See also Tim's post on the technicalities of making of the video here.
You may or may not be interested to know that I had a small but very fun role in the filming of this video. Tim asked me to lend him a hand one evening in London, which in a nutshell involved followed him around whilst he was in the persona of David Cameron, complete with creepy mask, and filming as he asked members of the public in Soho, Picadilly Circus, and nearby areas to pose with him for his 'campaign video'. Some of the footage we filmed shows up in the video at, e.g., 1.53 mins in, and again at 2.33 or so.
Reactions, as you can imagine, were varied! Some people jumped out of their skins when they saw the mask, others burst out laughing (and others still did both). Some passers-by somehow came to the conclusion that we were making a film for the Conservative Party, and this was the only thing that occasionally made what we were doing a little embarrassing ('Urgh - David Cameron? No thanks!!'). Some who originally turned down requests to be in the video changed their minds and enthusiastically posed with Tim once they had it clarified that the video would be taking the mickey out of Dave, rather than bigging him up.
So I was later told by LGBT Labour's James Asser on Twitter, while filming on Old Compton St we narrowly missed the chance to have Tim in the same place as David Miliband, who was outside Ku Bar launching Labour's International LGBT Manifesto!
Finally, throughout the walkabout one of the things we heard most often, and were most struck by, was the apparently high level of support on the street for the Lib Dems. People shouted 'Nick Clegg for PM!' at us from across the street, and those who declined to be in the video often gave, as their reason, 'No thanks - I'm voting for Nick Clegg!' as they walked on. Of course, Soho is a very lefty place at the best of times. And this also was during the height of Cleggmania - after the first television debate, and before the second. Nevertheless, maybe this will prove to be a good omen for the Lib Dems come polling day...
Update, 07.05.10, 11.10 am: Erm, as the observant among you may now have gleaned, things did not exactly pan out well for Clegg in the end...
Update, 07.05.10, 11.10 am: Erm, as the observant among you may now have gleaned, things did not exactly pan out well for Clegg in the end...
Thanks again for your help. No regrets about Miliband, I was delighted with what we got. The gun to the head echoing Cameron's unhuggable hoodie moment, the 'angry' woman, those two lads plugging their music, and all those lovely hug victims. It was a right laugh as well. Cheers.
ReplyDeletePS - Yes, recognising where we were filming, I can back you up on the real positivity for Clegg on the streets that day. Nobody castigating us (jokingly or otherwise) shouted 'vote Brown' that I recall.