Water Water Everywhere

Hi all, Charlie back on set still feeling pretty rough but over the worst of the illness. James is still ill and unfortunately it looks like Deane might be getting ill so we're really hoping the whole team doesn't go down with this bug.
Shooting has still been going really well, so apart from a few of us getting sick things are going really well this shoot. Bess and Toby are out here for a couple of days from The Sunday Times and The Church Times respectively. It's exiting to have press on the shoot this time.

Today we were filming on the barrage which is a reservoir just outside Ouarzazate, the photo on the right shows this and the one above shows one of our boats - we had two boats on the water courtesy of Mike in the art department that look fantastic. We also had a floating pontoon built for filming on the water which meant we could be flexible with our angles for shooting and get all round the water scenes.

In addition to this we filmed using a smoke tent for close ups of Jesus, Moses and Ellijah. This was done by our Second Unit which was Deane (DTI), myself and one of the Moroccan Gaffers. James was too ill to make it back onto set and it looks like Deane is coming down with whatever we have caught.
As for the mosquitos which have been really bad on this shoot they must have been feeling sorry for me as I didn't even get one bite today - but everyone else got really really bitten - even those who had used whole cans of insect replellent to try and keep them at bay!!!
The photo on the left is one of the actors in the smoke tent!

There was a beautiful sunset today which Ben caught on camera as we were packing up - the whole sky went red! Photo below. That's it from me today, going straight to bed as still feeling very run down having been ill so a good nights sleep will fix that. Charlie

The Press Gang

Hi all, Liz here with some news from the shoot. I have been told that today two journalists, Bess from The Sunday Times and Toby from The Church Times have arrived in Ouarzazate to see what our shoot is like and will write an article about it on their return.
I'll post the articles on the blog as soon as I get them. I am blogging today as unfortunately Charlie and James are still ill and off the set at the moment. They have both been quite ill so our first proper illness on a Big Book Shoot, we got away with no bugs last time we were here.
The photos above and right show Hannah our Producer with Toby and Bess watching filming from the side of a set and also the team on set on the easyrig shooting a bit of our film.

Trevor our consultant has arrived out with Toby and Bess to accompany them on the shoot and show them around and they'll be here for a few days. Then we'll have articles in both the Times and the Church Times.
Trevor, Bess and Toby will be on the shoot for three days, watching filming going on, speaking to the crew and cast and generally taking in the shoot experience.

In the meantime here in the office we are all working hard getting ready for the Big Book Media launch party which will be happening as soon as this shoot is over, Alec, Amory, Tim, Robbie, Maddy and I are all working on invites, projectors, screens, food, drink, displays, filmed footage to show, music, press packs, BBM folders etc.. all for the night.
The launch party will be in St Matthew's Church, Westminster, we'll show three of our short films on a large screen, Hannah, David and Trevor will speak about the company, the ideas and the shooting of the films. We will also have
some smaller screens playing more of our footage on a loop so it can be viewed as guests walk round the church. We'll have photos from the shoot, behind the scenes and shots from the films up as well as information on Big Book Media and Three Wise Camels and the Sunday school support tools.
Then we'll be serving Moroccan themed canapes and nibbles and champagne of course! Hopefully it will be a great night.

The photo in the text above is Toby holding the red camera under Deane's (DTI) guidance, having a look at what taking a shot looks like from behind it. The photo on the right is David our Director and Ben our DOP (Director of Photography) on the side of a set having a quick break between shots.

Well that's all for now, sending best wishes over to Charlie and James and hope that they get better soon and when they are able to they will blog with more news from the shoot.

Liz