A most interesting evening
2008-03-21 09:05 Filed in: Miscellany
On Sunday, Thomas and I finally went to see "Juno."
It was a really great movie, and happened to be set
in Minnesota. As we were walking from the cinema to
the Metro station, I was talking about some of the
Minnesota references, in English of course. A woman
overheard and came running over, saying "excuse me!"
I figured it was just another tourist – lost, and
excited to find an English speaker to get directions
from. No, no. It was much more random than that.
She works for Nordisk Film, which is the company producing a new game show called "Hul i Hovedet" (Hole in the Head) based on a wacky Japanese show called "Hole in the Wall." The BBC apparently decided to film a pilot for an English version, and as Nordisk Film already invested in the set and all for the Danish version, borrowed the existing set for their pilot. This woman had the task of rounding up people who speak enough English to know when to laugh and clap, to be in the studio audience. Thomas and I walked away with tickets to be there on Wednesday.
We arrived at Nordisk Film at about 5:30, and spent about an hour sitting around waiting. There were free sodas, beer, and bottled water, and some pictures and set items from various Nordisk Film productions to admire. My knowledge of Danish movies and TV shows is not particularly extensive, but I did recognize a few things from Matador and Olsen Banden. Eventually, we were ushered into the studio and Thomas and I got the very last two seats in the front row, which was actually a pretty good angle for watching people fall into the pool.
After some coaching on when to laugh, clap, "oooh" and so on, it was time to start filming. It took about three hours to film enough material for the half-hour show, but having witnessed it all in action, that doesn't seem unreasonable at all. It was really fascinating to me to see all the things that go into making such a program. Some things I think will go more smoothly as people get used to the specifics of the program, but a lot of that time is just inherent to the task at hand. For example, no one really wants to waste film time watching the wall get wheeled back behind the curtain after each run, and water in certain areas of the set needs to be vacuumed up for safety.
I'm fairly certain this episode will never actually be aired on television, and it was just a pilot to pitch the concept. It was the first filming of an English version of the show, but the hosts and contestants made comments implying it had been going on for at least a few weeks. It was a lot of fun, though, and aside from the blister I got from clapping so much, I have no complaints about the way I spent my evening on Wednesday. It really was an enjoyable show and I expect it to succeed. What could be more fun than watching celebrities humiliate themselves in silly silver outfits in order to raise money for charity?
She works for Nordisk Film, which is the company producing a new game show called "Hul i Hovedet" (Hole in the Head) based on a wacky Japanese show called "Hole in the Wall." The BBC apparently decided to film a pilot for an English version, and as Nordisk Film already invested in the set and all for the Danish version, borrowed the existing set for their pilot. This woman had the task of rounding up people who speak enough English to know when to laugh and clap, to be in the studio audience. Thomas and I walked away with tickets to be there on Wednesday.
We arrived at Nordisk Film at about 5:30, and spent about an hour sitting around waiting. There were free sodas, beer, and bottled water, and some pictures and set items from various Nordisk Film productions to admire. My knowledge of Danish movies and TV shows is not particularly extensive, but I did recognize a few things from Matador and Olsen Banden. Eventually, we were ushered into the studio and Thomas and I got the very last two seats in the front row, which was actually a pretty good angle for watching people fall into the pool.
After some coaching on when to laugh, clap, "oooh" and so on, it was time to start filming. It took about three hours to film enough material for the half-hour show, but having witnessed it all in action, that doesn't seem unreasonable at all. It was really fascinating to me to see all the things that go into making such a program. Some things I think will go more smoothly as people get used to the specifics of the program, but a lot of that time is just inherent to the task at hand. For example, no one really wants to waste film time watching the wall get wheeled back behind the curtain after each run, and water in certain areas of the set needs to be vacuumed up for safety.
I'm fairly certain this episode will never actually be aired on television, and it was just a pilot to pitch the concept. It was the first filming of an English version of the show, but the hosts and contestants made comments implying it had been going on for at least a few weeks. It was a lot of fun, though, and aside from the blister I got from clapping so much, I have no complaints about the way I spent my evening on Wednesday. It really was an enjoyable show and I expect it to succeed. What could be more fun than watching celebrities humiliate themselves in silly silver outfits in order to raise money for charity?
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