Tuesday AM / PM

It been a bit of a strange day today, I've been shorting out problems whilst everyone else has been on set. I certainly didn't appreciate how many people actually work on a film behind the scenes, literally. See a picture of Vicki our production accountant keeping the books and payments in order with Tasha. There's also a picture of some extras waiting around a street corner for the shout of 'action'. I also took a picture of the extras waiting for thier call in the town square. All this has given me an appreciation of what a collaberative / team effort making a film is, everyone playing thier part.

Monday PM

It's been a very busy day, although the crew take it all in thier stride, I'm really impressed with thier professionalism. The was a fabulous shoot at the city gate with lots of action and extras, see picture. The animals in any scene are hard to control, see the picture of the sheep and goats, very biblical. There was also a scene of Jesus as a young boy talking to the teachers in the temple, see the picture of the boy playing the young Jesus. There was some great hand held camera work by Ben our Director of Photography, following Joseph and Mary, see picture, pushing thier way through the crowd.

Monday Morning

Got up 6.30am. It's a alot cooler at this time of day. Had breakfast and discovered 50 extras waiting for costumes in the hotel garden. Walked down the road to the shoot, the first scene is Mary greeting Elizabeth, see the picture. I watched the filming through the monitor and I was really impressed by the quality of the acting and the look of the scenes, I think the end product is going to be amazing. I took a picture of Mary having her make-up adjusted, she looks very young, although the actress is 18, probably the real Mary was around 12 to 16.

Sunday Evening

We arrived in Ouarzazate and were then driven to Tamnagat where we're filming tomorrow. It's quite hot, 38C and the air con in the hotel where we're staying, see picture, dosen't work, but there is a pool. Had dinner with the crew and had an early night.

Just arrived in Casablanca

Well I've just arrived in Casablanca very late, after a slightly too long flight from London and then a 2 hour wait for the luggage, got to the hotel at 2.45am. Tasha travelled on a different plane because her flight was booked later than mine, she has gone straight to Ouarzazate, where the first week of filming has been taking place. I'm accompanying Selva who is playing the part of Jesus in the film and we are staying overnight in Casablanca. We all meet up tomorrow lunch time. Casablanca evokes wonderful sepia images of Humphrey Bogart and Rick's Bar ! But the sad truth is that the whole of that film was shot on set in Hollywood and Casablanca is just another town but now with high rise tower blocks and nothing even remotely romantic about it. It's warm here about 22C at night which isn't too bad, I know that Ouarzazate will be alot warmer. The pictures are a view from the hotel in Casablanca and Selva looking quite despondent waiting for his luggage. Busy day tomorrow, so going to get some sleep.

Going to Morocco

Today I'm off to Morocco, with Tasha. I'm going on location with Big Book Media to the shooting of the Lectionary Project. We are filming the Sunday Gospel readings and over the next year hope to cover the whole three year lectionary cycle. The films will be available to churches and individuals from Christmas 09. We chose Morocco because of its similar look to ancient Israel and the various sets in the desert such as 1st C Jerusalem and Herods Temple. Hopefully if you're interested be able to follow progress via my blog;-

http://trevorcritchlow.blogspot.com/

http://www.bigbookmedia.com/
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