b'Mr Conway INVESTIGATESDelving into this years Information and Communication Technology theme, our intrepid reporter Scoop Conway was keen to investigate 2025s cinema anniversaries with another world exclusive interview. Fortunately he had less distance to travel this time, going no further than the caretakers office here at Handsworth Grammar School.Thank you very much Adam for agreeing tothe top and shouted, Hello boys! The two be interviewed. Youve been working in thecarpenters, including me, simply said Hello school for a relatively short period of time.back. She replied, Nice job! and ran back What is your experience of schools and collegesdown the stairs. Afterwards Sean Connery and what were your other job roles? walked through with his escorts, but he didnt This is the first full-time job I have had in asay hello. During my time working on films, school. All my previous experiences in schoolsIve also been around other actors, including and colleges were as a contractor. John Cleese, Christopher Walken, and Sandra Bullock.In this year of so many ICT anniversaries, itWhat were the big changes you observed was interesting to discover that you had a long experience working in cinema and film. Canduring your time in the film industry? HowMr Adam Kyriakouyou tell us a little bit about what you did anddo you think cinema and film will develop inin his amazing World Book Day costume!how you got into the industry? the future?As a carpenter I was involved with buildingIn the 10 years I was in the industry, althoughmost of the teeth came out and flew around and assembling parts of film sets. You mightCGI was just coming in, the kind of work Ithe set just as we had predicted. So we had not know this, but 95% of what you see onwas doing didnt change much. And as farto remake the wooden ones and start all screen in a film are sets built by craftsmenas I am aware, work on sets is still done inover again.and technicians. There is very little actualthe same way.location work involved in most movies. Is there any director or producer youWhat would you say is your personal favourite I got into the industry purely by accident. Iparticularly admire? How did you findfilm of all time? Can you remember when was out of work in 1993 and was at the timeworking with them? you first saw it and why it left a lasting helping my father-in-law deck out his loft.To be honest I never paid much attention toimpression?He had worked in the film industry for manydirectors or producersmost of the guysWell I have a few, but I have to say my years and, when we were finished working onwho work on the film sets and in constructionfavourite film of all time is the original Star his house, he took me on a trip to Pinewooddont. The only time you would work withWars. I was 10 years old when it was Studios to show me around. There were no filmthem is if you were on standby and then yourreleased and I had never seen anything like productions scheduled for that day, but wheninstructions are relayed through other crew. it before. We queued up for nearly two hours we got to the studio we found the car park wasoutside my local cinema in order to get a seat almost full, something my father-in-law foundAmongst all the excitement and drama offor the next showing, with the queue around surprising. As the studio actually looked busy,the movie world, there must have been somethe cinema and down the neighbouring he suggested we sign up for any carpentrylighter moments, when perhaps things didntstreet. The screening of Star Wars was the work, and we went around all the constructiongo according to plan. Can you share anyfirst time we had ever seen the top-floor departments at Pinewood and he introducedmemories of those incidents? balcony of the cinema open, and it was the me to everyone. A week later I had a phoneI was at work on the film set of Sleepylast time we all went to the cinema as a family call from Gerry Andersons Space Precinct! TheHollow. We had just finished building thebefore my dad died.production went on for a year and this was mywindmill for one of the scenes and it wasCould you ever see yourself returning to the apprenticeship in the industry, so to speak. all ready to go for shooting, being given anfilm industry, or has school life now got you Which films did you work on and what wereinspection by the production team, whenhooked?some of the things you were called on to do?the insurance company decided that noI would love to return to set building on Did you get to meet any A-list movie starsway could any of the actors do a fight scenefilms. But unfortunately, due to developing and how did they relate to behind-the-scenesusing the set. The insurers stated that if oneosteoarthritis, retiring from the construction colleagues like yourself? of the actors got their arm caught in theindustry is the best thing for me.cogs or gears of the windmill, the insurance As a rule of thumb, unless youre on thecompany wouldnt be able to afford theWhat can you tell us about your most standby crew (these are the teams whocompensation pay-out. So it was decidedmemorable experiences of working in the film actually work on sets during filming) you dontthere and then that any teeth which formedindustry?get to meet the actors. You only see thempart of any windmill pulleys or cogs wouldThat is a hard one to answer. The years I spent walking around the studio, or when they walkhave to be replaced with rubber ones.in the film industry were the best job I have around the set you are working on. I did do aThe construction team, however, said theever had. I think the whole experience was second unit standby on Space Precinct whichwindmill wouldnt work properly if this wasmemorable. Working at Pinewood and other was the first production I worked on, wheredone, because the rubber teeth would notstudios, I had never felt more comfortable and the actors on that set were Ted Shackelford,be strong enough and would fly out as soonhappy in a job before. That is, until now. I think Simone Bendix, Rob Youngblood and Idrisas they were under any pressure. But theIm going to find it hard to top the job I have Elba. I remember when I was working on Theproduction team insisted and we just hadnow at Handsworth Grammar School!Avengers I was on the stage building a setto get on with it. Three weeks later the new when Uma Thurman arrived, took one look atwindmill was ready. The production teamThanks very much for the interview and for the staircase we were just finishing, ran up towas on set for the test, we started it up, and sharing your movie memories Adam!25'