Church End in Haddenham provided the backdrop for another film project on Friday 7th October, but on this occasion there were no dead bodies to attract the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby.
The film crew this time was more interested in Halifax than Midsomer ... the bank, that is!
Shooting was for an advertisement for the Halifax, and Haddenham bystanders watched in amusement as the same 15 second scene was repeated over and over again – the mobile camera pursuing a humble vicar as he cycled from the entrance at Manor Farm to St Mary's Centre on countless occasions.
The technical support folk must have the patience of Job!
Meanwhile, the camera crew seemed to be enjoying the superb mobile kit they were using to capture the scene – a matte black Mercedes WL63 AMG sports utility vehicle sporting a large roof-mounted mobile crane and camera known as a Russian Arm. Even the SUV's number plate paid homage to this state-of-the-art filming hardware.
The petrol heads among us will relish the fact that this level of technology is much more at home filming high speed "fast-and-furious" style chase scenes than rural vicars on bicycles!
The Merc is powered by a 6.3 litre V8 petrol engine delivering 510 bhp and accelerating the 2.5 ton beast to 60mph in just 5 seconds. Meanwhile, the crane-mounted camera has all the gyroscopic bells and whistles to maintain the lens in perfect orientation to the action.
You can probably tell ... your editor was suitably impressed!
The vicar seemed to have thoughts on less earthly matters. Or perhaps he was still pondering why that new public telephone wasn't working ...?
For those fellow anoraks who are interested enough to learn more about the high tech filming kit,
see here
and here
