Published On: May 19, 2024
Hey everyone! Today I (Nub!) want to share some behind-the-scenes photos and stories with you from the filming of the Raid Community Awards Show. I had the opportunity to fly over to Warsaw, Poland, back in March to film my parts as co-host of the Show and this is what that experience entailed…
If you want to read about my experience meeting the Raid dev team, check out the full article I wrote about that as well!
Overview of the stage from an observation balcony
This was where the main stage footage was filmed. As you can see, there’s a lot going on, from lights and cameras, to props and staff! It was honestly pretty intimidating to walk in on filming day to see that there’s an entire legit film crew waiting and relying on you doing your job properly. It’s easy to practice lines in front of a mirror with a script but not so much when there’s 20+ people watching your every move!
Screens to review footage
These slightly larger screens were set off to the side of the main stage and could be used by the crew to review multiple takes or angles at a time to see if they were happy with how things were looking. The director would check to see if angles were right or if any changes needed to be made to how we were shooting each scene.
Juliana and Banana pose in front of a weirdo on the TV
In a more relaxed lounge area upstairs they had a big TV connected to the main filming monitor so that the actors and Plarium staff could see what was happening on the stage (the main stage was in a sound-sealed room.) In this pic you can see me on the camera, with Yuliana and Anna posing; you might recognize them from other scenes in the show!
The Transformation!
One of the fun ideas in the show was the transformation from “frazzled overwhelmed Nub” to “tuxedo confident Nub”! To make this shot I had to be filmed in precisely the same spot after the costume change so the transition would work in the final product. They were able to overlay the footage from both takes in real time to make sure it was lining up.
The stage gets CGI’d in
Of course, when we were recording, we were doing so on a green screen: the entire stage, with Trunda and Gliseah states, was added in during post-production. They were able to add in the stage background to review our positioning in real time and to get a feel for how the shots would look, as you can see above!
A thief caught on camera trying to rob Cirilla!
Only joking, of course! There was a lot of maintenance needed between shots from the costume, make-up, and sound technicians to make sure that everything looked and worked consistently across every single take. Here you can see Anton, the wardrobe stylist, tweaking Cirilla’s dress. Something you couldn’t see from the camera is that many pins and clips were used to make her dress look perfect for the screen. It was also cold, so whenever there was a longer break between, someone had to rush over to give her a jacket to stay warm!
Makeup time
They didn’t just touch up my makeup as a joke for my intro scene in the show—it had to be touched up many times throughout the day! Luckily, it was minimal makeup: it’s just what’s needed to make a person look normal when filmed with a proper camera under all those lights. To me, looking in the mirror, I looked very weird… But it looked normal in the finished product and that’s what matters.
Camera rig in action
I thought this was a pretty cool piece of tech that was used to film many of the scenes. Basically, the camera-man (I didn’t catch his name I’m afraid!) had a harness secured around the center of his body which attached to a crane going above his head. As you can see, a stability rig around a camera would then be hung on a wire from that crane, allowing him to carry the weight on the camera with his whole body whilst being able to maneuver it around in front of him and get a clean steady shot.
Meeting to discuss “Super Polymorph”
This was a funny candid shot of myself and Sam relaxing between scenes. (My tuxedo was worth over $1000 so I wasn’t allowed to wear the jacket while sitting down.) We’re just reading our lines to practice but it’s more entertaining to imagine that we’re secretly planning how to implement super polymorph to the game or some other heinous thing. I don’t know who owns the fancy red shoes in the background… Maybe they’re Sam’s and the white runners were simply a prop…
The Two Hosts out of character!
It was a great experience to get to work with Cirilla as my co-host. We were both totally new to this film-making experience but hopefully you enjoyed the show, and we didn’t mis-pronounce any of the winners’ names. Cirilla was a great sport and very friendly and supportive and made filming the show a great experience!
So, there you have it: some behind the scenes photos from my time as co-host of the first official Raid Community Awards. It was an awesome experience to get to be part of a legit film set. As Carley, the director, said to me when telling the stylist to get my hair as slicked back as humanely possible: “Welcome to showbusiness, baby!”
