After a lazy, sit at computer, slouch half watching television kind of Saturday, today I've had a much more enjoyable day.
Despite the lingering fear and resentment about having to go to work tomorrow. It's been a great day.
I went to Steve's to do some filming for 'The Adventures of Stephen Brown'. It's the first time in about a month or two that I've been in any filming. Although I always nearly talk myself out of going, or get wound up about leaving the flat, I feel that it's worth while. I get to act again, and to spend some time with people.
After the filming was done, I played my quarter final match in the Beacon Pool tournament. This is the first time I have every gotten this far in the competition. I enter for fun every year, not expecting to do very well at all. Mostly I am not surprised or disappointed. I didn't win, however I had fun.
As it was a glorious day, and we'd spent five hours in a very, very, very hot studio, we played the pool match in the open air, in the sunshine. It was rather lovely.
It being early enough that I didn't have to rush off home, Steve and I then went to the Village Inn to grab a drink or two and to get some food.
And some food we did get. Having been salivating for the last hour about a beef burger, we both decided to make the best of a roast dinner that someone else has to cook, and we don't have to clear up after. It was gorgeous. Mixed roast, beef and half a chicken. Very nice in deed.
We also did some planning for the final episode of 'The Adventures of Stephen Brown'. Spoilers kids. Spoilers.
A good Sunday indeed. Just to balance all the niceness, the cats left me two piles of sick to return to.
Third, or is it forth, week started with the 'new' team. Not so really new anymore I guess.
I am working harder, and up and down a lot more. But I am loving it. Anything is so much easier when the people I help are a lot easier to help. Something about the eagerness, and willingness to learn.
It's just nice knowing that I can really make a difference to their day, just be being there, and by imparting knowledge and showing them how many things ARE possible, when initially they might think they aren't.
I had Chloe to stay overnight at the weekend, and she brought one of her friends, Ella for a sleepover. Having worked till 2pm on Saturday, and them arriving at 5pm, and leaving around the same time Sunday, I didn't really get that much of a weekend. Although I'm trying hard to make that not sound like I'm complaining.
I consider it a nice thing, that Chloe wants to invite friends to stay over here. The mess and chaos however isn't really from Chloe's friends though. It's normally from Chloe. Perhaps her Mother has either stronger levels of tolerance or thinly veiled insanity to be able to cope with that. Being a teenager, I guess it's pretty much Chloe's job to bring chaos, disorder and destruction to wherever she goes. At least I don't really have to deal with the moody sulking stamping of feet and slamming of doors that punctuated my teenage years.
Tomorrow is the last filming day of 'Prime Directive'. I can't quite believe it. Seems to have dragged on for so long, and just well, become part of my life that I think once it's gone I will actually miss it. Just the pain of making sure that I leave work on time in order to get a train home, eat, change, feed the cats, and to catch another train up to Steve's. I find that quite stressful in itself.
The bemoaning whilst it's in progress, and then missing once it's all over is vaguely similar to how it used to feel producing a play.
My friend Kat is leaving the place we both work at. She's got another job somewhere else. This is rather sad, as I don't really want to see her leave, but I do also understand and believe that maybe she will feel better if working in a different place. She'll get a chance to do something different. Not everyone is cut out to do the same thing, or work in the same place. It would be a terribly boring world if that were the case. She's also going on holiday in a couple of weeks time, which means she effectively leaves in two weeks.
In a week's time, I'm having a second go at meeting up with Helen for lunch, and to do some filming with my friends. Hopefully this will go ahead. Bearing in mind that last week's attempt at this failed because Helen ended up needing to stay at home doing some work, and the only people that could turn up were Andy and Paul. We abandoned the filming, and just ordered pizza.
Just for the sake of saying it, I haven't done any writing lately. Too much working, too much gazing at the telly. Words may lead to actions, but they are not actions in themselves.
Another weekend where I feel that I haven't achieved as much as I have wanted. I've managed to get a review written for Steve, for Beacon's club magazine. Really actually enjoyed the episodes that I'd needed to watch for it, and was also pleased that Chloe had one again decided to take part in it, although she did this from home.
I had agreed with Chloe for her not to come up this Sunday, because I've been on Standby. I'd swapped the standby weekend with a colleague as they'd wanted this weekend off. As it would happen, I haven't been called out at all. I hate it when that happens. I mean, sure I still get paid for being on standby, but when there's no calls at all I worry that I got the wrong weekend. If I have I'm going to be a bit pissed off that I've turned down going to the pub with Kat and Rob on Friday night, and going to a house party on Saturday night.
I've also had an alcohol free weekend, and not seen Chloe. I figured in the end that it was best for her to decide if she wanted to come up or not. There was a chance that even while she was on her way up here, that I would get called in. Even if she'd gotten here, I'd needed to have made arrangements for her still to have a decent meal, bearing in mind that I couldn't guarantee that I would be around long enough to cook a roast.
Before I left on Friday, Hayley gave me some positive feedback, things that others had said, and that she had observed herself about how I've dealt with this week. It's been another hard week, and it's good to hear these things because, when all's said and done, it's not going to get any easier until about April. Winter is always chaos for us, just dealing with the sheer increase in number of people calling us. It's odd, but it usually feels like winter surprises us every year, that we didn't see it coming. I think those that have been there some time get used to, or more precisely resigned to the fact that business as normal between September and March is a shit storm of a drain in organisational and emotional work loads.
I think this may be why some people seem so subdued at present. There's no light at the end of the tunnel, just some bastard with a torch bringing me more work.
But survive it we will. When we come out the other side, we'll sit and reflect on all the things that we've achieved over that time, and how amazed we are that we have done so much in such times, and how much stronger we are as a result.
Determination, strength through adversity. I do quietly promise to myself each year that this will be the last year that I work through winter in my current role. Of course, nothing ever comes of this self promise. Although I don't want to escape this year. I do feel more confident, able and supported. Although I would like to branch out into other areas, I am not desperate to leave the area of the business I work in.
I've done lots of things lately, and over the year that I think is getting me noticed in the right way, by the right people. I've also been involved in getting things done in areas where some sort of different task is needed. I'm finally getting to problem solve things, and that I like. I like being able to take something that someone else says is a big problem, break it down, and make it work. The thing that's a strength for me in doing that this year versus previous years that I might have attempted such things, is that I've been able to do that and train and lead my team to carry out that work. It's not just a case of me being the only one that knows how it works.
Okay, so I messed that up. I thought it was tonight that the guys from Beacon, including my near estranged friend Helen were coming over. I was wrong. Not for the first time lately, I got the wrong week.
Oh well. Glad that I call Stephen and checked when I got home. The conversation went something like...
Me '.... so Steve, when are you guys thinking of getting here for the filming...'
Steve ' Errr. Next Tuesday. Like I said in my email.'
Me 'Bollox'.
I have not heard anything from my temperamental teenage daughter. Nothing since the outbursts / chaos of the weekend. At least I know she is alive and well. Well enough to be posting things of facebook at any rate.
Having suddenly found my evening a lot more empty than I had expected, I finally pried my sorry ass off the sofa around 21:34 to have a crack at the editing I have promised to do for Steve. I was just getting into my stride, trying to find all the files concerned, chose between doing the edit (or at least initially) in iMovie or in Final Cut Express, when the batteries in my 'magic mouse' announced that they were about to die.
Not that fucking magical of them then.
I took this as a foretelling that it was time to give up, pack up, and go to bed. By go to bed, I mean get into bed, and write a blog entry (this one) on my Chromebook.
The shenanigans with meetings and stuff at work meant I could not keep to my normal routine of going to lunch at 1pm. This meant that I didn't get to share it with my friend, which I find sad, as it certainly gives the day a nice break and she provides a nice distraction.
It was hardly any surprise that after that sort of day, that my exit from the building was executed with expediency.
Tomorrow Steve is coming over to do some filming at the flat. This is filming for the 'Doorstops', series. One of the people coming over to do this is my friend Helen. The one that I haven't seen in about six months.
It's been sad that our relationship as friends has suffered over the past year, but there have been several things brewing along to contribute to that. Some things I guess will seem in the light of day to be rather pathetic.
People that stay in your life stay in it for a reason. She and I have been friends for over twenty years and it would be a shame really to lose her as a friend, although I am aware that people grow and change and that things don't stay the same. Things move on. People move on.
I also need this week to get started on the editing for Steve that I have volunteered to do. This, like everything else will be harder to start than it will be to actually do. Just the motivation to not turn on the bloody TV of an evening and crack an hour or two's work on the footage he's sent me.
There was a plan this weekend for me to have Chloe to stay overnight an extra weekend. This was so that her Mother could go out for the evening. Always keen to spend more time with her, I agreed to cancel my plans for the evening and have her to stay. It's hardly a chore, and Chloe's mum deserves a night out.
The other week Chloe'd also mentioned that she'd like to have some curry, my Mum and Dad had suggested that we order some take-away and let Chloe try different types of curry. Chloe seemed really up for this.
I left work on Saturday, did some shopping. Aware that Chloe had already had a disagreement with her Mum because she had wanted to cycle all the way up to mine on her own. We'd reasoned that this wasn't particularly a good idea. She's never cycled that far on her own, and actually hasn't cycled from home to my flat at any point. It's also been a couple of years since the last time she cycled the route to my old flat (which is just down the road) - and we did that together.
After finishing work, I'd considered that one option was for her to take the bike to the train station, and meet up with me as normal. This seemed to get lost as a viable option. I'd also gone to Halfords and had a look at bikes. I've really missed having a bike this year, and although I don't need to cycle to work any more, I would really like to have one to make getting about easier, and just for the joy of it. I went into Halfords, having a look at what bikes they had. I thought that perhaps I could kill two birds with one stone. A solution being that I bought a bike, and met Chloe at some point and we cycled together back to my flat.
All of this consideration, and arrangement, the pleasant prospect of a nice family curry went for nought when I received a rather terse and dismissive text from her saying that she wasn't coming to mine and that she was staying at home. She'd decided that with it being the last weekend of the summer holidays she wanted to spend Saturday evening at home. Personally I think it had more to do with her being pissed that her Mother and I had organised between ourselves for her to stay over an extra night at mine, and that she couldn't come here in the method that she wanted to. The other possibility being that she wanted to 'punish' her mother some how for wanting to go out and have a nice evening out for a change.
As I'd gone shopping after work, I had caught a train straight from Havant, near where I work to Fratton, instead of coming home I'd gone straight into town to meet Chloe for the journey back to mine. Hanging around the train station in the last of the glorious summer sun, reading a book whilst the drama and tantrum played itself out.
Having been stood up by my daughter, I came back home, and went round my Mum and Dad's as arranged. When they didn't answer their front door bell, I assumed that they were perhaps in the garden or something. Having a key I decided to let myself in. This of course meant that I rapidly discovered they had gone out, actually to walk to the train station to meet up with me, and by entering the house had set off their burglar alarm. I was able to call them amongst the screeching of their alarm and find out what I needed to do to shut the bloody thing off.
We decided the abandon the curry idea until another time.
I decided not to heed my own advise to Chloe's mum, which was to not let Chloe's tantrum or 'teenage moment' prevent her from going out. I kept my evening free, in case she changed her mind.
She did not.
In the morning, having been burned by the unnecessary purchase of train tickets for both her and myself, I texted her to make sure which train she was getting. I got no response initially. Eventually I was informed that she would not be coming up to mine today either.
Chloe's fourteen, and old enough to decide if she does or does not want to come and see me. I was however a bit annoyed, to say the least for being mucked around in this way, and being dismissed so rudely.
Not a situation I am going to be able to convey to her by text or telephone. It would just provoke another argument, this time with me. I sent her a message saying I was here if she needed to speak to me. It's not what part of me wanted to say, but I managed to get my head to be the bit of me in charge of the typing.
This left me with a Sunday free. Which I then spent sitting around watching television, going on the internet, doing two lots of washing, watching the Stephen Brown videos we were meant to review and vacuuming the flat. I had food that I'd purchased to make roast dinner for Chloe and I, which otherwise was going to go to waste, so I cooked it anyway, and saved the rest for tomorrow.
Sitting alone in a pub in Swanwick, (The Village Inn) waiting for the rest of the collectively creative talents of Beacon to arrive. Tonight we are looking at how to... well end the current season of 'The Adventures Of Stephen Brown'.
There's some different ideas to talk about, to throw back and forth like the proverbial pinball. Not wishing to spoil things for anyone that actually watches the series, I won't divulge what the suggestions are. That would be wrong.
It's been a fun old day at work. I have though, come away with a feeling that I can do anything if I put my mind into 'can do' gear and do it. I took an escalation from an advisor where this guy wanted us to remove his meter, today. If we didn't, his house sale would fall through, which was also due to complete today - and if that happened he and his son (who was also purchasing a property as a result of this sale) would probably lose the houses that they were buying. All this because of some odd stipulation on the part of the mortgage company used by the person buying their property. We'd tried to find an appointment for him, done some running around, calling different people, and found out that we could go out there on September 9th. This wasn't going to be enough to help him. The guy was getting really desperate on the phone, offering to pay for the job to be done.
Enter.. Resolver Man.
I called some other people, spoke to someone in charge at the depot, and they were able to arrange for an engineer to go round there on the way home.
The customer was over the moon. Ecstatic. He was very thankful, and said he couldn't put into words the relief that we'd given him.
You know, just when you're day is going to shit, just when you think that maybe it's an endless tunnel of slog and hard work and little progress... you get things like this that give you pause to stop and remember. Actually I like what I do. I love helping people. I love making a difference.
Now for some ideas about how to round of a science fiction series......
With the excitement of having purchased my camera and sound recorder this week, I was keen to take a trip up to Steve's to show him what I had got, and to get his opinion on them. We'd talked about my going up to his straight after work on Saturday. I had figured this would mean that I would need to take the equipment to work with me, not something I was keen on.
He'd also mentioned going round the house of one of the members of Beacon, as their parents were away and perhaps getting a take-away. Even though the person concerned is an okay guy I get along with, my usual aversions to going places I don't know, and fears of the thought of being in social situations where I don't know people kicks in. This means that my brain starts thinking of all the reasons why I shouldn't go, and my nervousness takes over - and some of my routine based habits start. (That comment may never make sense).
Anyway, as it happened, I left work late, at around two-thirty, and decided to go home and get some lunch (and the equipment) before heading off to Steve's. Normally on a weekday I get a lift to and from work, on a Saturday I am not so fortunate.
After nipping in to Tesco in Havant on the way to the bus station (I needed to buy replacement shorts for the ones that I'd ruined the day before, spilling bleach on them whilst cleaning the kitchen and en-suite), and then coming home, making and eating some lunch and sitting down it was nearly half past four. I actually thought this wasn't such bad time, all things considered. (It's about a twenty minute walk from where I work to the bus station, and that's without the spend-detour).
Eventually, I managed to make it to Steve's just before six pm. He, Chris and Stuart (the guys that lodge with him) were impressed and approved the choices.
We got some fish and chips to eat round his and then went on to the other guy's home. It was a nice gentle couple hours to be honest. Not really the party I was fearful of. There was this guy there, that I am sure I have met before, but I just felt like I got along with rather well. I have to say that I think I was a bit flirty. This was commented upon by Stuart. He was very cute. Ho hum. In the car on the way back to the train station, I voiced my opinion, in probably a way that I don't normally, was rather free-er with how I felt than usual.
Steve leant me a box set of old Dr Who episodes. These were the last Tom Baker stories, 'The Keeper Of Traken' and 'Logopolis', and the first Peter Davison adventure 'Castrovala'. It's amazing that some thirty years after these stories were made and first aired, they do stand the test of time, and although you can tell the differences in effects, and the way things are shot, written and edited between then and now, they are still very enjoyable dramas to watch in their own right. The last time I had seen some of those episodes would have been when I was about ten years old.
There are certainly things that I pick up on in the interplay between the actors, that I would have been too innocent to see when I originally saw them.
Matthew Waterhouse, who played Adric in these episodes, (a companion in Dr Who for about two years - straddling the Tom Baker and Peter Davison era) was my first gay crush. In the story Earthshock, his character died I still remember to this day sitting at the dinner table, finishing my meal, and crying my eyes out because Adric had been killed.
I was so upset, I wrote to the BBC and complained that they had killed him off. I got sent a standard letter as reply, and a signed photograph from Matthew Waterhouse - which to my shame I no longer have.
Plans for the weekend went further astray when my daughter sent me a text to let me know that she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to come up. This was doubly a shame as my Nan was coming up to my Mum's for lunch, and we were going to join them. Also my Auntie, Uncle, cousin - and her two children were due to pop over later on. Sadly this also didn't quite work out as my cousin wasn't up to coming either.
My sister also made an appearance at my Mum's, but without her two sons, one of which who had gone round a friend's house, the other was still in his pyjamas apparently (bearing in mind at this point it was about three pm). He's not even a teenager for another four years, but he's getting the 'can't be bothered laziness' into practice.
It is nice to spend time with my family, although in controllable doses. My Nan stated to me about seven times that it was a shame that my daughter wasn't up to coming for lunch. It's a shame she can't remember that she's told me that so many times, but seems to remember very clearly the sorts of things she reads in the Daily Mail.
Her 'rage' at the state of the country, and how things are going to hell in a hand basket, or that she is fearful for the country and planet we leave for the children of today is one thing. Her repeated insistence that the problem with the country is 'all the immigrants' and how 'they come over here and get money thrown at them'. That's bad enough, but I have filtered some of the other statements. Is it a thing peculiar to old people that turns them into rabid racists ?
Reminding her that her time in hospital would probably not have gone so well if it wasn't for all those 'damn immigrants' working in the NHS, or that there's plenty of English people too bone idle to work, who get far more money than any migrants, didn't seem to change her view, but did at least get her to shut up about it.
I am steeling myself for the day she starts going on about gays. Old people. Bless 'em.
Today, being my day off I did absolutely nothing. I did however aim to get up out of bed for 8am as I was expecting a delivery and I did not want to miss it.
Last night I'd gotten an email which set my excitement building. Later in the evening I got a text message to let me know what time (roughly) it would be arriving. I did not need to get up so early after all.
So, by midday, my new kindle paper-white and a lovely new deep purple case to go with it, arrived. A new era in reading has begun.
I hope to be able to get some money selling on my kindle keyboard, and that is how I'm justifying it to myself.
Filming tomorrow. Another night getting some pages done on Prime Directive. A trip to Locks Heath it is for me then. I'm considering going straight there from work, as otherwise I only get home and have to leave again to go get the train.
Tomorrow, all being well, will be the first time Sarah has been able to attend filming. Sadly due to her hurting her foot, and to the silly hours she's having to work at the moment she hasn't been to the other filming nights.
Anyway. Sorry, I'm not sitting here making more blog entry, I have a book to read on my kindle. (Which in case you wondered is Dominion, by C J Sansom)
Devon
Calling is this month's review, a story filmed partly on location in
Devon, and written by Chris Wilkes and myself. I have noticed that
the camera styles in the 9th Man are more fluid and inventive than
those in the Adventures of Stephen Brown episodes that I review.
Interesting when you realise that the camera is being handled and
directed by pretty much the same people in both series. There's a lot
more location work in the former, and this affords more freedom of
movement.
This
story kicks off with Jameson arriving in Devon, something I'm not
sure we get the purpose of in the teaser sequence. There's lots going
on out and about in Devon, and the weather is really good to the cast
and crew, it makes me want to hop on a train and go on holiday.
I
hadn't realised until now that the caravan park where Jameson is
staying is actually the very same one I stayed at on my honeymoon.
(when I say 'I', I wasn't alone). In fact the description of the
meeting place for the drugs handover of 'on the beach, in front of
the green cafe' is a reference to the green beachfront cafe (I
believe it's called Chapples) on Beer beach - which makes an
appearance in the background shot while Stephanie Fielon and Stewart
James figure out what to do with their ill gotten gains. Small world
eh ?
One
thing that did strike both Chris and myself when we were writing this
story (much pacing, role playing and tea at my semi subterranean flat
in Cosham) is that there's an awful lot of time spent on the phone -
hence the title. Perfectly normal thing, but doesn't necessarily make
for good viewing. Most of the phone calls cut back and forth to show
the person talking, which may be a choice of the editor, however does
work better at the end of the episode one, when we stay on Jameson's
reaction and hear the other side of the conversation as an overlay.
This contributes, it has to be said to a very well executed end to
the first episode. The picking up of Jameson's face in the reflection
of 'Dealer's sunglasses a really nice touch (where do we get these
names from).
I'm
sure there's something you can do on youtube to get it to autoplay
your next video after one has finished. Perhaps one of our resident
webmasters can point us in the direction of which button to click,
and where, as moving seamlessly to the next episode will make for a
more enjoyable viewing experience.
The
believability of the action and the sound effect of our fight scenes
is something again that doesn't quite gel for me. Sound effects when
hitting things, and the choreographing of hitting people (without
actually doing so) is something we do have a weakness for. Having
said that, the sounds are not over used in this story, as in previous
things we've done, so it doesn't enter into slapstick territory (or
looking like a recreation of a scene from heavily dubbed 1970s series
'Monkey').
Episode
two's scene in front of the green cafe with Chelsea and Jake
(Stephanie Fielon and Stewart James) we lose a bit of the
conversation because they are standing on shingle, and the sound of
them pacing about on the stones overpowers their voices. There are
ways that could have been compensated for, or dealt with on location,
but hey. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
There's
a couple of things I'm not a fan of, the sound effect for Jameson's
phone ringtone, doesn't sound like a digitisation of an old style
phone ring, it sounds exactly like the ringing of one of those old
rotary telephones I love so much, but as a sound effect - it's too
clean and perfect. The snap zooms into 'Dealer', and the speeding up,
then slowing down during the chase through the streets don't work for
me. Worth trying, but no.
The
chase scene itself, (if you excuse the fact that James Farmer looks
for all the world like he's a middle aged man out for a jog) is a
sequence of really good shots, giving us a flavour of local life in a
rich variety of locations. Running not just down the usual empty
streets we'd normally see in Beacon, but through festivals and
carnivals. Really contributed to the atmosphere.
I'm
not quite sure why Kenny (Alec Harkness) is 'skipping' down the back
streets only to suddenly tell himself off and that he has work to do.
Again some really interestingly shot footage, through the railings as
he walks along, but perhaps the rest of the footage could have been
trimmed somewhat. Maybe he's happy because he's managed to get away
with putting an Apple logo sticker on his Dell laptop. Steve Jobs
would be spinning in his grave, if his ground up remains weren't
being used to finish the case of the upcoming iPhone 5 that is. True.
You read it here first.
When
Jameson catches up with the two ne'er do wells of Devon, he pulls a
gun on them to convince them to give him back the money. This scene
isn't really that plausible, neither the way it's shot, acted or
written give it a chance of working. Having said this, it does in no
way form a blockage in the audience enjoyment. Although I do wonder
if there's any outtakes of Stephanie and James trying to, ahem, make
things stick out of their pockets.
'That
there money see, it belongs to the British tax payer'. Really ? I'm
so sorry guys. Maybe Chris and I were waiting for the kettle to boil
at that point. Mark that down as a shall we ?
There's
some wind (and not from Chris) when shooting outside the warehouse,
something obviously causing a bit of a struggle, as the mic makes a
sneaky appearance, from below no less, in this shot. It has been
a while since Mike appeared in something.
Now
I'm a fan for lighting that throws interesting shadows, these and the
sounds in the warehouse, of Chelsea and Jake recovering the money, I
really like. The 'fridge' shot from inside the case, also good. The
'foley' footsteps of the 'Quake' like gunman's eye view of their
killer don't match his walking pace, and the gunshots of their
execution sound like a snare drum being hit really hard. There's a
great deal more blood from Stephanie, but I think Jake will be okay
as he's only gone and spilt Ribena on his t-shirt. This may be
because he tried to make Launay drink some.
The
camera angles here have pace, and are rather fluid. I think I might
have edited some of the shots a bit tighter, but this may be a
personal preference thing. After all, some like it tighter than
others.
Farmer
entering the warehouse and discovering them murdered is all one shot.
I've never seen us do this before. Jameson's panic, desperation all
really well conveyed by Farmer, and well caught by the cameraman. I
have no idea how many takes this took to get right, but hello was it
worth it ! The siren sound effect adding to the tension here as the
episode draws to a close. That's the second very well executed end of
episode cliff hanger in this story. Something we often blow, but in
this story has been done brilliantly. In the original script a
further twist added here was that Jameson was to find his tag in the
warehouse with the bodies. Over complications and the desire to add
more twists than a bag of pasta is something I'd readily criticise in
other scripts. Whoever's decision it was to remove this unnecessary
element, good call.
Jameson's
escape from the warehouse, leads to him nearly being run over by the
escaping murdered of the two Devon scallywags. The only thing I wish
had been included here, would have been a way to throw some blue
flashing light onto the outside of the building, to go with the
siren.
The
'Devon Air' radio spot on the car radio was brilliant, I'm sure I
recognise that voice..... It was nicely shot to hide the driver of
the car, unless you can identify them from their knees. Another
really good ending, with Jameson being left by the roadside, the
patience of the driver finally exhausted waiting for his hitchiker to
finish making another call.
Is
it me, or does the sound of someone breathing on the footage of Reet
(played by my good self) having been strangled make it sound like I'm
just taking a nap ? I look surprising peaceful for someone who's been
murdered most horribly. Strangled with a stretch of ethernet cable.
Always thought the internet would be the death of me.
Despite
being part of the writing partnership that wrote this story, I really
enjoyed watching it. It has to be said that's not the emotion I'm
normally left with when watching back anything I've had a hand in
creating. Always making a further edit in my head. Not the first time
I've felt like this from something Chris and I have worked on
together, for me that creative partnership works really well. We have
differing styles and tend to lean toward differing types of content,
but I think this works itself out in a very complimentary way. You'd
have to ask Chris for his views on that he might say 'that bastard
Sansbury, he's always getting up and flapping his arms about when we
write together, and the tea is below my normal standard'. He might
not.
Sure
there are things that could have benefited from a little more
attention in the editing and sound department, but it's hard to get
good sound on locations like a windy, pebbly beach. This is another
9th Man episode that leaves me wanting more. I really feel that I've
watched a drama unfolding, and this is after all, what we're after,
no ?
Now
if you don't mind, this middle aged man is going to take himself off
for a jog. Yeah. Right. More chance of John Barrowman coming out as a
closet heterosexual.
This is the review of 'Girl In The Window' I wrote for May's 'Venturer' Magazine :-
Perhaps it's the anticipation of such a
pivotal storyline, the desire to see the departures of Sarah Miatt's
Lizzie and Ryan Brady's Stephen Brown given due deference, but my
expectations were set rather high. After watching the story via the
wonders of You Tube I must ask myself they were unrealistically so.
Chris Wilkes' storyline follows on from
the previously developed arcs in the 'specials' series of 2011. The
severely injured Stephen Brown instructs sister Lizzie to take him
back to Rubart, with the clone Melastone 'liberated' from the
laboratory of Donatien (Monster of Lacoste). Unfortunately for Lizzie
and Stephen, President Vo has well and truly taken a walk on the dark
side, deciding that the rise of his new dictatorship must be built on
the destruction of Stephen's reputation (and hopeful death).
Threat, danger, political intrigue,
sacrifice, betrayal, an old friend turned enemy, an old enemy
returned... all the ingredients you'd need to deliver a fantastic
season finale and swansong for both Miatt and Brady.
A once again delayed upload gave chance
for any issues discovered in the premier to be tweaked, and polished.
It's one level of embarrassment to show off half finished work to the
hard working members of the Beacon fraternity, all together another
to then share it with the rest of the world. Though why you would
want to do either, beats me.
So, with such an important story (like
others in the series' history), there's a real chance to showcase
just exactly what Beacon is capable of. And demonstrate it certainly
does.
Normally I work through my notes in a
chronological format, and write my review logically working through
the episodes as they appear online. This time, I thought I would try
something different and focus on the separate elements of the show.
The writing, Chris has written more
scripts for Stephen Brown than the Salvation Army dishes out hot
dinners. Despite the (I think intended) groan-worthy nature of some
of the jokes, and using the first lines spoken by Colin Baker as The
Doctor after regenerating from Peter Davison, (twice as it happens) I
have to take my hat off to him. There's lots going on, but not
confusingly so from a scripting perspective. I'll also forgive the
clunky use of the word 'PDA', which was just as clunky a word in 1990
when they were all the rage amongst the uber organised super geeks as
the devices themselves.
He again 'borrows' from that famous
time-travelling scifi show with a scene where Vo taps rhythmically on
a desk and then gasses his cabinet. The script is so important in
this scene, Ian's highlighted copy is actually centre of the shot at
one point.
The sound in this story has a very
annoying habit of changing levels and quality when flicking back and
forth between President Vo (Ian Hamer) and Number One (Kathryn
Cairns). When Vo tries to bully Death, he stands up and promptly
loses synchronisation between image and sound. That isn't the
soundman's fault though, that one lays squarely in the hands of the
editor.
It is also the editor that is to blame
for the downright disruptive an at times, inappropriate background
music.
The fist thing you notice when watching
this episode is that the image isn't formatted properly into the
frame on the website. This leaves us with a solid black border all
the way around the screen. The picture, when it's live action is
normally treated to an artsy shaky feel. This can be very effective,
and give an 'on the fly' edge to the action. It works well when done
consistently and when not overused. Sadly we're left with a fair bit
of footage that appears was shot by Michael J Fox. It's an effect not
always applied either, so confuses the eye as to what the
significance is of its use. It may have been nothing more than a
conversation of... 'oh, they do this in Battlestar Galactica, and it
looks really cool.. I think we should do that...and while we're at
it, let's have their music too...'
The initial shots onboard the Venturer
appear to have been put through the instagram app on an iphone. It's
quiet a nice rosy-glow effect, I just cannot see what it adds or why
it is used.
The computer graphics in this story
leap from utterly fantastic to, the other end of the spectrum. The
establishing shot of the Presidential Offices is overused, and in
exactly the same way too. It's a very nice image, we just see it too
much. The green-screen shots are very effective and well used, but
are let down when the background image is not that inspiring. The
Venturer external shots give the ship a plasticky shine, when it
comes into land it actually looks a little like it was a toy.
The postproduction visual effects
suffer from the same inconsistency, fantastic holographic control
screen images, that are well designed and well laid out, that are not
in every shot of the same scene. Missing forcefields and control
panels spoil Stephen's rescue of Lizzie as there's nothing preventing
her from just walking out anyway. When Vo is trapped behind another
invisible forcefield and firing his gun at Lizze, there is no effect
of the shots and the footage does not tell the story of how or why
Lizzie is left in an area of the ship where she is exposed to space
when the escape pod departs with the bemused Stephen Brown in the
clone body (Stewart James). The image of receding escape pod appears
cartoon-like. I would invite you to take a look at some of the
'cutting edge' special effects used in Blakes 7 in 1979 and compare.
The numerous sets and locations are
both good and not so good. The cabinet meeting for example makes no
attempt to dress the set at all. It does have to be said that the
setting fire of the Venturer set was especially effective.
The effect of these failings is to
seriously detract from Lizzie's death scene. A series of shots that
fail to tell the story is nothing new, and is either down to a gap in
planning by the director or some sort of checking and review of work
by the editor.
If the delayed uploaded version has
resolved previous premier night issues, I cannot imagine what that
must have looked like. After my really high expectations I am left
feeling very bad for the underplayed passing of Sarah and Ryan's
roles after so many fantastic performances, not as much for the
actors themselves, but also from the disappointment of the rather
missed opportunity to take a brilliant story idea and 'knock it out
of the park'. You don't get a second chance to make a last impression
after all.
This is the review that I submitted for April 2012's edition of 'Venturer' :-
Our journey along the series of The Ninth Man continues with the third story, Ties That Bind Us. After the previous episodes I have to say I was rather looking forward to watching this, and finding out what happens to Kenny, Robert, Michelle and Lindsay.
We get off to a good start, returning as we do to the place where the previous episode left off with my good self as Reet and Chris Lovin (Ben Johnson) leaving Kenny Cooper (Alec Harkness) tied up, while we go off to engage in some intimidation. It had been raining, making my '.. and it was turning out to be such a nice day' line rather fitting. If it's one thing you can rely on in the UK, it's that at some point, it will rain.
I have to say I'm less than convinced by the 'sherbet dip' scene. Maybe I'm too used to seeing Tim playing comical characters, but I was expecting a play to the camera and some jazz hands at any moment!
The heavy boys, in the form of Ben Johnson and Will Gammon, carrying their implausibly long poles set on Jameson and Michelle, hitting the latter (Sarah Miatt) around the face with a pipe. This confrontation is lacking the pace and menace of previous such scenes in the series. James' reaction is rather flat for someone who's just seen his sister- in-law beaten round the head with a
metal pipe. Was it rehearsal, or lack of it, that killed the confidence in execution of this scene?
Fight scenes are, by their nature complicated beasts, you want to get the point across, but you also don't (really) want the actors to get hurt. There are several examples in the story of why such scenes take place, but they must be choreographed skilfully, and rehearsed over and over, to take the best of the situation, and get the best shot.
Aside from the punch sounds which I have always detested, the sound while Will and Ben walk through the warehouse is distracting. It's a well shot piece though, I do like the wandering through a poorly lit warehouse. It's not always clear
however how or why one scene links to another, which surprises me as this story was written by Jordan Howard, the architect of the series. It doesn't make sense why Will's character decides to finish the job of bludgeoning the boxer to death, but it is Ben's character, that reveals this to Jameson.
10There's a bit of me that thinks that filming Ben driving, whilst on the phone, in what I can assume is his works van is not a brilliant idea, but I think my objections aren't to do with the production. Still, nice bit of advertising for them.
The previously unconvincing attack on Sarah's character leaves an equally unconvincing lack of injury to her face. I'm pretty sure that if I was hit round the face with a six foot metal pipe I would have some sort of war wound to show for it, and It doesn't make sense why she is let go. Now, I know about other elements of the series that I have yet to review, and that there may be explanations for all these things at a later date, but rather than come off intriguing and mysterious, it just judders and jars and breaks up the previously excellent story telling I've seen in the other episodes.
I did really think though, that after chucking Sarah out of the van, that she was going to get run over as Ben reversed right next to her, but this doesn't happen. She just gets up and hobbles off.
I did like the filming of Ben through the reflection in the mirror, but again the scene felt like we were missing a step. Reet is waiting for a call, presumably from Chris (Ben Johnson)... although Reet is the one that makes the call in the end, while Chris has a weirdly cosy chat in the front of the van with Jameson. Maybe despite the duct-tape on his mouth Jameson was able to call 'shotgun'? It also doesn't make
sense either for Reet to shout at Kenny Cooper to 'get out of his place' while he's tied to a chair.
I'd forgotten that before all of this, Lindsay had been kidnapped, so when Michelle (Sarah Miatt) tells James Johnson (John Hampton) that she's just 'took off' it makes even less sense than him saying to
call the police, or that he already has, when he did and had been told there was nothing the police could do. As if things weren't confusing enough!
I have to say that Kenny's line 'the police saw him this morning, and the bits that they found were definitely not fine...' did make me laugh, but mostly the emotions I am left with after watching this story are disappointment, and confusion. The script, or at least the editing, doesn't gel together and create the smooth seamless story that I'd become accustomed to. The acting doesn't really show up any shining performances, though if anyone had it, it was Harkness. Most of the other 'action', if you can call it that was unconvincing and poorly conveyed from a directing and acting point of view. I really do hope that the next story shows a return to the excellent form I love so much.
Last week, I wrote a review for Venturer Magazine (the in club magazine for Beacon). Although I mentioned it on a previous blog entry, now that the magazine has been published, I have pasted the content in its entirety :-
**********
Having enjoyed reviewing the pilot episode of The Ninth Man this month brings the 2nd offering to my attention. Like so many pilots when they get commissioned there's a change at the top. Instead of Joshua Ive continuing his role as Robert Jameson, his shoes are ably filled by James Farmer.
James has the benefit of looking a bit more 'weathered' than Joshua, and although he plays the role slightly differently, it is a really good fit. Not exactly an easy thing to carry off. At a moment of potential disaster for the fledgling series Jordan doesn't just settle for the next person available, he recasts with absolutely the right man.
Despite the change in lead, the production values and extensive use of location, continue unabated. As does the cornerstone performance of Alec Harkness in his role as Kenny Cooper. This particular story is also penned by Alec, a script with twists, turns and as many new questions as it provides answers.
Chris Wilkes' narration as Jameson's parole officer brings us up to speed with what's happing. We are very quickly into the action, with not so much as a second to pause for breath. There's no waste in this story, although some lines are more golden than others. Emma Giles' line of 'Bouncing around from arsehole to arsehole ?' did give me a chuckle.
Sarah Miatt does very well as the broody, pissed off and altogether angry Michelle Harris.
As the intrigue and tension cranks up, Jordon himself makes an appearance as 'Henchman' with an economical, but effective use of a certain garage we all know and love.
There were only a few times I picked up on anything technical, with the guest appearance from Mr B OOM in The Fight Club, (a location only marred by the determination to remain fully clothed of all the muscly fighting types), and the sunlight causing some lens flare as well as catching on the actors are but minor irritations.
A kidnapping that doesn't leave you expecting a 'mmmmwwwhahahah' must have been one of those moments Steve's now ex neighbours are going to miss.
With such a good ending to episode one, I do think we missed out not having a closeup of the ransom note. Farmer's lines are lost against Sarah's building rage, and Initially I had reservations about a cheese knife being used well as an instrument to instil fear. Sarah, however takes a situation that could otherwise have descended into farce and delivers menace, such is the quality of the acting.
One of the locations we are treated to in this story is a lovely Vegan cafe (they do a yummy vegan stew), where we meet Reet (played by my good self), and Chris Lovin (Ben Johnson). I have to say that this is one of the few occasions where I am not cringing as I watch my own performance, and although I do come dangerously close to looking right at the camera I swear all those times I look down whilst talking to Kenny are not to look at my script.
All in all, this second helping of a bit of Ninth Man pie goes down rather nicely. There's menace where there should be menace, humour where it's wanted, and with nothing to spoil it in the way of set, technical failings or performances from the actors this rather ambitious storyline is unravelling before our eyes. It doesn't drag at all, there aren't any bits that wouldn't have been missed had they been cut. It moves along at a decent pace, and is more than just easy to watch. It's enjoyable. I'm eager to catch the next instalment.
Apart from wanting more, the only other thing I feel deprived of is the cake Bek (Sam Sayner) was touting, where's mine ?
It would seem ironic, that someone who posts vlogs that they, like everyone else, cringes at the sight of footage of themselves on screen. But it's true. More so when I'm acting.
Tonight I completed my review for this month's Venturer Magazine, for members of Beacon. This month's task was to pass comment on 'Questions and Questionings' a story for the Ninth Man series. Sometimes, this may feel less enjoyable than others. This month was one of the times that it's an absolute joy turning over my evening to it.
I feel a little guilty that I haven't made a new video myself tonight. Last night's offering was quite fun to do, and did rather come inspired out of the lack of any decent footage more than anything else.
Still. My second day without facebook, has passed without me missing it at all. I am getting (getting ?) a bit sad and vacuuming every day at the moment. I thought that cats were supposed to malt in spring or summer, not when it's still quite obviously in the middle of bloody winter. Either that, or they are managing to pull about 3% of their fur off each other every day whilst I'm out. They do look at me (the cats) like I'm mad most of the time, but when I again bring out the vacuum cleaner, which they usually run from, but can't resist the temptation to sit at a safe distance watching me giving me a 'why are you bothering with that ?' look.
With tonight also marking the end of one pay-month and the start of another, I am trying to restrain myself to not take freshly charged debit card in hand tomorrow and 'let lose'. It means that I will finally have some money, that means I can meet up with someone. Someone, who come to think of it has been suspiciously quiet text wise today. Hmmmm.
I also want to meet up with another friend who I haven't seen for quite some considerable time. He even offered to supply drink (and I get the next), but that would be too easy an offer to take, and knowing me, I would forget to return the favour. It's one thing being a friend that you don't hear from for ages, and quite another that drinks your vodka and never buys a round.
So, this does open out the possibilities for me to, well have real interactions with people in the real world (IRL as the kids are saying it). This is a good thing. Yes ? A coincidence that these events are both pending to occur during my facebook-free time.
I did cheekily set up my facebook account so that it repeats whatever I tweet, telling myself that the point of the exercise is for me to avoid facebook, not for people that 'friend' me on there to not have any idea what I'm doing. I haven't aimed this as 'quitting facebook' in any way, or with any pseudo sociological or political message or purpose. However, if I am pleased with the lack of facebook in my life, and the opportunities that brings, then I may well take more drastic action.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Sundays are such interesting things. I got an invite late last night to have roast dinner at my mum's this evening. If there's one thing I can't turn down, it's the opportunity of a roast dinner I don't have to prepare.
So, after dispatching Chloe (well, I took her home) and bouncing some ideas around with Alec to help with the current series of The 9th Man, I went round my Mum & Dad's.
Really good to see them again, haven't seen them in a week or so (if you don't count me waving out the window to my dad when he is having a smoke in the garden).
Also good to see my Sister, and my nephews. Bless them. When they're not trying to kill each other.
I also received a reply from Helen, to agree to arrange a meet up. We need to meet face to face to sort out our issues. All this sending messages back and forth just isn't working.We need to have 'the talk'.
A good old family weekend, with some creativity mixed in, and the cleaning too. Am I good, or am I good ? No Tardis, no screwdriver, three minutes to spare. Who da Man ? Oh, ok, I'm never saying that again.
I write this, sitting outside (on my camping chair) basking in the gorgeous sunshine we are inexplicably blessed with. These things seem all the more special when you consider that it's October 1st today. Yes that's right kids, October 1st. Bloody hell, after all this furore about global warming, and how bad for us it is (going to be), no one stopped to tell us that it might mean I can write outside on a sunny day, in my shorts, IN OCTOBER. OCTOBER !
Did I mention it was October ?
I've gotten up reasonably early today (well, a shave before 9am) grabbed a coffee, after feeding the cats, and taken netbook with me to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine whilst catching up on some script editing and some reviewing for Beacon.
I even decided to risk letting the cats outside. It's so quiet, and there's probably no better time to let them have a sniff around than today.
Too often I lazily trap myself in my flat, in front of the television, or more often, in front of my Mac. Living on my own (sorry Midnight & Twilight, you don't count as people) that leads to a rather insular existence. Lots of moping and self reflection may be good for you, or at least required if you're a teenager, but at my age it's just a bit on the sad side. I don't feel a burning need to be with other people because I can't manage or survive on my own. But I do recognise that I learn the most from other people (usually all the ones I disagree with) and do enjoy the company of others, as long as they are the right people.
The group I work with (my team) at work the 'right kind of people'. Which I don't think is something that neither I or they would have said six months ago. It's been quite the roller coaster this year. I do feel good about the difficult times I've been through, because we (as a team) have all come through them together and that gives us a better understanding of one-another. I'm a great believer in whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. It's as true for immunity to virus and germs as it is to resilience to emotional distress and conflict. Having said that, there is still work to be done. There is more for me to learn (from them) and about how to get along with people better, and achieve more.
Times gone by I think I have been so eager to get a result that I've knocked everyone and everything out of my way in my determination to get there. Unfortunately this always involved knocking over the very people I needed to help me get there.
By far the greatest pride I feel about this year is that one person in my team managed to be successful in getting a job in another area of the business they were really interested in, when they've been overlooked a lot before, two others have been headhunted by other managers to stand in as their deputies, and another has shined so well that I'm convinced pretty soon the same will happen to her.
I'm sure that if you asked any of these four people, six months ago, that they thought they would be in that situation, and how well we'd be getting along, they would have all told you it was impossible and not to be so fucking funny or stupid.
I would have probably said pretty much the same. I've changed, they've changed. We've all grown. I'm sorry this all probably sounds rather mush and twee or terrible Americanised corporate bollocks. But it's true.
Someone who my relationship with has moved in the opposite direction is my friend of nearly 20 years. The person that I've written 4 plays with, countless sketches and created improvised videos for the world to enjoy (or avoid). We've always had diametrically opposing political views, and it's been something we have always been able to work with, ignore and manage. It's actually contributed to some of the balance in our writing. Now we can't seem to see eye to eye on anything. I don't think it's down to the politics. I think it's much more deeply routed than that.
You may recall that we fell out during the production of the last show. It really does seem to have been the death of our friendship. How she was feeling and reacting at the time was due I guess to the severe strain that she was feeling at home. She's had domestic issues for quite some time, in that one of her sons has unfortunately been caught up in the drugs world, and this has also made worse (or been made worse by) his problems interacting with people. He is afflicted sadlywith not being where you would expect a man of his age to be, in terms of social mental development. I am sure there's a medical or psychological name for such a condition, but I'm sorry, it escapes me. She also has, from time to time, problems where her other son gets involved in what could possibly be discribed as the darker element of society, or seems to want to declare war on the drug dealers as a whole for what he perceives as their decision to ruin his brother's life.
All of these pressures take a place in amongst all the others of money and time that an awful lot of people feel at the moment. She also has to deal with suffering from a debilitating condition herself called fibromyalgia. She works from home, as is sadly no longer well for long enough to be in the mainstream workplace. (this wasn't always the case).
We fell out because we disagreed about how to organise some things, or how to make things work within the show. Increasingly her ability to invest productive time and energy to the show became an issue. She became steadily frustrated that I (as she saw it) had taken over and was running things less as a partnership and more as a one man show, with an assistant director / producer. This situation was not due to a lack of effort on her part, merely that she couldn't seem to focus on the things that needed doing.
I steadily began to recognise the symptoms of stress in her, and what certainly looked like her heading toward a breakdown. I could see this, because I have been in that situation before myself, and have been able to move on with my own mental well being (if you like) because I can recognise these traits and take action to deal with things before they get worse. Unfortunately, she wasn't able or willing to agree that this was what was happening, and pretty much saw that I was being mean spirited and making her feel worse.
In the end, I had to manage to juggle not only my day job, and my own outside work pressures (they were nowhere near the sort of thing she was going through of course), protect her from the harsher elements of what I had been told or observed from members of the cast, and the some of the workload AND protect the show from the more destructive behaviors she was exhibiting. I do think I did a good job of this under the circumstances, because we managed to get to the end of the production with a show that was watchable, and enjoyable (although it could have been 1000 times better had we planned and organised better) and without our friendship exploding right infront of everyone involved.
I don't feel good about having to make decisions to do things without telling or asking her. I didn't like it, but didn't see an alternative at the time that didn't pose a greater threat to the show.
Somewhere along the line we have stopped communicating by telephone. I think this may be attributed to me getting cross with her after repeatedly being unhappy that she'd be on the phone to me for hours on end, when I've just come in from work and hadn't even had a chance to eat and was due back into work in 8 hours. These conversations would always be bad ones, that would make me feel shit, and would ruin my evening, or they would be ones that didn't actually achieve anything other than to moan about how much work there was to do, and how little time we had to do it. My observation at the time that we could achieve more by doing things than by sitting on the phone talking about them seemed to fall on deaf ears.
The paralysis of negativity is something I can see in people that are depressed, and also understand is hard to see past. I also know that the only way to feel good about achieving things is to get them done. You won't get the reward from finishing something if you never even start it.
She has now sent me several either lengthy (2000 word plus) emails or similarly long facebook messages, including one which she sent out to her nearest and dearest friends to 'brief' them on what's been happening in her life. In addition to this, she has now mentioned twice in different messages that she was offended because I haven't commented on her status at all. That I had 'hidden' her.
What's the netiquette about how often you should comment on your friends' status updates ? What if you don't want to, or feel the need to comment ? What if you don't because you're pretty much certain that what you say is going to start an argument ? Her updates are normally very political in nature, and mixed with rather lame personal attacks against those in power, that are usually all in capital letters. She also has the unfortunate habit of copy and pasting just about every pointless internet hoax or chain message that's doing the rounds.
I don't comment, because I think such things are either just rude or stupid, and say lots of things about how gullible and crazy the person repeating them is.
One of her longer messages that was sent out to a 'select' bulk of about 20 friends listed all the things that's been happening to her lately. Truly horrible things. Lots of our mutual friends made impassioned comments in reply to it. Was I wrong not to comment ?
I'm now left with the troubling problem of what to do. I'm not happy to be painted as the villain, but I'm also not happy to be expected to say things that someone likes just because they want to hear it, even if saying it will mean me lying, or being false.
As I've mentioned before, I write reviews to be included into the in-club publication 'Venturer Magazine' for the good people at Beacon. This month I'd written a review, and that being the first one that I'd managed to do for quite some time, I thought I would include a copy here.... (excuse the formatting differences, and the fact that I've not been able to port over the document as published exactly)..
“SIMON
SAYS...”
REVIEWERSimon Sansbury
THE ADVENTURES OF STEPHEN BROWN
KAOS EFFECT
WRITTEN BY
Chris Wilkes & Neil Miller
DIRECTED BY
Matthew Hampton
It's been sometime since I've been able to pen a review, last year in fact. So long I'd actually forgotten which episode it was that I had reviewed last. After the chaos of moving home to my lovely shiny new flat, and all the other things that kept me from you, it is to another kind of chaos that I draw my attention. That being Kaos Absolute, story three in the 2009 series of The Adventures of Stephen Brown. The winding up of the story lines that involve The Death, Kaos and the Augury, not to mention young Sally Crawford's revenge against Stephen Brown for murdering her father. Much tying of lose ends to be done then. There's not a moment to lose.
The opening CGI shots of the Venturer were really nice in setting the scene, maybe a 'previously on The Adventures Of Stephen Brown' might have reminded anyone (like me) who'd forgotten how it was we got to this particular peril in the first place might have helped. Being really limited within the confines of the Venturer set does limit cameramen and directors alike. As the thing gets blown up every couple of years it does give us a chance to do something a bit different. Some learning of lines, and some different camera shots might have made things move along a bit better.
When we transport down to the planet, we are treated to the first half of a swear word left onto the audio when Blocklon (Matthew Hampton) walks into Stephen Brown (Ryan Brady), this along with hearing the director saying 'action' on an earlier bit of footage is a shame. Things start to look sparkly again when our intrepid heroes are walking towards Augury's cave. Some nice, but not too clever computer work there has created a cave entrance where there wasn't one, and later on we have the effect of Kaos' life force approaching it. It is again the challenges of fitting so many people into so little space that contributes to making the performances in the Augury's cave looks as realistic as the greenery that's draped all over the set. The Augury (Sassi Page) is meant to look really ill, but doesn't. The lighting here just doesn't do the set, or the actors any favours, and is perhaps too clean and too bright for my liking. I like things a bit dirtier and darker. But the least said about that the better.
Chris Wilkes' rendition of Kaos inhabiting Stephen Brown's old body isn't all that threatening or menacing, but he pulls some interesting faces as he fights Stephen Brown. There's some nice touches here in the lightening flashes etc of the phantasmagorical nature of the bitch fight between them, but the fight itself isn't always as tense, fast or threatening looking as it is at other times - but that's not helped by the return of those awful punch sound effects. There must be better ways to get realistic punch sound effects. (without resorting to actually punching people.. hang on.. that might work....).
The lack of effect to the already clinical lighting when Kaos' life force enters Chris (ahem) coupled with three people trying to roll around on the floor in such a small space really does harm the suspension of disbelief here. Which is a shame, as this scene, and its elements, is a staple of science fiction stories since, well since before November 23rd 1963. The storytelling could have been helped with some flashbacks to go with the dialogue while Ryan explains to Sassi how they got to that point.
Episode 2 starts off with a good recap of all that's gone before. Watching The Death (Robert Hampton) threaten Sally Crawford (Hazel Whiteland) by squeezing her cheeks was just as convincing as her reaction to it, and the threat afterwards. This story has some really brilliant elements to it that really mean a lot in the canon of the show. The script by Messrs Wilkes & Miller could have been shown off much more effectively, there's a couple of points when perhaps a line might have been0changed to better effect, but most of the time it really zings along, and attempts to deliver a real sense of pace and drama. Something the actors seem to have missed entirely.
Ryan, Matthew and Katie 'rush' to escape the cave, helping along the wounded/ill Augury only to be confronted again by Kaos, still in the form of Chris Wilkes. There's some fancy light show battle on the shingle there that is done rather well, and the dispatching of The Augury is a rather good shot. The conviction, urgency and fear is completely absent on all of the actors' performances however. After she's dead, The Augury has a telepathic conversation with Ryan's Stephen Brown. This scene, although spoiled by a very cheesy ending that looked like a toothpaste commercial, was very well lit and executed by both Sassi and Ryan.
Some more clumsiness from the crew means we have such a good shot of the boom at the bottom of a shot while Ryan, Katie and Matthew stand and discuss the danger they are facing that I thought perhaps we could have dressed it up as some sort of furry alien. As Ryan explains that Kaos' life force is still around us (although without the sound or lighting effects that hinted at it before) there is again this very static delivery of what should be tension building lines. There's a 'walk, stop, say line, stand talking, talk about danger, walk off at a normal place' formula to the acting. The CGI here of the planet cracking up comes without explanation or reason, and doesn't at all match up with what's happening in the live action shots. There's absolutely no evidence of the planet destroying itself on location. Obviously 'blessed' with a brilliantly sunny day didn't help.
Episode 3 reminds us that for a planet under destruction it still looks remarkably like a rather nice Sunday walk in the country. Could we have done something to darken this down or muddy up the image a bit in post production ? I don't know, but it's something we have done before. The exploding planet illusion isn't helped by the inconsistently applied synchronised stumbling of the cast to the camera shakes. The camera effect works rather well (although not applied in later shots - perhaps there was someone else on camera, perhaps they just got bored of it), but the cast manage to make it look like they are trying to find their way home after drinking too much on a night out in town.
Ryan has some lines in another moment of 'we're running away, but we'll stop long enough to deliver our lines, pause for a bit and then not hurry off again', where the sound is rather poor. We also get to see how close the sound man is to the action, because his leads are dangling into the edge of the shot.
The shots from the point of view of Kaos' life force look rather like someone threw some compost on the camera lens before shooting it. It doesn't match up however with the shots from episode one, and doesn't quite convey the atmosphere of the moment. Some lines delivered by Ryan about how Kaos is sapping his life force makes him sound like a whining teenager (ala Kev & Perry style) than our hero struggling to keep it together.
Death, despite saying he wasn't going to be a hero and die fighting Kaos, does just that. A really vital moment in the history of the show, and we have no shot of our star's reaction to the death of his brother. The moment is further spoiled in the next episode by the smiling and laughing as Blocklan lifts up the now deceased Death to carry him back to the Venturer. Really pivotal moment in the story line and it's completely ruined. The episode ends with the now correct and faithful restoration of Kaos to his former self, aka the intergalactic hoodie in the form of Neil Miller. It has to be said that Neil works the menacing look very well and delivers the only believable performance of the story. He really does look cross enough to bite your ear off. Chris now gets his telepathic Skype call from the Augury. Again really well done with the mood and atmosphere. Although this does come across as a self referential last outing (until the next time) for Wilkes' Stephen Brown it's so expected that we get away with it.
Miller's appearance on the shingle to fight Ryan's Stephen Brown is a great show of lights, only spoiled by the fact that it isn't lip synced right. The unconvincingly delivered fighting talk from Ryan, coupled with the leaping together into combat makes it look like they need to get a room more than a referee. The magically convenient (for the writers) ability to transport himself allows Ryan to take Chris with him back to the cave where another 'fight' in the form of a hug off ensues. Wilkes' hands look like he's about to start massaging Miller rather than strangle him, but at least he still manages, mid fight to put his hat back on before hugging Miller once again. This story has in it all the key ingredients of a fantastic forty minutes of entertainment, I hope the audience could see past the flaws in the acting, directing and production quality to that cracking story underneath. Just imagine how epic it would have been if they didn't have to do that.
