Day one

Day one, meet up outside London bridge tube station at one. Myself and Kearney arrive in the van to meet the rest of the crew. Am very glad to see them all.

Kieran O'Brien - lead
Mike Eley - DP
Felix - sound
Almut - make up
Nick and Alex - runners

Haven't managed to get the hi hat or extra lens for Mike, but wil keep trying. Thankfully get a call from a focus puller I know called Moncho who says he can do the weekend. This will hopefully ease Mike's workload.

Almut takes Kieran off for make up. She does a fantastic job, he looks a right state. So much so that when he sits down on Tooley street a cab driver throws him 50p and a woman gives him an apple. Result.

We do the scene of Kieran walking through the tunnel, the opening scene (which Mike frames quite magnificently so that it almost looks like a renaissance painting), and one of the begging scenes. I was hoping for six scenes a day, so three in half a day is good. Means tomorrow will be pretty full on, but that's OK.

After the shoot Kearney and I drive to Greenford to the house location. We're planning to store the kit here and stay as well so we can use it as a base.

When we get to the house it looks even worse at night. Make the mistake of opening the fride and nearly bring up what little lunch I had, as it's full of rotting food and smells like nothing I have ever smelt. Even more joy when I open the back door to discover a dead rat on the back door step. Decide not to stay in the house tonight.

We unload the camera gear and drive to AFM to collect the lights. It appears I have written down more lights than Mike asked for (better that way round I guess), but the result is a very careful pack to fit them all in the van. Get back to the house (which is feeling more and more like Amityville) and unload the lights. Kearney make s a case for staying in the house. I refuse. I'd rather get up an hour earlier than stay here. In fact I'd rather eat broken glass than stay here. So we stay in Kilburn. If you've ever been to Kilburn then you'll know what it's like, and so can imagine just how horrible this house is to make Kilburn an option.

Get back, eat soup and drink a quick beer. Get to bed, very exhausted, about 1 a.m. Going to be a long day tomorrow but at least, after all that has happened, we're up and running.