Over the course of 3 days this past week we finally committed to celluloid, the images, ideas, and performances we had been planning, and dreaming about for the past 10 months.
Our wonderful cast: Beth Winslet and Clive Brunt both did really fantastic work in bring their respective characters to life, in the face of a very tight and demanding schedule.
Also, another of the great things about this past week was that, as the crew arrived on the first day, the film stopped being my film, and instead it became our film, as everyone involved made a litlle bit of it their own.
Myself and Liz would like to thank everyone on the crew who freely donated there time, talents, and passion to help us shoot the film. I know we are not finished yet, not by a long way, but a major hurdle has been leapt, and looking at the rushes this weekend, we have some truly scrumptious looking shots as reward for everyones hard work.
But Ladies and Gentlemen let me inform you know, 3 days is a very short period of time to shoot such a film. Too short in fact, especially when 1 of those 3 days was severely compromised by rain! But what can you do when your film consists completely of exteriors, and you can only afford to shoot for 3 days....Nothing!
Rain aside, the shoot was great fun, (although perhaps my face did not always show it) and all the crew seemed to enjoy themselves, which I am very pleased about.
I had forgotten how physically and emotionally draining shooting can be, and was exhausted by the end of it. Much sweat was excreted, and many tears were shed, (Beth quite literally cry herself dry) and although thankfully no blood was spilt, it did pump vigorously through sheer effort.
I had been hoping to blog as we shot, but perhaps unsurprisingly, directing a film and blogging are just a little difficalt to do simultaneously. However, over this next week i'll recount - as best as I can - in flashback, the shooting days as they happened.
congratulations on your getting your film shot. looking forward to hearing your recounts of the shoot.
Posted by: kiyong | October 08, 2006 at 05:50 PM
Congratulations, Phil et al. I really liked what you said about it becoming the entire team's project as each made it a bit their own. That takes a great director to see.
Even though tight deadlines must make for a frustrating creative process, at least it forces progress. If one had all the time and money in the world, would one ever make anything, I wonder.
Posted by: Shelley Noble | October 12, 2006 at 07:12 PM
Hi Kiyong thanks for your support.
Shelley you always have a wise word to share. It's appreciated.
Posted by: Phil Dale | October 13, 2006 at 01:25 PM