Christmas Presence

Welcome back, Acting Fans, people of the world wide webs and fellow bloggers. Yep, it's Wednesday blog again (at least this time I didn't forget)!

Just what have we been doing down here at the H&H HQ? Well, just in case you haven't seen it we put up the 4th actors vlog on Monday, yes, and video log number 4 has a very seasonal flavour, it's the 'Yule Log' and it is here, just under this text what you are reading right now for you to watch!

OK so you've watch it right? RIGHT!?! So what else have we been doing? Well, as we said in the big Friday post, we went o'er hill and dale to our sister town Huddersfield, where we were drawn from life, yes, live and in character and I can say it was a load of fun. For being sat still that is. Just a note to self: next time pick poses that don't hurt after a few minutes, as being stood in the same pose for up to 15 minutes can be a bit of a killer. Forget poses with your arms stretched, even 5 minutes can be bad - or maybe we need more exercise!

There's nothing to it...VOGUE!

On the following Sunday me and Chris did a quick meet-up to view the vlog that you have just watched and do a very quick pick up shot for the second part with a bit of additional dialogue recording. As always I am not going to tell you what the pick up was as it would, well, with an appearance by-
Whoops! Almost let the cat out of the bag there! Well that's most of it for now and I guess we'd best get back to it, and we shall see you on Friday!

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

 

To The Victor, The Spoils!

Welcome to the weekend, Acting Fans, it's time for another H&H end-of week- sign off post. Now let me tell you, we haven't been resting on our laurels basking in the glory that is our brand spanking new Youtube Channel Trailer, no, sir! Though the weather was against us for filming on Thursday, Vern & I braved the wet and not particularly wild to go on a bit of location scouting for the Halloween Special. Our first port of call an abandoned factory mill on the other side of the Dean Clough complex and, as those of you who may recall other scouting missions led by myself, yes, I took us what was actually the longest way round. Again. Sorry, Vern. On the way another potential exterior caught our eye:

Mmm, rocky...

We then continued on to the mill and, thanks to a handy bit of prior fence vandalism (not by us I hasten to add), we were able to make our way onto the factory grounds.

With Vern for scale

Unfortunately, though it would make an ideal setting for a 'Last Of Us' fan film as Vern said with a scheming look in his eyes, it was a little too far out and, frankly, a bit unsafe for the admittedly-minor-but-still-a-stunt stunt we have in mind for the sequence we were planning here. That IS the point of Scouting a Location though, figuring out suitability and viability. Having decided that we headed back to H&H HQ. The short way this time, where we happened across another potential spot for the close-up shots in the sequence, which Vern modeled in this test photograph.

Laaadies.

The spot documented, we continued on our merry way ducking into the Dean Clough complex itself for a nosey as we wandered back. Where we passed a familiar location. A dilapidated but still in use building that featured in one of our Series 1 'Previously' segments. No pictures here I'm afraid, as they might be [SPOILERS]. Let's just say we found a way to do our admittedly-minor-but-still-a-stunt stunt with an exponentially smaller risk to m'colleagues life and limb than a t'other mill. 
We also got into an odd and rather fascinating conversation with two of the Dean Clough maintenance men who work out of that building. Tall tales of the plethora of wild life and the numerous (& rather bold) criminal activities that have taken place at Dean Clough. Who knew? Well, those guys, obviously. After politely parting ways we found another couple of potential exteriors as we headed back into town.

Mmm, dynamic angle...

Everything location-wise pretty much sorted, it was time to hit H&H HQ again for a refreshing cuppa. Making sure to take copious notes too, so we don't forget what we need to do next. First of which was a bit of Prop hunting so, cuppaly refreshed, I set off on a pound shop trawl.
Now I got lucky with the first couple of items I wanted, thanks to a quick trip to Huddersfield. But thar be [SPOILERS]. Sadly, despite it being 'Talk Like A Pirate' Day I returned home lacking a particular bit of Booty. Good job I don't give up so easily. Today I did a discount shop hunt a little closer to home and found exactly what we needed, thanks to The Range:

TREASURE, ME HEARTIES!!!

Now all we need is, well, everything else we have to get together for the shoot. No rest for the Wicked. Wicked Cool, that is.

TTFN

Christopher Haigh

On Location, Old Cock

Welcome back, Acting Fans, yep, it's that time again - Wednesday blog post, so lets get down to this. As you know (Well, you should if you read Fridays blog) we went out and did some filming on Friday night.

Yeah, I know - shock! We went out to our super secret location, that I can now reveal as The Old Cock pub in Halifax, to film an opening for the summer special. (Coming your way soon.) And it was a roaring success, yes folks, we braved the hot humid weather, got into our costume and got down to it (the Filming, that is). We got in early to avoid a very busy pub (and the sort of folks who would make it busy on a Friday night). I must say a big to the landlady Dee for allowing the three of us to film and to DJ Nick whose assistance was invaluable.

Location, location, location

And, yes, I did say three of us - it wouldn't have been possible without our DP Simon Shaw who was on hand to set off camera one and man the second hand-held camera. Yep, we used two cameras on this shoot our regular Lumix set up on a tripod, and Chris' Dad's camera because we wanted to get two different shot options and have the choice to either go with an hand-held shaky shot that looked like it's been filmed by a bystander, a static higher quality shot as we usually use or possibly both to intercut between. It's all about choice.

We got the shoot out and I've viewed the footage at home, er, I mean H&H HQ and it does indeed look very good in fact, dare I say it, awesome and in true H&H-style it was done in a single take and then we were out of there! Mainly because we didn't want our equipment around a busy Pub, especially on a Friday night. Chris tried to tempt me and Simon into a full night out but I had work in the morning as did Simon with his demanding day job as proprietor of Legacy Comics! So not much actors' drunken debauchery happened, after all we do still have a Summer Special and Episode 6 to get done!

Well that's your lot for today more on Friday!

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

 

The Game's Afoot

Welcome back, fellow bloggers and Acting Fans, yep, you gets it - its Wednesday so here comes your Blog! Well, I am please to announced that this time we have some stuff to actually blog about on the status of H&H. I know, shocking! I hope you're all sat down. Yes? So we shall begin...

PhotoⒸ: Matt Birdsall Photography

Yessir, me and Chris had a meet up (Yes, we actually did it - in person and everything! No 21st Century textual interfacing, nope, just two actual faces) last night at H&H HQ and, well, Chris was armed with good ideas for things to do while we struggle to get Episode 6 sorted out. We are going to start planning out a Summer Special (well, we hope we can get one done before we lose the sunny weather!) and we talked a bit more (and laughed) about a new YouTube channel trailer for H&H. In fact we even actually managed to bash out a first draft, yep, we did and it flowed. (Yeah! Go us!) We even came up with a premise that might explain something of just a little bit of our characters' mysterious past, well, maybe. Possibly. Okay, don't hold me to that.

We even worked out we could give a taste of the series so far in the channel trailer with some clips and which clips we could use in the trailer as well. We even did a few line runs too to get a feel for it. Oooh, what else? Oh, I know - we even went over some of the earlier things that we wrote and found a nice little sequence that is now going to used as a short - now we've changed a few lines after we did line run through of that too.

And don't worry folks, we haven't forgotten about the episode 6 of series one. We did have a chat about that and got some possible alternative ideas for filming that too, in case we need to use them to get it done.

Lastly we discussed something secret. Oh, no , I couldn't possibly tell you what it is at all. At all at all. After all, what is a blog post from my good self worth if there isn't at least a bit of a tease, HA HA HAAAAH! So I think all in all we had a very productive evening, well in-between the laughing and both of trying to compose ourselves so we could continue and get it written down.

Well, that's it for now folks, more on Friday and there WILL be more to report, oh yes!

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

 

Vern the Hunter

...and Gatherer

Welcome back, Acting Fans and fellow bloggers, yep it’s Wednesday again and time for Blog! Right, let’s get down to it first: the boring bit out of the way, and it's one for all you camera nuts and geeks out there. Technical specifications! After last Tuesdays test shoot to find out which of the ISO’s to use we have settled on using 1600/800 depending on when & where we are shooting so the footage should all match up.

Now on to something hopefully a bit more fun, we (me and Chris of course) once again had one of our weekly meet ups to sort out some things, and the first was to talk about some scheduling for some filming (Yep, you read that right)! We want to start filming again soon, kicking off with some of the scenes with just Harcourt & Haigh in, with the idea that getting something in the can will help give us a bit more impetus to get the ball rolling.

We then once again needed to hunt down and gather a few supplies for some of the props that are going to use, we needed something like some sort of a sponge and some felt. After looking around some shops Chris could not find the type of sponge that he wanted (he can be quite picky, when he knows what he wants - even if the thing he wants might not exist outside of his head. He can be stubborn about his ideas) but while we hunted around in our local Range (Range and Pound Shops have been a godsend for us here at H&H Productions) I spotted something else entirely which I pointed out to him. I'd seen these polystyrene hearts:

It turned out that when cut in half they will work for what Chris wanted the sponge for, even better than the sponge that might not exist that he was thinking about! It turns out I'm so good I can find things I don't even know I'm looking for! And what exactly IS it that he needed them for, and why the hearts? Well I'm afraid I can’t tell you that just now, but you will soon find out. Heh heh.

Well, I think that’s it for now people of the world. So am signing off for now and I’ll see you on the
other side (of the week, that is) well maybe.

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

 

I Am The Night!

Welcome back, fellow bloggers and Acting Fans, yep, it’s Wednesday again and it’s time for another blog post update. So let’s get down to it!

As we said in last Fridays blog post, we went out on Sunday night to do some test shots for the light levels at nights effect on the camera, and on our lead character costumes (as they are mainly all black) we did in fact have a very successful shoot. We filmed in a couple of the locations that we are going to use and found a couple more on our travels. We even managed to get some of the shots blocked and storyboarded in stills (Yep, we actually remembered that we can also take photos), we also got in a test for a long tracking shot I have an idea for but that’s definitely going to need a bit more work. There was one thing that we did forget to do though and that was write down the different ISO settings that we used on some of the shots. This indicates the sensitivity of the image sensor to the light let into the camera through the lens.

With this in mind, after we looked over the shots, I once again ventured out into the night last night armed with the camera AND pen and paper to find out what is the best ISO to use and I got it, yay!!! Me, myself and Chris also had a small shopping trip too earlier in the day yesterday to find and pick up a few of the much need things to finish off some of the additional props for this episode - about which I'm sorry that we cannot talk about just yet. Ooh, go on then! Yep, it is to finish off some additional puppets and another of the gangs. So it has been an very eventfully week so far and, well, I think that’s about it for now so I’m guessing I’ll see you Friday then.

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

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

 

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

Please Allow Us To Introduce Ourselves...

Welcome back, Acting Fans and fellow bloggers to this weeks Wednesday blog post - let me tell you what’s been happening since Chris found out about getting some free foam.

We have been filming again, yep, you read that right actual filming. Alas we haven’t starting to film the last episode just yet (although we hope to start soon). Nope, Acting Fans, we have been filming an introduction to 'Behind The Acting' episode 3, yes, we're putting up another behind the scenes video to tide over while Episode 6 of the series is still in production. Now this is other bit of filming that we have been doing is not the Top Secret bit, oh no, that I STILL can’t say any more about. Shush.

Today we'll be doing a little more filming for another 'Behind the Acting' episode this one is a rather special one I've been wanting to film for a while as it is all about the props of 'Harcourt & Haigh: Actors at Large' and used throughout the series thus far, including some we built ourselves especially. I've been itching to let you know a bit about the stories and ideas behind our choices, so that's exactly what we're gonna do.

FreeFoam!

 Oh, I almost forgot m'learned colleague Chris did in fact get around to getting himself over to the Windsor Beds & Upholstery company (after a timely reminder from me, his mind's still a bit blown from seeing Cloud Atlas) and, thanks to Rick and the guys there, has got us a big bag full of the stuff so the puppet can move head and be built. Yay! One more cast member got for the last episode! We're still on the hunt for some warmer (and less foamy) bodies for the last episode, we haven't had any replies from the Amateur Dramatics societies we've contacted so far but fingers crossed!

Well, that’s it for now acting fans so it’s good night for him and it’s good night from me.

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

Warm Bodies

Belated Gung Hay Fat Choy, Acting Fans! We do hope the New Year of the Water Snake is treating you well and also commiserations to those of you who got 'Ralph'ed yesterday on Valentine's Day.

Just try to remember it's all a ploy by the cards and chocolate industry to boost sales during the long stretch to Easter! (Why, yes, I am cynical...yes, and single, why do you ask?) Or you could get a bit of your Romance quota from elsewhere. Which, thanks to a friend of mine, I did. Knowing I was at a loose end, my Bud invited me along to a showing of the new ZomRomCom 'Warm Bodies'.

Skinny little Marcus. He Grew Up. He Filled Out

And seeing as how they don't come around so often I thought I'd give it a go, even though the same producers brought us the *shudder* 'Twilight' films. Though it's not a patch on the first, it certainly warmed my cockles and had a few laugh out loud moments, some of them being a nicely wry turn on the soundtrack. So be sure to check it out if you fancy a fun film with a touch of black humour.
'Enough of this seasonal frivolity,' I might hear you say if this a) wasn't a blog article but a conversation and b) you have a particularly archaic speech pattern. 'What about an update on H&H productions, isn't that what this blog is supposed to be about?'
Well, as it turns out, 'Warm Bodies' is a pretty good segue - you see 'warm bodies' are exactly what Vern and I lack. Now hang on, hang on, PLEASE don't run away screaming from your computer/internet enabled device! It's not like that, not at all. We have NOT been turned into Zombies. ("Rurgh." "Shhh!")
No, sorry, what I meant to say is that we lack ADDITIONAL warm bodies ("Braaaaaaaaaains!" "Shush, Vernon!"). That is our search for additional Cheap-as-free actors has, so far, not been very effective. I've managed to get a one or two potential extra 'extras' from friends as far afield as Greater Manchester but we could still do with more. Failing that we may have to go with the Ultra Top Secret Emergency Backup Plan.
So besides casting our net wider in the attempt to bag us a shoal of actors, Vern will be taking time over the next couple of days to plan out some shoots that we can do regardless of the still-somewhat-changeable-weather. That is we have at least a couple more 'Behind The Acting' episodes to finish off to tide you over until we can get Episode 6 done.

That's it for this week, folks, so it's goodbye from me and it's a "Huuuuuuuuunnnngry!" from him,
(Now will you PLEASE stop chewing my elbow, Vern, I'm trying to finish typing!)

TTFN

Christopher Haigh

The Kindness Of Strangers

Welcome back, Acting Fans, once again it's the Wednesday blog post, so let’s get down to it. Since last Friday we have finalised the shooting script for the next episode and yesterday (Tuesday 28th Aug 2012) Chris dragged me out on another location scouting (Yep, I didn't learn from last time).
This time to find a pub that, it turns out, actually does, you know, exist! Travelling to place where I’ve never been before. Where was it I hear you ask? (I do hear you, I'm not crazy - I’ve been tested.) Well, it is the 'Cat I' th Well' pub, 15 minutes out of Halifax by bus, up in the sticks of Wainstalls. Oh, and what an adventure we had!

Sometimes you might wonder why you stay in Halifax, then you remember THIS is a quarter of an hour away

First, it turned out we'd gotten off of bit too far by stopping at the end of the line, and so we had to walk back down the road to the Crossroads Inn, which we found out after politely asking the bus driver where it was (yes, yes, we'd both totally forgotten to Google Map it). As we went on our merry way back down the looong road, the bus set off on it's return leg to town when, instead of just passing by, it pulled up next to us. The bus driver who had taken us up there offered us a free ride back to the Crossroads Inn and gave us directions from the bus stop there (What a lovely bloke, never underestimate the power of politeness, kids)! Then from the Crossroads we started the looong walk down the road to the pub and it was indeed a loooong way down.

Master of All He Surveys - apart from all the stuff he isn't the Master of

On the way down saw why indeed Yorkshire is often called God's Own County - just absolute stunning scenery. But, about half-way down the hill, a mild panic set in. Were we going the right way? Are we lost? What will happens to us out in the middle of nowhere, so far from civilisation (and booze)? Well, Acting Fans, in true actor’s fashion we marched merrily on (as The Show must) and, lo and behold, around the next corner, nestled behind a small wood of trees, was the pub we had been looking for the 'Cat I' th Well'. Hurrah!!!

So, after nipping in for a quick drink, we set about planning shots and taking photos for a visual storyboard, even though we did forget to bring our actual camera along, you know - the one that can take actually good photos, that one that we film with and shoots the correct aspect ratio and everything (Gah!). Instead we had to use Chris's phone camera. With all that done, we then started the perilous long walk back up the hill. Oh boy, that really did put us out of breath but we marched on ever more - onwards and upwards.

Though leaving wasn't easy - Good job the pub is closed between 3 & 5 on a weekday

When we arrived at the top of the hill we had just missed the bus back down (Damn it) and the next one would be almost a half hour! So we took up seats on a picnic tables benches by the Crossroads Inn car park. As it happened a bloke, who we later find out was called Charles and from South London, was moving some stuff into the pub for his mom after a family bereavement.
We offered to help him as the good honest chaps we are but Charles initially politely refused our offer. When he lost a couple of big books from the huge pile of things he was carrying, whilst struggling with the front door, he needed some extra hands, which we provided. As we were waiting for the bus to turn up Charles offered us lift back down into town as he was heading to the funeral directors at King Cross. What a(nother) lovely bloke (I mean, we could have been anyone)!
So, if anything, we did indeed prove that there IS such a thing as a Free Ride, in fact we got TWO!

And I saved pound too - a whole POOOUND, all in all it was a successful day and a grand one too.

Well, that’s it for now and, as always keep, the home fires burning until next time,

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

K.B.O.!

Welcome back, Acting Fans, and a fine Wednesday to you all! 

The good news is that H&H HQ is so far unaffected by the torrential rain here Oop North, thanks to our respective elevation - though our thoughts go out to those less fortunate. We're still on with the production of the next episode, runnin' up that hill (or in our case around that flat like a pair of goons). Despite a lot of said running around, a number of thrown objects and some half-assed stagefighting we are happy that we can announce:

Yes, on today's shoot neither Vern nor I have managed to injure ourselves and all in all the takes are going pretty smoothly. We do need to tighten up on the organisation front, as we forgot a couple of minor details, but we were able to film around our deficiencies and will be picking up the shots that required said missing items next time.

The end of the today's shoot leaves us with a good chunk of the episode filmed now with only minor pick ups and a possible optional additional external scene to go. Fingers crossed, after the next shoot, we'll have a first completed episode of the series proper in the can. Then we only have to go and film the rest of them, eep!

TTFN

Christopher Haigh

The Actors Have Landed

The Pilot is here.

"This is gonna take crackerjack timing, H. Let's blow this scene. Get everybody and the stuff together. Ok? Three,two,one..."

Hello, acting fans, and welcome back to the Blog. As once said by the great Orson Welles “Films are not finished, they escape” which is true of what we have in store for you today. This one got away.

Let’s get straight to it; it is a BIG day here at the H&H production, yes ,the pilot episode is up and alive. Alive I tell you, ALIIIIIVE!!
It’s been a long hard road, path, hill. dale, and river, oh, and lake. Through clouds both physical and metaphorical (flippin' Yorkshire weather). Wow, I mean it’s been two years (well, about that) from conception to getting this done but the first fruits of our labour has paid off, dropping straight off that tree and we have the first full episode! The Pilot has landed! Oh yeah, Groovy.

We do spoil you lot but don’t worry we are busy working on the rest of the episodes and they will be following shortly.

Me, myself and my co-creator and co-actor Christopher Haigh, really do all sincerely hope that you enjoy the Premiere Episode of 'Harcourt & Haigh: Actors at Large', and that you find it funny.
If you do indeed find yourself laughing at least one sock even half off then please feel free to post it, send it, show it to any one you think will like it. Tell all (and maybe even sundry) about it and then get them to do the same. Ppppplease, pretty please actors cannot live on bread alone - we need booze too, and Views, Lots of Views!
Post it to anywhere that you think other people will like it. Heck, shout about it from the hilltops if you like, with a BIG Thank you from us, H&H ourselves.

Well, that’s our Blog for now until the next time sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires
burning. And if we’re not back next Wednesday…………. Well, erm, call us on it.

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

We Have A Winnah!

We are back in business!
Hello, Acting Fans, it’s Friday and time, once again, for a new blog/update of the ongoing events at H&H productions HQ.
What’s happened since we last spoke (um, I mean read or is it mebbe wrote)? After much debate, lots of on and offline research, juggling of finances, begging, scraping, scrabbling, scouring the pockets of our spare trousers and looking down the back of the sofa, we have got some additional fundage together and at last decided on the camera that we are getting, and gone and got it!

 
It's the Panasonic Lumix FZ150 and should be on it’s merry way to the H&H offices soon, Amazon be praised. We did some research on it and it seemed the best camera for us (at an affordable price for our Lo-to-No Budget) and it does everything that we want it to and, maybe (fings crossed), a little bit more too. It may not be the Canon 550D we had our hearts set on but with the Lumix we don't have to settle for a reconditioned unit to keep the cost down, we can invest in a spanking new camera with warranty, and it's ours - ALL OURS! MWAH HA HA HA *Ahem* Even though it's not a DSLR like the Canon (it's what you might call a high-end bridge camera) it produces the quality of video image we require and it has an external mic socket (the only camera in it's price range we've found that does) as well as it's own stereo mic. We just had to get a 2.5mm-to-3.5mm jack adapter for the external mic socket so we will be able to connect our own external mic up to it, and it is done! So, Groovy, the series can once again commence onwards.

TTF…..

But, wait, wait, wait - hold on! There's more to come here……We are starting our official count down to SOMETHING BIG as of…oooof…ooooof…ooooooooooof…
NOW! Yes, we do in fact spoil you but this time it really is BIG, and when I say big I mean BIG. Bigger than any mere Promo or Trailer  - So what is it? I hear you cry, well, well, my dear, darling Acting Fans there will be more on that later.


Oooh, I am SUCH a tease.

Until next time keep the home fires burning and we’ll be back!

TTFN

Vernon Harcourt

The Look

The Original Colossal Acting Talent

The Photo That Started It All

Welcome to the ‘HARCOURT & HAIGH: Actors At Large’ production blog, it’s all about the Booze, the High Adventure, the Violence…..Oh, and the acting. Erm, Sorry, I mean the ACTING! (*Holds hand up to the sky in dramatic gesture*)

So what exactly is HARCOURT & HAIGH?

Well, it’s an upcoming web-based comedy show about two drunk out-of-work actors who are trying to find that breakout job, or to just survive on a day to day basis and to keep themselves topped up with booze by any means necessary.

Trust me, you wouldn’t like them when they’re sober. 

But I’m getting ahead of my self, sorry, I do that. I am Vernon Harcourt, one half of the actors, writers, directors and co-creators of what will be ‘HARCOURT & HAIGH: Actors At Large’. Hi there. That's me on the left below.

My partner in crime is Christopher Haigh and it all started with this picture:

The whole idea for the series comes from a trip over to the Marsden Jazz Festival (at which we skillfully managed to avoid any Jazz) along with great photographer and buddy of ours, Matt Birdsall.

With a lack of very attractive people Matt was willing to settle for using the two of us for some shots and took the photo above of myself and Chris stood back to back.

Something about it got me thinking and from that pose the idea for the show grew, it also inspired the name of the show.

It was a few months later and on a drunken night out (What can I say? We’re Method) that I explained my premise of a Web-based series of comedy shorts to Chris and we fleshed out the characters and the idea in more detail - thus Harcourt & Haigh were born (So to speak).

Not being averse to media domination, we also entered a TV sitcom length pilot episode script in the BBC Writersroom 2010 competition.

Alas the BBC judges, Hm, lets just say we don’t know what they said...but they were wrong.

No, I really don’t want to dwell - I just think that they didn’t get it, or maybe it was just TOO funny for them. I mean ‘Two Pints Of Lager and A Packet of Crisps’? Need I say, er, write more?
What to do? Roll up our sleeves and get on with it. In the words of the late great Freddie Mercury "The Show must go on!" 

Now let’s fast forward to….actually, now and, a lot more of conversations later, we are at the stage of starting it up - we have some test shots for the costumes (courtesy of Matt),  a trailer in post and a long and interesting (metaphorical) road in front of us. So stay tuned for updates on the process of Harcourt & Haigh moving from our Brains to a screen near you!

 You all come back now. 

Vernon Harcourt