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.’