Shot this on Saturday on the way back from the Plan9 shenanigans.
Two different shots, cut together to make something quite lovely and quite seamless.. Ha!
The first person who can tell what the two main differences are between shot one and shot two wins a prize.
Ready, steady… GO!
PS. This kind of serves as a nice introduction to the post I have lined up for later in the week. Good times.
A few days ago, interes10 mentioned that London’s Natural History Museum was a fairly decent place to visit for a family day out.
Whenever I think of the Natural History Museum I immediately have images of the giant Blue Whale model in the Mammals hall, or even the huge fossil collection that inhabits the entrance hall.
Dinosaurs spring to mind.
Always.
Today I found myself back there again. But not for a family day out this time, oh no. My presence was required for a much different purpose.
Operation: BIG GNAW was my very own secret mission for today.
Part of an overall plan - PLAN 9 to be exact – I was to be at a set location, at a set time and armed with a very specific set of responses to a set of questions of which I had no knowledge. With a map in my pocket and some guidelines around exactly what I could and could not say, I set out.
“But what the hell is PLAN 9? What is Operation BIG GNAW?”
Allow me to explain…
Mr Dan Light (pictured, top), is currently in the process of putting together a sizzle/trailer for a new film entitled Loch Ghoon. The script, based on an original screenplay by Dan’s cousin Max, requires a few vox pops from everyday folk (that’s where I come in), shot in and around London’s Natural History Museum (NHM).
‘PLAN 9′ was the codename for the operation that took us secretly deep inside the NHM and BIG GNAW was the pseudonym under which my instructions were left for me. Along with a few other cheeky cameo stars, the aim was to get in, shoot what we needed and then get out again before we were rumbled by the NHM security.
Not an easy task.
I’ve tried filming in a you-think-it’s-public-but-it’s-not-really kind of place before and that did not end well. However, thanks to Dan’s meticulous planning (see above), the whole shoot went off without hitch.
Being a Saturday afternoon, the museum was naturally very busy. With Joe Public taking photos left, right and centre, somehow a small collection of inconspicuous-looking men gathered ’round a camera, interviewing each other suddenly became something rather normal. Par for the course in fact. Business as usual.
To the average passer-by, we were merely tourists.
Very, well done.
Rupert, Dan, James, Dan, Benny, Antonio, Katie, Saffron (and maybe a couple of others whose names escape me), excellent work all round.
There’s a Plan9 photo set from today’s fun and games up over on flickr and, if you’re interested in following the progress of Loch Ghoon, I suggest you stay tuned to Dan’s blog – if anything, it’s just a good read.
This is BIG GNAW, signing off…
PLAN 9: COMPLETE
Minor update:
Benny has put his videos and words together – ‘Assault on Plan 9′
As has Dan – ‘We go in. We get what we want. We come out.’
Moleskine entry: August 6th, 2009
Plane: England -> South Africa
Plane: South Africa -> Zambia
Bus: Zambia -> Chobe River
Boat: Chobe River -> Botswana (for 45mins)
4×4: Botswana -> Chobe River
Boat: Chobe River -> Namibia
When we were told this challenge was to ride the Zambezi, all of the information we had been given (before our itineraries arrived), implied that we were to be staying in Zambia.
As it turned out, we were actually to spend the majority of our time in Zimbabwe. Not before however, we returned to Namibia for one night of relaxation at the Ichingo Chobe River Lodge, situated right on the banks of the Chobe River itself.
Tonight’s treat? Speedboat Safari.
I’ll hopefully get some good photos… I can’t believe how much I’m really enjoying this camera.
At the turn of last year, a friend of mine, Tarek Esber put virtual pen to digital paper and wrote about the phrase that he wanted to see most of in 2009.
That phrase was #Awesome09
Basically, this meant that when or if something particularly awesome happened in 2009, you would celebrate it wildly and shout about it, much.
As Tarek himself put it back in February:
“Now more than ever people need to hear good news, something positive to connect with. So I am asking everyone to share all the Awesome that comes their way in 2009 with their communities.
…
Anything that that has made you smile, that has given you hope, that inspired you or that you just thought was pretty damn cool. Share it all, the small Wins and the big ones.”
This we did.
Much.
So much so in fact, a few of us even considered throwing an unconference together – so that we could all share in the Awesome. Alas, time constraints meant that it was never meant to be. However, at least we know what we need for next time…
Speaking of next time. What of 2010?
Well, back in October when I first joined 1000heads, I struck up a conversation with one of my colleagues about the whole ‘what’s going to happen after awesome09?’ thing and decided that next year (and by that obviously I mean this year), would be about the interesting.
Said colleague – step forward Mr Dale – was already working on something similar and thus, Interes10 was born.
“During 2009, when anyone asked ‘What did you do yesterday?’ more often than not, I didn’t have a good answer. So during 2010, I’ve resolved to do something interesting every single day (except Mondays, you got to have some breathing space).”
He didn’t embrace Awesome09 with the same vigour as the rest of us it would seem but anyway…
This is his mission, this is my mission and if you want, it can be your mission too. Robbie’s still building the blog out to include tag searches across different mediums etc but…
Be it through blogs, tweets, photos or vids – if it was something interesting and you did it this year, tag it up with #Interes10 and join the movement.
The future’s bright.
The future’s interes10.
