Monday, 16 April 2012

The best laid plans.....

Right folks, well the blog has been somewhat neglected of late time to out that right....

Here’s the story of the latest shoots....

Everything was set for three days of silly, sloppy shooting. It was all going to plan for once. I t was going well, TOO WELL! Three days before the first scheduled shoot I received news from Jon that he wouldn’t be attending. This left me with some key problems: My paddling pool and background were still down with Messy Jessie, I was without a host and camera person for the shoots and finally not driving myself I had no easy way of nipping to the shops to pick up last minute supplies. I’d gone from being completely sorted to rather stuffed in a matter of minutes, things were not looking good!

I called Messy Jessie but she had no way to get me the pool and background at such short notice. She was however a wonderful calming influence and gave me some advice and confidence that I could still pull this out of the bag. Next I called Messy Jojo, local to me and well used to “the Mayhem”. She was only too happy to help out and I was soon arming her with a shopping list of stuff to pick up for me.
                I then called Scarlot Rose, she said she would try and re-arrange some shoots and if she could she would come down and do the hosting for me. When she got back to me the news was mixed. She could do the shoot on the Saturday but couldn’t make either the Friday or the Sunday. Drastic action was required! I texted the equivalent of the 999 services for Messymayhem...Annabelle who has now come to my rescue more times than I can now remember. She  replied saying that she would try and get the time off work.
                The next day the news was largely good Annabelle was available to do the Friday but not the Sunday and Jojo had managed to aquire pretty much everything on my list apart from a decent sized paddling pool which was proving a problem. However I managed to locate one at my local Argos and blagged a lift down there with a friend from work. Not wanting to admit what I was buying for fear of difficult questions I told him just to drop me off and I’d make my own way home. This left me to carry the mother of all paddling pools a mile home uphill in the cold and wet. I didn’t care though, I had a pool! The final piece in the jigsaw then fell into place as the chaperone of one of the models agreed to host the Sunday shoot.....it looked like from the jaws of defeat things could go ahead after all.....

Thursday night came and Jojo came over and assisted in setting up and getting the large amount of tarp down. Friday morning then arrived and I was up early finishing off the setup I then met Jojo from the station and no sooner we were back here Annabelle arrived. Unfortunately I had chosen this precise moment to have a shower. However so used to working for Messy Mayhem is Annabelle she didn’t only know her way from the station she knew her way around my kitchen too and she was setting about making cheese on toast when I emerged from the shower. I was then berated for a lack of Milk and dispatched to the nearby corner shop to get some. On my way back I picked up the lovely Kiki from the station, it’s a toss up who talks faster between her and Jess West! When we got back gunge mixology was in full swing. However I got a text from Amber the other model saying that she was stuck in traffic and was running late. This was a problem as Kiki needed to get off prompt to be at another shoot later in the day. So we changed plan and did a scene with Kiki solo playing Triggerwords, that gave Amber time to arrive. Kiki was a trooper very chatty on camera and well used to mess from her work with Messy Jessie. When Amber arrived she was rather nervous, she had never done anything involving mess or video before so she was a little quiet. Pretty soon however we discovered she had a rather competitive streak and she started to enjoy herself a bit! She stayed on to do one solo scene herself after Kiki had gone. All in all it was a very good shoot, both girls were gorgeous and a lot of fun was had. Here’s a few of my stills and some pictures from our twitter feed to give you an idea of what went on.











After the cleanup and some chips I realised that we didn’t have enough gaffa tape to do all the tarping for the next days shoot so I headed for ASDA, a two mile round trip in the wet and cold to get some. I then collapsed into bed around midnight, pleased but thoroughly exhausted. I then woke at 5am with severe stomach cramps and a banging head, I felt awful. After half an hour I felt no better and decided the only course of action was to cancel the shoot so I text all concerned and then went back to sleep feeling thoroughly miserable. When I woke about 7am my stomach was fine and my head much clearer. I thought “actually I can probably do this now”. I text all concerned once more but the news wasn’t great. It was supposed to be a three girl shoot with Rose doing the hosting. Michelle and Rose were still able to come, the later berating me for ruining the nice lie in she was planning to have! However one model had already called her work after my first text and agreed to work that day so wouldn’t be able to attend and another was feeling unwell herself and had just been sick so would have to cancel. I called Rose and she had already left and asked her if she would be prepared to go in front of camera after all. She laughed and said “I knew this would happen” I even posted on Fetlife saying “working for Messymayhem today behind the camera but what’s the betting I get covered in gunge anyway and will be picking it out from behind my ears for weeks!” Rose’s love of the gunge is immense and it didn’t take much persuasion. We did have to nip to ASDA though to acquire her some underwear as she hadn’t packed any. Typical, I needn’t have made the journey the night before and got cold and wet after all! Michelle arrived and we started shooting but I wasn’t feeling myself, the headache was coming back and I felt rather tired and weak. Michelle ended up strapped into my new toy (thanks for the idea Splatter) and we got to enjoy two old hands at getting messy in full swing. However we only managed 3 scenes before I decided I couldn’t do anymore. Here’s a taste of what went on though.




With regret we packed up. I had no choice but to cancel the Sunday shoot and Rose and Jojo stayed and helped me de-rig as there is no way I could have managed on my own. I then collapsed into bed to recover and reflect on a rather stressful week. The shoots hadn’t been a total success but neither had they been an abject failure and for that I have some very good friends to thank. So when you’re watching these videos down the line people just remember they probably wouldn’t have happened without Jojo, Annabelle and Scarlot Rose and for that I’m truly grateful (and you should be too).

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