Matt Whistler the life and life, day to day

Well here's an example of how a low budget comedy episode can still come up smelling of roses. With only 8 hours to go before filming our latest scene which is the middle part of Episode three of Radio West Pier there were a few essential details to consider. Where do I get a cameraman? where do I get a green screen? and will the weather hold out. All three factors seemed equally as difficult to deal with at the time.

The scene was of me inside a 1930s Chevrolet. This is the interior shot for our swimousine which you can see the animation for in episode one and two. Its a kind of underwater spaceship and is designed to carry our guests to Radio West Pier H.Q.

I don't want to go into more detail on episode three as it has not as yet been released on myspace and RWP is planning a national press launch in September 2007.

So back to the logistics. Green screen ... where, when, how.
Well back at Eric Mahogeneighs house (the co-writer of our audio pod casts except for Rico's musical talents which I wrote myself), there was a huge flimsy piece of board, with a vile, putrid and brightly coloured painting of a dwarf on a toad stool in a countryside fantasy land setting. Every time I pulled painting out from behind the settee it stirred something negative up inside the tenants of flat 4 at TWO PIERS housing co-op in Brighton. This flat has been like a second home for me over the years, as it has been like a portal for me to connect with like minded individuals and at times usually on a full moon I have felt very sane their, given the activity that has taken place. Its the notorious party flat of a huge housing co-op and tenants their don't hold back. Although don't let me paint the wrong picture this is a space which has been stigmatised by controversial tenants and general madness. The calm has settled in now after a prolonged storm and relationships are blossoming and the vibe is one of Sunday papers scrabble and civil chit chat.

In my early stages of visiting FLAT 4 the mad party scene was never a scene I wholly embraced and I often became cynical about the mechanics of housing co-ops and discussions around colour coded buckets and shower mats. I suppose I am speaking from bitter experience as I gave TWO PIERS a go once in a different building on the other side of Brighton and I didn't suit my personality two many contradictions and seven tenants living under the same space all equally as keen to lead separate lives. The pinnacle came for me when the living room door was repeatedly left unlocked meaning that anyone could gain access to the whole building. One day I left a message to the rest of the house that the door had been left unlocked and p.s Has anyone seen the television ? (the TV had been hidden by myself in the Office upstairs). My mission was to make the other tenants visualize theft and how we should be more aware blarde blar. The crux of this was that I was just being smart arse but the irony was that it worked the door was always locked from that day on . Anyways dirty laundry you don't want to hear more of this (boring your boring) .... I am saying this to myself to steer me in another direction.

This aside Erics real name Rick Wood lives at Flat Four and he appreciates my sense of humour which instantly qualifies him as a friend. Where Rick and Flat 4 are concerned I can take things a bit too far at times. I did once ask Rick if I could store my Radio in his living room of course forgetting to mention that the Radio was actually a 1930s wireless that needs three men to carry. I tatted this in Hove when some clearance guys were about to chuck it onto the back of their van and I slammed on my brakes in my VW transporter wound down the window and shouted "hold it ! hold it right there, you are not taking that radio anywhere, I can make very good use of it in my comedy show"

The wireless had an ash tray on top of it steeped with stubbed cigarettes and in the middle of it was one cigarette stubbed but standing upright to attention. I figured this was the last cigarette of the tenant before popping his or her clogs. The feeling I got from the ciggies was that it was probably an old lady. The back of the wireless displayed all the inner workings the gold speaker Cassy and wires. The cob web was the same colour of the wireless ... brown. You can see the wireless on episode one of Radio West Pier....

I would like to think that if the old lady was looking down they would think wow my wireless ended up on set at a TV Brighton production of Radio West Pier.

BACK TO THE PAINTING :
The offending painting was removed from behind the settee and dragged halfway across Brighton to my friends flat in Hove and I then hoofed it to the local painter decorator shop to buy a tin of paint for green screen. Low and behold their was one tin in the bargain basket that matched green screen requirements perfectly. For £6 I now have ample green screen paint and the dwarf on the toadstool has a new home. Well its actually stored in the garage of the guy who owns the Chev as he did say that film making could be his next move as there was no way I was going to drag this noisy beast of a wobble board back along George Street again with its scraping noise that travels from one end of the Street to another.

I must admit though dragging it home first along the seafront from Ricks was hilarious. I was gripping the wood behind me and a gust of wind would lift the whole thing in the air. The wind on the Brighton Hove seafront can be very powerful at times. I remember when I used to run along the seafront in the morning and if the wind was behind you it was like your feet barely touched the ground and I would say hello to a runner coming towards me at slugs pace with g-force expressions and strewn hair and enough time to have tea and scones before putting his left foot in front of his right.
Back to the green screen:
It was like I had a big rectangle cape, it would have done Bat Fink proud. Getting from one street block to the next was a nightmare though the wind would force me to one side. Passers by were mesmerized by my sense of striving forward... the sound of the end of the board scraping along the floor as I dragged it was deafening. Walking through pedestrianised George Street with the board later was a film in itself the sound of the green screen been dragged with Carlo my Italian editor and young aspiring Brighton film maker Pete both carrying mad props stopped the cafe and restaurant punters in their tracks. And all the time I was feeling anarchic and thinking I'm making a film I'm making a fucking comedy show and nothing is going to stop me and the fact that your all looking at me with a bemused not quite sure what context to put this situation in look just strengthens my comedy blood into Vimto shaken and not stirred with cornflour.

To be continued ....