Describe your average day making How Hard is Waving? in lockdown…

DAN
Generally it started in the morning with a cup of tea and then it depends on what part of the process we were in. When the cast were shooting, the day would start with reviewing all the footage for the scene I would be editing, converting it all to 25 frames per second (a lovely quirk of filming on iPads, they record at 30fps, which is no good for UK broadcast) I would then start editing together the footage into what we call an assembly edit, basically the first bash at putting the story together, no graphics of effects just the footage in its most basic form.
If I had already done this for another scene, I would then have a meeting with Rachael where she would give me her notes on that and I would do re edits for those. Once I had a bunch done and signed off from Rachael I would send then to Janie for music.
When music started coming in there would be tweaks to make, and then of course all the graphics which needing making from scratch and then placing into the films.
Later on in the process the days were filled with colour correction: this is the process of grading the image so that the picture looks better and also more consistent when filming on different devices and in different location. The look of the film from each shoot can be quite contrasting so colour correction means I can match everything up a bit more. Lastly the endless and agonising task of rendering. A lot of time was spent rendering the finished films into the 4 or 5 different formats that were required by the BBC: this is a long and slow process made harder by my Mac deciding this would be the time to start having problems!!
RACHAEL
Just to be clear- all of this was made in total isolation, in our own homes, on our own. I got up early. I had to, in order to beat the light. It was impossible to film any later than 2pm in “Gran’s chair film set” in the corner of my kitchen because the light came through the window and bleached everything out. Sometimes we had cast meetings over several options of video calls (with James having to stay on mute so that we couldn’t hear him telling his kids off!) to talk through what was needed that week or day. I think it’s safe to say the meetings were frustrating as we have spent so many years together in the rehearsal room and hours after that in the pub, and James and I were always fighting either the light or children…or both. I watched his beard grow.  So, I got up early to “dress the set” (always in my pyjamas), creeping around whilst the rest of the house slept, moving all the mad quirky clutter that I have hanging on my walls, out of the shot.  And then there was costume to decide, wig dressing to be done, lighting and composition to sort…all before I even thought of starting to film. Before filming, I’d have to wake the kids up, get them to grab breakfast and then ban them from the kitchen until (late) lunch time. I’m not going to talk about the days I filmed with my 14 year old daughter Rosa…let’s hear it from her point of view. After filming my scene for the day I’d then turn to uploading and watching through all the footage from everyone to then meet virtually and discuss it with Dan (whilst watching his hair grow longer) and occasionally I had to call either Alan or James and apologise for needing more footage (but I am working with the country’s two finest mask actors so it was usually all there). Occasionally I’d squeeze in a call with composer Janie, but that was really only for sanity’s sake.  And at the end of each week I’d work on and send out the script for the following week- in the application I said we’d make 70 short films, which became 28 overnight, which within a week became 20 when we discovered just how complicated it was. And I dreamt in edited film shots- it was such a new way of working that it haunted me. Does that sound stressful? It really was. Working in isolation was more tough than I’d ever imagined.

What did you learn from making How Hard is Waving?

DAN
That totally remote working is not the best way to tell stories. Don’t get me wrong, I think everyone did a fantastic job, but there is definitely something missing from not connecting in a room and being able to problem solve, bounce last minute ideas off each other and focus on your job and doing it to the best of your ability. During lockdown, our cast were also doing camera, lighting, direction, catering, story development, IT etc, etc. this makes what is already a difficult thing to do incredibly hard. The fact we made anything is quite miraculous really, let alone over 40 minutes of finished films  - and remember that for every minute of edited film there is about 5 minutes more not used!!
RACHAEL
I learnt to put layers and layers of greaseproof paper over a window to keep some light out. I learned that if any continuity of the shot had changed (“don’t knock the flying ducks Rosa”) that take would get binned. I learned that I massively miss working within a team of people, I thrive on people’s face to face energy with discussion and debate, and I hated, hated working in isolation.

Which was the hardest episode to make and why?

DAN
Possibly the disco as there was SOOOO much footage and to put all the characters in was tricky -  keeping track of what they were all doing and saying and reacting to. Also to try and make them appear sort of in time with the music and then the colour grade on that footage with all the flashing lights. Yeah, that on was quite hard work.
The other one was a scene that just was very hard to make work, and in the end was cut from the series. We had filmed an episode of Ryan and Katie’s first date and it just was a bit of a nightmare telling that story without Ryan looking like a fool and Katie not looking completely mean. Generally, with film and theatre if something is a real struggle to make work it means that it probably just doesn’t work, so it’s best to just go. I think we got it into a good place in the end and maybe in the future it will see the light of day.
RACHAEL
The disco was a nightmare. I wanted to make sure that there was no natural light left which meant filming late, really late. It took three nights to achieve it (often video calling Dan to check in for his advice) because the sets needed dressing with enough artificial light in order to light the masks, but little enough light to make it look like night-time. I banged so many nails in Rosa’s bedroom wall and it took a lot of convincing to get her to wear 100 solar lights round her waist. I really wanted Norah to be in this one, but she’s usually tucked up in bed by 10pm…she needed a whole lot of bribing. If you watch carefully, her head is dancing in time with my hands…I wonder what could have been in them?! And at the same time, we were WhatsApp-ing each other in different parts of the country comparing our simultaneous disco nightmares. 

Which was your favourite one, and why?

DAN
The last one maybe. When I finally worked out a visual language for it, it came together in quite a satisfying way, and the story was very clear. There is also something about an ending that just feels like it wraps up all the work that came before it, which makes it more pleasing I suppose.
The other one would be the end of week 2 when Ryan shows Dad the video of Gran dancing. Out of all of them, even though the graphic elements and things were tricky, the story was so clear and performances so strong it was a treat to put together and I had comparatively few notes on that one so it just clicked, which is always a good sign of something working.
RACHAEL
The final episode was the best. There was such a massive amount of organising to do, brief rehearsals in people’s gardens the night before, the dropping off of masks and costumes with wipes, and a risk assessment of how we needed to work in lockdown. Letting the neighbours (and police) know what was happening and where to stand to watch and where not to stand and get in the way. I hadn’t seen anyone for weeks (we were in lockdown remember) and this episode included lots of my family and closest friends and it became the most exciting and memorable evening. I could only ask my husband to ride a bike on a main road wearing a mask (he is half man, half bike), and having my parents on first made me cry, and I laughed like hell when my sister had to guide my brother in law because his glasses were steaming up so much behind his mask (“I can’t do it without my spectacles Rachael”).
It’s so funny how debilitating masks are when you put one on for the very first time. It can stop you being able to walk properly or wave convincingly (let alone having to skateboard or walk a dog at the same time), but we cracked it within 90 minutes, all in one take. What you see in that scene is all from one take. It was an incredible evening, a glorious summer’s eve, with an explosive excitement and everyone was so blooming pleased to be OUT, just OUT and achieving something meaningful. And best of all, Dan drove up from Southampton to film it (shouting “ACTION” and “NEXT” down Malvern Road), so we got to work together at last (no longer over blooming zoom), almost like normal, no pub afterwards, but with that joyful feeding off another artist’s energy and ideas.

What made it worth it?

DAN
At what was the lowest moment of my professional life, looking around at a world that stopped working and my bubble that is theatre crashing down around me, there was a chance for creativity. That in the middle of all the pain it was still possible to tell stories, I had to skill myself up and change direction to pull this off but those skills will stay with me and I am excited to be able to use them to make me a better storyteller in the future.
RACHAEL
Initially it felt most worth it when we first got the news back in April when there had been 1600 applications and only 25 successes, and little Vamos Theatre and their silly masks was one of the ones to be chosen! Lockdown and cancelling the end of our Dead Good tour felt terrifying, alarming, worrying, stressful. This news was incredible. Once filming and editing began, as soon as we had the very first version cut of each episode, I’d send it to our friend Nick. Nick had helped us make Dead Good be the brutally honest show that it was – living with terminal lung cancer he worked through all scripts and attended many rehearsals. It was worth it because he managed to see all the 20 episodes and he loved, loved being sent them and talking about them. Sadly, he didn’t get to see them once released by the BBC but was so chuffed to see them grow from their raw state into their final one:  “I find something special to do every day and watching your films is one of those things.” Just that comment made it worth it.