I am Sherlocked?

So today I saw the 3rd series of Sherlock being filmed. It was pretty great i might say!

It started with me heading up at 5am from the coach station using National Express to London. I don't know if it was the little girl in me getting excited at the prospect of possibly seeing said filming, or the fact i'd had a satisfying amount of sleep. Either way i spent the journey watching the sun slowly appear listening to Alt-J. After arriving in London, I headed over to hand out forms for participants, all eager to get to camp and get their visas.

At about 2, when i could leave, I ran to Green Park tube station and raced to Euston Square. After getting out of the underground I rushed over to North Gower street to be greeted by at least 100 fans of Sherlock and the sight of Mark Gatiss and Martin Freeman chatting. I blended in with the crowd and grabbed my camera; filled with anticipation. I started talking to an Italian fan about where she had traveled from, general chit-chat and of course, a love for Holmes.

Gatiss and Freeman chatting on the set of Sherlock

   About 10 minutes later we were moved across to the corner of the street and Freeman disappeared. The set was organised for the first shoot on N. Gower and we all lay in wait for action to be called. This took a little while, but i think we were all so excited at seeing the process happen nobody seemed to mind the standing.

Lights...Camera...

 Arwel Wyn Jones, the production designer for Sherlock was taking pictures of the 'Fandom' gathering again. Set hands and runners rushed about and Mark Gatiss stood chatting to others by Speedys.

Not so random Arwyn

Not long after this there was a hum in the crowd and all attention was drawn to the mouth of N. Gower. Benedict Cumberbatch had arrived and the 'Cumberbitches' were showing. A few waves were thrown to the gathering and smiles exchanged. It wouldn't be long now, and shooting would start. It was really interesting to watch this part of production. Yes of course it was amazing seeing these actors in their natural environment, but it's also fascinating to watch it raw in front of your eyes then to see it later transpire to film.

Cumberbatch arrives on set

After a little longer, Cumberbatch and Freeman disappeared inside and filming began. I was apprehensive to begin with that seeing filming would spoil details of the new series, but in all honesty you cant hear anything. Also, the scene they were shooting was Sherlock and John exiting 221B with Sherlock hailing a taxi. 

Taxi!

This was shot a couple of times before the actors stood around chatting and messing around. It was nice to see them interact with one another. I dont know maybe its my love for observing that made me happy to watch. Maybe it was just because it was actors who I respect. I dunno. It was enjoyable either way.

Smiles on Set

Detail change?

 Anyway. After a little while longer, a couple more takes were shot and the actors and crew gathered for what looked like the promotional shots and personal photos. Cumberbatch disappeared soon after.

Smile!

 Freeman also headed off set and down to the hotel that resides on N. Gower street. A while later he resurfaced with new costume. A canon Watson moustache which interests me. The small details that Moffat, Gatiss and other writers for the show add are a large part of the draw to the show for me.

A canon looking Doctor Watson

The scene was shot several times from different vantage points and with slight changes to expressions, timing and length. Again, Freeman hung around set for a while chatting before a few more takes were shot. Gatiss had been hanging out watching filming opposite where we had been stood and was exchanging goodbyes as the scene wrapped.  There was a cheer and we all clapped before both men left.

Gatiss and Freeman exhange a goodbye

 As the last few bits of the set were being packed up we walked over to Speedys to see if we could grab a picture infront of the infamous address. Fortunately we did, it was a great end to a great day. I'm even in my Camp Leaders shirt.

It's been the most ridiculous day...

I Haven't updated this for so long, but i will continue to do so today. Things were a little different for a couple weeks after week one. With a very unfortunate reason.

29th/30th of June 

Frontier the Next Morning: Errant Mattress

So the girls went home today. I think they were thankful they could go home to air conditioning and ice cold drinks after such a hot day. The past few days have been really hot but today was ridiculous, jeez how British do i sound right now. Anyway, after we were dismissed everyone, went for showers and most were going of camp for food, or in my case Ice cream, Titch and Ying Yang had asked me to go for Harvey's ice cream, and i was really looking forward to it. So I headed back to Frontier to grab my purse, a jacket and torch, chatting to Mac and Luna as i did, when the wind picked up. Naturally, we all sighed a massive sigh of relief, a much needed cool breeze and carried on sorting out stuff. But the wind carried on. Me and Mac exchanged a couple of worried looks to one another, a few "wow its windy"s were vocalised as it got worse.  The wind had picked up so much in the space of a minute that we were now effectively stood in a wind tunnel, Luna was fussing with the back tent flaps trying to untie them, key tip here kids, tie them with a BOW not a KNOT. Mac and I were desperately shoving everyones stuff under their bed. We ran to the unit house as trees bent and snapped in the wind, the rain fell the size of golf balls and the thunder shattered so loudly over head it felt like it was on our level. This had all happened in such a short space of time it was crazy, surreal.

The Dining Hall

There were lights down the Sinewa road and it turned out it was Nemo and Lucky. They turned into Frontier to see if there was anyone around, but a tree had fallen and the car was stuck so there were now running towards the three of us stood on the porch. We shone our lights to help them see their way and ran into the Unit house, shutting the door. The trees continued falling and we could hear the thunder, see the lightning flash and hear the trees crash and crackle to the ground. It seemed to die down a bit and we made the decision rightly or wrongly to make our way down to the staff house. We ran, and didn't look back. Carrying the bag i'd packed to go to Harveys with we ran down toward the dining hall, the main severe weather shelter, tripping over branches and tree that had fallen, still hearing them fall as we ran. Its an odd experience, running and the only thing on your mind is Get safe, consequence not crossing. Mac lead us and I flanked making sure we were all together still. It's one of those situations where you realise you do anything for strangers who are just as frightened as you are.

Time to Move our Stuff

As we got nearer the dining hall we saw the staff house lights on, and a Van parked by the staff house. Splash was driving, and assuming she saw our torches,  headed towards us. We ran across the green and jumped in the van, then piled into the packed staff house. We were one short however, Sparrow had gone off camp for a hike and it hadn't been confirmed if she'd returned or not. It turned out she was sat in her sleeping bag, in Sinewa unit house eating chocolate and reading a book with the mice. That night we moved to the dining hall and at about 10:30 ish it had calmed completely. Most slept, some of us didn't. Mac and myself were sat in the porch for a while, watching Splash and Red circle Sherando assessing the damage. We'd gone over earlier to see if we would grab bedding and clothes to keep us all warm but we were greeted by obstructing trees and creaking cabins. It was, at it turned out, a tornado that barely touched down at camp.

The All-American House

The next morning there was a resounding echo around camp, thank god the units weren't full of girls. We all gradually went to our units, to gather our stuff and tidy what we could. Sherando had 3 damaged cabins with a lot of debris. One cabin, the one we'd staying in our first night, no longer had a front. The others had trees through the roofs. Frontier had some damage, fallen branches, flung mattresses. One of our Girl power tents had collapsed. It was crazy. Later on we moved all our stuff down to the dining hall and Splash called us for a meeting. Turned out another storm was on it's way and we weren't to stay on camp that night. Mac put the day in a pretty well rounded perspective; "It's been the most ridiculous day".

Basement Camp

We were all split up and evacuated and ended up going back to counselors houses.  To begin with we went to Easters. There was about 10 of us down in her basement chowing down on pizza slices the size of your face and red cups full of orange juice. We chatted and gradually came to realise what had actually happened, called home to say we'd been evacuated, camp was damaged, but it had to be kept quiet as not to worry the girls who were coming for the rest of the summer, or for it to get out there before they'd had the official word. Later on that evening Daisy, Surf, Zazu and myself ended up being driven to Bridgewater to be picked up and stay with Frost and her Family. Frosts house is what you'd picture as an american house; white fence, tyre swing, dog running around the yard. We set up camp in the basement for the night as a storm brewed. It really had been a ridiculous day.