Thurs 27/9/01
Last meeting prior to filming with Chris Tandy and Viccy Harrison, the producers of SMart, to discuss the last details-like wearing the TV Swansong T-shirts, etc. Georgia and Karen from the TV Swansong crew are there too.

Ttues 9/10/01
Lizi from SMart arranges for materials (containers, clay, glitter, paints, brushes, sequins, beads, etc) to be left behind the wheelie bin, as I am at work.

Thurs 11/10/01
Sand and plaster delivered.

sat 13/10/01
Make sure that all materials are in place for the kids. Last thing I have to get are plastic containers and lunch/snacks for the kids.

Sun 14/10/01
Etta, Piraveen, Yathu, Thanu, George & Alfie. The 'Kids' participating in the segment being filmed for CBBC's SMart arrive. They are due to arrive at different times from 11:00am-2:00pm to make their projects, as they wouldn't be able to finish them in the time they are given on the actual filming day. I attempt to have each of the 6 kids make all three of the different versions of the project: sandcast homage portrait, plaster relief drawing and hand print. George and Alfie's parent Jo and Dominic are invaluable-helping set out the paints, wash the plaster panels, etc. etc. etc...

Tues 16/10/01
Set up the exhibition (of my work) for the SMart filming with the help of Mel. Make sure that the gallery is in good showing order-paint, tape, clean, etc. as needed. Sort through all of the concrete hand print panels (120 of them in total, only 9 can be shown) to be placed in the garden. Unpack all of the Liverpool and Everton Football tiles (44 ceramic tiles), select some drawings, select which of the 10 'David' paintings will appear-portraits of Cassidy, Beckham, Lynch, Bowie, Jones & Lee Roth selected-all painted on black velvet. Then install it all....

Wed 17/10/01
Finish hanging the exhibition. Make sure that all of the kids projects are as complete as I am able to make them. Take the panels out of the containers that need to be removed, or plaster mixed and filled...Clean the house in preparation for approx 15 people to be traipsing around. Mop the bathroom! Shop for biscuits, tea, coffee, juice for everyone for the filming.

Thurs 18/10/01
Everyone is due at the house around 10:00am. It's class picture day at my daughter's school, so we are there from 7:55am, outside class 12, so that the kids can get their pics taken since they wouldn't be around later for the regular posed shot. Home by 8:45am to tidy up breakfast things, etc. 9:00am Nina arrives to do the filming of the film crew (fly on the wall). Bob takes photos. From 10:00am onwards people are arriving. By the time Kirsten O'Brien (the SMart presenter working on this segment) arrives, most of the children working with her have arrived and everything is in full swing.

The day goes amazingly well. All of the filming has fit into a natural light time frame. Everyone is nice and helpful. Lizi also agrees to participate in the project (she is one of the four presenters who work on SMart, as well as the researcher). It turns out that Lizi is a fanatical Cliff Richards fan. Fantastic. I am very impressed by Kirsten. She not only has an amazing memory for repeat takes-making her lines seem fresh every time she says them, but also by her tireless humour. She conscientiously paid attention to each of the kids, as well as being incredibly professional and kind. She was brill. I was interviewed, and where I loved every second of the filming managed to answer every question differently for each take.

The kids projects looked fab. They were all hung in the gallery for the final take. "The young up and coming artists". The kids were great. For them there was lots of waiting around and not eating when they were hungry, but still enjoyed the day. When they were finally called upon to do their stints in front of the camera-they were all stars.

Kirsten was collected by a car at the end of the filmimg. Her driver had to collect Boy George after he dropped her off and didn't want to wait around, so he put quite a lot of pressure on her to leave as soon as possible.. After she left, Etta-one of the children filmed-age 6, said "Did you notice that Kirsten was the last to arrive and the first to leave?" then happily skipped off the join the other kids.

By 6:00pm everyone had left.

Read more about how the project is developing in
A Diary Date with Lizi . Or skip to Project outline