Skins Crew Catchup

I think someone at e4.com just realised that some of the blog posts were never posted so they’ve just done a mass upload.

From what I can work out they are from back in December.

To avoid confusion I’m just going to link to them rather than post them.

Crew Blog: Runner Dom’s Final Blog

Crew blog: Ben’s final blog (Junior Assistant Director)

Crew blog: Costume Assistant Roz’s final post

Hannah Murray’s (Cassie) Last Blog

Mike Bailey’s (Sid) Final Blog

Crew Blog: Mike Bailey (Sid)

Our final week of Skins! Sad, sad, sad times! Currently drinking vodka and coke in the green room, not saying why though.
Started on Unseen Skins this week, with the lovely Sarah Dibsdall, who’s usually our 2nd A.D. (Assistant Director) has been firsting which has been lovely!

Did a pub scene on the first day very hungover so that wasn’t the most fun I’ve had. Very upset that Sid doesn’t have his own platform again this year, obviously I’m just not good enough to get one, or too good, either one.
Had possibly the most fun I’d ever had in my life yesterday as a passenger, doing a small bit of stunt driving in the mini. Pretty basic just driving down a road, but to liven it up, we were doing handbrake turns and swerving. To be honest after take 4 I was ready for another 20! The other stunt driver Derek was wicked as well, they both got into it and really seemed to be enjoying it. Must admit they do have a damn good job, and were telling me of some of the stuff they’ve done in the past and am very jealous.

Oh and if you were wondering what the other bloggers look like here’s pictures:

Ben on the left and Dom on the right

And I think Roz has put a picture of me and her in her blog, if not she’s tall, blonde and very nice.

Source: www.e4.com/skins

Crew Blog: Hannah Murray (Cassie)

This weekend, instead of filming the main series, we have been shooting some of the platforms – the mini Unseen Skins episodes (or Epidermisodes as Ben Schiffer very cleverly termed them) that appear on the internet in accompaniment to the series itself.

These can be a lot of fun to film, as they are often quite independent from the storylines of the series itself, and feel a bit like doing a short film. Also we quite often get to explore characters or relationships that aren’t touched on in the actual episodes – for example last year I really loved getting to work more closely with April and to look at the friendship between Cassie and Michelle more closely in the first Unseen Skins “I Mostly Do”, as I felt it was a very interesting and realistic relationship that hadn’t been dealt with in Series 1 in that much detail.

We tend to shoot platforms with a reduced crew, which can be quite nice as you feel less aware of there being something of a circus going on around you and you can focus more on your performance. Speaking of crew, there have also been a couple of cameos made by them in the platforms, which make them all the more enjoyable to shoot. If you watch the ninth one “Bye” (which I think may only appear on the DVD) you’ll be able to see Edward K. Gibbon, our costume designer, as a hotel doorman, and Ben Childs, floor runner, as a hot dog seller.

The only slight downside of the platforms is that they tend to be shot at a very frantic pace, which can be quite a shock in comparison to the main unit where you have a lot more time. When I got home today I found myself running around the house in order to do anything, even though I really didn’t need to, just because I’d been used to such a sense of urgency all day. But in reality this is the smallest of downsides, and certainly makes you feel more productive, and eliminates almost all waiting around. So despite my last three days shooting platforms being slightly mad and very cold, they were nonetheless a marvellous time.

Source: www.e4.com/skins

Crew Blog: A Guide to Skins Style by Roz (Costume Assistant)

Inspired by youth culture over the past 50 years (since the birth of the teenager) the Skins trend is about anti-fashion and not following the obvious trends. This helps firstly on a practical so as not to look dated by the time the show comes out. Each character has an individual style to reflect their separate personalities and this year the costumes have matured with the characters.

“A timeless distilled essence of youth” is how Edward Gibbon (Costume Designer) described the Skins style to me over lunch today. The look is Edward’s individual take on fashion. There are no rules. All colours can work together, no patterns clash and it’s a mixture of vintage, charity shops, designers and high street. TKMaxx is a favourite. We also customise a lot of our costumes, although most of the tiny details are only really seen if you’re looking closely.
The characters are all very confident in what they wear and each have a colour theme which helps when buying the clothes. For example Jal’s colours are earthy and natural but still strong (maroons, bronze, yellow and oranges). This series sees Jal with a bit of a make-over pleasing Larissa no end. We purposely try and stay away from black and last year the bright colours helped distinguish our cast from the background. However, people are now becoming more daring in the colours and fashion they experiment with.

Source: www.e4.com/skins

Crew Blog: Dom (Junior Assistant Director)

“You get asked some strange things to do when working in television. I’m not sure anyone else would be asked to skin up at work that much. It’s a common thing on Skins. Just the other day we were filming at a local school in Bristol when the art department requested they needed some urgent joints for the following days shoot. So we in the A.D department came to the rescue. You can imagine the caretaker’s face when he walked around a corner to find a group of runners, sitting at a table in front of a pile of green leafy substance, skinning up ‘fatty bon batties.’

The poor man nearly had a heart attack. Emma one of our location managers, quickly had to explain we weren’t a bunch degenerate stoners, the joints were props full of herbal tobacco.

It certainly is a bizarre job with interesting people. This is my second year working on Skins and I have to say this series has a lot more to offer. Now the characters are all established the plot lines are thicker and the actors have more to play with, making it much more interesting. It is great to see how the cast have all grown closer over the year and aren’t just some kids anymore thrown together but young actors who have become close friends with growing talent. Their acting, as good as it was before, seems to have improved even more. They’re a bunch of great people who honestly make me laugh every day, especially Joe Dempsie (Chris) who thinks his football side in the Skins match has a chance against mine.

All we could hear today around our studio was a sweet whisper of “It’s on, it’s on, we even have the kit.” This was the confirmation that the Skins football match is, without a doubt, on. We play tonight, and the teams are chosen. Tensions are high and bets are being laid. Joe Dempsie thinks he has a great right foot, but my defence work is just too strong. It’s a battle of the titans. It’s our First assistant Directors team verses our Third assistant Directors team. Cast and crew are all involved results in the next blog.”

Source: www.e4.com/skins

Crew Blog: Dom (runner)

“Yesterday was freezing! I had to hide in my car to escape the cold and the windows steamed up. But, the misty windows weren’t a blank, virginal canvas. The naughty tykes Mike (Sid) and April (Michelle) had each drawn a cartoon ‘willy’ on one or more of my windows and I had to wipe them off before a passer-by thought I was a sex pest.

We have been filming some very exciting stuff these last few days. Naturally, I can’t tell you much but…there might be a car going very fast through the streets of Bristol, Sid might be in the passenger seat and there might be an unusual vehicle giving chase. On seeing Mike pass by in the car, one booze-soaked onlooker shouted, “Ere, there’s that Harry Potter” and then staggered off mentioning something about kebabs. During a recent outdoor shoot, an old lady asked what we were doing “What are you doing” she said. “Filming a telly programme called Skins” I said. “Skids?” she said, and then in her finest Bristolian accent, “Haven’t you got anything better to do?” I had no answer. It was a good question though;didn’t we? Well, not really. You see, there are some rubbish jobs available at the job centre (I’ve tried most of them) but working on a program like Skins isn’t one of them. The days are long, you might be outside all day filming a slug eating a sock but it’s not like cleaning toilets or selling yer body for cash. That’s real work. I should know.”

SOURCE: www.e4.com/skins

Mike (Sid) says…

Been working long and hard the past couple of days, well, long; not really that hard. Been pretty damn cold as well and were out on ashton court yesterday so were freezing pretty much all day, but was nice to be out of the studio.
Been taking more photos to add to my wall in the green room. Have very dull walls in our green room, so decided to take photos of cast and crew through the series, print them out and stick them on the wall.

I swear there was more but a lot seemed to have gone missing.
Only a few weeks till the end now until it’s all over and everyone’s feeling a bit sad, but still tons of laughs on set.

Had an ADR session on Thursday which was fun, kind of. ADR is when you go into a recording studio and re-record lines or record new lines to be added. Can be quiet hard if you have to lip sync with yourself on screen, but being multi-talented as I am, it was a piece of cake! I lie, I was there for hours.

Was good to see some of the stuff we’d shot months ago like the Gower, which looked really good, and episode 3 (my own!). Made me realise how much time has flown by. One photo which I took in the Gower and am rather proud of would be this one of young Mr Patel.

Getting Naked With the Cast of Skins

Roz Marshall, Costume Assistant writes:

“There’s a lot of nakedness in Skins and I guess I should give a behind the scenes insight into how that works.  Because the actors are actually the age they play there are loads of legal regulations to deal with so they never really are naked.  Although it wasn’t in my job description when I started series 2, I’ve somehow landed the job of official naked person on set.  This means that on many an occasion I’m faced with lots of naked Skins boys at 7am!  Something many people would love but for me it’s kind of like seeing your little brother’s bum.  (Not great, especially so early in the day). 

Anyway, to hide their modesty we’ve made a strange construction which looks like the front of a pair of pants but is gathered underneath with no back. The boys strap themselves in and I use medical tape to keep it on and them in!  There was a lot of discussion about shaving after the guys discovered that removing medical tape from a certain area is about as painful as waxing.  If their bums aren’t on show then we’ve got jock straps for them and they’ll usually wear trousers if the shot is above their waist. The same applies for the ladies in Skins; a backless, strapless stick-on bra usually covers all eventualities.  So, sorry girls and guys but they never actually get their kits of, its just TV magic.

There seems to be quite a lot of sex going on in Skins this year (no surprise there then, but between whom…?) We’ve even got Sex Monday scheduled for next week, where we’ll be shooting two sex scenes in various parts of the studio which we haven’t had a chance to shoot yet.  I’m always surprised how much work is involved for a costume department when there are no actual costumes in the scene.

As I’m on about the sex I may as well mention the underwear.  Underwear always factors at some point in for each character and it’s a good one to keep an eye out for.  My favour pair of pants this year is Chris’ Pink and White leopard print pants; he’s got a pretty impressive array of pants for a guy.  Topman, H&M and Gap have provided us with some fab boy pants this year and we’ve got our hands on the ever faithful American Apparel Y fronts too. Cassie also spends a lot of her scenes in lingerie this series and obviously in true Cassie style wears some great vintage numbers including a pale pink moth eaten nylon teddy - as always, Cassie carries it off.  “ 

Source: www.e4.com/skins

Crew Blog: Ben (Junior Assistant Director)

It’s not always easy and glamorous working in television. We shoot on camera twelve hours a day in rain, sleet or snow with tight deadlines to meet. It can be stressful, exhausting and tempers can flare. However with this crew, this cast, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. After nearly six months working together we’re more like family. It’s a pleasure to hard graft with people you can joke and laugh with while working to produce fantastic television.

Fantastic is an understatement you should see some of the cameo’s we have this series. Bill Bailey, Mark Heap (‘Spaced, Green Wing’), John Thompson (‘Fast Show, Cold Feet’) and even a certain actor from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ alright not Depp but Angus Barnett who plays ‘Mullroy,’ one of the funny guards. He was a personal favourite, most hilarious person I’ve met. Also I have to add our new Director, Charles Martin. This series is definitely onto a winner.

As for our cast they’re all working hard and enjoying themselves, though Hannah Murray who plays Cassie is slightly upset at the prospect of the new film ‘The Golden Compass’ coming out. That is one girl who won’t be seeing it, let’s just say they’ve taken a bit too much of the book out the film. An angry lady to say the least. The rest of the cast are just upset they can’t beat me at table football.

Talking of football, The Deal or no Deal crew seem to of wimped out from our challenge of a game. So we’ve decided to have a massive eleven aside Skins Game. This is dangerous, with the competitiveness of this crew anything could happen.

Oh and our poor new camera assistant had the fright of his life the other day. While filming next to a mental home, we convinced him a patient had escaped. He may have soiled himself when Joe from props leapt out of the camera van at him. I’ve never seen a lad run so fast.

Source: e4.com