Wigging Out

Hello there, Acting Fans, it's time once again for our regular Humpday Dance so on with the Blog it is! It's a mix of Good news & Bad News. Good News first, Vern & I got our meet-up on and put our head's together for another H&H planning session going over the new tweaked version of the next Actor's Log (that I finally got around to tweaking, Bad Chris!). The Bad News is, in the course of running through it we realised (as is becoming rather regular post-tweaking) that we needed more preparation before getting down to filming which we planned to do this week. Bah! Sorting stuff out it is, then.
We also talked about some of the future ideas that came up during our coffee & cake brainstorm session, which in turn led to some research - checking out some Two Ronnies sketches online. This also led to us doing some wig shopping, well, wig window-shopping (or is it screen-shopping if you do it on the internet?).

Yep, for some time I've been resisting Vern's push for us to get a bigger stock of costume, including wigs, as we are after all a Low-to-No budget feature. Now though, I have to agree with m'learned colleague, especially as they have now become essential for one of Vern's future Actor's Log ideas as well as being handy for the still-on-hiatus Episode 6 (if we can just get it done before Star Wars Episode 7 comes out, we'll be happy!) so there goes that Low-to-No budget!
That's it so far for this week, we've earmarked our wigs for purchase later, on with prepping the next Actor's Log and I'm taking a look at the first draft of another future Actor's Log H&H Productions continues to trundle along, so goodbye for now or, as the French say, au revoir...

TTFN

Christopher Haigh

Coffee & Cake

Welcome once again, Acting Fans, fellow bloggers and the people of the Internet! Yep, it's Friday let's once again get down with it and DANCE! Only kidding, of course I mean BLOG!

So at last we got this week's H&H meet up (today in fact), yep, me and Chris met up at the flat for some Internet Security protocoling before heading to a local coffee shop (like the writers that we are) where over some cake and coffee we had a good ol' brainstorm. And what a Brainstorm session it was! What about, you may ask, well, just sit right there and I will tell you.

Image via Twinfoods

One of the thumbnails attached to a recent post of H&H we did suddenly inspired Chris to have a great idea about a new kind of short we could do, one harking back to a regular series of Two Ronnies sketches but with a H&H spin. He was so excited about it he texted me straight away (this was the other day, before our meeting) and I had to agree it was a pretty good idea. That was what we talked about first and so it was born from the seed of Chris's idea and with some additional notes & ideas this ongoing future project took shape and will hopefully be coming fairly soon to your screens. After much laughing and drinking we also came up with more vlog ideas too. (These vlog idea idea are getting a bit easier) and all I can say is some of them are indeed going to be very funny indeed. Hopefully one of them is something that we all can relate to as well (and it's not just me) but I'm sorry, I can't really tell you any more about that at the moment.

In fact we had lots of great idea and it was quite hard in keeping up them and writing them down too but wrote them all down I did. So now all we have to do is all work ahead of us to get them down in video but it will be worth it though, as they are very funny ideas to boot.

We even got to planning out this years Halloween Special too, which I so can't wait to film and get out there. Once again nothing else can be said about that - sorry. Tee hee. 

So that's your lot for this week so you in the next week

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

The H Hangover

Yes, Acting fans, we're here once again for the Midweek catch-up and, if you haven't seen it yet, you should check out our latest vlog in all it's worldly wisdom (heck, even if you HAVE seen it we need as many views and likes as you can muster):

Though if you didn't catch it before the weekend and subsequently suffered on Bank Holiday Monday don't feel TOO bad because, well, I helped make that video and I still ended up in a similar state myself.
Never again...until next time.
Anyway, enough of what's past - on to the here & NOW! Due to the Bank Holiday Fallout and my subsequent work shifts we've yet to have our regular meet-up but never fear the H&H Machine has not ground to a halt! We're now on with the next vlog which I am passing my keen eye over Vern's initial script before a bit of tweaking (perhaps even into a whole new era). Now to get it ready in time to get it done before The Move! My learned colleague will update you more on Friday.
Another bit of drama, real-life this time, has struck at H&H HQ just today I received an Alert from Google that an unauthorised login was attempted on our humble Gmail account! Yep, an attempted haxxooring! From a mobile device in Colorado, and neither the Vern or myself got drunk enough over the weekend to get there and back and forget about it. Never fear though, our Security Parameters and Countermeasures are now fully enabled! It was a bit exciting there for a moment, okay, okay, more like momentarily distracting but still an attempted hack from America. Wow.
Now that's dealt with it's time for me to get back to my perusing and tweaking, so that's it for this Wednesday, see you later and...

TTFN

Christopher Haigh

Today Was A Good (Fri)Day

Hello Acting Fans, Bloggers and people of the Internet and welcome back to this  (Good) Friday Blog post where I can answer the question, 'so what have we been up to?' with, 'quite a lot in fact.' Let's get down to it!

First, as we said in last Friday's blog, we got our filming on last Sunday, and this time we got more than enough footage, helped along by buying some bits & bats of props on the spot. Like a green drink that tasted like leaves (I kid you not, it did) and some safety glasses. (Got to love them pound shops!) With them in hand, we were ready to film and get it done. It went well, very well and, oh boy, did we have a laugh too.

Then on the Wednesday, as Chris mention very briefly, we went up to People's Park to film the last bit for the Vlog. Which, of course, you shall see - soon in fact! 'How soon?' I hear you all cry out at once. Well this Bank Holiday Monday in fact, which brings me to the last point the Actor's Log vlog itself.

What you lookin' at! Well, hopefully you'll look at it.

Yes, Chris locked himself away in the H&H Editing Suite (AKA his bedroom) Wednesday night and some of Thursday to get it edited together and today has brought the first cut down to show me and I can tell you all it's still very funny, I think one of our best so far (yep, I know thats a bold statement) but Chris wanted a fresh pair of eyes to look over it anyway, just in case we could it a bit more tighter. And he was right here's is a few cuts her & there that we have come up with, well, a few slight trimmings here there to get rid of the baginess (he's a star). So don't worry it'll be ready for Monday.

Well, thats all for now, folks, see ya soon. When we make a Bank Holiday Monday less boring! We hope you've had a great Good Friday and have a Great Easter Weekend!

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

 

A Shot In The Park

Just a quick one this Wednesday, Acting Fans, as I'm nose to the grindstone, or rather eyeballs to the monitor, here at the H&H Editing Suite. You see today we have been to People's Park, braving the rampant toddlers and the odd (make that VERY odd) local Halifax bod. Despite these aforementioned obstacles we now have the last shot for the Next Actor's Log in the can, so it's on to putting it together.

We do hope you got some Sun yourselves today but that's it for now as I get on with this business called 'Show'.

TTFN

Christopher Haigh

Acting Gear

Hello Acting Fans, fellow bloggers and people of the Internet, yep, it's Friday so it's my turn to ramble on online! As to what's has been happening at H&H HQ?
Well, not much new, as me and Chris haven't been able to get our weekly meet up in this week but we have been in prep mode for us filming this Sunday.
Yep, we are indeed going to be filming the next Vlog down in our good buddy's comic shop Legacy Comics owned by one Simon Shaw in fact. Yes, once again he has very kindly lets us have the use of his shop (well, one of the up stairs rooms - we won't be actually filming in the shop as we don't want to disrupt his business!)

Legacy to the Rescue!

Chris his been doing some testing with one of the required props we bought especially for this very Vlog and I have a few odd things to pick for the shoot on Sunday too. Which is...well, I can't tell you that it'd be ruining the surprise AND the Magic of Filming! All I can say is the testing is going well so far, touch wood, and it's looking like it'll do us a solid, or at least a fairly solid but a bit wobbly.

Yes, so Shatner willing the next Vlog shall be hitting your eyeballs very soon, very soon indeed. Then it's on to the next next Vlog which is already written too! We are getting better at getting on with these (well, when we don't have that day job interference that is) as the H&H machine gets back in acting gear!

So that's it for now see you in the Future!

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

 

The Wolf Killed

Midweek Greetings, Acting Fans, and I'm happy to report that myself and my fellow Actor-at-Large had an excellent time during our 'research' at the Matt Berry gig. Once we got there, that is, as my omitting one of the street names from my list o' streets to take meant we turned uphill too soon and nearly undershot our destination. Fortunately, I had a feeling I might have done so and with a bit of GPS utilising and just plain old asking some people we found the venue with plenty of time to spare. To be fair we'd actually allowed plenty spare as neither of us had been there before, so much so that once having located the venue we popped back into town for some pre-gig dining at 'Around The World In 80 Beers' (which was rather nice too).
The show introduced us to an awesome new (to us) band, the rather excellent 'Pugwash'.

Before it was onwith the headliners Mr. Matt Berry and his Maypoles, who promptly rocked the folk out of the place.

As to this weeks H&H Business, whilst we haven't had a meet-up this week so far since gig, er, 'research' night. We did do a bit of pre-planning for more upcoming H&H stuff on the journey and just before the gig, er, 'research'. Whilst Vern has also written the first pass at the next next vlog and I have  done a bit of, well, erm, prop testing is probably the best way to describe it for the next vlog which we hope to get filmed soon. so after a bit of a hump we hope to have the H&H machine back up to speed shortly. Speaking of humps, that's your lot for this Humpday so have an excellent descent to the weekend and...

TTFN

Christopher Haigh

A (Pleasant) Shock To The System

Hello Acting Fans, bloggers and people of the Internet, yep, it's Friday and it's my time to ramble on. So let's do this.

As Chris said we meet up on Wednesday for a coffee and geek out in a local coffee house. We did indeed geek out and laugh quite a bit, first thing we got to was, well, to be frank we were amazed that the two girls working there joined in our geek talk as we were being served. One of them even said that my Star Trek badge was cool! (I've NEVER had a woman say that to me before! EVER!)

So, after calming down after that pleasant bit of a shock, we got on the task at hand which was getting this next Vlog sorted. Well, I'm pleased to say we now have all of the props that are needed for it and it shall in deeded be filmed very soon. Next week in fact so it will be coming to your eyes very soon.

Well, we did have a lot of props to get together for it after all, some of which I got from a recent night in a Halifax Pub. You'll see them on screen, and a few others things too. Then as Chris said we got on to planning our next Vlog too, which is going to a sequel to another Vlog, now I can hear you thinking, 'which one?' Well you could always go back and watch them to see which one you think it might be but, as always, I can't say just yet....you'll find out soon enough, as this one will be filmed quick as the big move is, erm, well moving ever closer.

Now you may be wondering, 'Vern there's a weekend coming up, if you want to get filming why wait until next week?' Well, actually there's a very good reason as Chris hinted. Or two good reasons in fact. One, Chris is working Saturday and two, we're...um..doing some, er, ah, research. Yes, that's it research! In our study of the Funny we are off to Leeds to see the awesome Matt Berry of 'Garth Marenghi's Darkplace', 'Snuff Box', 'IT Crowd' and 'Toast Of London' in concert so yes filming is delayed due to the gig, er, I mean research. I'm hoping he plays this little number from Darkplace though...

Well, that's your lot for now Acting Fans, see you in the Future....

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

Winter (Soldier) Is Coming

Well, he's already been for me. Welcome to Midweek, Acting Fans, and back to our fully operational and on time (just about) Blog! I'm now feeling a lot better but today's meet-up was delayed due to my attendance (and consequent sleeping-in) of the local Vue's last Tuesday showing of 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier', to get in on their sweet Super Tuesday offer it's the only one I could make. I did not, however, check the timing too well as by the end of the film (hey, I have to see those end credit scenes) it was 11:30. 11:30 which is after the Last Bus so it was a scenic walk home on the cards for me, AND I'D DO IT AGAIN!!! I am, after all, a Yorkshireman (like the Scottish but less generous ;-).
That exhausting act of full frontal nerdity was exacerbated by me going out on a bit of a scouting mission, successful as it turned out, for a further bit of nerdity - this time of the collectable variety (alright, alright - it was a Transformer). Though I did get home in time for a nice late lunch, it was later than I intended (thank you, Brain, for insisting there was a quarter past train at Sowerby Bridge station, you were, in fact, quite wrong). By way of apology I offered to meet m'learned colleague at the coffee shop of his choice, for a meeting with coffee provided by me.

After regaling him with my tale of miscalculated film times and recommending 'The Winter Soldier' (okay, okay geeking out) it turned out Vern himself is off to see it tonight with his flatmates. Coffees in hand we headed upstairs to get down to H&H business. We got on with planning out the next phase of getting the next vlog filmed which we'll hopefully be able to get sorted next week, as unfortunately filming this weekend is out (though the 'why' we can't film isn't what you'd really call 'unfortunate', but more on that on Friday from m'colleague). Despite still having a working delay, we realised we needed to have another idea in the bag for a vlog after the next vlog is done. Vern had the idea of looking over the prior vlogs to perhaps think about a sequel or semi-sequel to one. And a rather good idea was formed, which Vern will be writing up the basic idea of tonight!
With the planning done and a next idea in hand, we had a bit more nerd chatter over our coffees as we finished them (ranging from Marvel films, to Star Trek, to good & bad series endings, to 'Hard Time On Planet Earth' - a new one to Vern it turned out) before heading home our separate ways after finally getting back to H&H business. Now to get some stuff filmed, wish us Good Luck!

TTFN

Christopher Haigh