Saturday June 18th, 9:30am
Rhys' House, Grangetown
So it is our second day of the shoot and we have a full day ahead of us: two locations and scenes from three episodes to film.
First up is Episode 1 and the return of Bradley, again played by Rob D. Mealins. This was filmed again in Grangetown at my home, which is doubling as Bradley's flat. Just like Bradley And The Doctor the episode begins with Bradley at home– and, yes, I let Rob off his acting leash and encouraged him to do what he liked with the scenes we were filming. We filmed three scenes in total all from the beginning of Episode 1, all which set up the story ahead of Bradley.
Take after take with Rob eating Coco Pops (other cereals are available) and answering a phone-call – what could go wrong? Well, apart from your actor almost choking or being unhappy with this director for starting the phone ringing just as he has the biggest mouthful... all in the name of comedy was my excuse.
Again today we had a number of new crew members: Kayleigh back on sound duties, Jack Samuel our clapper/runner for the day and Teddy Smith on camera.
There were two things that were great about this shoot. One – it was my first day back directing the series, and to be directing Rob first out the gate was just great. Every take and every line from Rob is always spot on and he gives so much to his performance. Two – the new crew members are fantastic, seriously just great people. Just from a few hours with them all, I knew it will be a great summer ahead.
We wrapped at this location, packed kit for the second location and then went and grabbed Andrew White who is the production's sound supervisor and who acted as boom operator for the rest of the day.
Shoot Day 2 (PM) Terrance's flat, Cardiff Bay Following on from the Bradley-based shenanigans of the morning, the crew hot-footed it over to Cardiff Bay for the second shoot of the day.
This shoot welcomed back not only Victoria George-Veale, who is reprising her role as Steph, but also Andrew White, who had his first day as boom operator.
The shoot was relatively straightforward - Steph's side of three separate phone-calls (two from Episode 1, the other from Episode 2). This did, however, mean that Victoria had to bring several changes of clothes with her! We utilised several parts of the flat, starting in the living room. As this scene takes place on a winter's evening, I spent time before the crew arrived taping black bin bags to the living room windows in order to block out as much natural light as possible. I got flashbacks to the Episode 6 shoot last year when we had to do exactly the same. Then we went into the kitchen to film the second scene- although, if the odds are in our favour, this footage won't be used in the final cut (we have plans to film this scene on location, weather permitting, but have this as a back-up just in case). Even without the other actor to play against, Victoria gave the exact reactions we wanted from her.
Finally, we used part of the hallway for a scene from Episode 2. This was more challenging as there isn't going to be any cutaway from Steph during the scene - we only hear the other character's voice. However, ever the consummate professional, Victoria really did the scene justice and I loved her additional reactions to the end of the phone-call before she has to go and deliver a serious piece of news to another character. It was lovely to have Victoria and Andy back on set and the whole shoot was concluded in just under two hours.
Shoot Day 3
Sunday June 19th, 10am, Canton.
So today we are filming a few Scenes from Episode 4, which is written by Hannah Celyn Griffiths – oh, andshe's also acting today as Jen who is back as a main character. Hannah also gave us a location for Jen's home:her home!
It's hard to imagine, but Hannah doesn't have a massive ego with all this new power in the production!
She doesn't actually and to be back directing her again was a blast. It was a very easy shoot – no spoilers but it was a few opening scenes from the episode including a phone conversation, the other side of which we will shoot later on in the summer. Again I had the same crew as yesterday morning with me – all bang on the money every take. After a few takes with two cameras rolling we got the scene, then a few shots of Hannah leaving the house and that's a wrap for the weekend!
Well that's two weekends and four shoots down and we are off and running!