Make Your Own Kind Of Music (Videos)

I've just come off the back of two days' filming in Hereford, shooting a music video which I should have done a couple of years ago. I got in contact with the singer Kate St John back at the beginning of my second year of university, with an eye to using one of her songs for the music video project of my course. Although she was happy for the video to be made, it never happened. And I always felt guilty for never completing the project.

When I was finishing up at uni, I wanted a quick project that I could do over the summer to stop myself from falling out of the habit - something that wouldn't require the twelve months plus of pre-production that "The Devil Came Today" demanded. I remembered the ideas I'd had for the music video, and set about making them reality.

Once again, luck has been on my side. I've been blessed with a top-notch cast. I was lucky enough to work with Gabby (Dorcas in "The Devil Came Today") once again - and just as always she proved an absolute joy to work with. I also had a chance to work again with Matt Jones, who I'd first encountered on the set of "Still Young", and Ashleigh Harley, who I hadn't seen since the BFI Academy at Rural Media. Both are fantastic actors, and to my relief they had great chemistry! I really didn't want to see the video become a failure because the chemistry wasn't there!

I had few worries about the first day of filming - we were scheduled to spend the whole day in Holywell Gutter Lane, an almost perpetually deserted footpath barely ten minutes' walk from home - and the schedule was incredibly lenient. The second day, today, promised to be a slightly more nervy affair. The location I'd chosen - a small stony beach along the River Wye, just off the Victoria Bridge - was easy to get to, and a beautiful spot, but by all accounts it was generally very busy on sunny days. And today was a sunny day, especially come the afternoon.

Myself and the cast of "Colonel Sinnott's Song of Love" along the banks of the River Wye

I needn't have worried. There was scarcely a soul to be seen, other than the cast.

Now it's time for the edit, so that the video can be finished in time for my premiere on September 7th. After that? Who knows. The next project, I guess!

Fris-kenstein's Monster

It's not long to go now until the premiere of "The Devil Came Today". The date is set and the venue is booked, so I've been working hard making tweaks and fixing issues with the edit I submitted to uni. The version of the film I'll be showing in September is the final version, no ifs or buts. I've had a couple of meetings with Fergus recently, and between us we've discussed exactly which scenes need music and what sort of music they need. While Fergus works on composing this music, I'm getting the film as ready as I possibly can, visually speaking.

And that includes a new scene.

It was never intended, but I've been able to piece together a thirty-second sequence that was never written in the script and never filmed, using assorted trims of video and audio from what was shot. It's not a deep, intense dialogue scene or anything, but it adds a little something to the film which was lacking earlier (and also lead me to discover the things I can do with a lowpass filter!) The scene came about by accident. I'd been reviewing the rushes, watching the material at either end of takes in the hope of finding something interesting - a lot of the better bits of the week one blooper reel I prepared for the wrap party surfaced this way - and began messing around with different techniques I hadn't had opportunity to use for a long while. Eventually, after a few hours of trying out just about every option Premiere gave me, I had a brand new scene. I hoped to keep it completely under wraps ahead of the screening, but without music it feels barren and incomplete. So Fergus has had to see it for the music.

As for everybody else, well, they can wait until the premiere.

Recently I've also begun thinking about the DVD release. I don't plan to do a commercial release of any kind (maybe in twenty years' time I'll be a big enough name for there to be public interest in "The Devil Came Today", but right now there certainly isn't) but I don't want to scrimp on the DVD that the cast and crew will receive. Perhaps it's because I grew up on the Doctor Who range and was spoiled by the effort put into each release, but if I don't have a booklet inside and multiple worthwhile special features, I might as well not have bothered making a DVD.

One idea which has gelled with me is that of taking some of the scenes that I cut out of the script/rewrote, animating them as brickfilms - a chance to go back to my filmmaking roots! - and bringing the original voice cast in to record some new lines. I've collated my favourite scenes from the cutting room floor, and all being well I'll be able to start putting them into production within the month.

The Trailer Came Today

Earlier this week, I returned to Salisbury for one last visit (side-note: sleeping on a carpeted floor is a bad idea) and took the chance to get a second opinion on whether or not I was safe to release the trailer I prepared last week. Henry was of the opinion that it was probably fine, so I decided to go for it.

There's something scary about releasing the trailer. Sure, I showed my film in its entirety as part of the graduate screening at the beginning of the month, but that was as part of thirty-plus films of equal status. The vast majority of the audience were either in the same boat as me, or there at the request of somebody in the same boat as me. This trailer is the first time I've released any footage on a public forum. If people think it looks terrible, I'm sunk.

That's no reason not to release it, though. If the possibility of people thinking something I've made looks terrible is enough for me to sit on it forever, I'm going into the wrong industry. So with that said, behold the official trailer for "The Devil Came Today", starring Emily Gardner, Joe Mounfield and Gabby Radziejowski:

A Devil In The Can

It took a lot longer than it was supposed to. And caused me a lot more stress than I hoped it would. But at last it's done.

The Devil Came Today has finished production. Everything's been shot, all the footage is backed up on multiple hard-drives, the equipment has been returned to Denzil. The many pitfalls that can hamstring a film's progress are (all being well) no longer an issue.

Let's rewind to last month. After snow had caused the abrupt cancellation of my originally-planned week's shooting, I set about getting things in order for Take Two. Emily had come to Salisbury with us, and stayed a few days, so I was able to talk to her in person to ascertain when she'd be free, and after cross-checking this with Gabby's mum, I had a period of time which would work for filming. I liaised with Andy Smith to make sure I wasn't asking for too many days, and as soon as he gave me the go-ahead I set about putting things in motion.

I very nearly wasn't able to shoot on the original week, as the Child Performance License arrived a day before filming and there was no way I was taking the kit out without it. So I didn't waste any time getting a second one arranged. Although Gabby's parents had been happy for her to have a day out of school during the original week, and would have allowed it again for the second week, I was reluctant to ask that of them, so I pencilled her remaining scenes in for the Sunday (this would ultimately be shunted back to Saturday) and put the paperwork in to the Council. Then I got in contact with my locations and my crew. There was no trouble getting the locations again (although the Cathedral involved a bit of juggling to find an hour's slot) but the crew was a harder deal. In the event, I returned to Hereford earlier this week with a skeleton crew of Stephen (DoP again) and Brian (promoted now from Boom Op to Sound Recordist). We met with Mouny and Emily on the Wednesday evening (in Wetherspoons no less), ahead of the beginning of production the following morning.

An early provisional schedule for the second shooting week

The original week had been blighted by (and ultimately scuppered by) bad winter weather - snow forced the cancellation of some interior scenes and almost all of the exterior scenes. By contrast, the rearranged week was incredibly hot throughout. The opening day's filming in Queenswood was sweltering. Mouny spent the majority of the day not wearing costume (apart from when he was filming) and we took an extended break at lunch for drink and shade. But we were able to film, which was the key - and we got to shoot a stunning vista looking out over Herefordshire.

Day Two was perhaps the peak of my stress levels. It was a tightly-scheduled day, including Hereford Cathedral and the rest of the High Town scenes. The Cathedral, as it turned out, were very helpful. I'd asked for permission to film, but didn't expect them to go out of their way to help. But their staff blocked off areas for us to film, which is an experience I've never had before. After the Cathedral was harder. The heat made me irritable, and as we began to fall behind schedule so I began to get increasingly stressed. When we were held up for twenty minutes waiting for Cathedral bells to stop chiming so we could film a dialogue-heavy section, I just had to laugh with the frustration. And when we finally finished the day's shooting, I just wanted to curl up and sleep. Instead, we returned to mi casa for barbecue. Burgers and sausages go down a treat after a long day on set.

Emily with the filming-in-progress sign at Hereford Cathedral

Early on the third day, Mouny informed me that he was ill. Fortunately, it was a day off for him, so we left him in the house for bed rest and headed back to Eardisland. There was no snow this time, but Gabby returned and with a vengeance. Her chemistry with Emily is always a joy to behold - and for this reason alone I think I'd have been very hard-pushed to find a better set of actors to play Fris and Dorcas - and she'd begun to pick up an on-set manner. It led to quite a painless shoot all told, and I returned home confident all was going to go fine on the final, relatively straightforward, day.

The schedule for Sunday was clear. Morning: the Bunch of Carrots (they had to open at 11am, and so we had to be gone by then). The rest of the day: Tupsley Quarry. Easy scenes to shoot. A few hours' break, and then pizza/wrap party for the cast and crew. Until late Saturday evening when I learned that one of my supporting actors wasn't available. What followed was a mad scramble of calling in favours until eventually relatives came to fill in. I wrote a part in specially for Olivia, last minute, and she delivered it perfectly. Helen had a dauntingly long scene, but she too did a good job.

A take in progress, Eardisland

And the wrap party was fun, so there's that.

Now, back in Salisbury, I'm preparing to start the edit.

Snow Unfair!

Today, according to the schedule I wrote up, should be the day I travel back to Salisbury with crew and kit, then begin to go over the footage and edit. "The Devil Came Today" should be in the can, a huge burden lifted.

That isn't to be.

Sure, it started well enough. Myself and my skeleton crew of Stephen, Maisie and Brian (Marcos and Harry joining us later on in the week) made our way to the beautiful village of Eardisland on Wednesday morning, where we met Emily and Gabby, who are playing Fris and Dorcas respectively. We even managed to do a fair chunk of filming - two of the three scenes planned for the day were completed without too much incident before the lunch break (though Emily's car battery fell victim to the need for heat).

That was when things started to go a bit pear-shaped. The morning had been marked by scattered snowfall, but it was kind enough to clear up and give us some good filming time for an hour or so before falling again. After lunch, Stephen and I discussed the last scene of the day, and blocked it out amongst ourselves. But no sooner had we got Gabby into position, and no sooner had I begun to explain to her how the last scene was going to work, than the snow fell again. We sent her for shelter, covered up the camera, and waited for it to clear a few minutes later.

But it didn't clear.

When fifteen minutes had passed with no break in the snow, I called the university, trying a couple of the lecturers before I got through. The advice I got was to film as much as I could safely film, but not to worry as I should be able to rearrange if need be. I took the decision to call it for the day there, sending Gabby on her way home and packing up the gear. Naturally, the moment we left Eardisland the sun came out and stayed for long enough to have got that scene, but by then we were gone. And I was hopeful of a more successful rest of the week.

Trying to get Emily's car going in the Eardisland snow

Thursday's filming was limited to indoors shots

Thursday could have started better. The snow was too thick on the ground (and falling too thick as well) to even think about shooting the intended first scene of the day. Instead, we went straight to Location #2 - my nan's house - and I gave the cast and crew a break while Stephen played around with the camera and I made a few late adjustments to the script. We had Mouny on set starting today, which brought something different to the dynamic, and although it took a long time to get going, we did get some good stuff in the end, taking the opportunity to work slowly and be more meticulous about each shot. Even better, both Marcos and Harry made it. They'd been doubtful of finding their way, as snow was leading to all sorts of cancellations on the trains, but whether through luck or judgement they happened upon a route to Hereford, making it in time to join us for the last few shots of the day.

There was time for only minimal shooting on Friday. We were able to make the Bunch of Carrots pub, but without a supporting actor only needed for that scene and who couldn't get through the snow. I was forced, as a result, to film around her portion of the scene, shooting the beginning and the ending and banking on being able to come back again. Even then, we were very much strapped for time. The kindness of the pub's owners cannot be overstated - it's not the first time I've worked on a film shot there - but we did have to be gone by 11am.

The snow, which had been falling pretty much constantly since Wednesday night, was worse than ever as we left the pub. I didn't want to run the risk of battling to our only remaining interior location, Hereford Cathedral, and getting stranded there. So I made the hard decision to call it for the week.

When the snow clears, I'll get back to Salisbury and have a word with the lecturers. Hopefully, we'll be able to come up with a solution to get the film made. Until then, the Devil's been delayed...