Thursday, 14 June 2007
With the cattle safely out of the picture at the end of Week 3, things settled down into a regular pattern, and there had been a noticeable decline in local interest in what’s happening on the set.
That’s hardly surprising, given the distance between the general public and the cameras (when they’re working)....
Plus, of course, there’s the inevitable influence of the novelty effect wearing off. So there’s a movie set at the bottom of the main street. What’s so unusual about that?
While it might have become standard operating practice to drop by when you’re in town just to see what’s going on unless there’s something happening right here and now there’s no way most of the locals are going to be lured into hanging around for a couple of hours on the off chance of a celebrity sighting or some other interesting event. Been there, done that....
When I’m on my daily circuit around town, I’ll invariably drop past to check out what’s going on. It fits so neatly into the route I’ve been following for years - Post Office, bank, news agency, Jochheim's, Retravision, Magees, Powell Street, home...
Just slot a diversion of a hundred metres or so between the newsagency and the pie shop and there you go...
But I doubt if I’ve spent much more than five minutes in the area on any day when I haven’t been rostered on for Volunteer duty. I’ve been averaging two shifts a week, and I must admit, on the days when I have been “on duty” there hasn’t been much to hold my interest once the end of the shift rolls around.
Any lapses in local interest, however, doesn’t mean that the flow of out-of-towners has subsided to nothing. According to the Townsville Bulletin there have been over six thousand travellers with their details logged by the Volunteer group, and as someone who’s been involved with the volunteer site, I know how hit and miss the logging has been, so the real figure could well be double that ...
If that sounds a bit narky, it isn’t meant to be. From day to day the Volunteer set-up changes as barriers are moved back and forward depending on where the cameras are operating.
On days when the footpath in front of the Grand View is open, logging visitor details is relatively straightforward. People walk past a table on their way down to the front and, while that makes information-gathering a relatively straightforward task it still doesn’t mean that whoever’s looking after the book is going to catch everybody as they go past.
On a Grand View footpath day, it’s fairly easy to do the Volunteer bit. I tend to wait around the table till some obvious out-of-towners arrive, walk them down to the front, describe what’s happening, point out a few things, answer questions, and once their interest starts to turn to photographs drift back towards the table in search of someone else to talk to....