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Filming Elevator Idol & Where the Dancers live?

Cruise Ship Diaries Chapter 65

By Neil GregoryPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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Country & Western Night Outtakes!

With the Alaska rule in full effect I was stuck on permanent night shifts fiming the onboard events and bar the scenic crusising once a week this was all I had to film for 6 months, so I could either half ass it like many senior videogs or go all in.

What really helped was the cruise staff onboard the star Chantal, Nicole, Ceri, Boogie, Eric, Melissa & CD Lee Childers were really good at their jobs. In the above outtake clip you can see Chantal & Nicole smudging people for a country and western night. Smudging was a term the photo department used to get people to stop and pose for a photo on the gangway, well with the theme nights inbetween doing doors for the main production shows the cruise staff had to try and entice people into the event.

But due to the Alaska rule I had a lot of free time on my hands, especially on the days towards the end of the Alaska sesason where it seemed like we had weeks of incesant darkness and rain. As I had a good relationship with the cruise staff I became involved in filming comedy skits for the morning show.

Now I've breifly mentioned the ships morning show before, usually we had nothing to do with it because as videographers we were a revenue department however on occasion we could be borrowed by the entertainment department (dependent on our time) to help with the morning show. The unwritten rule was if you don't help out the entertainment department when asked, then some cruise directors will tell the cruise staff to not actively promote you when you are filming events and you wont be allowed on the morning show to promote the DVD, thankfully I usually had a good relationship with most of the CD's so it was never really an issue.

So the morning show...at its core level it can be as simple as the CD sitting in his office with one camera on him, one take reading off the Princess Patter (a daily newsetter of ship events) telling people what the evenings acitvities onboard will be. At the other end of the spectrum were CD's like Lee who wanted to jazz things up a bit, I think he had been doing the job that long that he had grown board of the standard format and wanted it to be entertaining. Don't forget you have a captive audience most mornings of around 2000-3000 people who will watch the show every day of the cruise.

Lee had the idea to be smart and entertaining at the same time, as I had the time he wanted to film some pieces around the ship that could be reused for most of the season (or when someone in the video left). This was smart as we made these entertaining segments, filmed them once and then most of the show was a template for the rest of the season instead of trying to do that level of production every cruise.

First up me and Ben from the cruise staff made 'Elevator Idol!' We'd stand in the lift, big camera and light on and wait for unsuspecting PAX to get in the lift. More than a few would say no or not even step foot in the life, but once in a while we'd get some gold. As the unsuspecting victim would walk into the life Ben would say 'good morning sir', they'd reply 'good morning', then 'whats your name and where are you from? 'I'm Bob, from Michigan' 'Okay, Bob and what are you singing for us on ELEVATOR IDOL!

Mainly we'd just get looks of shock and I'd cut on that persons reaction before they usually said no or walked out, but once in a while we'd get pure gold and they'd actually start singing. The highlight had to be getting five people singing 'row row row your boat' as the lift opened on another floor infront of a large group of German tourists who said nothing and just stared at us. The other was an outtake as we'd become hungry filming first thing in the morning so as we were filming we used that as an excuse to walk straight into the buffett 'for props' and grab our breakfast on the go. Another highlight was Ben offering a bowl of fruit loops to a German PAX in the lift who responded with 'Do I look like a baby?' and walked out on us!!!

Next we did a 'Little House on the Prairie' spoof where we piled as many of the entertainment team as possible into one cabin dressed in their pyjamas and did the 'goodnight' from everyone line with the punchline being we had Captain Craig Street on the top bunk and as the last person says 'Goodnight Captain' he pops his head through the curtain and says 'Goodnight Everybody'.

Though my personal favourite has to be our David Attenborough style mini documentary series we did on the ships dancers. Michael, an Aussie guy from the cruise staff put his cork hat on and did his best Steve Irwin as we travelled around the ships looking for the elusive dancers. 'Now dancers are generally nocturnal creatures and they don't see much daylight' Michael said was we ventured into one of their cabins. Filming in nightvision we pullback the blankets to find four of them all piled on top of each other who then started screeching like bats, we barely escaped with our lives. Next we found KJ the dance captain who was sleeping under a large blanket under the stage 'Now hear is KJ, shes the dance captain so she gets her own space right here and shes quite comfortable and well looked after, as she sleeps througout. Lastly it was feeding time for the dancers and it looked like a cross between Oliver Twist & Trainspotting with the skinny hoodie wearing dancers shivering from their lack of food. A hand opens with a lump of cheese and a grape in it, a hand reaches for the cheese and its swatted away. Matty a dancer reaches gingerly for the grape, as Michaels commentary pipes in 'dancers are on a strict diet and they'll be allowed another grape next week'. Our film ends with Matty appealing Oliver style 'Please sir can I have some more'.

It was a blast shooting these skits but they were so long ago that I don't have the footage anywhere and the I seriously doubt daily morning show footage was ever saved from all the ships, as external hard drives had small capacity and cost a load of money back then as well.

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About the Creator

Neil Gregory

Film and TV obsessive / World Traveller / Gamer / Camerman & Editor / Guitarist

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