Week Beginning 25/5

This has been un unusual week for me. Monday's highlight was filming Black Cats and Blue Angels, which I found quite enjoyable, though I wasn't impressed at my handheld camera skills. My hands are too shaky to hold a cup and saucer steady, let alone a camera.

Tuesday to Friday was working as a runner for STV on a documentary about the murderer Peter Tobin. He is going on trial for his third murder this June and the documentary is to be released as soon as he is found guilty. (I appreciate it is odd that the result is a foregone conclusion, but the body was found buried in his back garden alongside someone else for whose murder he has already been convicted, so his chances of being acquitted are very slim.)

One highlight from the week was wandering round the STV store up in Ruchill (a vast warehouse of props and pieces of old sets). Also, wrapping a mannequin up in black tarpaulin and carrying it around in the boot of my car for a week, along with spades, a high chair and several sharp knives and other assorted goods was fun. I was glad it wasn't a van I was given to drive. Even the People carrier I had took a bit of getting used to. I almost got stuck in the low roofed Somerfields carpark and the turning circle required is ridiculous.

At one point, I was told "Go and buy a pick and get it to Aikenhead road as soon as you can". A pick, I though? Where in the world can I buy a pick? I was in the middle of the West End at the time, and it's not the sort of thing to be found in Eau Naturalle... Eventually I found a Jewsons in Anniesland which did the trick, but I looked even odder stowing a pick in beside the tarpaulin body in the boot.

I was surprised at how low budget the reconstruction was. The actors were not professionals: they had been found from extras agencies and colleges. Indeed the lady playing Angelika Kluk was none other than our very own Jennifer Joyes of "Love, Mugs and Stickmen" fame. We were filming in the houses of crew members and their friends. The crew were extras (including myself!). Everything was done on the cheap. But it was a good experience because at that low level, with a much smaller team, it was easier to get chatting with everyone from the Director to the Camera Assistant. They seemed happy with my work and I was asked to pass on my details to the director in case more work came up.

But I'm glad to be back. Saturday was a huge catch-up period, talking with Charlotte and Gavin about all the stuff which I felt I should have been diong instead of floating around with STV. Hopefully I should be able to pull my weight now for the duration of production.