Lights, Camera, 3rd Degree Burns...

Right, I've spent much of this morning filming tomorrow's Friday Pictorial. I know I must hide it well, but a rather large amount of work goes into the production of those videos and today I thought I'd give you a little insight into the world of filming the FriPic.

I'm a big believer in the Curb Your Enthusiasm approach. Each FriPic starts with an idea or concept (usually decided upon the day before filming) and is then riffed on in front of the camera by me. While I never write a script to learn, I do have to improvise every take without cock-ups that would shatter the illusion, which means 1 or 2 several minute segments finish abruptly with me swearing loudly and end up on the cutting room floor. It also means inhabiting the character and thinking like they do. Whether it be a Dan Brown parody, a lazy TV director or, as is the case tomorrow, a children's TV presenter. Of course none of the characters I play are all-round stand-up guys so this usually makes things more fun.

I'll give you a wee teaser, tomorrow's involves a grill oven, hence the title of today's post. I burnt my hands... several times. While one burn is simulated, there's one bit where I singe my hands carrying something from the grill but have to carry on regardless (I know, I'm a pro...). All the filming is done with a laptop webcam (budget, I know...) and this obviously throws up a few problems with framing shots, but until I can afford a proper handycam or better yet a handycameraman, I'm stuck with it.

Music duties are split between my own playing and compositions and appropriate incidental music (often used in the hope that you can't sue a man who works for a charity and makes no money whatsoever from his videos...).

So I come out of filming bruised, battered and burnt and cut everything together with credits, titles and transitions using the laptop before publishing the film to the computer and eventually uploading it. As dangerous, painful, controversial and downright offensive some of them are, they are a lot of fun to make and I hope you all enjoy watching them. If you've missed any so far you can catch up by clicking on the 'Friday Pictorial' label at the bottom of this page.