Personal reflection: long case clocks and subway stops

While half the class has been busy polishing their producing teeth on our own films, I was doing the same on the second year film, Broken Bubbles, trying to avoid breaking the budget.

As assistant, my main job was getting stuff, and I'm not half bad at it: I sorted out a green screen which was cheaper, closer and more convenient than the one they had. Score: one to Flurry. I also got to help setting it up, which was a learning experience. For instance, I found out that after staring at a green screen for half an hour, everything takes on a magenta tinge.

I was also sent out to get props, which you'll know if you've read he script are many and very specific. The TPA people Murdo and Phil are working with are crazily talented and could build some amazing things, but me and Amélie had to pick up some of the slack.

By far my biggest job was trying to find a grandfather clock. My quest took me across Glasgow, into some of the rudest antique shops imaginable. Eventually, in a funny little enclave off Byers Road, a helpful gent gave me some obscure directions to a warehouse down at the riverside and off I went. Luckily no one was there to risk assess. Through sheer luck, I found the warehouse and it was a treasure trove of antique goodness, from Victoriana to 60s retro, with a dozen suitable clocks. None quite as suitable as the one in the props store, though, which while it was short cased, had the distinct advantage of being freely available and portable.

Amélie and I set out together to get a convincing chemistry kit from St Aloyius school, and they were astonishingly helpful. The receptionist was a little taken aback by our initial request but the staff couldn't have been more accommodating, lending us heaps of kit, the kind of which my old highschool didn't even have.

The main thing I learned from the experience was that to produce, you need perseverence and the balls to ask perfect strangers to give you stuff. Luckily, I've been doing that for years and student life has only honed my skills.