I go on a recce of the area to figure out where we can shoot the exterior scenes later, then Cici and I clear out the living room and start taping bin bags over the window to black it out. In the middle of doing this, Fi, Laura, Cara and her friend Nadia who's come to help with sound turn up, along with camera and a lot of kit. We finish the windows, Cara and Nadia start setting up the lights. The first of the cast arrives; Fi and Laura keep the boys entertained in the kitchen until Fi has to go and move the car (damn parking restrictions) so I take the boys outside and we start blocking the exterior scene we'll be shooting a little later, and working out how to choreograph the punch.
Eventually we're all set up and ready to roll (about two hours later than planned...) We call the boys in, have a quick run through, make sure they know their marks and what we're doing. Everyone's in place. Camera's rolling. Sound's a-go-go. Quiet on set is called for.
And then I get to say it.
"Action!"
And we're off.
We get through eight set-ups and a number of takes for the first scene, until someone hits a breaking point (cabin fever setting in; with that many people and that much kit suddenly the front room is rather crowded) and the boys all start corpsing. It luckily coincides with the sun setting, so we break from shooting the first interior scene, leave the lighting set up as is, and move on out.
We shoot the first exterior - just the boys walking - on our way to the main location, on a side street. We get a fair few odd looks from passersby and a couple of cars slowing down to check out what we're doing. We have a PA at one end of the road and the Associate Producer at the other end on car duty - literally hollering "CAR!" any time one decides to turn our way, so we can clear off the street. We do a few takes with different set ups so we have the options, then move round to the place I scouted earlier in the day.
Of course, when I scouted it I cleverly forgot about the lighting issue. Lady Luck is with us, however, and the place I found - a small road that dead-ends in a warehouse with a scrappy car park down the side, which is the main area I want to use - has a security light that blinks on as soon as we're about 20 feet away from it, giving us amazing chiaroscuro lighting. Couldn't have worked out better.
We do the basic set-ups: a wide shot, a medium shot, a cowboy 2-shot of two characters, then the same set-up for the other two. We try some handhelds, some with the camera running in with the boys.
It's cold. It's the first weekend of February in London. Of course it's cold.
The crew are bundled up in as many layers as possible. The actors are standing around in white shirts and thin black suit jackets. I'm aware how long we're spending out here and how fucking cold they're getting. Alex is jumping around to keep warm right up until the point I call "action". If they're not in frame, they immediately put their coats back on.
During a break to reset the camera, I send Fi and Cici off to find a coffee shop to get warm drinks. We start re-filming and I forget they're not back until two takes later when we're suddenly wandering where the hell they've got to. And then like angels they appear, bearing trays laden with cups of tea and KitKats. Overjoyed to see them would be an understatment. No coffee shops were open in the area so they ran back to the flat and made enough tea for everyone.
Everyone's spirits are lifted by hot drinks and the sugar rush, and we get through the last handheld scenes with everyone holding it together. The boys are total champs and despite my worrying that they're all going to come down with pneumonia after the weekend and please let me know when it gets too much out here, they want to soldier on and get all the shots done as we're there. I love them for this.
We finish the main exterior scene and start heading back to base. Fi and Cici run ahead with the cups, while we use the journey back to shoot the last exterior night scene we need, which is just of the boys running (keeps them warm at least...). We have to circle dog shit on the road with chalk to make the boys don't accidentally run through it. Ahh, it's a glamorous life, this filmmaking lark...
We get what we need and hurry back on inside. Everyone collapses in the warmth for another cuppa, as our trusty PA continues to wash up and boil the kettle (bless her socks). I run through with Cara and Cici the plans for the next day. Eventually everyone disperses - it's been a looong day and we all have homes to get to. Fi and I are staying at our parents' place in West London as it's much nearer than either of our places. Laura comes with, and we give Alex a lift too as his sister lives nearby. It's almost 11pm by the time we roll into the house, and I'm exhausted but buzzing. Can't wait to do it again tomorrow, if only the call time weren't so early...
No comments:
Post a Comment