An exciting 3 days

A few weeks ago Razor Film company rang our school and asked our Music teacher for any recommendations for 3 boys who could sing, to audition for a scene in a movie being filmed in Germany.

The music teacher asked me whether Alexander and Cameron would be interested, and they were keen to try out, with another boy, Lynes.

The kids had an audition at the Razor Film office and a only few hours later we got a call asking for the 3 of them for the scene! The kids were so excited about it.
They had 2 afternoons of rehearsing with Michael, the composer, and with a few practices at home, they had remembered all the words.

The filming was taking place on a small island off the coast of the Baltic Sea which is a good 5 hours drive from Berlin. Tuesday was a travelling day to get us there, Wednesday was the shooting day, Thursday was another travelling day to get home again.

We left Berlin at 5am in the morning. Our ferry was leaving at 12.45pm, so we made sure we had enough time for some coffee and running around stops for the kids.

Suzanne drove, and the kids amused themselves in the back seat playing games and singing, and we got to the Ferry with time to spare.

Michael was on the ferry as well, so the boys sang the song to him once, and sung a "silly" version they had made up in the car on the way there. Michael was not so sure about the "improved" version.

We arrived on the island and were taken to the set to check on costumes. The kids had been measured up in the Production office, all that needed to be done was adjusting the sleeve length and the hems. Cameron thought he looked like an angel!

Underneath their costumes they wore jeans and jumpers..it was cold and windy.

The day of filming the kids had to be on set at 8am, then into costumes along with jackets, hats, scarves, gloves to keep them warm.

The kids were thrilled that they got their own trailer to wait in until the set was ready for their scene. They played Uno and Nintendo while they waited.

The film set was great and the kids did really well. They had 3 great ladies who looked after them, keeping them really warm with blankets and keeping them in a huddle to protect them from the wind. When the call was made "ready to film",the 3 ladies took off all the jackets, hats, scarves and gloves, and raced off the set.

The kids sang, then the call was made "cut", and the ladies raced back to the kids, got all the warm clothes back on, and covered them with blankets...it was amazing to see them get in there so quick to keep them warm. They had hand warmer sachets in their gloves that quickly warmed their hands up between takes.

Suzanne and I were really proud of the kids, they did a really great job, and didn't complain about the cold.

There were over 30 crew members on set doing different jobs, and then the actors and extras in the scene. Cameron starts the song all by himself, then Lynes comes in, then Alexander. They did not show any signs of nerves, they were all so confident!

The first few takes they sang a little bit too quickly, and they needed to slow down the tempo. Michael thought they might have been rushing it because they were cold. But once Michael spoke to them, them slowed it down, and everyone was really pleased with it.

After a few rehearsals, and then 2 different camera angles they were finished, and the kids went back to the trailer. They needed to wait to get the OK that the filming was fine, before they could get changed out of their costumes, in case the scene had to be reshot.

Once they were given the OK, we headed off to the wharf for lunch.

At the wharf the kids were thrilled to get a chance to meet Matt Smith, who is the next Dr Who. The kids love watching the Dr Who series, and Matt spoke to them about their favourite things about Dr Who and he was incredibly charming! The kids were so excited, I think this was Cameron's favourite part of the whole experience!

We also spent a lot of time talking to Natalia Tena, who plays Tonks in Harry Potter, Alexander thought she was awesome!

After lunch we had the rest of the day to ourselves, so we took the kids on a good 3 hour walk along the edge of the island. They had lots of fun jumping around, throwing rocks into the water and getting very, very muddy!
and carrying very large sticks around.
jumping on poles and over water
and chasing birds off the paths
at the wharf, with Suzanne and Lynes


Thursday moring it was time to head back to Berlin. What an amazing sunrise to wake up to.

Our ferry left at 7.30am. It was supposed to get to the mainland by 9.15am. However we didn't get in until after 10.30am. The tide was out, and we couldn't get through to the mainland. We just had to sit and wait for the tide to come back in before we could continue. At one stage the ferry was actually sitting on the bottom.

The locals say that some days you can actually walk to the mainland from the islands. I guess you would have to know the tidal patterns really well, in case all of a sudden you were stuck floating in the middle!

Our trip back to Berlin was slow, it rained the entire journey, and we stopped often so Suzanne could rest her eyes.

This was a great experience for the kids, and I think they will be interested to see themselves in a movie, and see how much time and work has gone into the scene they were involved with. It was a lot of background work to have gone into about 1 minute 30 seconds of the film.

All the people involved with the film process were so kind, helpful, and friendly, and it really made it a fabulous experience. When the film is ready to be released I will let you know, but in the meantime, look out for "Womb" by Benedek Fliegauf!