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THE PRODUCTION PERIOD
a few production stills here
Jonathan arrives on Wednesday before the weekend shoot from New York. We spend the Thursday talking things over and making sure that we have everything we need.
We've planned a day's rehearsal for Friday. Not everybody rehearses before a film - and I don't always rehearse, but there are several reasons for doing it this time: I'm concerned that we get the tone of the film right. It's a comedy, but I don't want it to be cartoon-like. I want it to be credible within the world it creates - and then funny. If we all go around mugging "look at me, ain't this funny?" then it won't be.
Secondly, the schedule is tight. Not impossible - I've no real worries - but certainly it would be more comfortable to do over three days - and we wouldn't waste any time on a three-day schedule. But we don't have any money, and we only have the gear and the location for two days - and a third day would just be asking people to give more of their time for nothing. So two days at the weekend it is.
The rehearsal is good. We're able to do it on location, mostly, which is useful. The morning I spend alone with the actors (and Georgia, PA/Continuity). We're joined in the pub at lunchtime (I try to look after people, and there won't be any pub at the weekend) by Ingrid and Joe, camera and sound, and David, who's doing a "making of" for us.
In the afternoon we run through what we've done for them, and work through the rest of the scenes. But I don't want to go on too long. I want to leave some freshness, and let the discussion we've been having sink in and mulch overnight.
And anyway, because we have no available drivers over 25, I'm the one that has to drive to Cruet in London to collect the van and all the camera gear.
DAY ONE
An 0830 start on location - beginning with something relatively straightforward, so that we can all get into the groove. I've always thought of the scene as being a two-hander, with Trillo and Suede. But of course it's Jonathan on his own with the dummy Sam Suede.
The team clicks very quickly. I've worked with Ingrid and Joe before, but they haven't worked together, and all the other crew members are newcomers. Georgia displays an unexpected talent as assistant puppeteer, helping Sam Suede take on a life of his own. As in any film, every crew member is equally important, because the smallest details have as much effect on the Big Picture as - well, the Big Picture.
We manage to get the exterior scenes in just before the light starts to fail - not ideal scheduling, but it had its reasons - and they were scheduled on the first day in case it rained. In that case we'd still have another chance to pick them up on the second day.
We move the smaller of the afternoon interiors - the kitchen - to the end, in favour of getting all the scenes in the living room out of the way. The last of these is quite complicated, and includes the whole cast. By the time we finish (about 20.00), we decide to leave the kitchen until the following day. It means that Julian (playing Jive, the butler) isn't finished with after all, but we're aware it would take longer to do now than in the morning.
DAY TWO
It's the little scenes that take the time, because it takes pretty much as long to light them as the big ones. We're a couple of hours behind the ideal schedule all day - partly, of course, because we've given ourselves the overspill from yesterday to do.
I nearly forget two tiny, but vital scenes - one of which is the shadow of the murderous knife which begins the film. But I remember before we shift locations.
By the time we remove to the Village Hall, for the closing scenes of the film, it's 18.00, and I was hoping to be nearly finished. Instead we're starting one of the most complex scenes of the movie. It's the only "action" scene, and we haven't rehearsed it in detail.
It takes a while to get it right - simple and comprehensible, and it's cold in the Hall. Then the penultimate scene, which is much too complicated.
A few script simplifications. A few runs through, and suddenly it clicks. It's often the way that when you first go through a scene you can't see how it will ever work - but then all the timing comes together and it all makes sense.
Finally - oddly enough in script order - the coda. We're all tired and cold. And it's heading for 21.00. The scene has a suitably weary atmosphere to it.
We're happy to wrap at last. And we feel we've got some good material.
But the proof of the watching is in the edit…. Read about it here.
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