Tell it to the Bees all wrapped up

Forget the director, the DP, the script, the crew, the sets, the camera, the catering lorry, costumes, make-up, portaloos, SFX. Forget the actors even. I know now: films get made on gaffer tape!

After five weeks, they ‘wrapped’ the filming of Tell it to the Bees last Saturday. It was an extraordinary experience, for me, going up to Scotland to watch them film it. Given that I was a hanger-on (albeit with a definite past role in this event!), people were very welcoming, and generous with their time in explaining what was going on.

It was miraculous to watch what looked like two people having a quiet conversation in the corner of a garden, or a single person apparently doing nothing at all; and then to put on earphones and watch the monitor and see a film happening, or a moment of a film.

On the monitor I saw what looks like a very beautiful film come into being, moment by moment.

On my final visit, I drove up with my partner Karen, her massage couch in the back of the car. She is both an acupuncturist and a Chinese tui na massage therapist, and had offered the film crew tui na massage, and the offer had been taken up with great enthusiasm.

So for two and a half days Karen gave massages to an exhausted, ache-ridden crew, while I watched the last scenes being filmed. And now the editing begins, and I must sit on my hands and wait to see what it all becomes.