#DontBeScared The Big Reveal

My moment finally arrived last night!  The giffgaff #dontbescared campaign finally came to a head with the new advert, directed by Cockneys Vs Zombies' Matthias Hoene.  I was really impressed by the final result, I hope you all were too!

I ended up on the screen a bit in the first half of the advert.  Look out for the tall zombie in the purple shirt and grey trousers.  During the ambush of the girl with all of the bags I'm the first zombie she sees and the one who takes her art portfolio.

 

You can also watch the video here, with optional extras http://www.dontbescared.co.uk/

One last shot... #dontbescared

Now less than 24 hours away. May 29th, 22:15 GMT, Channel 4 & Film4. #dontbescared... or maybe you should be?

1 day to go! #dontbescared

Just over 24hrs left until giffgaff time!

My New Blog....

Don't worry, folks, this one's not going anywhere.  I'd recently decided I was going to start blogging reviews of card and board games, and so rather than fill up this blog with them I thought I'd start a second blog, purely for game reviews.

So if anyone's interested, here's the link!  It starts off with a review of the morbid card game Gloom!

http://gamesandtea.blogspot.co.uk/

3 days to go... #dontbescared

Well some of you may have noticed the brief teaser video I posted a couple of days ago for the new giffgaff "#dontbescared" campaign.  In case you hadn't already figured it out, the slightly out-of-focus zombie in the clip is none other than your's truly.  I've been looking forward to seeing how the finished article ends up looking, and now there's only 3 days left to wait!  So on the night of Wednesday May 29th tune into Channel4 or Film 4 at 22:15 GMT to see my big moment!  Of course I haven't see it myself so I don't know how much of me will end up making it into the final cut, but I'm hopeful for at least a few seconds of good quality screen-time.

Don't be scared...

Zombieing through the ages...

I was just uploading my latest zombie photo to Twitter, and when I went to select it from my zombie photo folder I suddenly felt inspired to make another post.  When I went to the audition last year I'd never even been in zombie makeup before, so here's a nice little selection of how my zombie look has changed throughout the last 11 months!  Some of these are simply down to how the studio in question wanted their zombies to look on the day, and some are developments in my own zombifying skills.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

June 2012: Wish.co.uk's Zombie Audition

The place it all began! On this occasion the makeup was kindly done on-site by one of the other auditionees.

 

 

January 2013: Warm Bodies photocall

My first paid zombie job, and as such the moment I was able to call myself a professional zombie!  Makeup done by myself, and one of my earliest attempts (my first ever attempt was 5 days earlier).

 

 

February 2013: Makeup test

Not for any event in particular, just a makeup test to try out new techniques.

 

 

March 2013: Zombie Bootcamp

My first TV appearence (yet to air), being filmed for a documentary at Ram Training's Zombie Bootcamp.  Makeup done by on-site artists.

 

March 2013: Birmingham Memorabilia/Comic Con

Just a nice casual event, dressing up as a zombified version of Arthur Dent for Birmingham Comic Con.  Makeup and costume all self-done.

 

April 2013: Whitchapel

Zombied up for ITV's Whitechapel.  Makeup done by on-site artists, and clothes provided by me but zombified by the costume department.

 

May 2013: giffgaff advert

Something I can't wait to see on air - the giffgaff advert directed by Matthias Hoene (Cockneys vs Zombies).  The skin tone, eye-shadowing, head wound and nose blood were all done by me, and the veins added by the on-site makeup team.  The costume was a shameless recycling of my Whitechapel outfit!   

 

May 2013: Zombie Weekend promotional video

My very latest (from today, in fact) zombie look. This was for the promotional video for Silent Studios' upcoming Zombie Weekend in August.  Again I provided my own clothes to be slashed/bloodied up there, and on this occasion the makeup/prosthetic was done entirely by my good friend Justin (one of Silent Studios' makeup artists).  He let me keep the face piece afterwards, so I look forward to getting more use out of it in the future!

Interview with... well... me!

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last year, or (far more likely) haven't read my blog or met me in passing, then you must all know by now that I'm a semi-professional zombie when the opportunity arises.  All of this has stemmed from a zombie audition (later given the catchier monicker of Britain's Next Top Zombie) set up by the folks at Wish.co.uk, in which I was somehow lucky enough to triumph.

A couple of weeks ago they asked me to do a brief interview about winning BNTZ and how my life's changed since then, and seeing as I get on with these guys so well and owe my entire undead career to them, there was no way I'd ever refuse.

Now the interview's been published on their blog, so here's the link to the inside scoop on my zombie life...

http://wish.co.uk/blog/zombie-interview-rob-hall/

Interstingly that post contains a link to my blog... which obviously contains a link to their blog... which contains a link back to mine... thus creating some sort of infinite blog loop which may well destroy the entire universe.  It's a price I'm willing to pay though.

...maybe that's how the zombie apocalypse begins.

A brief fishy update

Well I know a lot of my blog has been about zombies of late, but that's purely because a lot of my life has been about zombies of late!  In fact I'll have another post to follow very shortly with regards to my filming session on Thursday and Friday.  But right now, this is a quick post about my lovely fishy friends.

It's been about a year now since I bought my maroon clownfish, Fulgrim, and since day 1 I've really wanted to get her an anemone to host.  I did get an anemone last summer, but sadly the clowns (as I did have a pair back then) didn't take to it, and it died later on.  When the second clown died I put the anemone on the back-burner, as one of the main reasons I wanted one was that they were a mated pair and it would encourage them to breed.

But now that my tank's fully stocked I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get that anemone, so I picked up a beautifully vibrant red bubble tip anemone, which I have named Cthulhu.

He was pretty expensive, setting me back £50, but I'm hoping he'll last a good while.  The most important thing is getting the clown to host him, as she'll make sure he gets fed and look after him in general.  Once I'd got Cthulhu into the tank he spent a couple of hours moving around, trying to find a nice spot, and by luck he settled into just the spot I was hoping he'd choose, as it's right in the middle of Fulgrim's territory.  After he'd been there for a little while Fulgrim started to swim up close and take an interest in the new addition, and a short while later I looked into the tank to see this...

 

So it looks like they're going to get along just fine.  This photo was taken around 4 hours ago, and Fulgrim hasn't spent more than a few seconds away from Cthulhu at a time since then, so hopefully this'll be the start of a long and happy friendship!