BOO!

So, That 2nd BIG surprise...

Hello again, Acting Fans, we’ve just about managed to get a break in our busy Schedule to bring you that something else BIG, my yes, we ARE starting to spoil you aren’t we, acting fans?
Today we'd like to present the second something BIG mentioned last Friday. And what is it? Well, if you calm down, I will tell you. So please...

...with a biscuit, put your feet up and press 'Play'. Because here it is, the 2nd teaser trailer for 'Harcourt & Haigh: Actors at Large'.

Don’t worry there is still more to come but when and where, well, I'm afraid I cannot tell you that...yet. But it will be SOON.

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

Runthrough

Greetings, Acting Fans! Once again Blog day rolls around, what? Already? Sometimes it really does feel like we're travelling at 67,000 miles per hour, so this is going to be a bit of a quick one.
Since the completion of the Pilot we've had a mini-test-screening and, so far so good, the Test Subjects* all appear to be laughing in the right places. The most recent gatherings of H&H Productions have been focused on planning the next phase of the series, Episodes 1-to-6B. Happy with the 10 minute total runtime established by the Pilot, we have done some minor retooling on the episode scripts, as when initially conceived we were estimating between 5-to-7 minutes an episode. This has also given us the option of re-introducing, or re-integrating in differently, additional scene ideas that we had originally not thought possible, yay!
This Monday saw us gathered Chez Vern to do a line run, dialogue tweak and basic runthrough on the next episode scenes to be shot and they're dialogue heavy so we're going to need all the practice we can get!
Unfortunately the next time our schedules coincide will be this weekend sometime so we're hoping to put all three H&H Productions heads together to hammer out the actual shooting schedules but, don't worry, there'll still be a little sumthin' sumthin' this Friday.
In the meantime, if you haven't already, why not drop by Channel H check out the decor and the first teaser promo - please take your shoes of before entering or, at least, wipe your feet first.

TTFN

Christopher Haigh

*= No Animals were harmed during the testing of this web series, cajoled & threatened, yes, but not actually harmed

Open Channel 'H'

It’s alive, it’s ALIIIIIIVE!

At last it has all come down to this, this is D-day or, if you will, H-day for us here at Harcourt & Haigh Productions. Acting Fans, all roads have lead to this ultimate destination and each moment built up to this very moment right now, and what a moment it should be! But what am I going on about I wonder? Oh, yeah! I remember now!
Well, folks let me tell you (or read on if you prefer) - We are finally going LIVE, yes, it had to happen at some point this year. And here it is!

Welcome to the GRAND OPENING of the HARCOURT & HAIGH: Actors At Large Youtube channel, where as of 4:45PM you can now experience our very first teaser trailer - with more trailers to follow over the coming weeks leading up to...
What? I think I’ll leave it there for now. I think one BIG surprise is enough for now don’t you?
(You don't? Well too bad! We don't want you overstimulated now, do we?)

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

P.S. :- Feel free to link and share the promo as far and wide across the interwebs as you like and please, please, please give the Promo a 'Thumbs Up' click on Youtube!

Victory!

One down, only 7 to go.

Yes, Acting fans it's been a BIG weekend for us down at the Harcourt & Haigh productions studio (with us only stopping once for our tea). We have finally done it, oh yes, it has been done at last, Mwhahahahahahah! What is it that has been done? The Pilot! The pilot is done, completed, altogether, finito, finis, in the can, it’s a W-R-A-P folks. Oh yeah! Groo-OO-oovy.

And the wait and the work has been worth it, no reshoots required, as me and my learned colleague both like it (or at least like it enough that we are willing to keep our hands off it now - otherwise we could be tweaking it forever!). Now we have also started to plan out the next episode too. (Go us!)

Now back on to that something BIG again, yes, I know what you're thinking, isn't the something BIG the pilot being done? Nope, my fellow Acting fans, it is not. Well, what is it, the something BIG that is, if not that?
It’s that on this Friday, the 20th of April, something, something, something, will happen - No foolin'. Something BIG. The Countdown clock is ticking. Tee hee. Tune in then to find out what. Oooh, I'm such a tease! Bad Vern!

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

Re-record not fade away, Re-record not fade away...

Well, Acting fans, I'm going to tell you how it's going to be, not with Scotch's Lifetime Guarantee but with the goings on here at H&H HQ. Today’s the day we start the countdown (don't call it a Final Countdown, we still have plenty to do) to something BIG but to what, I hear you ask (Along with "Get on with it already, dammit!"). First on to something else though.

As we said on Wednesdays blog post we have been busy editing the pilot episode  and today we will be taking the time to quickly shoot some dialogue-free pick-up shots, the aforementioned Exterior and Interior establishing shots of the flat (as well as a pan to a master shot of Scene 2) which shouldn’t take us too long to do. By the time you read this post everything should be in the can for the pilot, Yay (*Phew*)!

Now back to the something BIG and exactly what is it well, well, well, my dear acting fans, I did say this is the START of the countdown. All I am gonna say is it will be worth the looong wait (well, hopefully).

Teehee. Tune in on Wednesday for some more vague references to what it could be...

TTFN

Vernon Sutcliffe

 

The Cutting Crew

No, no, no. Not those guys - it's US, Acting fans! Your favourite Celtaevallian Thespians! We've been at it again, with noses to the monitor screen and fingers to the mouse button. This Tuesday gone we've rocketed through the footage of the re-shot flat scenes and, boy, do I mean rocketed.
Now we're much happier with the results this time and, despite losing some footage to unfortunate technical issues with one of our DV tapes, we have enough decent coverage to edit the Flat scene as we envisaged, barring a minor re-shoot of the Interior and Exterior establishing shots of the Harcourt & Haigh residence that is.

 
Thanks to some initial prepping of the footage at our last editing session, we got this one down around the 5 hour mark (not including a brief stop off once again for pizza and a cuppa), we were done at a quarter to four! Go us!
Now we have the intro, titles, Act 1(minus Scene 2), Act 2 and Act 3 edited with only the addition of the Act 1 Scene 2 footage, the credits and [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS] to go. Once we have them in place it's time for some additional ADR and...OMG! Then the Pilot is DONE!?!

Of course, that's not the end of it. Then it's on to the next episodes, where we're hoping to get the turnaround between shooting and editing streamlined, fings crossed. While speaking of 'Things to Come' my learned colleague, Mr. Vernon Harcourt, esq., reminds me that there is something else to say on the matter. He wants me to tell you that the Countdown starts this Friday. To what? That would be telling. Now I get to play the tease for once (Thanks, Vern)!

TTFN

Christopher Haigh

In The Cut

Well, Acting fans, Chris and I have been editing all day long, in fact for about a full 8 hours yesterday and we have the Intro bumper and Act 1 of the Pilot cut. And it's funny (if I say so myself). And it all fits together - like a glove! Praise Shatner! (We only stopped once, briefly, to re-fuel with a pizza, a biccy, a bun and a cup of tea.)

Why has it taken so long to do only a small part of it I wonder you may wonder? (I do indeed wonder about what you think about, you see, because I care. About you. ALL of you.) Well, my dear, darling Acting friends, out there in the wilds of the intertubes, we had a absolute load of footage to go through and edit down to what we need.

 I do mean a load, in the bumper footage alone there were about 30minutes or so that we had to cut right down to the bone. We were merciless editors with a job to do. And, by Jove, we did it. Then there was about 40mins or so of the First Act to wade through and cut down to size. Which is par for the course when it comes to filming (and much better than not having enough to edit together) but quite enough for us - as neither of us could be mistaken for Malick or Kubrick.

Absolutely no resemblance whatsoever.

 So Day 2 of the edit of the pilot is scheduled for next week as we both have a full calendar for this Easter Weekend when hopefully it shall be done (well, minus a few small re-shoots)!
Then it’s back to planning and mapping out the following shoots (Hmm, we do seen to do an awful lot of planning don’t we but still - we need MOAR!)

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

Cuckoo’s Flown

Photo from Danielle In Brazil

Bad news, everyone. The play that I was due to star in for the Studio Group at the Actors Workshop has been cancelled, with some of the some the cast members dropping out due to other commitments. So no more cuckoos for me.
Just goes to show how mercurial this Acting profession can be however, on the plus side, I will now have more time to devote to working on the production of H&H:Actors At Large.

And what are we going to be working next for H&H I hear you screaming and your monitors (Well, you are in my head and, in my head, I can make you do anything I want. ANYTHING.) As of tomorrow (That’s Thursday the 5th April, 2012) we will start editing the Pilot and finish off editing a few other short sequences. Oooh, What can they be? Once again, you’ll just have to wait and see what they are. And after the edit it's back to prep and planning the next episodes.

Stay with us now we are almost there. And yes the BIG surprise coming very, very soon.

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt