One Friday in mid-October, we went for a tour around NRK (the biggest Norwegian producer of radio and TV… think BBC but with more of an IKEA feel) with OSTV. Let me begin by saying that it was a really lovely autumnal day; the air was fresh, the sky was clear, the trees were losing leaves and everything just felt very koselig. As we walked to the NRK building, Shelby and I were laughing about the irony of how we had been really reluctant coming to Norway but now were having an amazing time.
And then we spent fifteen minutes wandering aimlessly around the complex trying to find the right building because apparently Norwegians are born with an innate sense of direction and don’t need signs, for either informative or aesthetic purposes. The benevolent feelings definitely suffered a blow at that point.
Luckily, Steffen had managed to find the place and told us where to go, so we managed to get in only half an hour late.
It was pretty awesome to go behind the scenes. They had a costume department which made the wardrobe to Narnia look like a tea-towel cupboard. It was really interesting as well to see how that the stages were actually quite open yet the cameras were set up in a way that on tv it looked like a closed space (I know this is probably something that most people are aware of but it was still a mind-boggling revelation for me to actually see it).
After the tour, we were invited to be a part of the audience for the Lindmo show – which is a known talk show in Norway. (Here’s the link to the specific episode we saw live; https://tv.nrk.no/serie/lindmo/MUHU25005815/17-10-2015 ).
We headed to another building and a man came to meet us and explain the health and safety rules etc before we went into the actual studio. It is important to note that while the guy was speaking, a Patrick Bateman-esque bodyguard came and peered ominously over the banister at us. He then repeated this pattern of behaviour for the next five minutes; appearing one second, disappearing the next…. though our explosive giggling whenever we saw him probably didn’t make us look too innocent.
The studio was pretty glamorous; all purple and orange sparkles and soft lighting. I was impressed at the amount of colour as neutral tones are currently very much in in Norway. Anne Lindmo was just as glamorous, perfectly coiffed and in a wonderful purple dress. I also really admire her for the fact that she entered in fluffy white slippers and changed into her heels on stage.
Unfortunately Shelby, Steffen, Lina and I were put on some stools right at the back of the studio, which meant it was easier for us to turn our heads slightly and watch the thing on an output screen than craning our necks to try and see the thing happening on stage. Also sometimes the camera crane would pass over our heads in a manner not dissimilar to the pterodactyls in Jurassic Park – and it was a constant struggle for Steffen not to touch it whenever it came close.
It did have its advantages though – namely that when the studio passed around these massive bowls of sweets, we held onto ours and managed to practically empty the bowl throughout the taping.
We ate about an hour and a half’s worth of Haribo.
Another advantage to sitting at the back meant that we weren’t directly in the camera’s focus when the sugar high kicked in and we started pulling some extremely 90s disco moves during the live music (it would have been extremely easy to spot the non-Norwegians in that TV audience….).
I didn’t get to take any many pictures as my phone is currently possessed by some sort of vengeful spirit and I didn’t plan ahead far enough to bring my camera. Luckily however, Steffen vlogged the entire experience so check that out if you want to catch a glimpse of inside NRK.
life with sinatra 