"Under The Skin" and "Emergency"

It's been a while since I've had anything to report on my projects, mainly because I've been trying to earn money like a responsible adult for once. This past week I worked a day on a Scarlett Johansen film called "Under The Skin" where she plays a man eating alien (Species rip off????) followed by a 3 day stint on Emergency with Angela Griffin (Coronation Street). Two entirely different projects and experiences.

"Under The Skin" was one of those experiences that disheartened the hell out of me. I think they overestimated the amount of runners they needed and as a result there were many of us who were hardly used. I was one of them. Out of a 10 hour shift I must have done about 30 minutes of work. That was essentially locking off a street while filming was happening. The rest of the day I felt like a complete spare part. The only consolation was that I got to catch up with some peeps I met while working on World War Z. I also handed out a couple of cards here and there but if I wasn't getting paid for the day it would have been a complete waste of time.

Emergency with Angela Griffin kept me a little busier, even although there were periods of boredom here and there. I was basically a runner/driver with a bit of data wrangling. My main worry going in was the prospect of driving a Ford Galaxy about Glasgow for a few days. Let me put it this way, there were a good few stalls during the course of the shoot. Having said that by the final day I had the hang of it and was actually quite enjoying how the car handled. Parking was still a nightmare though. The data wrangling part I was fine with once the naming conventions were established. The first and the third days were fine and quite slow. The second on the other hand was a fucking nightmare. The low point was having to drop off rushes to a runner flying up from London, in shitty weather, while suffering from the migraine from hell. Me being me I didn't take any medicine because that's how we straight edgers roll. Then I had to return back to the production office at rush hour . Nightmare and a half.

I think I probably learned more about the emergency services than I did about the shoot. What these men and women have to deal with is fucking unreal and they deserve the utmost respect for their role in society. Unfortunately from what I hear they seldom get it. A lot of the call outs were a huge waste of their resources. Seeing playbacks of some of the footage made me feel really ashamed of some of the people I share a country with. Most of the call outs were alcohol related and their behaviour disgusts me. It further reaffirms that my stance on alcohol is correct. If you are looking for a way to cut spending on the NHS do something about the rampant alcohol problem in Scotland. I wonder how many people have died over the years because an ambulance didn't get to them quick enough because they were all out dealing with drunken barbarians or drug overdoses?

I look at the life of a paramedic and I feel so bad for them because a large amount of their time is spent dealing with the crap of humanity. It must really skew your outlook on the world. I definitely could not do their job, I'm jaded enough. Paramedics definitely deserve a tonne of respect for their dedication and for generally making a difference in peoples lives. They have to put up with a lot of shit from the public for very little pay and to be perfectly honest they deserve better. They should only be going out on calls for people who generally need help, people who respect their own health and respect the health of others. They deserve a more considerate public than they have. Well that's my feelings on it. I hope to be getting on with my own work soon. Until next time. Cheers.