Shuffle...

I've finally pulled my finger out and got a bit more xtras work - as a zombie.

It was hard to resist, really. The filming is happening close to where I live, at a weekend, and sounds like a laugh. Unfortunately it's one of those 'unpaid-but-you-get-a-credit-on-the-dvd' jobs, the ones you can find on www.starnow.co.uk, or www.tobeseen.co.uk which are mostly student shorts. This, though, is a full length feature, if a little in the low budget catagory.

We - that is the zombies - got an email from the producers this week giving us some tips on being a zombie, which I enjoyed so much I'm reproducing here for you. Hope they don't mind;

"Zombies, as far as flying, running and aerobics are concerned, are crap… After all, from the moment that you have croaked it, your body begins to break down, muscles waste away, injuries do not heal and apart from an unearthly ignorance of pain, things do not go well in the motor function department. You fall down, bang into things and get caught on obstructions that most earthworms would be smart enough to avoid. Some basic hints can help you to master zombie movement and become one of the undead…
1) Move slowly… Your muscles have wasted... Shuffle...
2) Your neck is broken, so let your head loll from side to side with your movements, looking ahead of you with just one eye, this not only adds character to the zombie, but also gives you nicely bloodshot eyes and an inhuman gaze…
3) Let your hands and arms hang loosely from your sides, only begin to raise them to grab your prey or open doors, if you are tempted to have them stuck out in front of you, then all you will do is make yourself look like the love-child of the Bride of Frankenstein and a Scooby Doo villain!
Of course there are loads of other ways in which a zombie can move and interact, the sky is your limit. As traditionalists, we fall into the slow and shuffling zombie camp, rather than the remake of ‘Dawn of the Dead,’ and the ultra fast and deadly flesh seeking missiles the zombies seemed to become.

How excellent is that! I'm really looking forward to this one, as long as it's not raining...