A Visit from Mister Maker (Part 3)

I must admit that I wasn’t expecting a Part 3 to this story, until a couple of days ago when I got a surprise phone call, asking if they could come back and film in our yard again.  It seems they had more filming of the Doodle Drawers to do, and also the Shapes, and they rather liked our back yard (hidden away with little traffic noise, attractive yet non-intrusive backdrop, with easy access to electricity, toilet facilities and dressing area, plus accommodating hostess).  From my point of view, the only problem was that it isn’t just our yard, it is a yard shared with 3 other neighbours, so I had some negotiating to do.  Most were OK with it as long as they weren’t incovenienced.  As for myself, it wouldn’t interfere with my routine too much, and I reckoned I could keep an eye on things from the kitchen, while using the computer.

All fine in theory – except that some of the equipment they were using interfered with the wireless network connection, so I had no internet access, restricting what I could do.  Still, with kids out of the way this time it all ran pretty smoothly so that they were easily finished by lunchtime.  I think they would happily have continued into the afternoon if I had been willing, filming the Shapes, but I had to go out, so they moved across the road to continue filming by the river bank, and I popped back with the boys later on in the afternoon to see how they were getting on.  My eldest was curious to see how the shapes got into their costumes, and he enjoyed watching them do their dance, but I felt that the boys might become a bit of a hindrance to proceedings if we hung around for too long, so I soon took them off for a ride on their bikes by the river.

As far as I was concerned that was the end of it, until at 5pm I got another phonecall – did we have a bike they could borrow for 15 minutes for filming purposes?  Someone came and fetched it, and I was asked whether I was to be the cyclist – apparently there had been some suggestion that I take on this role for the scene – perhaps they thought I’d be keen since I had been so interested in the whole thing.  But no – I was horrified – and explained that as far as I was concerned it was just the bike I was supplying.

Anyway, about half of the Doodle Drawer scenes were filmed in our back yard in the end.  I still don’t have a transmission date yet though.