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Another day on the set of Milk and Honey. Today was crane day! Almost everything shot on this bright, brilliant and sweltering day was from the crane (technically actually a jib) which was mounted on a small black vehicle, a kinda of dune buggy.
 I didn’t watch much on the monitor today but the crane shots I did see looked very impressive. The scene I saw most of had Jonno Davies (Spotless, Kingsman: The Secret Service) and Rachel Bright (Eastenders) in, and involved smoke – I can say too much more as it’d be a spoiler but what I can say is that the scene’s dramatic potential was greatly ‘heightened’ by the two grips operating the jib.
I’m learning all kinds of little bits and pieces about filmmaking which I love. For instance, I had a vague idea what a grip was but Mike, one of the sound guys, explained it in greater detail, saying essentially ‘Grips’ deal with anything below the camera, anything holding the camera as it were: the tripod, dolly, slider or as in this case the jib. As a film fan I’ve always stayed in the cinema to watch the credits as most of the audience leave en masse. I do the same thing at home with TV films and documentaries. I love sitting in the cinema thinking about the film I’ve just seen but also picking up extra details about who did what on the film. For instance, over the years I started to notice the name ‘Ken Morse, Rostrum Camera’ on practically every other documentary I watched. He must be the most prolific Rostrum guy in the country (now you know the name you’ll see it everywhere if you look at the credits). Occasionally, of course if you stick around to the end, you also get the treat of an extra scene or outtakes etc. Then again, I also love being in a near empty cinema as the embers slowly fade, it has a very romantic feel I think.
Talking of all the finer details of film making with Mike and others during the day reminded of the so called Wilhelm Scream, (I’d forgotten the name but Mike jogged my memory) which again if you listen out for it you’ll hear it all the time. It’s kind of an industry secret and sound man’s in-joke and has been used in a least a couple of hundred movies, it dates from the early fifties but has been used in the likes of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.
Met Greg Tanner (The Legend of 5ive, Bullet Boy) for the second time today, a thoroughly nice chap and we discussed, of all things, the holocaust (I’m narrating an audiobook of the autobiography of Rudolf Hoess, the Commandant of Auschwitz at present) and also as with other cast and crew, one’s  favourite films. He mentioned ‘Twelve Angry Men’ which is one of my own long time favourites as well and whilst it’s not, as Greg said, the most cinematic of films it is pretty striking in its dialogue, and the cast, with Henry Fonda in the lead, are all brilliant.
Anyway, in one of the shots I was in today I got a bit flustered because I had to speed away in a car from the drive of the Manor. The only problem was  that the car, an Audi, was an automatic, which I’ve never driven, so I was a bit at sea when I got in the driver’s seat.
The pressure is always on, on set, to get the shot done. So, first time round, I abdicated responsibility and got Steve (my fellow ‘heavy’) to drive off instead. I still had to do a drive away but from a standing start as it were, without running to the car, leaping in and speeding off. By the time the second shot was set up, Steve (and Coopes, the PA, and all round vehicle expert) had kindly given me a quiet run down of the differences between an automatic and a normal gearshift (i.e. no key to put in the ignition, no clutch, a little pull-up thing for the handbrake etc.) I’m sure with no pressure I’d have been fine but I was also worried about sticking the car in one of the topiaried hedges!
I felt a bit of a ‘nanna, at all this palaver, but at least provided a bit of comic relief if nothing else. James Welling, asked me at one point, tongue firmly in cheek, whether I could in fact drive! Put it like this, I don’t think my future lies in stunt. Nonetheless, in the end, I managed to do the shot in one, which was a relief. There was a mishap with the ‘key’ later on, which was a bit of a pain but at least no blood was spilt or cars pranged!
My shot with Mark Wingett and Steve, my fellow heavy, seemed to be over in a flash and I wasn’t entirely sure quite what I’d done in the shot (as I’d been flummoxed but all the car business!) but I look forward to seeing it on the big screen nevertheless and waiting, of course, to see my name on the credits!

My third day on the set of ‘Milk and Honey’ at Friars Ford Cottage (if that’s a ‘cottage’ I’m Daniel Craig) was unexpected in every respect.
To begin with, due to a minor mix up, I got the call late to be on set. There I was having a gentle Sunday with the kids, pancakes for breakfast and a play in the park… when I get the call, they actually need me today rather than tomorrow (‘Due to the weather’ second AD Lawrie Rose explained later). Oh and can I get here before two as my fellow ‘heavy’ has to leave after that?
A sudden change of gear, I go into mild panic mode, where is that tie? Is my shirt ironed? Did I polish those shoes? etc. but nonetheless I get out and on the road quickly. Before I know it, I’m changing into costume, am handed a petrol can and told to pour petrol over the furniture of the manor! Well we don’t really pour petrol, it will be faked in ‘post’, mostly by the sound guys Roger Cutting and Mike Chubb. After not more than half an hour I’m done, finished!
Well, I don’t really feel like getting straight back in the car for another couple of hours, so I hang about and have a coffee in the marquee outside. I am chatting to Peter (Dunscombe) who is one of the producers and has helped set up this project with his wife Linda and tell him about my rushed morning. Next thing I know he’s arranged for me to be a ‘runner’ for the rest of the day, ‘To make your journey worthwhile’.
Well he certainly helped do that. The rest of the day I hang about on set, there are a thousand working parts on any film set and always jobs to do. I shifted furniture, held up lighting gel to windows, towelled down the Bentley (number plate ‘Marcus 1’ of course), sprayed the drive with water  - it had rained and the crew’s parked cars had left dry oblong patches, which looked odd for a long shot where Zed Josef carries Claire King across the gravel drive and out of the burning Manor house. I also got hot under the collar, for a while, as having moved Zed’s old Saab I thought I’d jammed the keys in the ignition as I couldn’t get them out. After Chris Ellison, James Welling and Christian the caterer had all had a go, my temperature was rising. Eventually I caught Zed on set and he said calmly ‘Just put it in reverse’!
The real privilege of the day though was that, mostly, I got to watch scenes being shot in the dining on the monitor all day. This was fascinating, dull and educational, with occasional flashes of artistry and inspiration. Seeing the set transform, as it was dressed, then lit (I tapped Richard Summers-Calvert, the third AD, on the shoulder and volunteered to stand-in so they could set the lighting rigs), while the sound guys debated whether to have the boom from above (not possible) by the side of the table (no again) or with one of them lying on the floor behind the actors (this worked) and so on. Until finally, the actor are called, rehearse a little with each other or the director if they’re lucky and then eventually Nick David Lean (is there a connection? I keep meaning to ask!) the first AD and the person really controlling all these elements, calls ‘Quiet on the set!’ and Matt Gambell the director or he shouts, ‘Action’. This kind of thing is going on everyday all over the world but when you’re in the mix, even in a minor role, it’s fun, exciting and fascinating.
Chatting to James Welling about gangster and crime movies, with shared enthusiasm, whilst all this was going on was great too. As was hearing snippets of what he and Linda plan to bring into the film on post production. Along with the original score, James is keen to have three well known music tracks at a minimum, which is added expense but will give this film, hopefully, a fully cinematic feel. In fact, with this day on set I realized, the production team, cast and crew, really are trying to burn the house down, literally and metaphorically and cinematically!

On the set of ‘Milk and Honey: The Movie’ once again yesterday. First time around I got to blast away on a shooter, this time with my fellow ‘heavy’ (Steve) we got ‘outa the motor’ with a couple of petrol cans and walked into a four million quid gaff to torch the place! Had to wait all day to get to do it, as the cast and crew had had a bit of a slow morning with the ‘get in’ (the owners, of the said Manor, in deepest Oxfordshire, were a bit lackadaisical in vacating their lovely home). But although we only had two takes, as the light was fading, I really didn’t mind as I love being on set and watching the other actors go through their scenes and getting to watch the takes on the monitor along with the director, producers and crew. From what I could see, Matt Gambell, the young director, along with his talented crew,  are making a rather good job of things and it will be fun to see the finished project on the big screen.
One memorable moment for me was when Mark Wingett added an extra bit of fission to a scene he was in by changing his delivery after the third or fourth take. To begin with he said his line, quietly and gravely but then surprised his fellow actor, on the next take, by exploding in anger with the line, which was not only more effective but drew a great, natural and surprised response. Chris Ellison was also on set, which will add a nice little twist for all those who watched ‘The Bill’ way back when, as Chris played D.I. Burnside, D.C. Jim Carver’s (i.e. Mark Wingett’s character) boss in the series.
Chatting to one of Linda Dunscombe’s co-producers he was telling me how the project had been on the boil for around four or five years, almost got greenlighted a year or two ago but fell through at the last minute. Which reminded me how tough the film business is and how well Linda and Peter (her husband) and everyone else have done to get the project up and running in the first place.
 Toward the end of the day I also had a nice chat to Claire King and all I can say is that I’m now much better informed on the world of horses than I was before! I had had no idea she was previously an amateur horse jockey!

My latest audio book ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol with Humanitad’ is now locked, loaded and ready to go on Audible so should be available in the next couple of weeks. It was fascinating to record the poem in it various versions and rather than cut and paste in the alterations to the different versions I made sure I re-recorded the whole poem. This allowed me to give quite alternative readings. The first version was my more or less my impersonation of Oscar himself, the second was plainer and more in my own voice and the third was Oscar again but a little more impassioned. The great thing about recording such works is that you re-familiarize yourself with a classic and get to feel its power and attraction again. I love The Ballad’s heightened rather lush text, and it is, what my old man would have called ‘A proper poem’ with rhymes and all that!

It’s been an active time for me just recently. I’ve just taken on the second Crime novel from Gillian Hamer’s Inspector Gold series called False Lights. Am just about to publish an audio version of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ which has three versions of the poem and an additional early poem of his called Humanitad, which I thought stylistically and thematically interesting in comparison with ‘The Ballad’ and I wrote and introduction to it too. I’m working slowly on audiobook versions of two of my own previous publications, the first, Colin Wilson’s  ‘The Guerilla Philosopher’ and the second my poetry collection ‘Penumbra’. And finally, as far as audiobooks go, I’ve taken on the darker challenge of the autobiography of Rudolph Hoess, who was the commandant at Auschwitz, a strange, fascinating and horrifying book and man.
Had a lovely day recently on the film set of ‘Milk and Honey: The Movie’ starring Mark Wingett from ‘The Bill’ and Claire King from Corrie written by the lovely Linda Dunscombe, who is also producer on this one and has done a fantastic job of getting a great cast together. I somehow missed the auditions but was brought on board in a minor capacity by the equally lovely Sally Luff. I got to fire three types of revolver which was a first and I have to confess to enjoying it! It was a great experience and the cast and crew are really friendly co-operative and hardworking. The young director, Matt Gambell, seems to be doing a great job and I’m looking forward to seeing the finished film already. I have a few more days on the film as one of Mark Wingett’s henchmen and may even have more guns to fire!