Shoot Diary

Day 1

I arrived late to the shoot having had to wait on the torches to be delivered. Though I did bring sound gear the lack of dialogue/sync sound freed me up to lend and extra hand and I was chosen to play the hooded character as I was taller and also not wearing wellies, which would somewhat detract from the creepiness of the character.

Despite spraying it black the robe still looked like a cheap halloween costume, which it was. The Following day I brought along a sith dressing gown/robe to wear over it which was an improvement.

I was also able to provide a Moroccan dagger for the art department, which looks ideally sacrificial with its modestly ornate wooden hilt and rusted blade.

Day 2

We had all been looking forward to this as it featured a pigs head on a spike. I recorded the sound of the head as it was placed on the stick but it did not produce the gory impalement I had hoped for.

We found an ideal clearing, which already had partially erected fences made out of branches. Amy did a great job adding to the existing enclosure, creating a unique symbol on the ground that combined the iconography of pagan, celtic and satanic worship.

While this was set up we went to get a pick up of the previous day, my character walking past the first torch with a smoking thurible. To create the smoke we heated pingpong balls wrapped with a foil chimney, which gives out a dense but short lasting burst. The first tested bomb dissipated in the wind nicely, which left me unprepared when I didn't hold my breath as the second in the thurible shot straight up in my face, giving me a dose of mustard gas. This coupled with me tripping up over a branch make for an amusing gag reel.

The ritual scene itself proved difficult, as the torches were hard to control, with the lighter used instead of oil evaporating too quickly. This meant that it got too dark before we could complete all the shots, and so another day of shooting will be required.

Day 3

The final pick-up day was efficient as everyone knew what shots were still needed and the limited time frame we would have. The new pigs head was an improvement, with a nasty gash on the top of its skull making it all the more unpleasant, and we used oil in the torches this time so they stayed alight much longer.

During the clearing set-up I wandered off to try and capture some atmos tracks, using the Zoom again. These were an improvement over my previous attempts at Whitely woods, though it is possible to make out the sounds of a very distant road. There were also planes flying overhead fairly frequently, but this time I captured the low rumble in the hopes of enhancing it with EQ to ominous effect. The birds also sounded better here, and I captured the caw of a crow which I had hoped to find someway or another.

One of the downsides of having better lit torches was that when it came to filming the shot of them extinguishing themselves we were left waiting sometime. The final shot is of my character stood by the torch as it goes out. Given the potential time we would be waiting I decided it could be more menacing to extinguish the torch myself. To aid me in this I doused my glove in water to help starve the flame, though it still took several attempts to perfect (one more for the gag reel!)