Bedroom Blues
Location: Farnborough, Hampshire
Bodies present: Mark Stalker, Mike Varty, Rebecca Croxson, Ian Lindsay, Sue Element, Henry Burrows

Becky and Sue

Filming out of order plays havoc with continuity; before each scene you have to think about what has just taken place and what is coming up, and make sure that the actors are in the right moods and every object in the room is positioned correctly. Usually a continuous scene set in one location would be filmed as linearly as possible, but when some actors are unavailable it's more efficient to film whatever you can.

So tonight we were shooting the first of the bedroom scenes, when the students arrive upstairs after a shock in the kitchen, thus filling in some of the gaps in filming over the last few weeks. Becky was back in her role as Helen after a few weeks off, eager to be filming again, and Mark Stalker was working (very quietly) behind the scenes as Mr Microphone.

Ian goes MAD

One of the special effects in the scene called for an alien to run vertically up the outside wall at the front of the house, then attempt to gain entry through an open window before Scanner can close it. Ian took on some major "alien wrangling" duties here, at one point leaning halfway out of another window with a creature on a piece of fishing line, working hard to achieve that authentic alien movement.

Becky was short of time, having to catch a train home at 10:30pm, so we raced through the last few takes (and it's not easy to rush a scene where you have to appear upset and emotional), and left Mike, Sue and Ian for a couple of shots where they shouted to Ray downstairs to get out of the house. The bedroom scenes are now approaching completion; one or perhaps two days at the most and we'll be on to the next location.