Production Diary

Name: Raihan MuhammadTitle: Cadbury’s Commercial: FLASHMOB

Producer: No Face FilmsDirector: Raihan Muhammad

Date: 11/11/10

It’s the day of the shooting of my Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate commercial and I’m a little nervous about messing up as this all has to be shot in only one take in only a certain amount of time. The police only gave us 20 minutes to shoot, so it had to be perfect! I put my laptop and a portable speaker, which I was hoping, will be loud enough for the cast to hear when they dance in the Center of Trafalgar Square…

It was 10am and I met up with my cast and crew at the school gates with the officer who will be making sure everything runs smoothly (Adam Callidine). He travelled separately to London before we reached there to conform our space to the officers on patrol in the area. The cast and crew left with me to Kidbrooke Station, where we had taken the train to Charing Cross. On the train we had a quick meeting to discuss the plans to where the other 2 camera people (Salma Begum & Luc Wybourn-Whyte) will be standing; they each received a copy of the location recce and shooting schedule.

When we arrived at Trafalgar square we were 10 minutes early before we officially had the space to hold the Flashmob. We needed to wait for two other member of the Flashmob group who had just finished a business trip and met us in the area. The way in which I found a group of dancers to do this public stunt was because at the time, I was running a student talent show, the chosen cast were initially contestants of the show…

When they had arrived it was time to kick off the Flashmob!! I set my laptop up just by the fountain, which was close to the where the performers were standing. I then plugged my portable speaker in and

played the song (Macarena – Los Del Rio). We then hit a massive problem; the music wasn’t loud enough for the performers to hear! So just before they all walked in to the center of the square I set up a counting system for the cast and crew to follow…

It was time to start the Flashmob in one full take! I lifted my hand so all of the cast and crew were able to see me and counted 10, in the first 3 seconds it was a queue for Sabreen to walk into the center eating the chocolate bar and she then needed to be at the center when I got to 10… I then counted to 5, and it was a queue for the performers to get behind Sabreen.

They then needed to begin the dance where I then shouted “Ayy Macarena!” They began the routine and got various shots of the performance and of Sabreen’s shocked reactions. Luc was filming from the Balcony getting Long shots, Salma was getting reaction shots of the public and cut-aways and I was doing the close up’s!

It all turned out to work out perfectly in the end and we all had a very good time making it. I feel I have learnt the importance of getting timing perfect on live events such as this Flashmob, and I hope to use these skills in the future.

Raihan Muhammad.