Young, High and Dead Film Blog

Adaptive Filmmaking & Coming Out the Indie Closet

As I release my podcasts it’s started to dawn on me that I need to start accepting YHAD for what it is. Understanding the film and it’s expectations but most importantly being honest about what sort of filmmaker I am.  For a long time I have called myself an ‘Independent’ filmmaker and used the term ‘Indie’ to reference my work, but deep down I feel silly using those words, they don’t really represent me and doubt they ever will.  For too long I have lied to myself about the type of filmmaker I am and the type of work that I create,  comparing myself to other ‘Indie’ filmmakers and trying to fit in with the clique/circles that these hipsters move in.

I know I am not the only one doing this, keeping up appearances to try and fit in.  There are so many other filmmakers out there, who just like me won’t and will never ‘fit in’.  So rather than continue to sit in the dark, I am getting up and stepping out of the Indie Closet.  That’s right!  I am no longer ashamed to be who I am, plus It’s getting far too stuffy and cramped in there.  It’s high time I just came out and admitted it!

“I’m an adaptive filmmaker”.

So now iv’e come out and said it, what exactly does it mean to no longer be Independent or “Indie”?

Well put simply…. not that much really, I’m still me and the films remained the same it just has a different label and this is nothing to be ashamed of!  It’s just that I don’t fit or match up to everyones expectations.  YHAD and ME are bored of pretending to be something we’re not.  And heres why….

The word Independent is becoming too ironic in the film business.  Especially with so many feature films being a far cry from actually being financially self reliant!  You really have to question how “Indie” something is when it has to rely on public lottery funds, crowd funding or private investors.  

and this isn’t just about money…..

Surely the point of being Independent is that you rebel against the ‘Big Wigs’ and go it alone.   Furthermore many of these filmmakers label themselves as “Independent” off the back of a trend and for other reasons.  For someone like me, I had to make YHAD the way I did, I had no other option or choice but to do it this way.  No company or organisation was prepared to let me make this type of film.  So It’s important people understand the reason I made YHAD outside of a studio or other financing systems was because these opportunities didn’t exist for someone like me.

Im an outcast amongst my peers, the black sheep of the family but I’m not alone.  There are many other filmmakers out there who are also like me, stuck in a place they don’t really belong.  It’s okay to be different, infact it gives you an advantage!

For me the true meaning of ‘Indie’ has kind of lost it’s way.  I personally feel like a lot of people have jumped on the bandwagon for ‘Hipsterish’ reasons and not because they ‘truly had to’.  The term gets mis-represented and used in a whole manner of absurd ways.  Sometimes using the ‘Indie’ term to attach a level of intellect to their work.  Using the term to justify loss of money.  Using the word so they can escape the basic rules of a three act structure or simply using the trend to cut back on money.

There is a massive danger that the Independent Film Industry is becoming a giant ‘IKEA’ with quick turnarounds for cheap, short lived products.  It’s bad enough that society consumes things at such a rapid rate with huge wastage.  The big film studio’s can handle this turn around and have the power and clout to deal with consumption like this.  Can I do this?  The answer is NO

So it’s no surprise that we see so many of these Indie films all looking and feeling so …….. well how can I put it? ‘Independent’ and ‘Generic’.  Instead of standing alone, being unique and bucking a trend, these hipsters group together creating one giant Independent Industry.  Essentially becoming an exact copy of the very same Hollywood machine it opposes!  

What’s really concerning is that for most mere mortals the Indie Industry doors are locked firmly shut and just as tight as the Studio doors.  To me that seems absolutely nuts and is why I don’t operate on the same level.

I am not saying my way of doing things will be the right way or that  other people should follow suit, I’m just pointing out I don’t belong to any of this.  It’s alien to me.

So If I don’t fit in and nor does my film.  I see no point in pretending to.  I see no relevance with the words ‘Independent or Indie’.  For example you wouldn’t put ‘El Mariachi and The King’s Speech in the same box, would you?  It’s not about which one is better they both serve different people on different levels, the same goes for YHAD and lets face it.  With the title alone ‘Young, High and Dead’ ain’t gonna be suggested ‘because you watched The Kings Speech’ on Netflix is it!

As far as I can see, Young, High and Dead doesn’t fit into any boxes the ‘Hipster Kids’ are playing with. So I’m moved to my own area to play in, it looks kind of similar, it’s just in a rougher neighbourhood.  I don’t for one second expect the Hipsters to venture over and join in as I doubt their mum will let them cross the road, plus I’m over here  playing with matches!

#Adaptive Filmmaking

For a better indication about what I’m banging on about go follow my Podcasts, you will soon see what I mean.

Luke

(Adaptive Filmmaker / Writer & Director)

YHAD

YHAD Podcast Blog - Episode 02 Writing a script then writing it properly

Alongside my weekly podcasts I will do a blog specific to each episode.  These will contain useful links and info that relate to the podcast topic.

The blog will precede each Episode so if anyone has any questions or wants me to go into more detail on a specific part of the subject they can email me on rumpunchproductions@gmail.com or message me via twitter @rumpunchprods or FB.

Episode 02 - Writing a script then writing it properly

In Episode 2 I chat about the style of writing Young, High And Dead, the podcast talks about how I shape and refine my work but I didn’t write YHAD entirely unaided.

Read Professional work:

For about 5 years I ran a Casting Studio in London, here I worked on thousands of different projects from high end tv commercials, to television shows and feature films.  The biggest advantage was having access to scripts, I would study and carefully observe how the script served Actors and Directors when working scenes.  You quickly see patterns amongst good pages of work and understand why some dialogue is clunky, and with the basic tools (details below) I was able to scratch beneath the surface of a writers piece and uncover detailed subtext and layers.

Unlocking this information as an actor is extremely valuable to playing the character right, this information often is delivered to them as ‘NOTES’ from the Writer or Director (even Producer).  Scripts that fail to have such layers lack adventure and mystery within a scene. They don’t ‘LEAP’ off the page and often become the reason why elements to a story/film are predictable or lackluster.

Writing is subjective, like all art forms but there are rules and levels that define a scribble from a master piece.  For me the hidden messages and story behind an image are what makes it special or something that holds the viewers attention.  Writing is the same, if you can create messages and layers that delve deep between the lines of your narrative, your audience engage with it on an unconscious level. This is the key goal in what I try and achieve when writing.  I am still very much learning my craft and hope to improve on it with every project, so I don’t have all the answers and this blog & podcast is purely my opinions that make sense to me surrounding this complex subject. Hopefully this gives you an insight into the current methods of my writing process.

Write like a professional:

DO NOT start writing in Microsoft WORD! You might as well draw a giant penis across your first page.  You could have the best story in the world but no-one will deal with you or the project.  There is absolutely no excuse to not formatting your project properly, the amazing people at CeltX give away FREE screen writing software (avail here).  As a writer when handing someone a script you must respect and value their time, especially if you plan on having professional Industry figures read your work, If it doesn’t look like a script it won’t read like one.  It’s that simple.  You won’t believe the amount of word docs out there getting slung in bins and being instantly deleted. 

You can even download an app to write on the go (sadly not FREE anymore).

Building with Bones and making a Skeleton:

The following book was the simplest and most effective resource for a beginner wishing to write a movie, for anyone uncertain about narrative structure I highly recommend this.  I read it just before I wrote YHAD so it inspired me to knuckle down and bang through 87 pages in 30 days.

available through amazon here

For most writers getting the junk out is easy the first draft for most of us will be a pile of junk, to you it’s a master piece and genius.  But it’s not give it to someone who will be honest, they don’t need to be an expert about script developing as you are not looking for notes just general feedback.  They will ask questions about the story which will be key things you need to address. Majority of the pages will contain pure rambling junk but hopefully beneath this is a skeleton or spine to your story, it’s time to replace the rubbish.

The Writers Journey:

Now the hard work begins, in order to layer this spine and pack on the muscle and flesh to your skeleton, this is the hard part of writing.  It involves a huge amount of day dreaming over long periods of time, the re-drafting period is the only way to bury the bones of your story.  By constantly tweaking and changing different parts of your story, dialogue and characters you go further along the writers journey…….

This book is simply brilliant! That’s all I will say about it.  YHAD would not exist without it. available here

The longer you are on your journey (re-drafting) the more stories you have to tell, the more options you have as a writer. This process appeals top the perfectionists out there. Like the perfect holiday you will know when it’s time to come home and tell everyone about your trip. 

Too many writers are so heavily protective about their work they dare not mess with it, anyone who has written a long format piece like a script will know that small changes don’t exist, even the most minor alterations can have a profound affect on your story, many do not want to add to their work load so they settle on things too early.

And here is the difference!  By rushing or wanting to get through the writing process you run massive risks of your project failing.  By not ensuring it has enough flesh and meat on it to survive cold critique you become in danger of losing it. 

So timing your writing journey is a huge factor!

Language Structure:

For me this is the biggest of all and something that may or may not make sense here or in my podcast:  Unfortunately the industry and many people hold more value to how something is written rather than what is written.  For example, a page of script that is grammatically correct and structured in a way that meets the standard of our educational system doesn’t automatically make it interesting or a ‘Good read’.  Intelligence does not afford someone creativity.  Good communication doesn’t have rules and regulations.

A great public speaker or communicator or even entertainer will adjust themselves according to the response of their audience.  A writer doesn’t have the luxury of such instant feedback. So it’s imperative that their work speaks to the reader in a natural and open manner, you want the reader to have access to all the elements of your story straight away.  You don’t want to alienate them with words they do not understand or structure that is not natural on the inner ear.  Most people when reading read ‘aloud’ with inner monologue. They even assign different tones to characters, so if the words on the page are stark and rigid then you can bet your reader feels the same.  Scripts are not essays. They are stories.

The most interesting people with the best stories don’t come from Oxford or Cambridge with a masters in Political History. Those people are boring as fuck!  It’s the drunk down the pub or the crazy lady in the supermarket.  They are the ones with something interesting to say and they seldom speak RP or Queens English. 

But….. for a writer you should take an interest in the structure of language.  By understanding how people respond to language structure you are able to manipulate the words on paper to have a profound effect on the reader.  This is not taught at school and you don’t need to go into to much depth with this area, but some interesting reading for this is as follows:

You can have a simple concept for your film, but the story and characters  should be complex enough to engage an audience.  I hope with my future writing I explore this area more and get better at this.  Young, High and Dead is a cliche horror film set in a forest but there are lots of interesting things happening throughout the film that deal with the unconscious part of your brain.  I believe this is the reason why YHAD feels and looks different to so many other films, I also believe this is the reason why despite me having no money the film ‘looks and feels’ like a REAL movie and not a cheap student film.

Finally at present I really have no idea what the hell will happen with YHAD and my future career as a film maker.  I am aware of the path I tread and despite having made my debut film no guarantee’s exist for any future projects.  I love the writing process and whether I work in or outside the Industry I will continue to write scripts and stories. 

YHAD was finished many years ago now and I have 2 other very different scripts  at different stages.  I have included in this post an excerpt from a feature film that I am currently writing, I obviously cannot give any details about the synopsis or anything but I want to show an example of layout and form for anyone looking to do their own thing.  The piece is an introduction to one main character called Krystal, it still needs a ton of work and is at draft 1.4.  So in time it could change quite a bit.  Anyway hopefully it gives you a good sense of how some of the above applies to my writing.

Follow this link to read the scene:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8dUmvu29BYFLU0tY2FuMnlRVFk/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks for checking out this blog and feel free to contact me witha ny questions you have about anything relating to this article or Young, High and Dead.

Luke Brady (Writer/Director)

ww.younghighanddead.com

Young, High and ‘Not’ Dead! - 13/7/2012

With it being Friday the 13th and after a long time of no blogging I thought it the perfect time to update everyone on what stage YHAD is at.

So being my first debut feature film and making the film with minimum money and no help from established film companies etc, I have to confess I have learnt a lot of what ‘To Do’ and what ‘Not to Do’.

Would I ever make another film this way again?

No way! I hope I never have to work on another project where I have to do so much work and dedicate so many years, Since shooting YHAD I have watched many films I worked on during casting at Nash Studios get made, get distributed, get released and now the DVD’s are in HMV. All of these where big budget films with hundreds of people working full time on them. Mine is virtually just me doing part time work whenever I can grab a few spare hours. This has involved me staying up to the early hours of morning and then getting up 2 hours before I have to leave for work. It’s like doing 2 jobs. At least I get paid for my day job.

NEWS July 2012

So lot’s of exciting things bubbling away, some things I cannot release as of yet for obvious reasons but there are many people excited to see the film which is great.

I had to re expose all the clips in the final master due to a piece of software not giving me accurate video scope info, so basically I have had to adjust all the levels 1 by 1. As you can imagine a 129 minute films has hundreds of clips so it’s slow tedious work, but I have been watching the footage as I go along on my ipad and it looks amazing! Better than I have ever seen it before. Finally YHAD is a REAL film.

Whilst doing this I have been making adjustments to the audio, and getting it set for surround sound. Our music composer Blue Daisy has been busy as hell but is hopefully nearly finished with the music. I have about 1/3 of it already and if the rest is half as good as what I already have we will all be in for a treat. It’s amazing how integral the music is, especially to a film like YHAD. 

I no longer work at Nash studio, and have moved over to an amazing company called Casting Networks. SO it’s been tough switching jobs, getting used to new systems and routines but I feel settled enough to push more energy into YHAD. I still work in casting which is great and everyone at the office is great to work with and lot’s of fun. We even have 2 resident office dogs ‘Freddy & Honey’.

Also which is quite exciting for me. I decided that I needed something else to break my mind from YHAD, my head was too invloved in the project and sometimes you need to mix things up a bit. I promised myself to not do any other projects until YHAD was 100% done but in the end my creativity took over. I have started work on a brand new feature script and have knocked out 50 odd pages already, it’s completely different to YHAD and would need a hollywood style budget, I am only writing whilst I am on the train to work, any other time goes to YHAD. But I think it has huge potential to be something quite special with the possibility of many sequels! Obviously it’s top secret for now but I will say it’s like a mixture of ‘Full Metal Jacket, The Raid & Die Hard’ with a dash of ‘Heat’. It’s a full on Action film.

I cannot remember when I last blogged properly and I know our FB and Tweets have been quiet. It’s hard trying to juggle so many things and I promise to be more active during these final stages of YHAD.

Final Thoughts

Lots of people make films an a whole manner of ways, there is no right or wrong there is only a good or bad result. I truly hope that with YHAD all the specific details and care and attention that has gone into it enables it to have a good result. It’s a competitive business and I always knew the odds of being a successful at film maker where stacked highly against me. BUT it’s all I have ever wanted to do and I love every second of it, even during this epic struggle. “If you really want something? Go and fucking get it yourself”

Luke B

ps don’t forget to spread some YHAD love, RT, Like us, tell your friends about our 100% Independent British Horror film

www.younghighanddead.com

YHAD in March 2012

Thought it was “High” time I did another quickish blog, updating where we are with the film.

I can’t believe we are almost a quarter of the way through the year already! It’s incredibly tough juggling a full time job running a casting studio as well as trying to finish my film. But I have been putting every spare second I have into YHAD. It’s now been just over 18 months of Post Production since the shoot! That’s roughly the same amount of time I spent writing and re-drafting the script. Hopefully though the painstakingly slow process has guided the film to be in it’s strongest possible position. These are daunting times for me as a film maker, I have absolutely no idea whether YHAD will do well or not. I know that I am really proud of it, I have seen it about a thousand times and still enjoyed watching YHAD the other day, so hopefully that’s a good sign :)

Where we at?

Right now, the picture has been locked down which mean NO more edit changes. Over the past few weeks I have been tidying and cleaning the sound, adding sound effects etc.Once again this is where indie film making on a low/no budget is difficult because it’s all about taking time to learn new skills and finding the time to actually go through it all. I am over a 1/3 of the way through and really happy how the film is shaping up. I get so frustrated how long everything takes but at least I have full creative control on this project.

The Music Man?

In the mean time our brilliant music composer (Blue Daisy) is busy creating an original score for YHAD, I heard a sample of what hes has done so far a few weeks back and am extremely excited to see how it all lays up against the final film. If you haven’t already checked out his work you can do so via the links below. It’s hard to reference what he has done for the film, but the final scenes at the end of the film will blow people away!

http://twitter.com/bluedaisytwit

http://open.spotify.com/artist/14gzNjY6efkIqRY4hAca6a

YHAD future?

Once we get the music laid down and mixed into the film, we are set to push with all the online publicity and also contacting as many people as possible to help get the film sold and ‘Out There’. Hopefully we can organize several screening for people to come and check out what the hell the past 4 and a bit years have all been about.

Once we get that final master copy to duplicate and send out, we will press on with getting a poster ready, teaser clips, promotional material etc etc. 

Hopefully if people enjoy/like the film, we may just get lucky and get help onboard to push ‘Young, High and Dead’ far and beyond. That’s every film makers dream.

Luke

(Source: younghighanddead.com)

Young, High and Dead - pre XMAS blog

Holy Moley,

I cannot believe it’s the end of year 2011. The past 12 months have flown by, not sure whether this is down to getting older or because I have had my head deeply buried in YHAD all year. And what a year it has been, we haven’t witnessed any fruits of our labour or had anytime to kick back and relax, it’s been non stop on the film making treadmill.

We have had a couple of final viewings between my Co DIrectors, Producer and myself, making sure we have got the film right. We think so, so now we are just waiting on the  music and fingers crossed (mainly for my sanity) that will be it. Big fat screening and then we release YHAD out into the wild and watch where it feeds and what treasures it will bring back. Exciting stuff.

This year has been an epic learning curve for me, something that I hope helps me grow as a filmmaker, I will do a much more detailed blog about all the good and bad things I have learnt throughout 2011. I have been making YHAD for over 3 years now and it looks like its going to certainly overlap into 2012. But I reckon it will definitely be a film that people will love. It’s been a constant uphill struggle with many more obstacles than most people face but the peak is in sight and the last ascent will be crucial for the success of YHAD.

My team and I are getting a big strategy together which will hopefully ensure this film doesn’t go un-noticed, affording it all the exposure and credit that it deserves. I know things have seemed really quite of late but rest assured we have been busy collecting & stashing away our winter film nuts.

I though I would ration you all one of my acorns, a sneaky peek at the latest concept art for a poster that I have been playing about with, it’s purely experimental so expect changes and certainly get set for lot’s of updates to follow over the coming months.

Latest YHAD Poster December 2011

Let me know your thoughts, peace

Luke B

www.younghighanddead.com

YHAD shoot Marks it’s 1 year Anniversary - DAY 9

Day 9 - Tuesday 28th September 2010

We are up early despite another late night of minimal sleep. I feel awful this morning, cold sweats throughout the night and coughing. I ache all over and the last thing I want to do is get out of bed. Today are due to do a days shooting at our pub location, I am glad we don’t have to go to the forest today and that most of the day we will be warm and dry, this is just enough motivation to get me out of bed.

Once again the good ol van gets loaded again. The pub location is about a 30 minute drive from where we are, but is worth the journey. When scouting for this location, I must have seen about 50 pubs, none of them right for the film.  This was a really important location to get right and the second I saw it, I knew it had to be in the film.
I’m in the rickety red car with Portia, we make a quick stop to get sweetener, I need to replenish the fake drug bags. We arrive at the pub and are lucky enough to have a huge function room as our base, which is separate from the pub. The actors arrive soon after and so does Edward Law who is playing our pub landlord character. It’s not long before the cameras are rolling. Unfortunately we can’t use Edward at the moment as the pub is quite busy so we just get the shots from his POV. I have good feeling about today, we have about 12 pages to get through and a lot of dialogue but I’m feeling positive about the scenes and what we have to shoot. We have Thabo & Daniel on camera, Jonathan on sound and Portia as 1st AD. Whenever Portia is 1st AD’s we seem to get well over 10 pages, she has become our page count mascot and lucky charm in this role.

Andy the owner of “The Fountain Inn’ is really accommodating so we quickly get the first scene of the day done with Nigel. The pub has quite a few locals there so we explain what we are doing and that if any of them wish to be in the film they need to sign a release form. Its pure fluke they all agree and not one of them looks out of place, well why would they? They are locals after all.

Thabo and Dan get to work, getting lot’s of nice shots of Nigel. It’s supposed to be a slightly comical scene, it was the first scene I wrote for Nigel’s character ‘Gary’ and knew if done a certain way it would work. Nigel reliable as always makes the comedy go far, he totally utilises his surroundings and hits each moment with perfect timing.

We then head outside to get some external shots of the pub and Nigel arriving at the pub in Sam’s car. On the way down Sam’s car got a puncture, I only found this out after we shot the scene of NIgel pulling up in his car. It’s things like this that make you realise Sam has been the one dealing with all the stressful cock ups that had happened each day so we don’t have to worry about them. I would bet that there are many more that I am still not aware of.

We have a big scene to shoot before lunch which involves Nigels character revealing something for the rest of the group that he has in his car boot. It makes sense to shoot this quickly now and that should cover all the outside shots, the weather looks a bit moody so if stays dry for this scene then it doesn’t matter after that because everything else is to be shot inside. We are on quite  a busy country road so sound is tricky to get right. It’s a lengthy dialogue scene but all the cast get the scene down quite quickly, we get a few hand held shots and we are done. David & Gemma have already taken everyone’s lunch orders, today as we are having a lunch at the pub, I for one am extremely excited and looking forward to this, I opt for the easy but biggest thing I have been craving all week a simple cheese burger and chips and with a super malt  and it goes down so well.

After lunch we jump straight into getting our next big scene which is where Hannah, Matthew, Philip & Louisa meet Nigel at the pub. We get all of Edwards shots done straight away, it’s a really simple job for such a great actor like Edward and I feel bad that he’s travelled far for a short time on set, but I have no regrets with his performance, he brings a lot to the role without over doing it. I know these scenes are going to cut really well in the edit.

With two camera units we seem to be flying though these shots. I still feel like a calm Director and despite being up against a fast schedule everyone appears to be handling everything easily. The rest of the afternoon is spent getting more group dialogue, I play about with some of the dialogue and we also include some improvisation. With everyone nodding that the picture and sound is good once again we move on. I think having done so much filming in the forest and outside all internal shots feel like a luxury. None of today feels like hard work.

The final scene in the pub is a tricky one, it’s where Louisa is in the bathroom upset after Philip’s character makes fun of her. It’s cramped being in the ladies bathroom, so there is only room for Jonathan, Daniel, Louisa, Hannah & Me. This is one of them moments where I know we won’t get loads of takes, I want the Louisa in the scene to be really upset, all actors deal with crying scenes in different ways and today we have been having so much fun I know Louisa isn’t anywhere near upset. We try a few times but Louisa and I know it’s not where it needs to be. She want to go and get tear sticks to help her cry but I don’t allow it, for me personally just because someones eyes are watering that’s not enough to register what’s really happening. I take Louisa to one side privately and shortley after we turn over. This will be one take only on this and as I call action in a few seconds it all comes wrenching out of her. Hannah & Louisa get through the scene and I think we got it. Daniel nods happy with the visuals, Jonathan edges slight concern about the sound in such a confined space. I quickly decide that there isn’t much we can do about that and that hopefully the performance will be what counts with this scene.

I go see Louisa and she’s still really upset. The thing with actors who really connect and commit is that if they actually go through these emotions for real, it’s not easy to just suddenly switch off. This is testament to how great Louisa is as an actress and that with the right sort of guidance she can go anywhere in a scene. I take her to one side and I unravel my notes from her head. It’s important as a Director to help get actors both in and out of a state, in a few moments we are both laughing and joking, she’s still a bit shaken but I know she’s proud of what she did, we didn’t result to any trick or tear sticks, when you see that scene she is genuinly upset and it reads just so.

After a long but fun day, we all treat ourselves to a couple of drinks in the pub (we couldn’t go all that way and not have  abeer!). We take lot’s of pictures and relax for a while. It’s so nice to all sit around chatting with no shots lingering around the corner.

We head back and are at the accommodation before it even gets dark.I think the few drinks we had got most peoples taste buds going, I know I had quite a few beers that evening. We data wrangle all the days footage and have a snack. It’s quite late before we get to bed and tomorrows schedule is really busy again. By this point of the shoot my voice is on tipping point one minute it’s fin and the next it feels like it’s going. I am feeling extremely tired too and know that having an off day could put the film in jeopardy. On top of a few beers I dose up on cough medicine and slap on some Vics I don’t want another sleepless night. My suitcase is now unpacked because I seem to have run out of clothes. I’m not sure if this counts? I guess I need to do some washing tomorrow.

Luke

www.younghighanddead.com

YHAD shoot Marks it’s 1 year Anniversary - DAY 8

Day 8 - Monday 27th September 2010

A full week now and non stop work for my crew and me. We have managed to give the actors days off, but unfortunately there is no stopping for us. Daniel is back today, which is great news. Hopefully he will be impressed with the change we have all made to how we work. The past two days have been really solid on the page count. This morning we are having a bit of a lie in. We are doing another evening/night shoot with all the main cast, we also have managed to schedule it so David gets a much needed day of rest. Hopefully he can shift that cold. I even have time to cut my hair, It’s a rushed job and Iv’e gone a bit short on the clippers, I look like a pineapple, oh well.

Dan is picked up from the station and he’s loaded with more bun, the prospect of ‘Bun and cheese’ for lunch puts an instant smile on my face. Daniel catches up on all the latest news etc, I think he’s looking forward to the film taking his mind off of things, I know he’s had a difficult weekend. We spend the morning cleaning the tents and ground sheets etc everything by now has got quite muddy after a week.

The morning goes quite quickly so we load the van and once again and head to the forest, we won’t be back until quite late tonight. We have 14 scenes to do today, and it we’ll be rolling two units for about 12 hours straight. We stock up on red bull and supermalt. Philip Barantini is on rations with the malt as he keeps caning it. Luckily we bought tons of the stuff.

We set up camp near the forest entrance and begin rolling camera, Thabo is Directing, with Dan on sound, Jonathan is 1st ad and Portia is on second unit. The first few scenes are really easy we quickly shoot all the inside tent shots, It gets a bit cramped having me and Thabo in the tent with the girls (lucky us eh?) But it doesn’t take long and we quickly get the shots.

We then head off into the forest to get all of Hannah & Louisa’s running shots, more running through a forest. Poor Louisa has to run with a metal tool box. Why on earth did I pick a forest as a main location? didn’t really think that one through very well. Hannah & louisa do a grand job we get some really creepy footage and it works just how I had imagined it would be when I wrote the script. The afternoon is long, but we are crashing through the page count, it’s not long before we have most of the scenes done, My mum and my aunt arrive with more soup and fresh bread, again a real treat, it’s dry today but the chill factor is there and it’s a bit windy. The soup goes down a storm, I think my aunt and my mum are starting to worry about my health, I need to conserve my voice as it’s beginning to go. It would be a disaster if I can’t talk to my actors, so I keep my chat to a minimum. It must be bliss for everyone else at least.

One of the last shots to get during the day is one of my favourites in the whole film, we dig a large hole in the ground and sink the camera into the floor, covering it with perspex, Louisa stands over us and we load the blood cannons. Every stamp she makes to the camera, a hose full of fake blood explodes all over her. The light is fading but thankfully we all nail this in one take. Louisa looks a blood mess, great fun.

Getting ready to fire blood at Louisa

Louisa Lytton as Jenny - about to get violent

The day seems to fly by and we’re done before it gets dark, so we set up early for the night scenes. We have a lot to do but if we can get it all it done, we won’t need to do anymore late nights, plus we will really knock off a lot of pages.

Luke Talking to the cast - Socks worn like this became standard attire in the forest

I don’t want to rehearse these scenes too much as I have lot’s of impro notes and idea’s already lined up in my head. Once again we bring out the alcohol too and it’s not long before everyone is in full party mode. We light the fire, that Gemma & David had set up again, it’s so warm, there is no chance anyone will get cold. I want specific hand held shots so I grab the other camera and Thabo and I set to work. We have a really great system and everyone is on point, we are turning over so quickly, the first few scenes are really funny to watch, the footage looks great and most importantly we are all having so much fun. I hope the film continues like this to the end.

Gemma Chitty (Production Assistant)

Natalie Guest & Bogi (Make Up & SFX)

I play a few underhand games with the cast, to tweak the performances to how i want them. It wasn’t in the script but I wanted Matthews character in one of the campfire scenes to feel a bit left out. Matthew is such a happy go lucky guy and gets on with everyone, he was having such a great time and being the life and soul of the party. I tell him I need to get a few shots from his POV, so I move him out the scene completely, we run a few takes, I already have the footage I want for this scene, but we do it a few times anyway and I deliberately make Louisa, NIgel, Hannah & Philip go over the top, Matt I can tell is itching to get involved. I tell him on the next take that I don’t need his dialogue. I can tell he is a bit nervous like he’s done something wrong, not once have I sat in the same position with camera and kept doing this amount of takes. We go again, and again. The final take I tell Matt to hop back in but that he won’t be in shot. WIth the right combination of alcohol and the feeling that he’s not wanted, he instantly goes into his own world, something I have rarely seen him do. My main focus on this take is him, but he doesn’t know that. It’s cruel but the scene works perfectly and by this point the others had come down to the right level having done three over the top takes. I could have just given the Direction to Matthew but I like to do things different.

Matthew Stathers, Philip Barantini & Nigel Boyle

We finish with Louisa and plough through the other scenes. Everyone gets on so well as a group it reads so well on camera, it’s just like watching my mates as they roll through the dialogue I have written, Even though it’s getting late I could do this all night. We are shooting a lot of stuff, but our wood supply begins to run out. We don’t really have time to mess about chopping up wood etc as this will cost us valuable time. WIthin five minutes Richard from from opposite the forest arrives witha  wheelbarrow full of wood thats been soaked in paraffin. He joins in with a beer and watches us work.

Sam Alani (Producer) Richard & David C (Productions Assistant)

We are soon onto the last scene, my voice is getting worse especially with the smoke blowing in my way. I know we are pushed for time as we still have to go back and capture all the days footage. Sam is sat in the forest already doing the schedule on his laptop. It’s almost perfect timing as we get the last take the beer runs out. NIgel, Matthew, Philip look quite pissed by this point. Even Hannah & Louisa are giggling away merrily. It feels like De Ja Vu as we pack the Van in the dark, it’s nearly midnight and a quick page count indicates a very successful day. We got all 14 scenes done. With the whole crew now all back together and another great days shooting the possibility of us actually finishing this film is getting really close now. The day when we got rained off seems like a long time ago now. It even feels like we are on a different shoot.

Midnight supper - from left, Nigel Boyle, Matthew Stathers, Philip Barantini & Luke Brady

Data Wrangling from left - Sam Alani, Portia Barnett Herrin & Thabo Mhlatshwa. Notice how Thabo is donning the Big Lebowski jacket.

We are up quite late data wrangling but it’s an important task that has to be done. I go to bed not feeling to clever, I think I inhaled too much smoke from the fire. I give Daniel a low down on ow the past two days have gone and he agrees that the difference in everyone today was fantastic. I have a sleepless night, I wake up several times hot and then in cold sweats, I feel in a daze. I can’t even begin to think about being ill tomorrow. This is not good. The suitcase looks like it’s grinning at me with it’s open zip, payback time I can hear it say!

Luke

www.younghighanddead.com

YHAD shoot Marks it’s 1 year Anniversary - DAY 7

Day 7 - Sunday 26th September 2010

I rise from bed and the sun is beaming through the window, Im really tired today, it was another late night trying to figure out the schedule, but without any of the big arguments. With Daniel still back in London we are a man down again, but today should be highly productive. Thabos is 1st AD today with Portia on Sound and Jon Directing, plus I will be shooting the second unit if needed.

We load the van again and make an early start. Today we have two locations to get done, we need to get all the final shots of Lara’s scenes as this is her last day on the shoot. The schedule is largely based around her stuff so we have to get all her shots done today. First we head to the new location that I found the day before. Sam clears the location, thankfully the road is private land so we have free reign over the entire location, how lucky is that?!

Today we have lots and lots of small scenes at various points of the script, lots of running about scenes and a few action sequences. In some shots Louisa has to run about with a giant hunting knife. I have two large knives and both are real, sharp and extremely dangerous. My first task is to blunt and make them safe. I whip out the angle grinder and grind the edge of the blades flat, sparks fly everywhere and I can sense my cast all watching thinking this fucking guy has lost the plot, if he’s not chopping down trees or waving axes about he’s cutting or grinding metal. This is not normal behaviour for any film Director I’m sure, but then again this isn’t a normal shoot either.

I actually love this, it gives me something to focus on that I enjoy doing, I love making things and love DIY so grinding metal is a good way for me to clear my mind before directing. I round the tip of the blade and attempt to stab myself with the large knife, great no blood or holes in my belly, I run the blade firmly along my arm, brilliant no blood I call Louisa over who gingerly approaches. I show her the blade, she’s clearly not as excited about the knife as I am but she tests it out and is happy it’s safe to use as a prop.

Gemma found the chain yesterday, which I immediately spray with several different shades of silver to give it a galvanised look. It looks really great. As soon as it’s dry, we get Louisa chained up, It’s a big weight off her mind to be using a fake chain, as it would have been impossible to run with a real chain.

This morning is not a huge page count so we whizz through the shots, Lara and Louisa make a great team, and Lara again could not be anymore perfect. I get some amazing cutaway shots of her screaming into the camera (you may recognise this pic).

It really feels like we have a slick operation happening, we’ve split both camera’s up so we can get through the shots much quicker. It’s hard not being their to over see everything but I trust my crew. We get an amazing shot of David running towards the car in the rear view mirror, it’s one take and it’s timed perfectly, David is so fast at running which adds to the fear factor in the shots. David is making my main killer really creepy it looks effortless. Today Davids not feeling too well he has a touch of flu, but is so dedicated he presses on, I think he’s more unwell than he’s letting on.

In about 3 hours ish we’re done so we quickly pack up and head back to the forest.My aunt and uncle live in the village around the corner and have turned up to the forest with home made leek and potatoe soup, with loads of crusty bread. All the veg is from the allotment, it’s gotten quite cold today so this is a real treat for us. She’s even thrown in a load of home made rock cakes! She looks a bit concerned for me as by this point in the day my voice is croaking really bad, Iv’e lost a lot of weight too and look really gaunt. Iv’e not eaten a huge amount I guess I’m just burning off way more calories than I’m taking in. My other cousin Carly, her husband Tim and their son Finlay pop by the forest to say hello, another nice surprise. I’m glad they have turned up on a relatively sane day unlike earlier in the week.

Lara and her mum have driving really far about a two hour journey so I don’t want to keep them here late. I aim to get Lara’s stuff done by 4pm. We have a quick bit to eat, and quicklys et up for shots of Lara running about a bit. She looks so great running about we make the shots as fun for her as possible by turning everything we do into a game. She gets a little tired so we give her a break. Thabo Jon & Portia get some shots of David and Louisa running.

In the next main scene we need to hold one of the large hunting knives to Lara’s throat, I show the blunted knife to Lara’s mum and she seems fine with it. Before letting Lara see it I talk to her about film making and how they make weapons look real in films but in actual fact they are perfectly safe. I show her the knife and get her to poke me with it to show it doesn’t hurt and cannot do any harm. Any strangers watching would be calling the police no doubt. This poor kid is going having to do some bizarre things. Lara seems a little tired and isn’t sur eshe want’s to do the scene. I tell her that’s it’s totally fine and she doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to. I tell her she’s the boss and is in charge of us so, I don’t put any pressure on her, I just sit there and play a few games with her and her mum. It’s not long before she gets bored of me talking and decides she wants to do more filming. She’s the boss so I don’t argue. We quickly get the camera’s ready, tehse are her final shots and the window for this could be short. She has no problem with the knife, David is great with her and we get some really great shots.

Lara is done for the day and it’s sad she’s leaving, she tells me she’s had lot’s of fun and that she wishes she could do more. We get a few pictures taken with her and all say our farewells. She’s a genuine talent for such a young kid. I don’t know how many kids would let me tape up their mouth tie them up in a sack, get chased my a big man weilding an axe, and get a knife held to their throat. Never work with children? Whatever!

We retreat back to the caravan as it begins to drizzle. Louisa is done for the day but I have one more important scene to get involving David, Hannah & Philip. Everyone is tired and poor Philip has been waiting all afternoon for this scene, David’s cold is getting worse. He doesn’t look well and I’m worried about him now. The rain is on and off. I give them all the option individually to see if they want to do this, we have just about enough light to get it done as the sun will go down in about an hour. They are all up for it, It’s gonna be hard going as this is a major running scene. I have a route worked out it’s  afull sprint handheld long take, with David chasing Hannah & Philip and me. I’m gonna grab the camera as i know exactly what I want to get, we only carry the bare essentials and all head off into the forest. WIth the camera set, on our marks go…..

We are running full pelt, David is so fast we really have to run to get away, this is actually quite scary stuff, Philip nearly slips but manages to stay up somehow, we head fast and deeper into the forest and jump into 4 foot high bracken, It’s dark in this point of the forest and David’s torch pans near us, the footage looks great, Philip and Hannah and me hide. as David follows behind as Philip, Hannah and me creep further into the forest, with the camera still rolling we get the scene done. We don’t have a walkie talkie and have been running for a long time we can’y see anyone but can hear everyone in the distance, I think they are just the other side of this dense part of the forest. It’s really tricky to manouvre through all this and we get kind of stuck, we are surrounded by thick brambles, Hannah only has leggings on and will get scratched to hell, I don’t want to go back the way we came, In all honesty I’m a bit lost all the running and filming has me disorientated. I hand Philip the camera and Hannah hops on my back, this part of the forest is really dense but finally we make out way out and back onto a path everyone else is there, phew. Hannah’s wieghs next to nothing but I’m absolutely knackered, running & carrying another person, this is like training for the army.

The sun as all but gone time for a quick cigarette and a check of the footage. The scene looks great but hold on a minute, wheres the sound? I glance at the camera and notice a switch on the side, it’s off. Fuck, after a brief panic, I decide we can get away with it as this will all be lined up to music anyhow, if I need any dialogue I can ADR it at a later date. There is no-way I could do all that again.Thank goodness it was me who messed, I’m not likely to shout at myself. I realise at this point that the past two day’s have been so different since Dan’s wise words. He’s back tomorrow and I can’t wait to show him what a slick happy crew we have become.

Back to the accomodation and Nigel and Matthew have had the day off so we have a few beers and catch up. David gets an early night, I hope he feels better tomorrow. Then it’s back to that bloody schedule, It’s getting easier though now that we have got well over half the film shot.

I fall asleep as soon as my head hit’s the pillow, The suitcase is well and truly forgotten today.

Luke

www.younghighanddead.com

YHAD shoot Marks it’s 1 year Anniversary - DAY 6

Day 6 - Saturday 25th September 2010

Today’s a new day in every sense of the word. After hearing about Daniels bad news and some deep thinking on his wise words of wisdom, I am determined to change the way this film is going, I’m really happy with the footage we are getting and from a technical point of view (apart form the super tight schedule) things are working better than I had hoped but everyone is suffering both mentally and physically. With Dan heading back to London I need to make sure the next two days without him go without argument and are stress free, upon his return he needs to come back to a happy crew and a productive work place. As a reward he has has promised to bring back more ‘Bun’ from Peckham. Dan also shoots some incriminating footage showing the state of our accommodation, even though it’s a mess, it’s not as bad as the girls place, their cabin looks like an explosion in a charity shop. Theres stuff everywhere.

click on picture above to watch the video!

‘A little info about the power of bun n cheese’

Only Dan, Portia,Thabo and me had been lucky enough to already have ‘Bun n Cheese’ in our lives. None of the cast or the rest of the crew had heard about it. It’s essentially a fruit based bread with slices of cheese, but it’s like having a savoury party in your mouth it tastes soooo good! Louisa & Nigel couldn’t really get their head around it until they tried it. Originally the ‘Bun’ Dan bought for the shoot was for the crew to have at lunch and by day 4 we had completely run out, once everyone cottoned on how nice it was, a normal sandwich no longer had any appeal compared to our exotic snack. Needless to say everyone was now munching their way through our precious ‘Bun’. We are 30 odd miles from London and any Caribbean bakery so once it ran out that was it. It was pretty much the only thing that kept me going throughout the day, carbs, sugar and protein all rolled into one. So the prospect of Daniel bringing back more loaves of ‘Bun’ was enough of a deal breaker for me to stay focused on what he’d said the night before.

Back to the shoot

So once Daniel packed a bag we said our farewells and sent our thoughts and best wishes with him as he headed back to London. His next few days were not going to be easy at all and it made me realise that this was just a film, yes it’s important but it’s not life and death and not worth people getting ill and falling out over.

I load the van and begin to really check myself before I speak, trying to make sure that I say things with a cool head, I hold back when things are not done exactly how I would do them, I can’t be such a control freak anymore. I need to work as a team and support my crew like I support my cast.

I figured a way to solve the chain issue with Louisa running about so I send Gemma off with the insane task of looking for a needle in a haystack in other words a plastic chain in my garage. Anyone who knows my garage knows it’s ram packed full of strange things that I have collected over the years, many years ago Jonathan and i went to a closing down sale at an old costume/fancy dress shop, we bought loads of random costumes and some strande props one of them was a large plastic ball on a plastic chain. It’s been so long but I think I remember it being a similar length and thickness to the chains that we have, It’s black so will need to spray paint it to look like metal. It’s somewhere in my garage, hopefully Gemma will find it.

Yesterday I spotted a road on the way back from the forest that has potential for our lost location. I will be stopping by today to check it out.

We have Lara Wollington with us this weekend who is playing our young missing girl, there are some tricky things to shoot but I’m confident that she will be ok, Portia and I head off to Brockham to meet her and her mum and shoot the first scene of the film. In this scene David’s character grooms a young girl in a playground, as I write this I realise how disturbing and wrong this actually sounds.

Portia is Directing today and it’s just me and her doing this scene so I’m rolling sound and clapping, Lara does a fantastic job and as always David nails his scene. We get some great footage and lot’s of excellent cutaways, this location looks amazing, it’s where I used to play whenever I came down to visit my cousins so there’s lots of nostalgia for me here, the place hasn’t changed a bit in 20 years. Both Portia and I are really tired we have been working non stop for 5 days, It doesn’t feel like a Saturday just another day with tons to do. Our first location goes well so we head back to the forest in time for lunch. 

I decide to go and check out that potential Lay-By for the location we lost. I make a quick stop for some cigarettes, petrol and a red bull and drive to where this road was, I hope I can find it. I vaguely remember seeing a sign that had farm written on it I think. As I come to a familiar bend I slow down and the turning winds into view. I slow down more and turn left onto a small winding country lane. The location I am looking for is very specific, the original one had a country road with forest/woodlands either side and a large area/lay-by for three cars by an entrance to a different forest, it also had another lay-by further down the road about fifty yards away, it had to be a road that we could do a few action sequences in too so needed to be either private or quiet so we could stop/divert traffic whilst we filmed. I pass a few old country cottages opposite a huge corn field and turn a sharp bend, I stop the car. Like a perfect painting I dreamily step out of the car and before my eyes is the perfect location a long straight thing country lane with woodland either side of it, to my left is even a huge lay-by area, I jump back in the car and slowly drive up the road.

My perfect location

Nothing feels real, this is like de ja vu from my script and it’s kind of creepy. Have I been here before? If there is another layby up ahead with an entrance to this forest then this will be better than perfect. The hairs go up on the back of my neck as a lay-by approaches and I slowly glance to my right to a signpost and an opening to this dense forest that closely resembles where we have been filming in Brockham about 12 miles away. I step out the car and take pictures on my iphone and I geo tag the photos so we have an exact location, I am convinced that this could be a dream and that without physical proof this place might not actually exist. The others will think I have lost the plot again.

Theres even fairytale style red and white mushrooms. This is fucking weird and with no-one about It’s like being in my own script that has come to life. I want to scream, shout, dance and cheer but even though there is no-one about I worry this might somehow jinx this perfect location, I smile to myself and quickly get back into the car I can’t wait to show Sam and the others what I have found.

I arrive at Richard & Dianes caravan with a huge grin on my face, everyone else seems to be in an upbeat mood. I show everyone what I found and everyone agrees, we need to get this location. Sam gets on the case right away.

Today will be doing some night shooting with Phillip, Nigel & Matthew but beforehand we need to get some shots of Lara and Louisa, I can’t go into too much detail as I will spoil some significant plot lines, but we have to put Lara in a sack she’s only about six years old so I don’t quite now how this is going to go. They say never work with children and animals.

Lara couldn’t be any happier tied up in a sack, so we get the shots that we need really quickly and without fuss. The casting process for Lara’s role was quite extensive today confirms my decision to go with Lara was right she’s fantastic and really listens to me and does everything we ask. Amazing. Tomorrow we need to hold a large knife to her throat but I’m sure she will be fine.

Portia is off getting some shots with Philip Barantini whilst we finish off filming with Lara & Louisa. I’m really happy with everything we are getting and the atmosphere amongst crew is very calm and relaxed. Daniel was right as always, this is exactly how it needs to be. I hope it stays the same until Monday when he gets back.

With Lara done for the day her and her mother Patricia head home, well see them again tomorrow Lara will ahve a lot more to do then so it’s good they are getting away at an early time.

It’s about 4 in the afternoon so we begin to set up for our evening’s shoot. We plan to shoot all the scenes with the three guys, it’s a big page count but if we can get it all done the film becomes a very real possibility. In these scenes the guys are stoned and drunk. Only Matthew smokes in real life so Portia kindly rolls lot’s of herbal spliffs for Matthew and Nigel, it’s not difficult to notice who’s been practising their rolling techniques, couple of mine come out ok but it’s been quite a few years since my wacky backy days.

The guys have been rehearsing their scenes all day so I spend a bit of time just running through the scenes and adjusting things. The sun begins to descend and the forest transforms to an eery creepy place. Gemma & David our production assistants have spent hours getting the campfire to look right and they have collected a ton of wood to burn. I’m not fucking about with cgi fire, were doing it for real, we have a fire extinguisher near by and 4 buckets of water too. I’m a master of burning stuff so I know we will be safe, we have cheated to entire location as it would be dangerous to light a fire in the forest, it’s pitch black so none of actual camp ie tents etc will be in shot so the whole thing is being shot on a huge open pathway area on solid ground.

I’m not a huge fan of method acting but I understand it’s benefits the 3 guys get cracking on with the hard job of drinking. Gemma heads off to get a bottle of Jack Daniels, the fire gets lit and we start rolling. As each of the guys gets quickly pissed the scene comes alive, I encourage improvisation and throw loads of new lines their way. Despite the amount of pages we have to get done, the whole evening is a blast, it doesn’t feel like hard work, everyone is laughing with the guys as they nail brilliant takes, the comedy comes off the pages really well. It’s really nice having a real fire, it’s keeping us toasty warm and everyone gets on great. I’m gutted Daniels not here to see all this, this is his doing and he’s missing such a great laugh. We roll the camera’s well into the night virtually non stop and i’m so pleased with the footage we are getting.

The only downside to actors drinking for real on set is they are beginning to get a bit carried away. The order that we are shooting scenes has been done in a certain way. Perfect timing to whip out Matthew Stathers and change the dynamic. Matthew is like a non stop jack in the box, I love him dearly and he’s an amazing actor, but the boy has way too much energy he’s like a duracell bunny on cocaine, I can tell he’s itching to be involved in the next two scenes but he’s  done with his character for today, he grabs a seat and watches Nigel & Philip for the final scenes.

Alcohol is working perfectly, i won’t spoil the scene but Philip & Nigel are about to kick off and both have had ample amount of drinks to make this quite a harrowing scene. They are both so in the zone that for a moment I forget they are acting, They look like they are gonna kill each other and the hatred is really scary, we cut and they instantly burst into laughter. They know they just smashed that scene the cocky bastards and they know they’re good. I feel so confident with how the performances are shaping in my film I know people won’t be able to pick faults with the acting.

We wind up with the last few shots, and as it approaches midnight we quickly pack up and put out the fire.

Super tired my today could not have gone any better. This is starting to become one of the best experiences I have ever had in my entire life.

We quickly go through tomorrows schedule and wolf down some food, definitely deserve a few beers too.

Once again my suitcase gives me a dirty look, I smile to myself with the knowledge that it’s the least significant object in the world.

Luke

www.younghighanddead.com

YHAD shoot Marks it’s 1 year Anniversary - DAY 4 

To mark a year since our shoot each day we will release a new blog documenting each day of the shoot from Luke’s (Writer/Director) POV.

Day 4 - Thursday 23rd September 2010

As I rise early again at 6:00am with just 3 nights of about 3 hours sleep, each night is now beginning to catch up with me. I don’t have as much energy today but after getting so much done yesterday I’m positive today should be alright. The only thing slightly concerning thing discussed last night was that the weather report for today was supposed to be quite bad with potential downpour all day. But when have the weather people ever got it right?

In a zombie like trance I head for the kettle and glance outside, fog and mist blankets everywhere I look through the cabin’s windows, It looks like it’s been raining quite heavily too. As groans and yawns bounce around the cabin the rest of the waking dead rise to join me, perhaps we shouldn’t have had so many beers to celebrate last night, I mean it wasn’t like we’d split the atom or even finished the damn film yet.

We go about our normal daily routine of loading the van and getting ourselves washed and ready, as I step outside I notice how the sky is really dark and looks like it threatens to downpour any second, I think to myself that anything we get done today will be a miracle, I truly hope that this clears up and that it at least stays dry for us to get something down on camera. We don’t need brilliant sunshine we just need for it to be dry.

Today we plan to shoot a whole bunch of scenes where the main characters wake up after their night of drink and drugs, a slightly ironic parody I fear, judging by the various shades of bleary red eyes sauntering around the cabins. As an additional parallel to our day this scene is a main turning point in the film as well as us as film makers, we need to balance out this page count today, we need to get a minimum of 9 pages down. It’s also the first time all the main cast are together as a whole group and this particular section of the script will most certainly put them all through their acting paces, this will be a difficult days shoot no matter what happens weather wise.

The actors get into make up at the accommodation as the crew and I head off to the forest. We are on the road for only a short period of time when the rain begins to fall, in a matter of minutes it gets harder and harder, the windscreen wipers are now going full speed. This is not good, this is a bloody disaster.

En route we discuss that even if it does stop raining, the ground is going to be drenched and might look odd on camera and that it won’t match up with the footage we had shot previously, I am hoping that if it stops now we might still be able to get some footage shot. The plan for Co Directing today is both Daniel & Jonathan, with Thabo on Sound and poor Portia has been asked to 1st AD again after doing such a great job yesterday.

We arrive at the forest and lucky for us we have another set of hands to help us out, Chloe a daughter of someone my girlfriend works with has come down for two days to get experience on a film set, I am not quite sure what she is expecting but I know she will be shocked by the amount of stuff she’s going to have to do carry and move about. We quickly unload everything and begin to make the various journeys back and forth to the second camp area further into the forest where we shot the second day’s clips. Even during the day it’s quite dark in the forest, an omen of the bleak mood about to descend on our film. The rain doesn’t let up and begins to thrash down, even in this dense forest we are getting soaked so we quickly get our giant gazeebo up ready to try and keep things dry. By now the actors have arrived and are waiting back at Richard & Dianes caravan, they all agree that they are happy to hold off until the rain stops. Due to the muddy boggy ground sliding beneath our feet, shifting stuff about and setting up is a very slow process, we don’t want anyone to fall over or hurt themself and with no sign of the rain easing off decisions need to be made about what to do.

As I stand at the camp and look about my heart sinks, this is a disaster. It’s absolutely pissing down and the weather had rain forecast all day for tomorrow. The one time the bastards get the weather report right, and the first full day that we plan to shoot in the outside in the forest. Everyone is in a bad mood now mainly because they are drenched through and having sore heads from the night before only adds to the storm that’s brewing amongst the crew. I feel physically tired and my mind is not focused. Tempers begin to flare and everyone begins to get on each others nerves. It’s a long way to be carrying stuff from the van let alone during a mini monsoon. Time for a rethink and regroup.

Sam, Dan Portia, Thabo, Jonathan and I stop to discuss the day. Firstly we all agree that there is no way we are going to get any filming done and decide it’s best to send the actors back to the accommodation. Shooting in a forest is difficult and dangerous enough so we cannot afford to risk any cast or crew getting hurt or ill, the same goes for our equipment, if one person or piece of equipment fails we are double screwed. Everything and everyone is fully insured but thats not an option we want to go down with such a low budget shoot, plus no insurance company will pay out if we do anything stupid and take unnecessary risks. It wasn’t an easy decision because everyone knew the knock on effect this would have on the rest of our schedule, after such a great day yesterday today is the exact opposite. I feel defeated and like any loser in a battle pride and confidence has taken a severe kicking, these wounds won’t heal quickly and could scar the film permanently.

After letting the cast go, we regroup to discuss the shoot as a whole, with everyone in a bad mood now included myself it wasn’t long before big arguments started, the main dissagreement being talks of aiming to shoot just 75% of the film. I flip my lid big time, and quite literally go ape shit. Upon reflection it was totally logical to be realistic about the fact that it would be impossible to get the full schedule done at this point. But I wasn’t in anyway whatsoever going to be realistic about amputating a chunk of the film, at this point I dug my Director diva heels into the mud and went fucking mad. In a blind rage I vaguely remember arguing that I didn’t set off to make 3/4 of a film. That if we didn’t get it all done we might as well not bother at all and all go home. Everyone could tell how gutted and angry I was, they all were dissapointed too, they were just being more realistic than I was, seeing my film crumble down in front of me was not something I had prepared for and as the arguments heated to a peak where we couldn’t shout at each other anymore, we naturally hit that exhauseted wall and came back down to earth, nothing had changed it was still raining so a new approach was needed, it was time to cool down and get some individual space.

After my rant and a much needed cigarette I felt much better. I still felt cheated, years worth of work all hanging in the balance because of the flipping weather ( I hate England right now) and I hate all other film makers who have enough money to not let this sort of thing ruin their shoot, I hate this forest and I hate myself for being so stupid to think we could get 90 pages done in ten days. But it’s time to put all that to one side, we need ideas and solutions. Firstly we decided to try and find a different part of the forest that was more sheltered, if we could find somewhere more sheltered we might still be able to shoot tomorrow, Dan and I went off and so did everyone else in pairs on the hunt for a more reliable location.

Dan is the best person to be around when things are shit, I have known him since university so after ten years he knows how to get my mind back on track, his words are like a soothing cup of herbal tea in your ears. We discussed lots of things about the shoot and ideas about how we can continue forwards. We couldn’t find anywhere suitable though for a new location so we headed back to the second camp. It’s now approaching mid afternoon and collectively we decide something that was the make or break of the whole film.

We noticed that behind where we had originally shot the second camp the area was really well sheltered, it shared the same pathway in and out of camp and mirrored what we had already set up. Maybe and just maybe, the audience will never notice if we flip the whole camp 180 degrees. It looked pretty similar and with the props in the right place for continuity we could probably make it work. I the hell have none of us noticed this before! We all feel pretty stupid and a few smiles crack amongst the group. Only one tall problem though. Right where Nigel’s character had previously stacked wood to build a fire in a scene we shot yesterday was a 50ft high tree. This is a major continuity issue with only two options, we either re-shoot some of the setting up camp scene or I we have to find somewhere else to shoot.

We all stood looking at this tree, such a shame as otherwise it would be prefect. We could rig up ground sheets high up into the trees to keep the set dry, so even if it did rain tomorrow we could still shoot stuff, if only that tree wasn’t in the way……….

Tree Felling YHAD STYLE

Click the picture above to view the video.

It took about 2 hours of constant chopping and was extremely dangerous and scary, but after we fell that tree, we felt like we could do anything. One of the best team building exercises on a set ever and just what I needed to let out all my frustration. We all felt like we had worked together to overcome a big obstacle, 50 foot is quite big so we had every right to be happy with ourselves. After the tree came down, we rigged up groundsheets about 20 foot above the set with 4 large ones all linked together with cable ties. This is why it’s worth bringing lots of random stuff to a shoot. My giant axe was needed, my pliers, eyelets, cordless drill, saw, giant ladder. rope. You name it we used it.

Even if it did rain tomorrow our set would be dry and we could still get a whole days filming done at this location. It came to the end of the afternoon and we packed up for the day, tomorrow will be an epic day with tons to do. Rest is definitely needed and my shoulders, back, arms and legs ache like hell from all that chopping. My hands have loads of blisters but it was worth doing.

We head back to the accommodation ready to plan for the next day, even though it wasn’t an entirely wasted day everyones mood was still quite low after all the arguing and stress. With no data wrangling we had dinner a few beers to unwind and headed for bed the earliest nights sleep so far. I feel bad for rowing and bad for Chloe’s on set experience which only taught her how to argue, carry stuff and chop down a tree, she must think we are all absolutely mental. This is just the sort of on set experience that could put someone off film making for life. In a few days time we need to throw about some fake glass, so I fill a load of ice cube trays with translucent sealant, once it sets in a few days it will look like chunks of broken glass (hopefully).

I once again look at my suitcase at the foot of my bed, but haven’t the strength to be lifting it up and unpacking it. It will keep for one more day.

Luke

www.younghighanddead.com

YHAD shoot Marks it’s 1 year Anniversary - Day 3

Continued blog of last years shoot to mark it’s 1 year anniversary

Day 3 Wednesday 22nd September 2010

Despite another late night I wake up feeling charged for today. So far everyone seems to be relatively happy, each day so far the real world seems to move further and further away from me and I become more and more immersed in the film, it’s amazing to see the scenes that I wrote come to life, for split moments I allow myself to enjoy this.

We have a system now where we make our lunch the night before, we fill our giant hot flasks with tea and coffee as today will be the first whole day we spend in the forest, it’s also the first time all the 5 main cast are together. The night before we set ourselves an ambitious schedule, if we can get most of it done we will have caught up on page count. Today we have Thabo Co Directing, Daniel on Sound, Portia as 1st AD and Jonathan helping out anyone who needs it. Sam as always is making various trips to make sure we have enough food, money, and he’s busy setting up the next schedule as well as looking for a new location.

As the cast go into make up at the acommodation we load the van and cars and head back to the forest. Its about a 20 minute drive to the location so we use this time to go through shots and set ups etc. An extra nice surprise today is that a friend of Gemma’s is going to join us to help out as an assistant - David Courtneidge. Once we arrive everyone gets straight to work unloading the van and setting up camp. We also had to go and retrieve everything we chained up the night before, whilst everyone does this Thabo and I head off into the forest to plan out our locations and shot list.

It’s easy to get lost in this forest and one of my favourite things about this location is that it never fails to surprise you. Whilst heading slightly off our normal route we discover a new part of the forest, straight away we agree to shoot one of the scenes here. The plan is for Thabo, Daniel and me to go with the cast and shoot all the scenes where the characters arrive at the forest including some impro footage, hopefully by the time we get back everything will be set up so we can shoot the groups scene where they all set up camp.

Daniel Fenton came up with a great weeks ago on a recce to split the camp locations, basically when the group arrive they set up camp in a part of the forest that looks nice and more open with huge pine trees, he suggested that when the group wake up aftera  night of drink and drugs they awake to find themselves in a darker, damper and colder part of the forest, in the script they awake in the early hours of the morning so it works great. We therefore have to have two different camps, one thats near to the forest entrance a 30 second walk the other where we were the night before. Today we are shooting at the near camp so we won’t have half the trouble shifting and moving boxes etc.

With various people armed with the all important walkie talkies and the cast arriving we quickly go through what we plan to do and Thabo, Dan & I take the cast deep into the forest. Just how it would be in the script they have to carry stuff so it’s quite nice to see our actors lugging stuff too. Thabo doesn’t hold back and shoots super fast, he knows what he wants so we move really quickly through the scenes, Dan on sound with his shades on even makes holding a boom look cool. I too am really happy with my notes and the performances we are getting, Luckily the sun stays consistent and all the shots look amazing. Off camera we are all having as much fun as when the camera is rolling. This is the first time that not only do I see how close my characters are as a group but how well the actors are getting on. This could be such a different atmosphere but this is the moment when I know I have the perfect cast for YHAD.

After locking down the scenes we head back to camp, we decide to do the entire journey back with the camera still rolling and the group all staying in character. Impro is tricky one it can either go really well or really wrong, there is rarely anything inbetween. Hannah, Louisa, Philip, Nigel & Matthew pull it out the bag, they create ideas and dialogue that I could never come up with, stuff thats true to the story and feels real. Heading back we had a blast, completely free from any script or structure. I think everyone enjoyed this a lot.

We get back to camp and stop for a quick lunch, whilst everyone finishes dressing the camp area for our main scene.

We get a few shots of David Partridge’s shot for the top of the scene. It’s a breeze for David and the footage looks great. Easy stuff.

I sit down with the cast and we rehearse the main part of the scene over and over, I make adjustments to smooth out some of the clunky writing, The comedy in the scene is really working with everyone is laughing and joking. It’s a big scene and we have lots to cover but we will be shooting with two camera units for this one and pretty much non stop until we have covered everything. I grab the other camera and we get started. We seem to run like clock work, shooting quickly and I get my notes out fast and concise. As each take goes on the scene gets better and better.

For YHAD in most cases we shoot scenes in their entirety, This ensured that if we did run out of time we would have minimum coverage so the film could be edited. We also shot the whole film hand held which allowed us to set up and change shots in seconds. The afternoon is a great success, Portia does an amazing job as 1st AD, we never see Dan as he shadows in the background rolling sound. Jonathan and the rest of the team whizz about making sure we have everything and that everyone is looked after. Thabo and i have a quick discussion about coverage and we agree this scene is locked down. Kapow, we smashed the shit out of that.

Feeling double pleased with ourselves we have one more scene to shoot and thanks to everyone we are bang on time. We just need to wait for darkness to arrive so we can shoot the scene where Matthew, Nigel & Philip discover something in the bushes.

As the guys rehearse we pack away evrything thats not needed. As soon as weve got these shots we wanna get home asap for a late dinner. As the sun dips the bugs come out, big bugs and flying beetle I never have seen before. We become a beacon for every living creature in the forest with our giant torches, everyone tops up on deet, this needs to be quick before we all get bitten to hell. David has had a lot of waiting around today for only two small scenes so we shoot his stuff first. Like an absolute trooper her is happy to be creeping about the dense forest in the pitch black. The shots look really good so we get a bit more coverage than needed, thankfully David exits the forest intact.

We crack on with the final shots of the three guys. it’s quite late so we decide to run this in one long take, no need to keep clapping. David Courtneidge is in charge of holding a reflector whilst we shine a torch at it to bounce some light onto the three guys. All the bugs go for the light and David keeps it still whilst we roll despite all sorts of horrible things crawling over him and biting him.We have a few false starts due to sound but we get the shots. Its really late but everyones pretty tired so we wrap for the day. It doesn’t take long to load the van and we head back.

Natalie & Bogi her make up assistant have a hot dinner ready for our arrival, what a  great way to finish a hectic day. Tomorrow is going to be busy again and Sams schedule looks great. Hannah’s first episode was on tv with her starring in ‘The Inbetweeners’ Sam got her a bottle of champagne to celebrate, after a brief catch up with my cast I go back to my crew to have some well deserved beers.

With the data wrangling already going, we do a quick page count. We did 5 scenes, about 11 pages, if we can do this every day it might just be possbile to actually get the whole film done. It’s another late night but everyone is in good spirits. Once again I climb into bed with the suitcase looking at me all neglected.

Luke

www.younghighanddead.com

YHAD shoot Marks it’s 1 year Anniversary - DAY 2

Day 2

My alarm buzzes away it feels like I have only slept for about 3 hours. I glance at the time it’s 6:00am and I HAD only slept for 3 hours. I head straight for the shower, and run through the first eventful day/evening.

Upon returning from our triumphant 1st days shoot Sam gave us bad news about a main location falling through. One we were due to shoot today. It knocked our entire schedule out for the entire 10 days. Sam worked so hard drawing up a ‘doable’ and complex schedule now it was gone. It ment that over the next 8 or 9 days we need to find a new location to shoot all our country lane scenes. But it’s way more complicated than just that, we need to shut off a road for some stunts and action scenes. Plus all the cast had their days off scheduled and oh my I need to stop thinking about it.

I click on the ever trusty kettle, no tea this morning it’s coffee all the way, so tired and it’s only the second day! Portia, Sam Dan Thabo and I were up really late working out which scenes we would shoot and all the logistics. It took ages because it’s not as easy as just randomly picking another scene, We didn’t have Nigel Boyle (Gary) or our other main member of the group until the afternoon and neither Su Elliot or David Partridge (Mrs Venner & Charlie Venner) so we had to be careful what we shot in the morning. Lots of the other locations were not available until specific days like the pub scene and the petrol station. So we sat up very late trying to figure it all out, everyone was stressed and annoyed that something like this could potentially stop us from getting the whole film shot especially if we lost a lot of time. By 3am though we finally had a list of scenes and shots that we could do for today and still keep our page count high. We only had 10 days to shoot so we need to shoot at least 9 pages a day on average. Doesn’t sound a lot but for in the world of film 9 pages (all equal to a minute of screen time) is a huge amount to do especially if you want to get lots of different shots etc.

Also my Brother Jon who is also Co directing won’t be down to join us until tomorrow, that extra pair of hands would make a huge difference.

All the crew start to get ready, I haven’t even had time to unpack my suitcase, I’ll leave that till later. We snack on breakfast and begin to check list equipment we need and load the van. Everyone greets each other with a bleary eyed yawn, not much talking going on, after last night we are tired of talking.

Natalie our make up artist will get everyone ready at the accommodation first. Whilst we head to our first location at Pretty’s Petrol station in Ashurst. All good horror films have a petrol/gas station stop it’s text book writing HA.

Portia is Co Directing today with Thabo on sound and Daniel as 1st AD. Portia and i discuss the shots in the van, it’s a shame we didn’t have anytime the previous night.

We arrive after a short journey noticing an epic amount of roadworks heading the opposite way (must plan a different route back). We begin to set up as Portia and I go through the shot set ups. We cheekily hop over a fence to use the pub opposite’s garden as a green room. Lets hope they are in a good mood when they wake up to discover a bunch of filmakers have set up camp.

Portia is Co Directing today with Thabo on sound and Daniel as 1st AD. Portia and i discuss the shots in the van, we have quite a lot to do today to be in with a fighting chance of completing the film in the ten days, the pressure is on for Portia to work fast and get her vision set for this scene it’s a great location but the better the location the more you want to shoot so she has to be very selective of the shots and coverage that she’s going to get.

When the cast arrive we jump straight in firstly getting a wide on the car arriving. Then we hopped inside to do the internal scene. Rob Lyndon does a great job as our weird Petrol Station attendant ( a role well beneath his acting skills, sad there wasn’t more for him to do) and Philip and Matthew are solid in a lengthy dialogue scene. Before we started filming Philip and Matthew rehearsed a lot then showed me what they had prepped, we adjusted some of the clunky dialogue and figured out the actions/timings.

We were getting some great footage but the clock was against us so we had to whizz through the scene. I begin to think that maybe this kind of time pressure is not feasible. Especially as my notes now need to be streamlined and fast so as not to hold anyone else up, everyone is working so fast but to get enough coverage and different shots it’s tough going.Ideally we would have a whole day at this location instead of 3 hours.

During filming an angry pub land lady wasn’t so chirpy, but with some sweet talking on Daniel & Sams part she agreed to let us stay, phew. Her dog seemed happy we were there though!

Thabo had to do a lot of tricky work with a boom pole in a shop with very stacked shelves, it was hard to get the sound close enough without getting in shot. Plus we had a few re-starts due to heavy traffic noise coming from the road. The shots we got look great but do we have enough to cut the scene, it’s a close call and time is running short. We decide to move on 80% confident that we’ve got everything.

I feel bad for Portia as I know she felt rushed but the stuff she got looks great so I’m happy.

Sam arranges for cabs to pick up our cast and meet us at our next location in the forest in Brockham. Opposite the forest is a family who have kindly agreed to let us use a caravan as a green room and their facilities. On a shoot with our budget glamour goes out the window, soon basic needs become luxuries as you will soon discover. We rock up at the Small holding opposite the forest and set up the caravan, Richard & Diane are the owners, and have been really helpful since we found the location, unbeknown to us they will often save our bacon over the coming 9 days.

First thing to do is to set up a base in the forest by where we are filming. Location is key and finding the right spot in a forest is not as easy as it sounds. Lucky for us we had done plenty of recce’s in this forest and knew it well. Not so lucky was the fact that the perfect spot for us to shoot today’s scenes was not near! A good 7 or 8 minute walk with not so easy access and we had a whole Van full of stuff to move. For a crew of 40 you could do it in one trip but theres five of us. SO it’s lots of back and forth. Carrying boxes of so much stuff. It takes just under an hour to get everything there before setting up. WOW that was hard going, we are gonna struggle to do that every morning and after shooting.We need more hands on deck!

The first scenes for the afternoon are slow to get going, Nigel needed to have some sfx make up applied to his hand and working out the logistics of what we had to shoot was very time consuming.

Good Ol dad arrived in his cab with Su Elliot & David Partridge (Mrs Venner & Charlie Venner), I think they picked up Nigel Boyle (Gary) too, by this point so much is going on it’s difficult to keep up. We also had Paddy my parents dog on set (playing the role of Paddy) who had one scene to do. He seemed very happy to be stuck in a cold damp forest, he enjoyed plenty of attention too from everyone. With everyone stinking of Jungle spray and a large amount of set dressing we were finally ready to start shooting. I won’t say what we did as it’s bound to give stuff away, but we got some great footage, Portia, Dan & Thabo pulled out all the stops we feel like we got a lot of pages down. Gemma our Production Assistant worked non stop and Natalie did some amazing sfx make up on Su Elliott, we over ran and it started to get dark, with no lights it’s touch and go if the footage will match up. We won’t know until we check the rushes.

Even Paddy the dog does a one take wonder, he is normally incredible disobedient but today he did exactly as he was told, even hitting a mark not bad for an untrained dog. Never work with animals? Rubbish.

On the final shot Louisa hurts her ankle, I gave her a note without really thinking and she did what I said and plenty more. I didn’t expect her to go so mad, it looked great on camera and everyone was shocked to see her do it and I didn’t realise she was hurt until a few minutes later when someone came over to inform me. Like the multi tasking man I am I am also the only first aider on set. How fucking ironic the only time I need to use this stuff taught and it’s on my own film. All the immediate negative thoughts flash through my brain as I imagine the worst case scenario and an end to Louisa being on set. Louisa is upset and clearly in pain, I take of her shoe and get to work. She appears to be fine but is struggling to walk fully on her leg. Then out of the blue her good friend Jason Maza turned up, Jason and I helped Louisa out of the forest, by this point Jason definitely lifted her spirits and she was oon laughing and joking like normal, They headed back to the accommodation to get some rest. It was definitely not broken but I told Louisa & Jason to get Sam to take them to hospital if it gets any worse.

The sun very quickly disappears and suddenly we realise it’s very dark. We quickly get the rest of the cast out of the forest and begin to pack the gear back to the van. We only manage one trip before it’s pitch black and the torches come out. I’m not scared of the dark but on these trips more often than not you are on your own and this old forest is really fucking scary, You take a lot of comfort when you see a torch in the distance and hear familiar voices.

After several trips we decide to chain up the tents and easily replaced props in the forest. It’s really late and we still have to figure out tomorrows schedule as well as eat.

The drive back is relaxed and everyone is in good spirits, I am worried about Louisa’s ankle. If she is injured and cannot shoot anything else the film is well and truly DEAD.

We get back to the accommodation and Natalie has done dinner, wow it’s nice to get a hot meal, I realise that I hadn’t eaten all day! Today flew by and when we count the pages despite shooting so much we realise we are down on pages we only did about 6 pages. Not good, it now means we have a lot more to shoot and the page count has gone up. We had very complicated action shots today and the footage we got is great. As we finish dinner and start capturing all the footage, we notice some shots might not match up. It got too dark at the end. On a good note Louisa is totally fine her ankle is a tad bruised but otherwise fine and Jonathan my brother has arrived. Now we just need to figure out what we are gonna shoot tomorrow. Lot’s of raised voices and disagreements. It’s 3:00 am again before I crawl into bed, speckled with fake blood and stinking of Jungle spray, I set my alarm and look at my suitcase.

I will definitely unpack you tomorrow!

Luke

www.younghighanddead.com

YHAD shoot Marks it’s 1 year Anniversary

On this very day exactly 1 year ago the first day of priciple photography started on ‘Young, High and Dead’. To mark this occasion I thought I would blog each day of the shoot and what happened including all the things that went right and wrong. Well everything that I can remember that is……

Day 1

I wake up uber early It’s Monday the 20th of September and after 9 months of pre production, 18 months of re-drafting the script there’s no turning back. I get up and do my two most important chores to start the day, I stick the kettle on and have a fag. My dad is a black cab driver so has kindly got up super early to pick up our cast (who are dotted all over London) and bring them to the first location i,e my very own bedroom. Now before you all freak out and moan how cheap that is, yes it’s cheap but weirdly the location actually fits the characters and was what I had in mind for my two characters John (Philip Barantini) & Jenny (Louisa Lytton). My partner Natalie wishes me good luck as I won’t be seeing her for ten days and she heads off to work, I know she thinks I’m mental but I can tell she’s gonna miss me and my annoying habits for the next ten days. My crew begins to arrive, Daniel Fenton (Co Director) Thabo Mhlatshwa (Co Director and 1st AD today), Portia Barnett Herrin (Co Director and sound today), Natalie Guest  (Make up) & Gemma Chitty (Production Assistant). Normal everyday doubts set in like ‘is the house tidy enough?’. Not to worry as it’s not long before my entire ground floor flat quickly resembles a set and green room, the kettle worked extra hard that day and my crew cracked on with the task in hand of shooting a film.

Dad arrives in his cab with Philip & Louisa, everyone meets and greets, on this first day everyone is slightly apprehensive as to what lays ahead for the next 10 days. Dad heads off in his ever trusty cab to go and pick up Hannah Tointon (Katy) & Matthew Stathers (Dan). We are a little slow to set up, Louisa & Philip go straight into make up with the lovely Natalie Guest. The first day was scheduled to be quite easy we just needed to get 4 scenes in the can about 6.5 pages if I recall quite a lot for some shoots a breeze for my Guerilla Film Shooting team.

The first scene is simply Jenny getting ready putting on some make up. Dan Fenton is on Directing duty this first day, he gets some really nice shots of Louisa with the camera raised high shooting into a make up mirror and some cool low down shots of Louisa, the sun is beaming through the large french doors in my living room so the footage looks crispy white and warm. Wow thank you MRS DOP that is Mother Nature. That was pretty darn easy we don’t over do it I’m really happy with how the first few shots look so we move on the next scene.

The next scene we do is where John gets stuff ready for Jenny (I need to be careful with my descriptions not to give away spoilers) Jenny walks in and the audience witness a frosty atmosphere the aftermath of a couple’s argument. Both Philip & Louisa make it look very easy, I barely have any notes to give. We simply do the scene several times to get plenty of coverage with different shots. For a moment this is almost too easy. I know things will be very different starting from tomorrow as the schedule gets more intense with lot’s of complicated set ups. Hannah & Matthew arrive so far everyone is getting on really well and excited about the film. Sam our Producer is out and about all day sorting out the accommodation and doing a million and one tasks ahead of the rest of the week.

By this point we’ve waltzed by with lot’s of tea drinking and snacks and the first two scenes are looking good. We quickly pack up everything and move onto our second location of the day. I do a quick spring clean and try to leave the house in a decent state. I say good by to my cat, my home and do a double check I have packed everything I need for the next ten days. I jump in the rickety red car (more info on this in later blogs) and make my way to Horley.

The next location is an external shot at my cousins house Joe and his wife Rachel (and pets) where Dan & Katy pack a car before heading off to pick up John & Jenny. My cousins road and front garden look perfect for the script, little concrete pathway they even have plenty of cats too, a cat is in this scene so it’s all working out fine until we discover most of the cast and crew are allergic to animals. At this location there are 3 cats (Bella, Boris & Caspa) and 2 dogs (Tikka & Tilly). Louisa and Philip begin to suffer a bit, the excitement of Nando’s soon switches everyone mind to food instead of pets. Gemma our amazing runner goes off to get some food. Matthew & Hannah go into make up whilst we set up.

It’s all running smoothly as Dan & I go through the shots, Portia is on sound and Thabo has been great as 1st ad for the day. For those unsure a 1st ad (assistant Director) is in charge of the whole set making sure we stick to schedule and that everyone knows what they are doing. We run the scene and have a couple of glitches with the radio mics. we decide to stick to the directional/shotgun mic for cleaner sound. In a quiet little county road in Horley may cause quite a stir with lots of curtain twitching. Everyone is really interested in what we are doing. Mainly watching Thabo eat biscuits it seems.

The first load of shots go really well both Hannah & Matthew putting on the characters like an old pair of comfy socks, the end of the scene involves a cat. They say you should never work with animals and children. Rubbish just make sure you write in the difficulties. In the script Katy picks up a cat that looks like it wants to run a million miles away. As if by magic both of my cousin Joe’s cats ‘Boris & Caspa’ did exactly that. There are some hilarious out takes of Thabo chasing a cat with ham, but I will leave that until the dvd extras I think. Poor Hannah suffered a few scratches but the look on ‘Boris’s face is worth it.

A few of the kids in the street stop some of the actors for autographs and pictures, at this point I know how lucky I am to have really down to earth actors on board.

Having survived a duel with Boris and co we evacuate the cast and crew to our final location of the day. Everyone looks a bit ‘petted out’ I haven’t the heart to tell everyone the next location has two cats as well. My other cousins house Lucy and her husband Andy (Smithey & Mitzey i think?). It’s all good as we are mainly outside with onoe shot looking outside from the kitchen. First problem we can’t find the clapper, we use this to mark each clip so in post we can sync sound, we packed the van too quickly and with so much stuff it’s lost in there. We don’t want to waste anymore time so we use our hands. Crude but it works just as well. Matthews driving skills prove a tad sketchy but he safely roles the car to a stop for a one take wonder with the rickety red car. Lucy’s husband Andy arrives back from his work and not long does Lucy a nice reminder the day is nearly over with filming. When your on set and wrapped up with scenes and acting and shooting it’s so easy to let time escape you. Luckily my crew are on form and we are bang on schedule. Iv’e hardly thrown many notes or many changes to the cast as they seem to be nailing the characters really well. I throw in the odd idea but on a whole despite being very busy it’s been an easy first day shoot. We take a few still shots for continuity with the car and cast and pack up the van. The van is a complete mess we need a system to make sure we don’t lose things so easily.

We jump in the cars and Dad takes the cast in the cab and we head to our accommodation down in Horsham.We are all sharing 3 large luxury log cabins, all the girls in one and the boys splitting the other two. Theres a lot of unpacking to do (including finding the clapper) and making sure everyone has everything they need.

It’s too late to do any cooking so it’s pizza’s all round and a few quick beers before we re-group. Everyone seems happy with the accommodation so Sam my Producer, Dan Portia, Thabo and me begin to data wrangle and discuss the next day. Only moments last of us all being chuffed with how well the first day went when Sam breaks some bad news We lost a main location which we were due to shoot first thing tomorrow morning……..

SHIT!!!!! Now we have problems.

Luke

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