Life on a Horror Film Set
I asked James Emmerson to drop me a line with some details on it of what it was like to work on a horror film, so that I could send it to the magazine “Young Performer”. James played a part in “Ghost Street” which is a road safety film being made to show to teenagers in schools. James did a superb job so I decided to post it to the web site too. Here are James own words and some photos:-
On 5th June
I traveled to dean studio’s for an audition for the part of Martin in the new film ‘Ghost street’ which is being created for Newcastle city council. I was shown into a small room shortly after arriving for an interview and although I felt it went reasonably well when I came out I found two men both looking far older one of whom had a moheiken hair cut and the other several nose piercings. Both men looked practically perfect for the role of Martin-a street wise skater boy with slightly sinister intentions. Due to this rather off-putting occurrence I had resigned myself to the fact that I would almost certainly not get a part in the film. I was therefore extremely surprised when Trudy rang me to say that although I had not landed the part of Martin in the film the director had been sufficiently impressed to give me a minor role. It was only after I arrived at the studio’s again
on the 13th June
for a full days rehearsal that I discovered from a fellow member of the cast that this minor role was in fact the part of Jacob a young boy who is knocked down by a car at the end of the film and wakes up to find himself on ghost street. Although Jacob does not have any dialogue he does have some focused camera time and is quite key to the overall story. I was almost as surprised by this as I was by the fact that the person I was having the conversation with was to be playing the main characters corpse.
Finally the filming day Thursday 18th June came
and I was greeted for costume and make up by a girl with blood streaming down her face and a very blackened and gross toothy grin. “I could have sworn she wasn’t missing teeth last time I saw her” I thought and sure enough the make up artists had already been at work. After pleasantly greeting the man playing Martin (ironically this was the boy with the mohican who I had spotted after my audition) with half of his mangled face being slowly torn off because of the many hours he had spent in prosthetics I went on to meet my fellow stagecoach student Charlotte with large pieces of glass protruding from her face and neck, which I was later to discover where made from sugar cast. After this second rather disturbing experience it was my turn in the make up chair. Several minutes later I had an alarmingly large amount of blood dripping from a wound in my head and I was ushered on set as I contemplated how long I would have to spend in the shower to wash this potentially fatal wound out. Filming for my scene started on a street in Whitley Bay and pedestrians gazed in awe as several rather bloody members of the cast watched as my small part was filmed again…. and again…. and again. Although the process was incredibly time consuming I enjoyed and learnt from every minute and without a single regret I eagerly await the premiere of my first role in film.
I would also like to mention that I was particularly glad to gain a role in this significant film because of its theme of road safety as the day before my audition a friend of mine was knocked down by a bus and rushed to hospital following an English GCSE exam. I am however extremely glad to report that unlike the characters in the film fortunately he has lived to tell the tale.
James Emmerson
