So the final thing I have to shoot to finish this film is
some footage in the bath, not of me thank god but the lures. The only problem
being is my small underwater camera is dead, it flicks on and off randomly,
then it demands a charge and shortly after refuses it. I resort to finding a
clear watertight box I can fit another camera into. The only other problem is I
have only one very wide angle lens and my youngest son decided to throw it across
the room so it no longer focuses. I sit down with lens and some micro screw
drivers and an hour later after finding which piece of glass inside was out of
its seating and putting it back the lens is working. For the enclosure I empty one of my wife’s
clear acrylic storage boxes that houses a collection of tea that smells like it
has been stored since the opium wars. On request my son brings me a pair of
underpants to pad out the box and I press the movie button, place the camera inside,
close the lid and hold it just under the surface of the water. Lights, action,
camera and I am sitting on the toilet holding a camera while pulling a piece of soft plastic through
the water as my fingers go numb; all the glamour of Hollywood.
Later when I have finished editing and six hours have past
while it uploads I sit down once again with my micro screwdrivers and this time
with my original broken underwater camera. When it is stripped down I remove
the battery, it is a Samsung and looks like a mobile phone battery. I ask my
wife for her old mobile and take the back off it.
The new battery from the phone is the same length and width,
it even has the pins in the same place, its voltage is the same, but its amp hours
are a little lower and it is 2mm thinner. Having made a film about lollipop
sticks I know that they are about 2mm thick. I reach for the tub of sticks and
snap one in half and slide it under the battery then put the camera back
together. When I press the button the camera fires up, it has all its bars and
I wait for it to fail, but no it is working perfectly.
Lollipop sticks, bloody lollipop sticks, I have decided to
carry them on my person at all times.
