and was getting snappy happy when Mark (director) told him to stop, we had to get out the apartment!!! Good times!

oooohhhhhh- whats this then............!!!!

It was now 9pm and we had to be out of the apartment by 9pm and we had just finished when the owners came back- talk about timing!!! :-) we packed up, i blasted my hair with the hair dryer as i didn't want to get ill and it was raining!!! Its not as glamorous as people may think :-P
Like i said earlier, i got another shower ready for filming the next day and it was an 8.15 am call! By time I got home, had a shower, settled down etc it was gone midnight! eeek then i was up at 6.30 to get all my costumes together! I was naughty on the way home and had McD's and then again in the morning on the way to set!! Oh dear!
All in all Day 1 went swimmingly with no out takes to speak of or that i can remember he he so 6.30am Sunday morning is when day two on Lost Generation begins...........................!!!!

A catch up one!

So i feel there's a few things I didn't add in my previous blogs so you get two this week!!!

Before the play there was an event that I co-organise called the Monologueslam which is UK wide but I work on the Manchester version. Its a showcase for actors who compete in 1 minute and 3 minute rounds and a panel of judges chose the winner. January's introduced a celeb guest judge who was Ryan Thomas, Jason Grimshaw from Coronation Street. Ryan is an old friend of mine so luckily was able to drag him into it! He was a great judge and was really supportive to the actors performing. It gave us confidence in getting a celebrity Judge in and hopefully we will have someone every event!
After the event I got a call from a company who was interested in helping with the slam so that's great news for us, more will be revealed when its confirmed :-)

This is a little blog before I do the filming blogs so apologies if its a little short and not much info!!! Also in between filming and the play and after the Monologueslam i went back to my 'Normal Job'! ha ha I work as a teaching assistant in all different schools on supply- it gives me the freedom to do my acting but earn some money for the down times, there's a fair few down times in an actors life! I am currently working in a placement in a mainstream school with an autistic unit with 5 boys and i work one on one with a little boy who i love! he's adorable, I have been in and out of the school for over 3 years so they know me well and the school is so supportive of what I do!
and this weekend I will be attending a Masquerade ball so I will Tweet some pictures afterwards and also in my next random blog that fills in the blanks like this one!!!

I have also been sending off a few CV's, head shots and my show reel to casting directors, now the filming's done its time to focus on job number two so anyone reading this in the biz, I'm free.................. :-D lol

Meet,Greet,Perform!

OK so here goes blog number two...........
I'm going to break this blog up into more than one as I have too much to say in one go and don't want to bore people :-)

So last week I was involved in a script in hand reading of a new play by Liverpool writer Danny Start with the North West Playwrights. It was great to be asked to take part in something that was not only with other great actors but paid and via my agent.
The first day was on the Wednesday and the rehearsals were taking place at DNA performance resource which is owned by a friend of mine- just proving how small the acting world is! The day began at 10am, and 2 of us were late, me due to hitting rush hour traffic then having to find somewhere to park and the other because she went to the companies old address. The whole thing was very relaxed and the director, Ian Hastings, was a lovely guy and fun to work with.

There were six actors in total, 3 male and 3 female, one director and an 87 page script to become familiar with and block in 13 hours! Not long at all but enough to pull of a good enough performance for script in hand. We got through Act 1 of 3 by 1pm so had 5 hours to complete the last 2 Acts. We break for lunch and I go in the office to have a gab with my friends then go back to work an hour later, we begin and my character isn't in act 2 or 3 so was going to be a long afternoon. We then change everything and the blocking was scrapped and we started again so now less time! We decided to read in stage directions with it being a script in hand performance this is acceptable plus it was needed due to needing multi media and lots of props- difficult to use props with a script in your hand!!!
Now i get to open the pay but setting the scene and reading alot of the stage directions. I didn't mind this as it gave me something to do.

Straight after this I stayed around for meeting with Darren Gordon and Scott Taylor (an actor now in Emmerdale) about the possibility or working on a project together.

Thursday is show day! Not long i know and we hadn't even got through the entire script!! We blocked the last 3 scenes and then the director asks for a full run at 11.10am then we would break for lunch at 12.30! guess what time we finish the run.......................??? 12.30!!! never have I ever been working on anything and a director allocate a time and us finish bang on that time!!! ha ha

We did another run, almost completed it but had to out of the space for 3pm then we were meeting at The Lowry at 5.30pm for another run and to perform. I went home as i didn't live near and wanted to feed the dog and make sure he was OK. On the way to the Lowry I passed our estate agents and decided to run in and sort some issues that needed sorting '2 birds 1 stone'!!!
We rehearsed once and it went really well then it was show time! We started 15 minutes late, not to unusual for stage performances. There wasn't a large audience about 30 but the space was intimate so it was OK for there to that number.
The performance went well and all the actors working on the production were fantastic. It was really refreshing to work with professional, talented and genuine actors.Its been a while!
Me and two others decided to go for a drink afterwards and we sat and chatted for a long............ time!! Doing the usual of talking about other actors, what we'd worked on, who we know, what agent we're with etc etc!!! ha ha

Then it was back to work Friday morning!!! Because of the play, I hadn't done much work on the film I was filming on Saturday morning as i wanted to get the play out the way. I used Friday night to prep, shower, focus on my character and get my costumes ready. That night I had a big character breakthrough and found out her motives and reasons behind her actions. I was glad that the original shooting dates were cancelled due to the snow (December) and i had the time to refocus on her.

So that was my week last week :-) I will do another blog all about my filming over the weekend, the weather, the injuries, the giggles and the pictures!!! and also about my challenge I set for myself and also about Monologueslam Manchester which I co-organise!

I hope your still reading this and if you are let me know your thoughts at Twitter or Facebook good and bad will be read, received and understood, or send a message on my Facebook profile

Vicky
xxx xxx

Feb, the beginning of 2011 officially!

OK so I'm going to try and do blogs about my life as actor, what I do, how I do what i do, when I'm working, etc etc so i hope you enjoy. Here's the start...........................

Well for me the new year doesn't officially begin until February, why you ask? Well for a number of reasons!
Firstly because January I usually go back to work (as does everyone else) which then stops me doing anything towards my acting as getting back into one job and focusing is difficult enough!
Secondly, I help my parents with tax returns and the new year bills etc before they jet off on there 5 month Holiday- why not if you can eh! So yeah, all them affairs are dealt with, work is back and I start to get into the swing of things!
This year, it was a natural the beginning begun in February. Besides the fact its the month of love (which i am yet to find) and every one's had a pay day so therefore every one's happy, I have my first job of 2011!!!!
It begins Feb 2nd so begins the start of 2011.
I got a call from my agent in January (yes I know, the official first month of the new year) to say a company had booked me for two days- what every actor wants to hear- no auditioning, nerves, what ifs, what could. Its two days work, with a performance at The Lowry theatre which is a theatre in my home city of Salford. My debut there! Its a script in hand performance but still a paid performance and lovely little character for me to play even better, i was asked to play the role so there's my little ego boost and confidence booster!
I perform on Thursday then Saturday i begin job number two of 2011. This was meant to be done in December but snow got in the way and made its arrival on our filming dates. On a positive, it adds to 2011's jobs.

Right now I'm sat in bed thinking, what am i getting myself into attempting to everything I do as well as this but then thought, I forget everything so why not make an on-line diary but share it with everyone, or those who would like to share, read and enjoy! To see a bit more of me, who I am etc check the links!
  Acting Showreel 2010  IMDB profile
There's my first blog DONE! Tomorrow my first rehearsal for the play so.................... First job blog tomorrow!!!!