There are more things, Horatio, than I can keep track of

esterday I took charge of eight drama students to rehearse my 'Hamlet in 10 seconds' stop-motion animation. By 'taking charge', I mean shouting a lot and being heard about a quarter of the time, but the noise, on the whole, was the result of enthusiasm, though I did occasionally lose some of them to boredom when there were problems to resolve elsewhere.

I hadn't really planned to have someone from my course to assist me, but it's just as well that Matt came along because I couldn't have managed without him quietly and calmly getting on with practical tasks. I'd intended to film the latter half of the action from an additional camera so that I could choose when to cut from one viewpoint to the other, but I was so engrossed in directing the action that I simply forgot. Another assistant for that camera in the final shoot would be very useful.

When I asked Matt if he would help, I didn't take into consideration the raging hormones of my teenage coursemates. Judging by their reactions on sniffing the scent of young female drama students, I could easily have auctioned off the role of assistant to the highest bidder, though I would then have had a continuously distracted assistant.

I'll review the different takes over the next few days, and storyboard the changes carefully, ready for the final shoot next Wednesday.