Cora Bissett’s Roadkill Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Posted by Helen in Events.Tags: actors, cora bissett, theatre
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If you’re in Edinburgh this August, one of the must-see shows is Cora Bissett‘s Roadkill. Cora (the talented actor who voiced all of The Lost Book’s female characters) created Roadkill through her new production company Pachamama. She directs the show, which had a successful run at The Tron in Glasgow in June.
Adam and I had a sneak preview of an early run-through last October and it’s a brilliant, powerful, disturbing piece. The audience travels with a young woman from Benin City (literally travels with her – the audience will be taken from the Traverse Theatre to a tenement flat) and sees the new life and job she has been promised turn into a nightmare. Cora’s research into the experiences of young women trafficked to Scotland makes this an immersive and convincing experience.
Press coverage is already positive – in Friday’s Independent, Roadkill gets three mentions in Alice Jones’ guide to the best on the Fringe.
Roadkill is on at the Traverse from Wednesday 11 – Sunday 29 August 2010 with previews Friday 6 – Sunday 8 August and Tuesday 10 August. If you get a chance of a ticket then grab it with both hands!
Another investigation for Sean Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in News.Tags: actors, sean biggerstaff
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A new series of Miss Marple started on ITV last Sunday – you can catch up by watching it on ITV player (available for the next 27 days). Sean Biggerstaff (the voice of Kyle, Otto and Watson) is starring in the third episode of the series, “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans“. Don’t miss it!
View the trailer on Masterpiece Mystery, where the series aired this summer.
Image thanks to WGBH via Wizard News.
“From Where…” review Friday, 21 August 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in News.Tags: actors
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I mentioned Fringe show From Where I Am Standing earlier in the week. If you missed the show, read Lyn Gardner’s review in The Guardian Theatre Blog – “It’s not just one of the best things I’ve seen in Edinburgh this year, but one of the best pieces I’ve seen anywhere…”
Well done Junction 25 and Jackie!
Update: next performance of From Where I Am Standing will be at the MacRobert Centre in Stirling on 12th September 2009 (£6/£4 concessions).
“From Where I Am Standing” Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Posted by Helen in Events.Tags: actors, twitter
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The lovely Jackie at Front Page Design has told me about a show worth seeing if you’re in Edinburgh tonight or tomorrow night. The show’s called From Where I Am Standing and is on at the Forest Fringe (Bristo Place) at 7pm. It’s by a drama group called Junction 25, for young people aged 12-17.
From Where I Am Standing is described as “A creative experiment in which Junction 25 invite their parents to join the goup in an attempt to create a show which explores the real dynamics of family life” – so expect to see Jackie on stage alongside her son Tom!
Follow @junction25 at Twitter.
A jug of Pimms (or two) Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Posted by Helen in Making of..., Story teamwork.Tags: actors, bookcrossing, characters, cora bissett, Poll, sean biggerstaff, soundtrack
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Fun times! The last recording session with our voice actors Cora Bissett and Sean Biggerstaff was on Sunday. For once, Cora didn’t have to do a million mad voices – she was simply (and beautifully) Aileen Adler.
Sean, on the other paw, had the challenge of putting a voice to the thoughts of Watson. “Urbane gentleman spy” was an option for a while… and led inevitably to “Bond, Sean Bond” and much hilarity. The final voice is neither of those, but is a glorious big voice for a small but important dog. You’ll have to wait until Friday to hear it.
L-R: Helen Jackson, Adam Brewster, Cora Bissett, Sean Biggerstaff and Stephen Gilmour
At lunch afterwards it emerged that Sean is a great fan of Pimms, so we celebrated with a jug or two of Pimms and lemonade. It’s appropriate, then, that the popular vote has decided that Pimms is the drink of choice for Aileen and Kyle (thanks Kiwi for the suggestion, and thanks DJ for letting us know the Sheep Heid Inn can “rustle up a fantastic classic Pimms No 1″.)
We also have a decision for a book to feature in the last episode – it will then be BookCrossed in the Sheep Heid, so if you’re in Duddingston this coming weekend you might want to pop in and see if you can pick it up. The winning suggestion is another one of Kiwi‘s, seconded by Treehugger – The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. Watson’s grabbed it already; it’s one of his favourites.
The good, but slightly sad, news is that you’ve now made all the decisions needed for us to finish the final episode of The Lost Book. Instead of a story poll, I’ve resurrected our character popularity survey. Who’s your favourite character? Vote now in the sidebar poll to the right.
Lunch and storyboards Friday, 10 July 2009
Posted by Helen in Making of....Tags: actors, bookcrossing, script, story, storyboard
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We really did have lunch at the Sheep Heid Inn, Duddingston. Many thanks to D.J., who didn’t just give us lunch but made us welcome, gave us a tour, a history lesson, and an introduction to the sheep heid that gives the pub its name (well, the 19th century copy – made when the original, presented by James VI, was sold).
The photos here show the sign and the BookCrossing shelf in the main bar area.
Adam and I have been talking about storyboards for the last several days, but today is the day they need to be finished. We have a script roughed out – I’ll post it later – and, of course, we know which stories need to be included.
Episode 6 is very different to normal, because it will be told using voiceover narration rather than dialogue. We normally record the actors before we start animation – typically we’d have had a recording session this week – so that we can match the animation to the dialogue. But, that’s not needed with voiceover so we won’t be going into the recording studio until the end of next week.
What this means is that we’ll be using a “scratch” voice track as we work. A scratch track is a rough recording we make ourselves, so that we have a guide to timings. It’s very rough – you’ll hear it on the animatic.
It also means that we can continue to tweak the script for a little longer than usual…
Cora’s Midsummer tour Sunday, 5 July 2009
Posted by Helen in News.Tags: actors, cora bissett
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There was a lovely feature in yesterday’s Scotsman about Midsummer, the show Cora Bissett (the voice of all our female characters) is touring with at the moment. They’re touring Ireland and Scotland, doing the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August, and then the Cultch Festival in Vancouver in September. The show sounds great, so go along if you get the chance! Cora describes the part of Helena as “totally and utterly my dream role”.
Read all about it: “Love in the Farce Lane“, The Scotsman.
Choose the narrator Friday, 19 June 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Story teamwork.Tags: actors, characters, cora bissett, Poll, sean biggerstaff, story
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It’s been decided that episode 6 will use a voiceover narration to tell the story of what happens next (we held a vote and 67% voted for this).
We need to decide which characters will be the narrators. For more information about the characters, look at the Cast and Story page. Rather than sticking to a single narrator, let’s have one female and one male character – it’d be a shame if one of our brilliant voice actors had nothing to do!
So, we’ve put two polls in the sidebar on the right. We’ve included everyone – even baddie Beryl Potts (her viewpoint might be interesting!), Watson the dog (an internal monologue as he can’t speak), and Voiceover Man (he’s been showing flashes of personality).
Who would you like to narrate the final episode of The Lost Book? Vote now!
Crazy on a Sunday afternoon Monday, 1 June 2009
Posted by Adam in Making of....Tags: actors, cora bissett, script, sean biggerstaff, soundtrack
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It was all a blur. Not only did we dash off the script in record quick time, we nearly melted on the way over to Glasgow for the recording session.
As always, we had some new characters and new accents for Cora and Sean to deal with. Cora brought Professor Remi to life with a lovely francophone lilt. Sean provided a suitably thuggish henchman on top of his usual duties. For the first time ever Sean didn’t need to mention “Aileen” which meant we didn’t get to fall about in stitches when he mispronounced it – maybe next time Sean. Of course, Stephen was keeping cool at the control desk, despite the balmy weather.
Everyone was very focused – something to do with wanting to get back out in the sun, I think – and it wasn’t long before we all agreed it was done. In fact, just one more of these sessions to go and the whole series will be done. Thanks again guys for turning out on such a hot, sunny Sunday – you deserve lots of ice cream!
Episode 5 – script Sunday, 31 May 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Story teamwork.Tags: actors, cora bissett, screenplay, sean biggerstaff, story, writing
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You’ve made the last decision that needs to go into the episode 5 script: Professor Remi appears to be a woman much younger than her seventy-eight years (53% of the vote).
We’re recording this afternoon, so here’s the finished script! The storyboards aren’t yet finished – this is a sneak preview of the first three shots. The rest will follow during the week, and I’ll also post the traditional “plotting the episode” blog to tell you the story of how episode 5 developed.
Think of us (Helen and Adam from Binary Fable, Stephen the sound designer, Cora and Sean) this afternoon, shut up in the recording studio while you enjoy the sun.
(Oh, and I don’t think I’ve mentioned script formatting for a while. There’s a standard format used for screenplays, where each scene is introduced by a “slugline” that describes the location and time of day. To find out more, the BBC Writers Room has an information page with PDF examples of a range of script formats. There isn’t yet a standard for “web series” (!) so we’re using the format we would use for a short film.)
Episode 5 – draft outline Friday, 29 May 2009
Posted by Helen in Story teamwork.Tags: actors, Poll, story, writing
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Hello! Episode 5 is coming together nicely. The latest decisions are: Lyn and Otto are siblings, they’ve been secretly working together from the start – and they’re both good! (38%); and Lyn and Otto will rescue Aileen together (36% each).
We’re still taking votes on how old Professor Remi looks, so let us have your opinion asap.
I’ve started to put together an outline for the episode. It’s all quite exciting! We need to begin with Otto escaping. Beryl Potts of Grazp shot at him and missed at the end of episode 4. So: let’s have him hiding in a store cupboard while his pursuers run past.
Later that night someone abseils down the Grazp building.
Cut to Aileen and Remi, held captive. I see them roped together, sitting down (remember that bit in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Harrison Ford and Sean Connery have been captured by the Nazis?). They can quickly compare notes – working out enough between them to justify the arrest of Beryl Potts. Remi will reveal that the rejuvenation process doesn’t work without the Ikhata. She’s about to say where the Ikhata is when…
… a screw hits the ground and bounces.
Looking up, the remaining fixings for a ventilation grille are being unscrewed from the inside. Eventually, the grille is lifted aside to reveal…
Otto Dafé!
Aileen reacts with anger, but Otto shushes her. He’s about to explain when…
Lyn (as her secret-society alter-ego Lynx) crashes through the window. We get a rescue and a family reunion in one! The episode ends with them about to climb a rope ladder to a helicopter, and we see the helicopter flying off during the end credits.
The end
What do you think? Comments welcome, as usual. We need to get the script finalised by Sunday afternoon as that’s the only time we can arrange a recording session with voice actors Cora Bissett and Sean Biggerstaff. So, let us have your thoughts straight away!
One question – what about Watson and Kyle? We won’t have time to show what they’re up to during this episode, but if they’ve left the rescuing to Lynx they could perhaps be concentrating on finding the stolen book? We can then come back to them in the final episode…
Cora Bissett: CATS 2008-09 shortlist Thursday, 21 May 2009
Posted by Helen in News.Tags: actors, cora bissett, theatre
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Many congratulations to Cora Bissett (the versatile actor who voices Aileen Adler, Lyn and Beryl Potts) for being nominated for “best female performance” in the Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland shortlist, announced this week.
Cora’s nomination is for her performance as Helena in Midsummer at the Traverse Theatre. Midsummer also has nominations in the “best new play”, “best use of music and sound” and “best production” categories.
Cora also played the lead in Sub Rosa, which has been nominated for “best new play”, “best production” and “best technical presentation”, plus a “best director” nomination for David Leddy.
You can catch one of Cora’s productions this week at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow: Love’s Time’s Beggar, which runs until Friday.
Hearing Voices Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Posted by Adam in Making of....Tags: actors, cora bissett, sean biggerstaff, video
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Yesterday we were hearing voices, many different ones. Cora and Sean had to record lines in no less than seven different voices between them. They won’t mind me telling you that there were some nervous looks exchanged when we introduced the script at the start of the session. But, as we knew they would, they breezed through it with their trademark flair and vocal agility, and finished in record time – thank guys!
As always, Stephen was on top form and did well to keep up. We noticed too that a new piece of sound recording kit had appeared among his array of gadgets – lots of knobs and dials and stuff, all very impressive.
So episode 4 voices are in the can and we’ll be putting the animatic together over the next wee while so you’ll soon be able to listen to the dulcet, if not slightly chilling, tones of Beryl Potts and Otto Dafe.
OMI: Cora Bissett Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Posted by The Lost Book in One minute interviews.Tags: actors, cora bissett, interview
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Cora’s voicing our main character, Aileen Adler – as well as all the other female characters. Aileen is a journalist with a passion for finding things out, and a crime to solve.
Cora has an incredible track record in Scottish music, theatre, film and television. She’s rarely off the stage, making lead roles her own – most recently in the David Grieg premiere ‘Midsummer’ at the Traverse and the Fringe First winning ‘Slick’ at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival. As a director, she won the Arches Award for New Directors in 2007. She played Jo in the multi-award winning feature film ‘Red Road’ and is also familiar as Yvonne in River City.
She can be seen next hanging from a crane on New Year’s day, above Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, singing and performing!
Take a look at Cora’s One Minute Interview to find out more about her… (more…)
OMI: Sean Biggerstaff Monday, 22 December 2008
Posted by The Lost Book in One minute interviews.Tags: actors, interview, sean biggerstaff
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Sean is one of our two stars – he’s the voice actor behind all our male characters. In episode one he plays Kyle, a boy-next-door with a soft spot for investigative journalist Aileen.
Sean’s gained quite a reputation for his work on the stage, the small screen and the big screen. He won the Best Actor – Television Scottish BAFTA for ‘Consenting Adults’ in 2007. He played the lead in Oscar-nominated short film ‘Cashback’, and was so good that he reprised the role in the feature film. You’ll also recognise him as the captain of Harry Potter’s Quidditch Team.
We asked Sean to take our One Minute Interview and here’s the result… (more…)
The Lost Book is an animated web series where you wrote the plot.
