Yes, Acting Fans, it's true! The H&H Production team has at last managed to swim the tides of time and actually get ourselves together for a meeting! At last, after our unintended hiatus, we are taking our first tentative steps (still keeping our eyes out for job- and life-type obstacles) towards getting the whole production into an upward swing. Yesterday Vern and I managed to get together in the afternoon for a chinwag, having a bit of back and forth on how we should proceed with the shooting schedule. We'd both prefer to start as soon as possible with a view to getting episode 6 finished before the Summer and before Vern starts his new job proper. Then, with that out of the way, we can look at getting some short skits put together which will play out until we have Series 2 bashed out and ready to get going. Yes, I'm afraid we don't plan on stopping.
Goodbye, Old Friend
Another thing that came up at the meeting was that both of us had noticed that the enforced change over from old school Youtube to the new 'One Channel' format was 7 days away. Now we didn't have any issues with the old layout, in fact we were both pretty chuffed with it in the end, but as Vern put it we can only be so Retro being the analogue age boys we are, so we'd really hung on to the old fella as long as we could and ought to make the effort to get it done before it was thrust upon us. That was my task yesterday which would have been a darn sight easier if, instead of scouring the 'net to find a resizer that would make our banner image the correct (and frankly MAHOOOSIVE) size of 2120 x 1192. Yep, all that hunting around - when I had a perfectly good freeware photo manipulation app right on my Mac (Gimp, in case you were wondering), staring right at me from the Dock at the bottom of my desktop too! D'oh, did i feel like a Gimp? Yes, yes I did. Anyhow, I got it done so now you can gaze lovingly upon our new look, BEHOLD!
And if you asked me, yes, I'd have to admit personally I feel it looks a bit blander without a wallpaper background option but I think the banner fares well across the multiple platform formats as seen on the preview option:
With that business out of the way, that's it for this week, Internet Chums, feel free to peruse a video or two on our new look channel to tide yourselves over until Episode 6. A fresh look for a new start, you might say. See you on the other side of the weekend!
Welcome back fellow bloggers and Acting Fans, well, what can I say....erm, well, we have come to bit of a stop at the moment. (No, we're not stopping forever. Don't panic) It’s just that, once again, this week between Chris's regular day job and me busying about trying to sort out mine has put the kibosh on things. Getting the things I need in place, like finding & sending of more ID and other administration information has stopped us getting together, even when Chris had an unexpected free day last week, darn it! And now thw Waiting! Waiting to start with my start date next month now! And then there's been getting a sort of new PC - so I’ve been busy sorting out the programs I had and re-finding some of what I had on my PC (note to self: next time write down what I have and use). All in all we've hit a bit of a Wall these past few weeks.
So we haven’t had much of a chance, none at all in fact, to meet up and sort out things. Heck we haven't even had time to meet up for Chris to give me his upcoming rota! (CHRIS: Ooops! Sorry, Vern - I'll get right on it!) I mean, don't get me wrong, we're not giving up, we will get there with it and it will be done and filmed and up as soon as possible. We just have a lot of others things going on at the mo. So I'm sorry for this hiatus on H&H's progress for now. It will pick back up soon I promise.
Bad News, Acting Fans, on the H&H front this week. What's been going on at H&H HQ (production-wise, anyway) has been exactly this:
That's right, Internet Chums, despite our best efforts (and an unexpected reprieve from my afternoon shift today) thanks to Vern's upcoming employment, my current day job and the encroaching Bank Holiday Weekend we haven't even been able to do our regular weekly H&H Meet-Up, let alone anything else. Though seeing the weather outside my window today I'm glad we didn't have any filming set for tonite!
Looks like we'll have to scrub this week altogether and chalk it up to experience, or maybe lack thereof. Despite the disappointment of this weeks setback though we're both determined to get on. It turns out that Vern's new post, though it's costing him prep time now, it's starting a little later than expected. So hold on to your hats, Acting Fans, we don't want to jinx it but we're hoping to use that to our advantage! Apologies once again from the H&H crew but we'll be back with you next week so stay tuned and...
Running around but not like a headless chicken, no, with a purpose! Welcome back, Acting Fans and fellow blogonauts, it's
that time again. What’s been happening over here at the H&H HQ? Well,
Erm, nothing - Chris has been busy doing his day job and, like I may have mentioned,
I've been running around being busy with sorting out stuff for me
starting work next week, you know all the boring but necessary stuff
like like sort out documents and trying to sort the right start date and
that. Yep, we have been busy just not with H&H, oh, but I have
manage to get a few more people to say yes to helping out and I just
need to send them a copy of script so they can start to learn their
lines.
My new job his taken up a lot of my time and it hasn't even started yet! It's times like these when it seems Time itself is our worst enemy, what we wouldn't do for a certain Blue Box, eh? So sorry there’s not much for us to report at this moment in time but please stay tuned for later moments where we will have something to say and, hopefully, something done too.
So that’s it for now folks hopefully more to report on Friday,
Welcome back fellow bloggers and ActingFfans yep its Friday so it’s blog time. So what has been happening since mine and Chris’s meet up, well actually nothing really. I bet your wondering why there is even a blog? Well, just sit right there and I’ll tell you...hold on to your hats folks! I've managed to re-join the Rat Race!
It’s more of a personal blog this week, I have been seeking, looking, searching and applying for work for a looong past four years without any luck. I have been applying job after job after job and no one seemed to get back to me. I've taken the odd temporary post and or seasonal work, even doing some volunteer work lately but still a steady job has remained out of reach!
Well, that is until this week. Yes, internet chums, I am now once again going to be an employed man within a company in Halifax (No, not the HALIFAX, after all we still bear a grudge! Flippin' location shenanigans) And I'm sooo pleased about this WOO HOO! Oh, yeah at last, but of course H&H will not stop - we are still steaming ahead with the next episode and it will be done, oh yes, it will be done. So swears Vernon Harcourt - productive member of society AND Actor At Large!
Well that’s it for today folks and we will speak to you soon
Welcome back, Acting Fans and fellow bloggers, so what have we been doing since the last Fridays video
post? (If you've not seen it, go and check it out, please!)
Not entirely an accurate a depiction but Chris has been doing a bit of sewing of late
After last weeks skip week, when we didn’t get to meet up, we made darn sure that we got a catch up this
Tuesday and, yep ,you’ve guess it yet more planning. No, please don’t reach for that 'X' tab button just yet, it
is all important planning. We took another look at the shot selection from our first shoot for episode 6's footage (that involved us in character and wasn't just test footage) so Chris could transport it to the editing
suite (yes, that's right - also know has his bedroom).
We also discussed the upcoming shooting schedule that will involving more victims, Erm…. I mean
actors. We’ve decided it will be better to film in the smaller required groups first, leading up to us doing the
largest scene last. So the next job is going to involve me and Chris taking a long hard look at our
calendars and getting some definite shooting days, so we can get our willing victims, er, I mean
actors availability. Well, that’s all for today folks see you soon (well, Friday in fact)
Friday and welcome back, Acting Fans, yes it is so it means another blog post but this time we do have something for you and, no, it’s not a blog on about more planning!
Nope, it’s a video that we have in store but alas it’s not episode 6 quite yet, I mean I know we can be fast at filming - but not that fast, internet pals. That shall be done in due time...
So what exactly is this video? I hear you ask, well, it's been a bit of a lost week for H&H Productions this week so, rather than leave you guys & gals empty-handed we've got another 'Behind The Acting' we had aside for just such an occasion - this time it’s the props turn. Yep, Tune in to listen to us discuss some of the main props used in the show so far, some of which you might not have even noticed, or knew what they might be - but I'm sure most of you out there would have seen discerning viewers of H&H that you are. And it should be just below here this here text:
Well, that’s all for today folks see you very soon,
Hello, Acting Fans, it's blog time again and this Wednesday it's a bit of a break from the goings on at H&H Productions. You see we'd like to take the time to mourn the passing and salute the work of a Hollywood Legend - Mr. Ray Harryhausen.
Ray's special effects in his various fantasy features are virtually in our bones at H&H Productions, thanks to otherwise-boring Bank Holiday weekends or rainy summer school holidays. His craft in Stop-Motion work lifted young imaginations into flight just like his own had been when he saw Willis O'Brien's work in King Kong as a child himself. When he walked out of the cinema he knew exactly what he wanted to do and eventually (even being mentored early on by O'Brien himself) he got there, crafting spectacular and dreamlike impossible sequences, often single-handedly. The man sure had plenty of anecdotes about the trials and tribulations of being THE special effects man and you can read a lot of them here:
When asked about the main portion of his career he would often say, "It's all in the book!" In fact one time he even said it to me:
"It's all in the book!"
Yes, Acting Fans, your truly got to meet a Hollywood Legend and thank him for the amazing things he'd brought to our screens. Heck, I even got told an anecdote that ISN'T in the book! And, well, I'm not going to write it here but if you ever meet me I might just tell it to you - for the price of a drink!
Anyway we (myself & Vern) would once again thank Ray for his fantastic work, and for the lesson that if you really want to do something, you should do it! Thanks, Ray, we hope your last amazing voyage is a great one!
Welcome back fellow bloggers and acting fans yep it’s Friday an well you know the drill by now, so what happened? As you well know we said in Wednesdays blog we intended filming outdoors last night (Thursday 2nd May, mark it in your diaries as an Historic Event, folks) and, yep, we did! Oh yeah, H&H are truly back in the saddle!
Yes, we actually did some filming - it was only a few scenes, all scenes where it only required the two of us, like our opening scene of the episode and couple of the other scenes where it was just me and Chris. And in true H&H style some extra lines might just have been added in on set, you can’t help ad lib every now and then - mix things up a bit. Well, it always works for Robert Downey, Jr., dammit!
We even turned into lighting directors for the night, using different light sources to get the right effect. Though our lighting rig consisted of the ambient street lights, a mobile phone flash and a pair of lava lamps (not necessarily at the same time, the lava lamps power cords aren't that long for a start). Well, we are a Low-to-No budget feature so we have to do these things ourselves with what we have to hand.
Sneak Peek
We were going to do some of the many running shots but, alas, it became too late as we really needed to see and review the footage from the shoot before Chris had to scoot on the last bus. Plus I wasn’t wearing the right foot wear for the running shots; I was all very Peter Cushing on set. Yup, Slippers. What can I say, never sacrifice comfort for speed.
Well, that’s it for H&H fans you all have a good weekend and we’ll see in the future.
Welcome back, bloggers and Acting Fans, yep, it’s Wednesday and this is our blog post about what have we been up to so far this week. Well, first we haven’t had our usual weekly meet-up as Chris has been busy doing his day job and working on his mastery of puppets. So there's nothing much to report on that side but we do still have the planned shoot for tomorrow night.
WARNING: Entirely misleading thematic photo
Yep, We WILL be going out and getting some of the scenes that are just me and Chris, like our intro scene and a few others that we don’t need anyone else in. Most of this has been planned out and well it should be as we've been planning for months now! Just best get on and learn some of my lines and get my directions sorted out, then. Oh! And charge the camera. Hmm, well I think that’s it for now people of the Internets.
Oh, and on one last side note if you are need of your Harcourt & Haigh fix, well then, there’s a whole channel on the YouTube so you could always go and re-re-watch them again and tell 3 friends and get to tell 3 friends and they can then tell 3 more threes of friends and so on and so forth (up to so several thousand would be better, though).
See you on the other side of the week, internet people!
