Media World: Interviewing Gemma Collins

When we were on location in Brentwood, Roy gave us a tour of all the local hotspots. This included Brentwood cathedral and various shops that are featured and owned by the stars of The Only Way Is Essex. The tour was before we started filming so we could make a note of any places of interest for our opening sequence. When we were heading back to the car to collect the camera Danny noticed that Gemma Collin (Star of TOWIE) was in her shop and that the colours of her shop were very stereotypical for what the General public would associate with Essex - Pink & lots of Beauty Treatments! He thought it would be a  good idea to see if we could film the outside of her shop. Roy said he would go and check with her as he has met her a few times before and had trained a few of the TOWIE cast's dogs. Gemma was lovely and agreed to let us film. I explained to her about our documentary but also in the back of my mind had Roy's film project. I though if we could potentially interview her it could work well for his documentary. Gemma agreed to answer a few questions so Chris and Danny set up the camera and sound and i explained a bit about where we'd been today so we could check her audio levels quickly. As soon as Danny gave the go ahead i briefed Gemma on the types of questions i would ask - mainly about the Essex that she knows compared with the General Public's perception of Essex. The interview went really well and although i was incredibly nervous and the interview wasn't planned i think it went really well. Danny and Chris set up the Perfect shot for her interview that featured her shop signs in the background. It was our first interview as a team and I'm really proud of us for pulling it off under a lot of pressure and dealing with a lot of interest from the public. I think they though we were from ITV and from that moment on had a fair few followers around Brentwood. We are going to keep the footage for Roy's Documentary and also potentially use it in our's if it is useful in the opening sequence but like Danny said the shot they got of Gemma's shop are enough to help orientate people as to the location and the Essex style.

Stay Safe,

Helen