Walking up the Bridges back to my B&B in Edinburgh late one evening in April I spotted activity on the High Street. Turns out a film crew was shooting scenes for the new Avengers film! I stood around behind the barriers for a while and watched the crew at work. Conclusion: 80% of your time on a big budget film set is spent standing around waiting for things to happen. Every now and then the marshalls would hear an announcement on their ear pieces and call for everyone to be quiet. The cameras were half-way down Cockburn Street, though, and the barriers were well up on the High Street, so I couldn’t see much. I caught a few glimpses of people in odd-looking uniforms with what looked like thin poles sticking up from their backs, but mostly I just found it fascinating to observe all the peripheral effort that was going on: wind machines being trundled around; a guy hosing down the street; the huge crane-mounted lighting rigs that must have made midnight look like daytime. Lots of pizza and food boxes being delivered for the crew. At one point a big black SUV with tinted windows passed by and the marshalls gave the crowd a big knowing grin. He didn’t say anything, though.
