Blooomin’ SNOOOOOOOOOOW?!!!

Welcome back to fellow acting’s fans and bloggers to the Friday update.

Image source: propertycasualty360.com

Well ,at the risk of sounding like a stuck record, it's just like Wednesday. Thanks to the freak snowfall that we've had (and are still having it seems, stop it, damn you! Has it stopped? Let's hope so!) once again we have been Snowblocked! Damn blooming snow. Jack Frost is not on our side! We haven’t had much chance of getting together with Chris's hours this week to sort out things (like the cast readthrough) but I did by chance bump into one of my fellow acting buddies from the Actor’s Workshop and had a quick chat about using the Actor’s Workshop space once again.

I have also over the past week been trying to get in touch with Mr Jake Broadhurst and my other fellow actor Ross Galloway, Esq. but I have not quite managed to get a hold of them as of yet. I do know that the over the last couple of weeks being involved with the Actors Workshop they have been rather busy of late with upcoming shows and dance classes but my acting buddy assures me they haven’t forgot about us which is damn good thing, too! With any luck (and little Energon) we should be hearing from them soon so we can film the next major scene for Episode 6.

And that’s all for today, sorry it isn’t much more exciting but, well, the woes of no-low-to budget
production sometimes prevail. We are unfortunately at the mercy of the weather -  Bloody Snow!
Be safe out there, and have fun if you can!

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

 

Outlaw

Hi there, Acting Fans, and if like us you're somewhere in the ol' UK (especially if you take a look out your window) you can probably guess that, yes, the suddenly Scandinavian weather has put the kibosh on filming. That AND my four days straight of day job workshifts this week (that is with only Sunday between my last workday and the run I'm having this week including today and tomorrow), well, we've got the motive but not the opportunity. That's not to say our week has been entirely uneventful, you see Vern may have gone a bit 'method' with his role in H&H - he's broken the law.....
of Facebook!

Yes, Acting Fans, Vernon Harcourt has become a Facebook Outlaw - banned from posting to others' walls for a whole TWO WEEKS! What did he do? Well, It turns out Facebook don't look too kindly on a chap doing a mass posting to his friends unless you cross their palms with moolah (hence those relatively new 'Promote' buttons). Vern has copped the wrath of Zuckerberg's minions for having the temerity to share OUR Easter Egg of a comedy short we made OURSELVES with our own brains and hands and stuff with all his FB friends by posting it to their walls himself. AND HE'D DO IT AGAIN FACEBOOK BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Sadly, yes, that's it for this week so far Internet Chums, fings crossed we have more positive tales to tell on Friday,

TTFN

Christopher Haigh

An Easter Easter Egg

Welcome back, acting fans and fellow bloggers! It's Friday’s blog post and once again we have been halted by the blooming weather! DAMN YOU, SNOW!!! *Shaking fist at the sky* But that's not important right now - what have we got instore for you today? What are we going to ramble on about? Is it yet even more planning? Well...
NOPE!!!

We have a bit of a surprise for you all today! You could even say it's something of an 'Easter egg'.

You know that TOP SECRET thing I was on about (and not on about at the same time)? Well, I can finally tell you, yep, we have been busy working away to not only bring you the final episode of Series 1 but we've also put together an Easter special H&H short, you might call it an escapade, well, Eggscapade if you will! And it’s right down below this text for you to watch, RIGHT NOW!

Yes, this is what we have been doing on the secret you, lucky, lucky lot! Well that’s it for today we best get on wait for the snow to melt so we can actually get so filming. DAMN YOU, BLOODY SNOW!!! *Shaking fist at sky again*

Well stay safe out there and...

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

 

The Body In Question

Salutations, Acting Fans, Wednesday's come around again and, as the Spring snow flurries past the window and we contemplate that maybe somehow we've ended up in Westeros by accident, let me tell you what we've been up to so far this week.
First, I'm going to take a brief detour to the end of last week. As it happened after posting last weeks blog and heading into town for some lunch before my evening shift who should I run into by chance but my colleague-in-arms at H&H Productions himself! We took the providential opportunity to have a brief tête-à-tête about our plans and I mentioned an aspect of Episode 6's script that wasn't working for me. Vern agreed and we hammered out an alternative version of the scene there and then which he typed up and integrated into the script after we went our separate ways. The following Sunday, whilst doing a bit of a spit-&-polish on the script, my recent viewing of the film which the episode homages kicked in and I realised we could have a bit more climactic finish to the episode. I wrote the climactic confrontation in and sent it to my partner-in-crime, who weighed and measured the idea and did not find it wanting. That means our shooting script is pretty much there but we still want to do the semi-cast readthrough.
Back in the Here & Now, Vern has been trying to organise the readthrough but the curse of the low-to-no budget production rears it's head again and we are still trying to get in touch with our principal cast members.
Meanwhile at just H HQ AKA the Editing Suite despite working Monday & Tuesday I've managed to get on with one of the side projects needed for the Final episode of Series 1 - The Puppet!

Legs 11!

Right, said Fred

Getting Ahead

I've opted for a (hopefully) simple construction, making a core body & head from waste upholstery foam, old tights (not mine, well not ALL mine but they're all mine now) and elastic bands which I'll go on to 'skin' with some towelling fabric (I'm going to sacrifice one of my redundant Dressing Gowns). Wish me Luck! (With my sewing skills I'll need it!)

That's it for Midweek, Internet Chums, tune in Friday to see what we manage to get up to the rest of this week!

TTFN

Christopher Haigh

Lull

Greetings, Acting Fans, welcome to Friday's H&H update and, well, it's another one of THOSE posts. Yep, after our flurry of activity this past week we've now hit a bit of a Lull. Nothing, as they say, has been doing since wrapping our TOP SECRET edit (SHUSH! It's SECRET!). This week has come to something of a stop.

Not helping is the fact that I've got a run of shifts on my day job at the tail end of this week , so I'm out of filming action (it's a bit disappointing for us too but them's the breaks). Whilst I'm stuck behind my desk hanging on the telephone, Vern will be scrutinising the calendar and seeing about getting our semi-cast readthrough of the script together and look towards filming the stuff we can get away without the additional warm bodies. I'm afraid that's yer lot this week, Internet Chums! Stay tuned for more (and more interesting) news to come! Now please excuse me, I have some Hormonal Housewives to deal with.

TTFN

Christopher Haigh

Foiled/Wrapped

Welcome back, fellow bloggers and Acting Fans, to our regular Wednesday blog post. Let me tell you what has been happening since last we wrote. Well a hell of a lot indeed as it turns out! Once again Chris was sent out on another night trip as 2nd unit director to get some stock footage, this time all the way to Leeds! We wanted some shots of the Big Wheel in Leeds city centre for the opening of the last episode of Series 1. He first tried on Sunday evening but this led to another lesson for my travelling colleague - check the venue you want to film is open BEFORE setting off! He arrived to find the wheel in darkness - foiled! Still it didn't cost him anything and, after making sure through the power of the internet that it was indeed in full swing (or maybe rotate, I guess), Monday's second attempt went pretty smoothly.

Wheel of Morality turn, turn, turn...

So don’t worry, we are still getting on with the series finale and we will be starting to film the main bulk of it very soon in fact. We've just got a few last bits of planning to do, a puppet to build and those warm bodies to herd. We are planning another readthrough but with a couple of other cast member so we can get a better flow of it and maybe punch some scenes up a little.
I say 'Don't worry' because as some of you might remember we have we been doing a little something else, that TOP SECRET thing I have been on about. Well, I can tell you now it has been filmed AND finished - it's a wrap! In fact you could say it’s been FOIL wrapped and it will be appearing soon soon for you all to see - that's as much of a clue as I'm going to give you. Maybe you might see it in a few weeks or so even, yep, that’s right it could be up that soon!
We are in fact getting very good at all of this editing lark and we got it all done in record time and it’s, well, really rather good if I do say so myself. I would like to tell you more like that it is in fact an [TEXT REMOVED] and it’s going to feature [TEXT REMOVED] with what might be seen as a SLIGHT overreaction, so now you understand then or don't, teehee!

Well, it’s goodnight from him and it’s goodnight from me.

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

 

Men of "ACTION!"

One more shoot down.
Yes, Welcome back Acting Fans and fellow bloggers, yep, it’s Friday and this is our blog post on what we've been up to since Chris's night trip to Bradford for some footage.

Well we have indeed been doing something productive, we have been filming again. Yep, you have indeed read that at the top right, FILMING - and this time not just stock footage or opening shots! We have been filming in character as Harcourt & Haigh for the first time in 2013!

ACTING!

But what exactly have we been filming? Don't we kept saying that we have a lot of preparation still to do before we film Episode 6? What about the Warm bodies we needed? Well, you know that TOP SECRET thing that I couldn’t tell you about? You know, that I also didn’t mention in any of the previous blogs *Wink*. Yeah, you remember. Right? Well, DO you?
Alright! Good you do - finally! You lot are hard work sometimes, you know. Well THAT’s what we have been filming and I'm pleased to say the shoot went well. We got all of what we needed for it, in the can ready to be edited. When will it go up? Well, quite soon, actually.

So what is this TOP SECRET Thing I hear you all cry? Well all I'm going to say is it for something that is coming up very soon and that’s it a….well, it's a treat. Yes a treat, you might even say a treat of a certain shape but any more would be [SPOILERS]

And that is for ANOTHER Friday post, folks. MWAH HAHAHA!

So it’s goodnight from him and it’s goodnight from me.

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

The Night Tripper

It's the midweek once again, Acting Fans, Time marches on yomping right into, well, March already! Time for a bit of an update on what's what at H&H HQ. As I type it's another misty morning in the Calder Valley, though fortunately no signs so far of the revenant, malevolent spirits of the long dead returning for revenge. Though much like the tension building scenes of a Horror film we (Vern & I) are experiencing an eerie silence, yes we're still yet to receive even an acknowledging 'Thanks but no thanks' from any of the dramatic organisations we've dropped a line to. Ah, well - It's looking more likely that our TOP SECRET EMERGENCY PLAN may have to be dusted off.
In the meantime we have got a little more establishing footage established. After our night shoot last week I had my thinking cap on with regards to figuring out where we might be able to get a more elevated shot of a train or two on the tracks. Over the weekend it came to me - BRADFORD (Oddly enough it was a trip to Leeds that triggered it)! I remembered that the layout of the Bradford Interchange is such that a viaduct road crosses above the tracks and that might be a possible point to set up the shot. After a quick Google Map check I ran the idea by Vern and we decided it was on.
Question was: how to get there? Answer: Pass! More specifically my Metro Pass. Neither Vern or I drive but since I worked in Bradford I've maintained my Rail Zone 2-to-5 Bus & train pass, so I can pop down the line pretty much any time it takes my fancy. I thought I'd let Vern off the hook and be a one-man second unit team this time but rather than lug our Lumix FZ150 I thought I'd experiment with borrowing the Family camera, a Lumix TZ18 (it's a fair do Mum & Dad borrowed my digital camera for ages before they got it). We'd actually already had the camera along on a shoot for a test with the idea of using it as a second camera angle but the only setting we could find that shot roughly 16:9 was the HD setting which, on the 8GB memory card we had, only gave us about 8 minutes. Not great for shooting scenes but no problem when it came down to the shots we wanted now.

Mmm, compact.

Monday after work I picked up the tripod from Vern and was good to go, which I did that very evening. I had however made a schoolboy error:

 Yep, I forgot to check the battery AND to bring a spare! But:

It was a fraught moment as, set up on the overpass, I pushed the record button and crossed all my fingers as the train slowly pulled in below and the power indicator insistently flashed at me. I got it. Then I saw another trains approaching and set to recording again and...it died. It was a fraught trip home as I worried whether the first shot had recorded properly or not but, when I plugged the camera in, there it was:

Phew, indeed. Pretty much exactly what we wanted. That's it so far this week, Acting Fans, but the week isn't over yet. We have some shenanigans planned for tomorrow but, shhh, that's a bit secret! More on Friday, stay tuned!

TTFN

Christopher Haigh

Adventure Time

C'mon grab your friends, We'll go to very distant lands (alright, somewhere in Halifax),
With Vern the Dude & Chris the Human, The Fun will never end!

Greetings, Acting Fans, it's Friday update time once again and...I don't quite know how to put this...well, we've only gone and actually done something!

Yes, It's true! Flabber your Gast! Not only did we get the shooting wrapped for the next 'Behind The Acting' as Vern mentioned on Wedneseday we did indeed get up to some Second Unit Shenanigans last night. Fearless of the wind-chill factor, we hung out on the platform of Halifax Station to catch some nice establishing shots.

That, however, is not all. We had hoped to find a sort of elevated vantage point for some shots of the tracks. We didn't find one. What we did find instead was some potentially brilliant locations to shoot. We only had to wander a little off the beaten path to find some spots of Halifax that we had never seen before and it all started here:

Mystery Bridge? Why not? After you...

"Follow me" "Okay."

The Gate

So keep 'em peeled while watching upcoming episodes of H&H, Acting fans, the sharper-eyed among you might be able to spot the locations.
As we got further from the Station and, as it turned out, lower rather than higher, we decided to postpone the elevated shot of the tracks for a trip to a local landmark Wainhouse Tower to take some shots of it in all it's glory by night. Once we shot the tower we took the scenic route back to King Cross to check out the usefulness of Savile Park for some scenes and it's looking promising as long as we can get some additional bodies up there with us. That was it for this week, Acting Fans, apart from the fact that today IS the First of March and we don't want to leave you empty-handed at the start of a new month - so here's the next episode of 'Behind The Acting' to tide you over!

That's All (for now), Folks!

TTFN

Christopher Haigh