Friday, 26 July 2013

Black Mirror

Mid November I was asked to be a driver for a TV  series that showed the darker side of life. My car, a very old Nissan Micra in Cornflower blue seems to get quite a bit of filming probably because of its colour.


The call time was early - 6.30am. I found the base which was in High Wycombe and went into the room allocated for some breakfast. Next we had a costume check. I have never understood why, when you are a car driver, you need a costume check and several people had to change their clothes.  Sometimes I feel that it is the people in charge of costume that feel they have to justify their jobs so they make sure we bring lots of changes of clothes and then make sure we use them even though we can't be seen....
Next was hair and make up so we trudged round to another building whereupon a lady took off her shoe and a live mouse raced across the room! She had been wearing trainers that were too big and the tiny mouse had wedged itself in the front of her shoe jumping out at the first opportunity! It was certainly one of the strangest sights I've ever seen. Make up weren't too pleased though as we all went back to our allocated area leaving them to deal with the mouse...
It seemed to take a while to get the filming up and running so we just sat and chatted with each other. There weren't very many of us so it was lovely to get the chance to talk to other people about their filming and casting experiences.
Eventually, we were called to our cars and had to line up behind a barrier. We had to stop at the barrier and buy a ticket to go and watch, what I later found out, was some form of execution. The filming went on for some time with cars reversing back to Number Ones (first position) and then  going  again. It can be quite tedious as each driver is by themselves so only the radio for company and even then it has to be on low as the Directors wishes must be heard! This was quite a short shoot and after just a few hours we had finished, sadly before lunch was being served so there was just enough time for the chits to be signed and we were all on  our way home again. What would be the next job I wondered.

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