Visiting the set of Mary: The Making of a Princess!

On Wednesday afternoon the 12^th of August Genevieve, Rawley, Chloe and I from Bus Stop Films were lucky enough to spend a few hours at Swifts Mansion a gorgeous castle where the mini series Mary-The Making Of A Princess was being filmed and it’s hard to believe that a family actually live there.

First we toured the makeup truck which was sooooo COOL! We met the lady who did the makeup for the whole cast and her name is Chiara Tripiodi and she did the makeup for Max in Where The Wild Things Are and won an Emmy which is a great achievement. We even had a photo taken with her which is something that will be cherished forever. Chiara told us the longest times she’s ever had to take to do makeup was 3 and a half hours which you can imagine would be quite exhausting.

Emmy award winner Chirara, Rawley, myself, Chloe and another very talented make up artist, Karen Johnson

Next we toured the costume truck and looked at all the AMAZING costumes that were designed and they were so detailed. My favourite costume was the Queen’s wedding outfit, it was a long white silk dress with pink flowers and we were told that somebody hand painted the pink flowers onto it, because you can’t find the same material anywhere, which was truly amazing.

Soon enough after that we met Emma Hamilton who plays Mary. We asked her many questions and one of the questions we asked her was “What has been the biggest challenge so far filming Mary-The Making Of A Princess?” She told us the biggest challenge so far has been when they were shooting a scene at Bondi Beach on a freezing winter morning and she and a few others had to pretend it was a hot summers day and had to wear mini skirts and singlet tops. Emma looks a lot like Mary and she told us her secret which was dying her hair brown and putting brown contact lenses on. It was great meeting Emma and we wish her the best of luck.

Myself, Chloe, Emma Hamilton, Rawley, Antoina Barnard (the producer) and another wonderful actor, Nicholas Hope who plays Per Thornitt

Then we went inside Swifts mansion and had a look around and met the second camera man Lewis he was lovely and gave us so much information and told us with the job he has, he can’t be noticed, and he showed us the camera he looks after, it was massive. He also showed us the dolly which is what you put the camera on so it can slide forwards and backwards.

We also met the director Jennifer Lacey who has been working on sets for a long time so she is quite the expert and she was lovely. She has really enjoyed directing Mary- The Making Of A Princess.

Here we are with Jennifer the director!

After that we got to see them shoot a scene and see it on the camera screen which looked amazing. They did quite a lot of takes with the scene until they were happy with it which made me realise how much work is in involved making a movie or series.

We even got to see them do a special effect which was the snow since they were setting this part in Denmark. They used a big hose and sprayed fake snow on the trees and ground and it looked as pretty as a picture and I really felt like we were in Denmark so they did a great job of bringing that scene to life. Chloe and I and I’m sure everyone else was tempted to play in the snow and have a snowball fight but didn’t as we would have got into trouble as it’s EXTREMELY time consuming.

Hard to believe it’s not real snow!!

We all had a wonderful time meeting everyone and seeing the costumes and makeup. Everyone was so lovely and we felt very welcome and they all had so much to tell us.

It was the best experience of my life and just want to thank everyone for having us and showing us around and for telling us so much. I can’t wait until we get to do some acting and directing ourselves and make a movie I’m so excited.

Mary- The Makibng of a Princess will be airing November the 5^th this year on Channel 10 over 2 nights so make sure you watch you don’t want to miss it.

Written By

Joni Campbell from Bus Stop Films