“If you’ve noticed that the bank of snow looks a little different, it’s because it’s made out of foam that’s been painted to look like hard-packed snow. The fall will look horrible on camera, and Tracey will scream and pretend to break her arm, but that’ll be acting and she won’t actually be hurt at all.”

There were murmurs from the audience, and then someone shouted out a question Hannah didn’t hear.

“One of our extras asked about saying walla-walla. That may sound silly to some of you, but if a crowd of people says it over and over again at different times and in different voices, it sounds as if people are talking to each other. You don’t have to say walla-walla today. We’re not picking up crowd noises. They’ll be added later in postproduction and some of the dialogue will be dubbed.”

Hannah was impressed. Lynne was doing a good job of explaining what they should do.

“When the action starts, I want everyone to look as if you’re having a wonderful time at the winter games in the park. And when the impromptu game of Crack The Whip begins, you can smile and even applaud as the girls twirl around. When Tracey veers off and heads for the snow bank, I’d like to see some expressions of alarm and fear for her safety. And finally, I need you to look horrified when she crashes into the icy snow and breaks her arm.”

“This is pretty exciting,” Winnie said, turning to Hannah with a smile. “I didn’t know that moviemaking was so much fun.”

It wasn’t when Dean was in charge, Hannah felt like saying, but she didn’t. Lynne was much better at public relations than her predecessor.

“Is everyone ready?” Lynne asked, and there were nods and a few shouts of assent. “All right, then. Let’s see if we can do this in one take. Tracey? Costume, please.”

Tracey turned and skated for the wooden warming house that sat on the far end of the rink. When she got there, she went in and closed the door, but not before Hannah had spotted Honey, the makeup person, and the wardrobe mistress, Sophie, waiting for her.

Hannah looked around and noticed that one cameraman had taken up his position in the spot vacated by the statue, another was up on a platform at the far end of the rink, and Clark, the cameraman Hannah had met, was walking the perimeter of the rink with a Steadicam on his shoulder.

“Places please, girls!”

At that instruction from Lynne, the six girls still on the rink skated toward the center. Lynne arranged them at intervals, changing their positions a few times. Once everything and everyone looked the way she wanted them to look, Lynne called out to Tracey. “Ready, Tracey?”

“Ready,” Tracey replied, opening the door to respond and then shutting it again.

“Lights!”