It's #ThrowbackThursday and we've had a touch of nostalgia for our agreeable friend in the bright blue hat, Noddy! Come take a walk down memory lane with us as we revisit 'A Day In The Life' of Noddy in Toyland's director David McCamley from back in 2009 (when apparently there was a Swine Flu pandemic)!! Here's a glimpse of what a typical day directing Noddy In Toyland entailed:

8.45: Checked my emails.

8.47: Washed my hands as the threat of Swine flu is getting worse.

9.00 Wrote music note for an episode that our composer Dean Valentine is getting ready to start. They are just general notes of things we need to flag or parts of the episode that we will need to push the score to help move the story along.

10.00 Started a Noddy offline with Seamus O'Toole, one of our editors, for an episode called ‘Tessie’s Photo fun’. He’s from Galway but that’s ok as I can figure out most things he says. But I do find the odd time I have to politely smile at him because I don’t understand a word he’s saying.

The offline edit is very important and is where we bring all the final footage together before we go to the full HD online. We also try and lock the picture at this stage so we can hand it off to get the score and sound effects started. This episode was in good shape but was running 10 seconds over on its first cut.

11.00 I took a quick break and washed my hands as I just read that another case of Swine flu was reported in Ireland.

11.05 Back in the offline: We have gone through the episode and cut and trimmed whatever we needed to tighten it up or hide any odd hook-up problems. Trying to avoid retakes at this point. Now it's 3 seconds under which is fine as we can easily add it back in. At this stage, I also go through and make a list of all the retakes I would like to call which could be for many different reasons. For example, small animation fixes, colour pops, the lighting is too hot, or hook up problems.

12.30 Finished with the offline, I headed back to my room and as I was passing by the sink on way I washed my hands. You never know where Swine flu could pop up.
12.32 Back in my room I sprayed my keyboard and mouse with ‘Matron’, a Bio safe-touch spray that kills all germs including Swine flu and MRSA bug. Caught up with my emails.

12. 35 Looked at Noddy episodic stills which Richie is putting together, and they are all looking great. Richie also doubles up as our Noddy dance reference guy. We have videoed him many times doing different dances for animation reference. Some of his best work can be seen in EP 319 ‘Noddy Saves the Roller Disco’.

1.00 Had lunch which was really nice. I got a sandwich downstairs in our local shop. Someone sneezed while I was paying and I could have sworn I heard them make the sound of a pig. I think they may have swine flu, so when I got back into the studio I washed my hands again as you can’t be too careful.

2.00 Noddy Online: We reviewed an episode with Shane and Colm on the Smoke. This is the full HD which looks amazing - you can see every little detail down to the woodgrain on the Toytown houses and the cloth and stitching textures on the characters. All the retakes have been done by now on this episode so we are looking for any final pops, flash frames or any other things that we might have being missed that Shane can fix in Smoke. This saves a lot of time and has helped to cut down on retakes. Glad to say it looks great and there were only a few things to fix. We’ll have one last play through before it goes to tape in a few weeks.

3.00 With a quick wash of my hands, it’s back into editing for another Noddy offline. This time it’s with Alan. It’s great, I can understand him and he’s got a really cool shaped head. We played through the episode and it’s in good shape. We’re finding that the last few episodes there are a lot less retakes as everyone has got into the groove and knows what’s working. This one was only running 8 seconds over and was easy enough for us to cut down to time.

4.30 I had a quick look at the lighting stills for the last episode. We ask the overseas studio to send them to us before they light the entire episode and it has really helped cut down the retakes. James follows up with more detailed notes.

4.57 Hand wash.

5.00 Pre mix with Dominic. His mother is named Mary she is really nice. Dominic is always talking about her and is always showing us photos of her and sometimes he even brings her to work with him. This is the first time I hear the music and sound effect together with the picture. We have a play through and then go back and fine tune the mix of music, effects and dialog if needed. Usually it’s pretty quick as Dominic has done a great job balancing everything. Once it’s done it goes off to the network for feedback and we’ll address any notes in the Final Mix before it goes to tape.

6.25 Hand wash.
6.30 I’m finally ready to go home now but my hands are raw and sore from all the washing. At least I survived another day and didn’t get Swine flu.
6.35 I drove home in my bright yellow and red car which is a full size replica of Noddy’s car. As you can imagine it tends to attract a lot of attention on the road. In fact sometimes people are so happy to see it they roll down their windows and start singing the Noddy theme tune to me, I always get a laugh out of that!

7.12: Arrived home and as usual I was greeted with a warm welcome by my three children. They normally dress up as characters from Noddy and today was no exception. The twins, Tara and Michelle, were dressed as the goblins today and Emma my youngest was Whiz the Robot. She had made her costume out of old cereal boxes and toilet rolls tubes for arms, she even painted her face yellow. What a welcome home! However before hugging them I walked into our portable sterilization booth which we got off the internet for $69.99 plus S&H, as we all have to do our part to help stop the spread of Swine flu.