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.