Do

Jose Ruiz Jean-Baptiste Puech Jean-Baptiste with 'Statis' Cecile looking cool Roger plays the fool

Jonnie has been bitten to pieces by insects in the forest. To Cristina's disbelief I have forbidden the use of insect repellent on him. Bizarrely, so far I am untouched with no repellent. Jonnie really has stepped up to the plate in my view in the last few days. Apart from improvising perfectly with Julie he has also accepted the physical difficulties of the part admirably, inspirationally. Gladly he does all the difficult things I make him endure and bears up good humouredly to the problems I put in his path. Yesterday he joked "More suffering - that's great!" as he traipsed after Malika again.

Malika's backpack is as light as possible and easy to carry. Callum's luggage is a nightmare to carry and I get Rhys to put in one extra stone in it each day. It's working a treat. I can see the impact it is having on him! He slipped in the stream yesterday and hurt his shoulder. I told him "Please don't break your neck when the camera is not on you!". He apologised!

2.43pm

I've now done all the early Soldier stuff. It was quite simple for Jean-Baptiste. Most of it I shot in wide shots or quite enigmatic. He will have some real acting stuff to do when he comes back on the the 18th. The little Breton Spaniel that I cast to play "Holly" did a wonderful job. She certainly melted everyone's heart, even mine who am normally a cat person rather than a dog person!

I hope I have enough time to shoot the scene where Malika and Callum find somewhere to camp..

3.44pm

Sitting by the stream at the location we have chosen for the first campsite. Only the sound of the stream and it's water gurgling is audible. It is wonderfully tranquil. The crew are slowly arriving with the equipment. I am just about to start a little rehearsal.

8.27pm

Now sitting in the restaurant talking about Fidel Castro. We've finished the first week in the forest. I feel a little relieved as hopefully it will allow me to take stock a bit and regroup ready. The scene was beautiful. I shot a lovely wide shot panning down from the trees. After I that I shot a little coverage incorporating a zoom in and a pan off at the end of the scene. At the end I did another huge wide from the top of a hill where some beautiful purple flowers grew with a zoom out. I hope that the scene is poetic. That is what I was aiming for.

8.40pm

We are now talking about the England football and rugby games tomorrow. I have just discovered that there are many Basque players in the French team. That really gives me a dilemma. The Basques are very dear to me and it would be hard to go against them!