Being on set for the show and present for a lot of the rehearsals, I think I got to see the show enough times, till the point; when I was actually part of the audience with my family, I was lip-syncing to the show. Working with everyone was such a magical experience for which allowed me to open up about many things and gave me the confidence to get stuck in. The first day working with the film editor I was shadowing and I think even I can admit I was terribly clicky when it came to approaching people to ask them if they could be filmed and also, getting close enough to the action when filming the actors performing. Throughout the shows I learned how to gain a lot of skills with filming with a camera rig, also gaining the patience to carry the rig as it was very heavy.
The fish hearted bride show for me was a very heart warming show filled with beautiful voices and beautifully choreographed dance sequences, not to mention the music! I never knew music could be mashed so beautifully! The show is perfectly understood and has a good shock factor. Every time I was soaked into the production and every time I saw it, it took my emotions by surprise, be that of Rapunzel diving into the "sea" or Narrator/Heinz revealing their true identity as Thyme! The best scene for emotions have to admit though will definitely have to be the construction of Rapunzels heart by Jack, this makes me tear up every time.
Knowing the show so well and seeing it grow from just a title, I never expected it ever to take me by much surprise, but seeing how months and months of planning grew into this production made me miss it already; knowing it'll all be over by the last show. I know my self will most definitely miss seeing everyone frantically getting ready for their positions and running around like little ants to prepare the stage. I think most of all though I will miss the good laughs everyone had with each other and using lines from the show as inside jokes, I'm glad that I have had the pleasure to work on this project. I am very thank full for the new people I've met, the new experiences I've gained and well.. just being part of the Fish Hearted Bride family.
And I personally have to give a huge hand to everyone that participated. Everyone was nice, helpful and just a bundle of joy to be around.
Report for Charlotte Hewins Commission: The Fish Hearted Bride Film Promo Working in professional collaboration with Charlotte Hewins for The Fish Hearted Bride Show has been a real pleasure.
We first met during an Effervescent production meeting in early January 2013 where we briefly discussed Charlotte’s existing skill levels and areas of interest with a view to her assisting me in my commission of filming a promo for the show. I believe that although a keen photographer, Charlotte had not done any filming prior to our work together. Shortly after this meeting, over Email we timetabled exactly what we would film, on which days and agreed our production rules with one another.
Charlotte showed maturity and understanding of all the considerations that have to be made prior to filming any show attended by the public and she replied to correspondence promptly and with positivity. The scheduling of The Fish Hearted Bride show was super tight and an exciting challenge for me as an experienced professional and for her as a collaborative assistant. Charlotte
developed her filming abilities from scratch, on the job. In my opinion a really good place to start. Her eye for special parts of the action was apparent from the early days and I felt confident that although she was a beginner she was managing to get some good shots by leaning on her photography knowledge. The show itself is an exquisite piece to shoot but for Charlotte and I, the low light, packed out audience & whole stage action meant we had to be flexible and inventive with our camera positions. As we were capturing enough material for a promo (highlights) of the show for promotional purposes rather than recording the entirety of the piece we decided not to sit in the audience during the shows. This was something we had originally planned to do but upon seeing how visible we’d be, decided against distracting people like that. The show is intimate and does really use the entire space. Discussing how much the camera would be moving in amongst the crowd was a valuable conversation for us to have and I hope one that Charlotte has learned from.A good filmmaker always considers the experience of paying members of the public before the film product… especially when there are perfectly good alternative positions elsewhere which there were. During shooting Charlotte was calm and focused. She only spoke (in a whisper) when she absolutely had to and moved around the space with care and attention to particularly squeaky parts of the floor.
A real pro!If I had to offer some advice to Charlotte for her future in the creative industries it would be one thing: Ask questions!
Although Charlotte and I worked really well together, I do not ever remember her asking me anything about the work I do!When you’re filming you obviously need to remain quiet and focused but either side of these times there are always plenty of opportunities to learn. When I found out I’d be working with Charlotte I looked her up online and asked her at any opportunity I could about the stuff she does.
I’ve been a film maker for over ten years now and I still ask people I work with questions all the time.
It’s how I grow my own practice and experiences and most importantly it’s how I extend my networks and get actual paid jobs!
As long as you pick the right moment to ask someone a question ie not when they’re right in mid flow of a shot, idea or conversation with someone else…
they’ll almost always be more that happy to chat with you about their experiences and how you can get ahead in your chosen creative career.
Charlotte…you’re a star but remember this tip next time you work with someone in the industry. In conclusion I would say that Charlotte would make a very valuable member of any arts team, she’s creatively wired, good at problem solving and has a great eye for details. I feel privileged to have worked with her and wish her great success and energy in her future career.
The interview that I had with Ellie
It was scary meeting everyone at the start of the project. I was panicking and saying bad things about myself before the interview. But it was quite a good experience to get my head stuck into it straight away.
I was looking for work experience and some communication skills because I was quite lonely. It was like work experience – being able to learn something new, but use the skills I already had to develop something…I brought my skills in photography into the project.
It was awesome. At first it was scary and people were quite reluctant and people didn’t want to join in the warm up games. But it built up. After a while it got crazy – we had all these brilliant ideas and some of us liked some ideas and some of us liked others.
It got manic at times but it was awesome and people came to an agreement. Nobody argued; people got along. I don’t know where all the ideas came from. People would just suggest stuff and then we’d all realise it was awesome. Small theories grew into huge stories.
The whole Vlad thing came from me loving the idea of having a Russian guy in it – a Russian guy always makes something awesome. The Frog King idea was awesome, too. Small ideas – things we found funny – changed the course of the show.
There was humour, but there was also some real seriousness in our show: the characters, and the way they had their hearts cut out. I don’t know how to explain how the ideas were devised; with Jack and Rapunzel there was this huge thought process – they were the main characters.
I worry that it sounds really bad, but I think I’m like Thyme. At the end she is really lovely but I have a dark cynical side. Thyme isn’t so much cynical but she does these cruel things – her heart is in a good place at points; she understands that she has done wrong at the end. But what she did was harsh – stealing people’s hearts and things. In this reality it would be terrible. In the play she has a bigger bad side than a good side. I think in reality I have a bigger good side than a bad side. People think I’m mean because I like controversial humour and stuff but I don’t know, I’m generally a kind person to people. Thyme didn’t seem like an outgoing person at the beginning. She was always shy about talking to Jack and I’m familiar with that. There have been countless times when I see someone I like and I often just hide. When people like me I’m the same: it’s really bad, I never see it when people like me. I’m naive, I think.
Thyme is easily influenced, the first guy she meets and she decides they’re the same and she falls for him. I don’t think she realises what she’s doing is wrong. She’s obviously not had that social build up, I guess, being under the water and being in hiding for seven years. I guess I could say myself that I am somewhat easily influenced as I play a lot of games and chose my education almost based around that and I’ve only really just found out there is an Animation course in college and I’m hopefully going to be doing that.
When I was filming I felt shy and didn’t want to distract the actors. I think I can understand that I was scared to get tangled up in everyone.
At the beginning of the project we did this thing where we were in a giant circle trying to untangle ourselves and we were all sweaty and holding hands and I was scared. I think my face ended up in someone’s armpit that day. But I think that’s the thing that changed everything – it made me open up to everyone actually – I’m usually very self-conscious – but (it’s paranoia I guess) I didn’t want to smell. I was thinking; get me some deodorant quick before I kill someone with the smell!
I’m self-conscious about things. Opening up about stuff and being pushed into the deep end kind of helped me open up.
There was an activity we did, where we had to write about our emotions and what we would say to ourselves if we could go back to a really important moment in our lives where something changed: what we’d tell ourselves. I said I’d want to tell myself to stop blaming myself for my dad’s death. I don’t often tell people that I blame myself…my dad, before he died, he blamed me and I kept hold of that…I kind of held on to that for a really long time but saying that to myself made me realise it was stupid to hold on to that; I built myself a bridge and I walked away from that place. It was a pretty awesome.
There was some conflict that day – emotions were running high after that – and someone commented thoughtlessly. Usually in that situation I would be quite upset, but I just calmly walked to the toilet and washed my face and came back and dealt with it. I didn’t need anger management before this project, but I wouldn’t deal with things well…and I took some control for a change, whereas, I used to be rather sensitive.
January and February was manic: everyone was running around. At points it was difficult – everyone was running around wildly and it was my job to be there in the dark and lurk around the actors. Everyone was talkative and things, I didn’t feel ignored or anything…I guess everyone was under pressure. A few times I got told off by another Young Producer – “where have you been all day? Next time you should tell me!” A few times I was a bit under pressure. Maybe I was being over-sensitive. I told that Young Producer he was being rude. He apologised straight away. It was ok. I took him aside and told him to chill out once because he seemed rather stressed; he seemed fine with my honesty.
Everyone got along fine and everyone realised they were under pressure so we were all extra-careful.
I felt at the beginning that maybe I was too bothered by it all, and chilled out a bit. I was uptight at first about getting things done; wrote loads of stuff on my blog. Back then, I was writing entire essays about stuff. I did loosen up. I thought it would be like college but I loosened up; I gave a crap, but without the stress. At first I thought I must do this; it felt really important.
I overcompensate for things. I do too much. I don’t even know why I did that. I just wanted to stand out with my work. I always compete. It’s sad but I want to check I’ve done enough. It helps me.
Fish-Hearted Bride has given me a lot of confidence around people. I don’t feel weird being near people on the bus any more. Before, I didn’t like people – I wanted to sit in my cave at home and play on my games. I’ve got a lot more confidence talking to people now, than before.
Before, people used to say I was honest, but I’d think about things carefully before saying it: I’d filter things carefully; I wasn’t really being entirely honest to spare some feelings. Now, I say things a bit more without filtering it and it makes things better – people react well to that real honesty. The project made me a bit more honest – I’ve got the confidence to tell people if they’re bothering me whereas before I’d keep it in my head and glare at them from afar in my mind but put up with it and let them upset me. I was a doormat before.
I’ve also learned to be more accepting of people. Before, if someone said something I’d think they were being harsh but now their opinion doesn’t get to me. I just don’t let things get to me so much anymore. My normal response to people would just be that I respect people’s opinions and will take note of that. This sounds funny but the play was inspiring of that – Thyme is mean and stuff but then she’s accepting at the end…she stops trying to be in control.
I’d advise other people who are just starting to work with Effervescent to bring deodorant, they’ll need it! It’s really fun. They’re going to be outside of their comfort zone at first but they will get used to it. I was people phobic but I got used to it. Confidence and things don’t matter – nobody is going to judge you in that room. You can say anything that you want to. We opened up about loads of things. I opened up about something personal that I’d held in my brain for eight years. At times bring tissues, and at times bring deodorant because there’s loads of exercise – the most exercise I’ve ever done. Obviously being open about your emotions and things – everyone is going to understand – if they’re familiar with your exact situation or not – and if they’re in care they’ll understand everything, where you’re coming from. I guess you’re going to have to learn to be a bit more open. Some of the things in the exercises are – they allow you to go quite deep into your emotions. It was quite an emotional play and it was about something real – we had to express the emotions in the play itself – we talked about our past and things – it was good.
I don’t know what I’ll do with all this. It’s a great bullet point in my CV and it’s a good experience I’ll always have now, I also have a new skill in filming which is useful to me.
And the results are visible: I can talk to people openly and sit on the bus without freaking out about people going near me. Weird subtle things – most people would think that makes no sense but it does to me.
I guess I got new skills in filming, too. I’ve seen lots of really emotional scenes in the play and I guess that’s kind of given me ideas…in general, for artwork and things.
I think the whole experience has actually made me a lot happier and things…I can laugh and joke with people in a way I didn’t before. We had a lot of jokes and laughs in the sessions and rehearsals. Even if they’re just me hiccupping – we laughed about that. It’s allowed me to be more open about things. I can express my opinions. I had never really experienced the fact that I could express my opinions - I used to keep them to myself and do my own thing.
I’m more open now, and I’ve got new skills, which I want to elaborate on. I’ve been talking to my tutor at college and he thinks it’s great that I’ve done this film work with Hana and the team. He said it’s great; now that I know how to use cameras and things I can take it further. My tutor said it will be really useful on my new course. He said he really likes the fact that I’ve got professional film work experience, and says I should take it into my animations. This is cool.
At interview I showed the tutor the leaflet and he knew about it and wanted to go to the show – it was a great thing to say I’d been part of it.
