Rebel With a Tape

8/15/2019 Rebel With a Tape

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Rebel With A Tape

August 2000

Mmm must be something about bank holiday weekends, But we finally got Deadlights finished, bar

some second unit stuff, finished this weekend. I have to say I am and absolutely buzzing like mad at

the moment I am so utterly grateful to all the people who helped out this weekend. This is mydream to do this and seeing everyone down on set making it come together I am just lost in words

in how to thank everyone. Everyone did an absolutely fantastic job, got on so well work extremely

hard and put in a cracking effort.

Like last time this was one hell of a learning curve, in fact more. First thing, this time round was

well stocked up on Beta SP tape :) . A few mistakes were made along the way in terms of things

that could have been better planned in pre-production and Unit/Production Functions and we were

seventeen hours over schedule. But I hope the experience everyone got from the weekend makes up

for that.

What follows is my account of the last Week. But first a mention of the crew & cast who done suchan excellent job.

Nigel Honey Cameraman

Renate Wendell Camera Assistant

Samu Mhango Continuity / Peters

Tony Gowding Lighting/Second Camera Man

Anna Carrington Lighting Assistant / Refugee

Matt Love Sound / Location Assistant/ Refugee

Anna Nicola Boom operator / Pyrotechnics Assistant / Make up / Soldier

JB Unit Manager / JB

Ralph Driver / Production Assistant/ Refugee

James Edwards Mike Edwards

Susie Beneton Daniella

Darrel Brockis Joe

Not forgetting the extra crew from the first shoot who weren't there this time (where were you

guys ?)

Toby Rhind Tutt Pyrotechnics / Soldier

Stuart Ross Runner / Soldier

Anyway here is what happened...

Sunday 20th

From the screen commission I got details of a location in Purfleet which was an old Army Garrison

and on Sunday I decided to scout it out. I had hoped to have it scouted out before the weekend as

we had a production meeting on the day before but due to the 9-5 that proved to be a difficult. So

early Sunday morning it was time to pack the thermos, some ham and cheese sandwiches and the

Cagoule and leave the Bright lights of Orpington and my way to the wilderness of Purfleet. Well

that's total crap actually The only bright lights in Orpington come from the burning cars in

Neighbouring St-Marys Cray and I don't own a Cagoule or a thermos flask. In fact it was more acase of being extremely hung over from the night before from Saturdays Production meeting and

just being able to walk down the street with the aid of very dark glasses.


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I met up with the Actor who is playing Mike Edwards in London, (Always handy to have a drinking

partner when going location Hunting) and after much searching around for Farrigdon Station. We

made our way over.

The night before I had lost my bag which funnily enough contained all the maps of the location so

was going to have to find it from memory. I have got to say Purfleet is a total Dive. Full stop.

Finding the Location wasn't to bad. There isn't really that much to Purfleet except for a big housing

estate, a road , a firing range and a pub. If there hadn't of been a pub that would have been location

straight out of the window.

Talking to the guy at Thurrock council who had informed us of the location, he said it was a little

overgrown. That was some serious underestimate. I have to confess I was a little bit disappointed in

seeing the location first of all but decided to scout around it several times. Also about every 5

minutes a flipping muppet on a motor cycle kept riding past.

The location was made up of several magazines, I think in total there were 8, out of which 4 of themwere totally overgrown, one which we couldn't find, 2 overgrown with trees in front of them and

two overgrown but possible. After walking around several times to get the location in my memory ,

headed off down the pub to think it over.

Monday.

7AM

Woken up by a friendly knock from the postman, I had been waiting for some money to come

through Northern Island which would make up the budget, and hey presto here it was which meant

we had the green light for the weekend to actually shoot.

9:30AM

Due to having my phone stolen a couple of weeks previously I buy one of those new damm fangle

Wap phones. Was meant to have another phone back from a x who I lent it too as well, but that

didnt happened. Damm annoying as I needed it to give to my unit Manager JB so I could be in

contact with him pretty much 24/7

10:30AM

Try to work out how to switch on my new phone

11:30AM

Arrive in work , with the location still fresh in my mind. While looking for the location initially I

did some digging around into old ROTOR stations and cold war establishments. Boy there are some

really weird people out there, there obsessed with these things. Anyway after some digging around,

I find out about a old Cold War building in Chiselhurst, which made up part of the London

Controls. Have no idea exactly where it is , so on to www.streetmap.com and onto the aerial

photographs to look out for anything that looks like a bunker. I also e-mail a few of these cold war

fanatics to see what they can tell me. Still cant switch on my new phone.

2PM


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After a bit more digging around on the web , I get the numbers of several possible alternative

locations. Finally work out how to use my phone and start making lots of phone calls.

4PM

No one had got back to us on the thing in Chiselhurst, but from the aerial photo's I have some good

idea of four possible sites where it could be , with one that looks most definite.

5PM

Work out the weekends budget, comes to a nice 999

6:30PM

Head off and make my way down to Chislehurst to try and find this Building.

7:30 PM

Walk through lots of woods, some one had told me it was near some stables which matched up to

the aerial photograph I had. Now looking at the picture there was a long road leading up the

building, so in theory find the road , follow the road and hey presto one ala building.

8:30 PM

Lights beginning to go fast, have found the road, right in the middle of the woods, should of really

bought a tourch. Begin to follow the road down into thick woods.

8:45PM

Begin to find Fence posts, begin to track this round through the undergrowth, also underfoot there

are some steps , and definite bricked paths, looking good.

9:00 PM

Really getting dark now, start following the posts round in all directions, and keep stumbling across

more steps and paths - where the hell is it ?

9:30 PM

Way to dark now, have to give up, look likes Purfleets going to be the location after all. off to the

pub for a post scouting drink.

12:00AM

Get in and start thinking about how to make the location at Purfleet work, do a few sketches and

play out scenes in my head. Also work out a few logistics of actually clearing the land and come up

with a list of tools etc. On Saturday at the production meeting I asked who had gardening tools ,

strimmers etc. so feeling pretty confidant that we can use it.

2AM

Get to sleep


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Tuesday

8 am

Wake up and realise I m going to be late for work

12:00 pm

Arrive in work ,first e-mail in my in tray was from one of the cold war fanatics, he tells me that the

site in Chislehurst was demolished three years ago. DOPE !!!! Anyway its pretty much straight on

the phone to get the location tied down for Saturday. The guy at Thurrock council is surprised at the

short notice I m giving him, but after a little negotiation and agreeing to pay a "Location Fee" nudge

nudge , manage to get round the red tape and get the go ahead - wa hay ! seriously Don't want to

make it sound like Thurrock council takes bribes!!, they were really helpful especially on the short

notice I gave them .Had to also agree to give Thurrock council a credit plus "Thanks to the people

of Purfleet". Bit annoyed at the last bit as all they did was bug us with their dam motorbikes.

2:00 pm

Finalised lighting equipment with Tony on the phone, also phoning around people who have shown

an interest in joining us on this merry adventure before to try and get last minute Crew and cast.

Decide best thing to do is to put a shout out on the Shooting people. Also put one onto Exposure,

but after this weekend not going to be using exposure for crew shouts no more. Ill go in to why

later.

4:00 pm

Get the guns sorted for this weekend, after previous experience on Deadlights decide to hire.

5:00 pm

Lots of phone calls to crew and cast to give green light for this weekend.

5:55 pm

make a start of the day job work

6:00 pm

Finished day job work and off down the white horse to meet Susie, Jim, JB and Darrel

6:30 pm

Arrive at the good old white horse, well its not so good now , really boring bar staff and too

crowded anywhoo Susie gives me her character sheet and I meet Darrel for the first time. I

originally had some one else casted for the role of Joe, but due to circumstances he was unable to

make the commit. On Saturday Susie had told me she had an Actor friend, so hello Darrel.

8:00 pm

After discussing through the Characters I get Darrel and Jim to read through the patrol sequence.


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Quite funny watching two people outside a packed pub going on about a fictional war. Anywhoo I

really like Darrel's Face, very difficult in these conditions to audition someone, but when Jim was

reading his line, Darrel seemed to pick up the sub text in the script and bring that across in his face.

I'm happy :)

9:00pm

Jb calls to say he cant make it , annoying as I wanted to give him the money for Saturday for the

last few props and bits of pieces. So there would be plenty of time if he couldn't get everything.

10:00pm

Head over to Fuegos a wine bar in the city to go and see Ralph, who I want as my driver for this

weekend. He agrees and its a good old leave it up to me, and I know Ralph not going to let us down

in arranging the Van and being the driver - sweet.

2:00am

As the club closes get an interesting offer to go to a lock in, In Moorgate.

5:30 am

Still drinking not mentioning anymore as I knew there are two other crew members who want to

forget that night as well.

Wednesday

11:20 am

Wake up and realise I'm in the totally wrong part of town, have to take a sickie off of work,

1:00 pm

Get back to Sunny Orpington and fall asleep DOPE

4:00 pm

On with the phone calls , not a very productive day in all

Thursday

8 am

Wake up and realise im going to be late for work for the third time this week, DOPE

11:30 am

Arrive in work, have a strange feeling something is in the air. Any IT contractor out there knows

what Bagging is, but for those of you who don't, its basically you come back to your desk at

anytime in the day and you find all your stuff in a black sack. Got Bagged at Blue Circle and therewas a similar atmos in the air. Anywhoo check my e-mail to see the response from my last minute

shout on Shooting people. There are about 30 replies and I begin to whittle them down.


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12:00 PM

Still a few bits and pieces to buy for the shoot on Saturday so Jim gives me a bell and says he's on

his way up to meet for Lunch so he can get the shopping list and the money.

12:30 pm

Get nervous every time I leave my desk in case I come back and find my stuff in a bag. But need acigarette and the loo so move very quickly. Also nervous about using the phone and fax and e-mail

1:30 pm

Jim arrives and its off down the pub. Decide it would be better to get Jim to call the people I wanted

along that night from the shooting people thing, as I left the office that smell in the air of something

going to happen was stronger. If I was going to get bagged, figured they would do it at lunch, but

hell I m Film maker first, spark plug in the Capitalist machine second.

2:40 pm

Arrive back from the pub, and my boss hands me the company rules on misuse of e-mail and

internet. Knew something was up. He has a bit of a chat re the conflict of interest, use of e-mail,

internet, phone fax. As he's talking I see my In tray on my screen fill up with about twenty e-mails

and my phone rings about 6-7 times. DOPE !!!

4:00 pm

Sneaky sneaky beaky telephone calls and e-mails sent, going to write a program that looks like

Access which is in fact an e-mail interface

6:30 pm

Off to the white horse to meet all the crew and new blood, just hope my judgement has been right in

the selection from Shooting people.

7:30 pm

Wahay, the new blood are Spot on, after the usual trying to meet a person in the pub you ve never

seen before we all assemble in the corner.

8:30 pm

Everyone is here now, funny place Soho, there was another production meeting going on upstairs in

the pub and Matt one of the new blood had been sitting in that meeting for 20 minutes or so.

9:00 pm

Crack on with the business and try to get everyone's travel arrangements sorted and rendezvous

point for the weekend, and go through the gruelling schedule, safety. A bit about how I work,

mention my negativity thing and ten went to mow.

10:00 pm

Beers flowing fast and business is flowing fast. And important thing about selecting crew and cast


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especially on low budget is to make sure everyone gets on. And everyone round the table clicked.

Spot on ; -)

11:00 pm

And its kicking out time, I have to go and see Ralph to finalise the transport for the weekend so its

off to Fuego's again. Unfortunately some of the other guys are wearing trainers so they wouldn't ofbeen able to get in, but they head off to another regular haunt of debauchery Bad Bobs. Go away

from the table feeling all excited and confident in my crew.

11:30 pm

Arrive at Fuego's and find out going to have to pay for the Van for an extra day due to the bank

holiday weekend, but apart from that everything's ok.

2:30 am

Get a very interesting offer for a night of Debauchery with a young lady when leaving the club, takeup on the offer.

Friday

7 AM

Wake up and realise I m not in my own bed, Dope ! should of gone home last night and got some

good sleep before the weekend.

7:30 AM

Start making my way back to Kent, get some breakfast on the way and cant get a damm voucher for

my phone.

9:30 AM

finally get back to Orpington, in doors for about two minutes just enough time for a quick change of

clothes pick up some paperwork and the budget then it was out the door. The blank guns which

should have been delivered yesterday haven't turned up, no time to be mythed about it , take the

guys number as I speed out the door.

10:00 AM

My original plan was to go to Grays in the morning to pick up the keys from Thurrock council for

the land but could I get there for love nor money with out a car ? nope so decide to push on and get

those last bits of shopping in.

10:30 AM

Finally get voucher for my phone, another reason why I should of gone home on Thursday night , I

could see the battery beginning to go and really needed it charged.

I originally made a doll that vibrated for Deadlights but at the end of the day that's all it looked like

a doll that vibrated. So it was off to the toy shop. Could not believe how hard it is just to buy a doll,


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I asked the women in the shop and she kept saying "oh we got this one that speaks this one that wets

it self ,this one that walks and gets you a paper in the morning. It weren't till I said I m planning to

burn half its hair off, muddy it up and remove one of its eyes did she finally show me a normal doll.

11:30 AM

Back on my way to London to meet Ralph and all the shopping done, things like garden shears ,cutters, liquid nails, latex, all important stuff for the set.

12:15 PM

In London, why is it all ways sunny when I need to run around ? can someone please answer me

that ? anyway head over to Stratford

1:00 AM

Meet Ralph and see the Van, find out have to pay an extra day for the hire due to the bank holiday ,

give Ralph a hand with his new three piece suite that needed loaded into his flat then it was off toGrays to pick up the key for the land.

3:00 PM

Arrive in sunny Grays - god its a dive. Anyway straight into the council offices to pick up the keys

to the land. Have to put a 500 quid deposit down on them. Flipping most expensive keys I ever

known. Consider getting it cut as really did not want to loose it or my deposit especially my

reputation of loosing phones by the week

By this time, time was ticking we needed to get back to Stratford then pick up the generator, then

over to Waltham stow for the camera then to Barnet for the lights. Decide to hire the Camera from

the same place as the lights , which added a lot to the budget as I had a deal in place for the other

equipment, due to the budget hike have to drop the idea of having a DV cam on set as well.

4:00

Back in Stratford and time to pick up the generator, luckily this was only round the corner at 3 mill

studios and a company called Electric Lighting. Nice friendly company who still haven't sent me

the invoice :) , couldn't believe the bloody size of the thing.

5:00

On our way to Barnet to pick up the cameras and the lights and to meet Tony to make sure all the

equipment is there, thanks to the London Traffic it took a little bit longer than planned to get over

there

6:30

Arrive at Barnet, Muppets of a company Optex wouldn't let Tony check the equipment until we

handed over the money. And they were flipping pedantic about that too, it was 900 odd quid and

they were moaning about 67p not using them again

7:45


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Back to London and Down Fuegos for a couple of beers with Ralph before he had to start work,

9:00

Getting a bit too comfortable if I stayed for another drink I knew I wouldn't be coming home so left

and made my way back to Orpington

10:00 PM

Arrive home, my parents were having a dinner party and really weren't in a too sociable mood and

had a lot to do, was sociable for about twenty minutes then had to crack on as I did want to get

some sleep

11:00 PM

Start to get all my stuff ready for tomorrow and all the costumes / props /pyros etc.

12:30

Finally get everything packed and ready to go for the morning , except for, cant find my "Directing"

Combats (lots of big pockets :))put on some melow music and start to memorise the script /

schedule / shots for tomorrow.

4:00

get to sleep

Saturday

6:30 AM

Get up and get the first cigarette, cup of coffe down my throat asap

6:32 AM

coffee and cigarette kick in :)

6:50

Showered, dressed everything by the door waiting to go and another cup of coffee and several

cigarettes I m ready .

7:20

Cab arrives and the driver asks me where to so I say Chislehurst then Stratford and he goes cant

take me as he was going on holiday in a couple of hours, so a slight divert to the cab office where I

change cabs

7:45

Some muppet who will remain nameless says in the back of the Cab "this turning for Stratford"

when in fact it wasn't and we go round in a circle for a bit


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8:05

Arrive at Stratford station and everyone's there :) bar one who I had a feeling wasn't going to show,

but was really pleased to see everyone there on time, good way to start the weekend

8:45

after a wake up call to Ralph he brings the van down to the station and we ready to make our way tosunny Purfleet

9:15

Get a wee bit lost in Purfleet and end up going the long way round but wahay on set !

9:30

Ok Tony and JB and Sam were sent on a little shopping trip and to pick up the food from Jb's place

while everyone else walked around the Garrison with myself. First thing really was to decide a

building to use as the base, they were all the same but some were more overgrown than others and Imean overgrown, eventually we decided on the first building into the location, Now I originally had

this Idea that we would have a cast and crew area away from everywhere else so we dropped the

equipment off at another of the Magazines. It became pretty obvious very quickly that it was too far

away and really we needed everything up the other end especially as we were going to start filming

down that bit first. Didn't think it would of been a hundred percent safe being in two groups (if you

ever have the misfortune of going to purfleet, you'll know what I mean).

10:15 "Ten Men Went To MOW !"

Time to get on with some set Clearing, and I have got to say if you ever what your garden doing

speak to Baby Anna And Matt. We put ground force to shame, the set began to clear very quickly

especially when we took down the trees and the larger bushes and Jim got in there with the

strimmer. I actually quite enjoyed doing it as well, kind of like, hey were doping gardening things

all that was needed was a beer at the end of it.

10:30

The local police pop down and say hello, they tell us about two guys walking around with a shot

gun, as I said nice friendly place Purfleet.

11:45

The set was basically clear , got to say all the guys and lasses that worked on that did a cracking

job. Also Jb, Tony and Sam had now arrived back form the shopping trip.

12:30

All the equipment was unloaded now, and the set was ready , time for lunch and to get the actors

ready. We also got all out crew who were doubling up as extras kitted up too

1:00 "A surprise for Sam"

Sam was my continuity guy, and I think he knew he was going to be an extra , but I needed a

"Peters" this wasn't unplanned my idea of peters character was to get someone who was not an actor


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to play the role as I wanted the character to come across as nervous unsure. And also to have them

on a short notice for it. Anyway with Peters now cast it was time for rehearsals while the camera

and sound guys got set -up

1:30

Timings I think were the difficulty we were having when rehearsing, the scene is very much onecontinuous bit of action and where peters interrupts it has to be a certain time in with the characters

lines. I think this scene could of really benefited from just doing the scene without the dialog to get

the timings. But the spontaneity I was getting from Darrel and Jim was spot on

2:00

This is the spot where I was sh*ting myself, the actors were in position. The camera was set up, the

sound guys were ready , the actors were ready. I think I asked everyone on set were they ready

about 4 or 5 times. Tell you what though I was sitting behind the monitor at that point I was look at

Darrel and Jim in the monitor, standing above me was Sam with the continuity sheets, kneeling

down on my other side was Matt with the Cans on, a little bit down from that was Disturbed Annawith the boom and on the other side was Nigel with the camera and Renate with the clapper. Plus

behind me were some other crew and cast. And I was sitting there thinking "oh my god" what are

we doing here ? whose crazy idea was it ? damm its mine , mmm but that was only very shortly, my

mind then just went around again all the people and it was like. "yeah" this is a film set " we here to

make a film and its going to be F*cking blinding. It took us about three or four takes to get our

protocol right and get over that initial who what where when why. But it was just brilliant, calling

the call then action on the first time on Saturday.

3:30 PM "Cooking with Gas"

Hour and a half into filming and we were steaming along, everyone was on top form, the shots were

going thick and fast. We had to do a tracking shot about 7 or 8 times, mainly due to the pace

speeding up or Nigel and the rest of the crew ending up backing into the bushes. But we go this

fantastic tracking bit. Could see Disturbed Anna's arms going with the boom but she was doing an

excellent job.

4:00

A quick break , not going to go into it to much here, but where we were let down on the Blank guns,

it was JB off to London to buy some. Also the lights for the night shoot were beginning to get set-

up on the other side of the location

6:30 pm

The patrol sequence finished, some fantastic acting in there from Darrel and Jim, there were two

takes which had all of us in stitches, well I know I was, one was instead of getting the line

"Deadlights Mikey Deadlights" we got "Deadlegs Mikey , Deadlegs" think we knew what was on

his mind then. Oh forgot about this one as well where we got "Thank Cod" best one though down to

blocking was we had Sam come in to interrupt Darrel and Jim. Just picture Harry Enfield's character

going "Only me :)"

7:00pm

Pyrotechnic demonstration, I attached one of the pyros to the building, am normally use to


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explosions but with the building the sound was massive - cool

7:30pm

Send out for food and we take a break,

8:00pm

Cracked on with getting ready for the night shoot, one of the things that took the longest was the

setting up of the pyros , could of really done with my Pyro guys from last time (guys where were

you ? ) but it is something that cant be rushed for safety fair credit to Jb and Disturbed Anna.

9:00pm

This is where I think everyone would agree with me, we needed a DOP and also someone running a

second unit would of been helpful in the day, Though fair credit to Tony and Little Anna, the

lighting was looking fantastic, the whole night stuff looks like we spent a fortune on it.

10:30 pm "Boom"

The shot everyone had been waiting for, the building blowing up. Best thing about this was the fact

it cost under a ton to do and it looks brilliant , the lighting the timing. I was extremely nervous

about this shot, not so much it going off but someone getting hurt. The crew were made to stand

well back and the guys firing the pyro's JB and Anna were well covered away from the blast face.

Also Ear Defenders were distributed to all. And then BOOM !

11:15 pm "my little Scene "

I did my cameo as the Sergeant in Deadlights, we had to do a pick up on this as my gun didn't fire ,

we had an explosion go off in the background watching the rushes I didn't realise how close I was,

ears were ringing like mad. It was also then realised a major continuity mess up in the script we had

a line where the sergeant is talking to Joe and say "I said lad hold your fire" and I realised on set

there wasn't a line where the Sergeant says hold your fire in the first place DOPE! So quick pick up

was needed. To assure everyone out there Joe Pricthard is now in a 6ft hole standing up and hes not

coming out till Saturday, so rest assure a mistake like that wont happen again.

11:45

The refugee's scene; the crew doubled up as our refugee's as we had them running out of thebuilding. Well dodgy looking , would not look out of place on a crime watch reconstruction.

12:00am

The second set-up we moved onto pretty quick, we were able to get blank firing guns but no

ammunition. I only had 9 rounds left from the previous shoot of Deadlights so every round matter

and do you know what ?, only having those 9 rounds made me really think hard of how to use them

and after watching the scenes I m damm glad I only had 9 because the shots we got with them were

spot on , bit of sound in post and luvely juvely.

1:30am

The final scene of the night , Mike entering the building to check the refugee's as we were pushed


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for time we had to do a slight script change and drop one of the planned night scenes. I was really

anxious about doing this, I was asking the crew and cast how we could work round that drop scene

and what we could get in the timescale we had. And at the end of the day we cracked it on the head

2:00 am

Wrap -4 hours over schedule , so I decide that Sunday we would have a 10:30 start. Everyone haddone such a cracking job. We got a brew on and started to get the equipment away.

3:30am

Equipment was all packed at it was time to go home, now this was something which could of been

better planned in pre, was everyone's travel and accommodation arrangements, next time I m going

to make sure everyone has a car drive them to there door or have somewhere for them to stay

arranged better before hand. This is again where we could of done with more crew for a night shoot

and a second unit.

4:30am

Get in and put on some mellow music and a bit of Elvis and start going through the shots we had

just shot, I really like doing this, just being on my own and putting the shots together. Also start

getting everything memorised for Sunday

5:30 am

Get to sleep

Sunday

7:30 am

Wake up and get the cigarette and coffee in asap :) though going to the kitchen in the morning I

noticed that my fake blood that I had made had become really solid , luckily we had another

shopping run to do

8 am

More cigarettes and coffee, and its time to get all the stuff packed that I needed for today ,

9:45

Cab arrives and its time to pick up Sam and Jim and up to Stratford. Take the right turning this time

:)

10:30

Arrive at Stratford station see that everyone is in the same boat in the sense knackered so onto the

shopping list goes 24 cans of Red bull and pro plus for everyone

11:00


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All in Stratford and its back down to sunny purfleet.

11:30 "Evil"

Time to make an evil doll, take one childs doll, a film crew and a gravel car park. Kick doll around

for ten minutes or so, add petrol and simmer. Take Bolt cutters and trim dolls hair. Then split open

the back of the head with bolt cutters and remove eye. Black up any bright shiny bits of plastic totaste and ah voila one Evil doll

EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL

11:45

we also had to burn Susie's coat for the deadlights scene later on, top tip when try to keep a fire

controlled with a broom, make sure the broom head is wet first :) DOPE !

12:00

Lunch down everyone and a cake for nigel as its his birthday

1:00 pm

I wanted to shoot the external day refugee scene first when we had the light, but due to the

equipment and lighting being set - up we moved to the deadlights sequence. In hind sight we should

of got this shot first thing as its a key shot and had the vehicles and equipment somewhere else

before hand, but ill come to that later on

1:30 pm

WE forgot that we had left the gate open and two dodgy looking guys in a jag pull down with

rockweilers on tow. They say they are from the Environmental Agency and have a moan at us for

leaving the gate open. They say because of gypsys etc then the guy says if I give him the key he will

lock the gate on his way out. bit cautious about this especially with a 500 quid deposit on the keys

so send JB up to lock the gate behind them. Turns out they were genuine anyway.

2:30pm

Get cracking on Deadlights scene, The Evil doll is a first class actor

3:30 pm

Change in cameraman as Nigel heads of to the millennium wheel for his birthday. Enter stage right

Tony. There was a bit of we gap between starting filming again as we needed to check everyone

was ok setting up the lighting while Tony was down here. Tony also had to get comfortable with the

settings Nigel had left behind , then get comfortable with the camera, remote, back plate to his own

personal settings.

4:30 pm

Shooting well under way now, and Susie getting ready for her evil siren. Referring back to the dollfor a sec. That was a pain in the arse to find, but what also was just as equally hard to find was a

ball that didn't have football markings, Tele tubbies or writing on it. What the hell Is going on in the


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toy industry at the moment ? what happened to the good old days when a ball was a ball, a doll ,a

doll, all we had to do in my day was make way with a piece of coal and even that we had to share

between 24 of us and the kids in the next street. Ah its not like the old days , twenty three hours

down the mine, with only.....

5:00pm "It started with a Kiss"

Tiredness I think was beginning to kick in now, and everyone's focus was beginning to drop. An

important thing I definitely learnt over this weekend was how important focus is, not just the actors

but the crew as well. Things like where you don't get quiet on set first time or someone coming up

to some one asking for a cigarette really does interfere. Have set breaks but enforce quiet on set and

make sure no one who doesn't have to be around is around to interfere with the crew and cast focus.

Anywhoo light was beginning to fade now, and this is where we needed to speed up, so onto the

kissing scene. Now I knew my actor was nervous about this and kind of going back to the focus

thing, for him to have focus and not interrupted, but we got there in the end, got a cracking shot of

blood dripping down onto his boots and a really evil siren going back with blood coming out of her

mouth, fair credit to susie here shes EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL

6:00 pm "Blood what the hell is it with me and Blood"

Picture the scene evil siren, after seducing soldier with evil kiss stand in frame camera on a dutch

tilt. She says her line "Why didn't you let me go" and blood starts to pour from her ears and mouth.

Did it happen - nope ? exactly the same problems with the first shoot on deadlights with JB. Blood

didnt flow in hind sight the pump we used on the first shoot would of come in handy here as we

needed that trickle we had last time when it should of been a squirt. This time we got nothing. Also

muggins here stepping on the spare cup of blood. Always keep your set free of props and directors

walking backwards. BUT !!!! saying this the scene wasn't a disaster, what I did was spill the blood

down the front of Susie and got a few close ups, thing is light was really beginning to go so we

were a little pushed but the way Susie delivers the line its EVIL EVIL EVIL. I can see in post when

we have the sound track down and the shots before its going to look EVIL EVIL EVIL - cool :) Top

tip for anyone wanting to get involved with my Crew, show us you can make blood and disperse it

in a evil way and your half way there to getting on the crew.

7:30 pm

Last shot of the day, refugees going into buiding to be cut in with patrol sequence. This is the only

shot I m not happy with , we lost the light and also we tried to pick it up with the gain on the camera

but it wasn't quite that dark so we've ended up with a very blue grainy image. On a techy note it

might of been worth shooting it without the gain as well so we would of had the detail. Its only afew seconds shot and im hoping in post we can brighten it up or red the sky and make it look like

sunset. I knew its going to be one of those shots where a good few hours in post are going to be

needed. Now we could of moved a lot faster on the Sunday afternoon, and I think here is where you

realise every second on set counts. So if your actor/crew say s wait a minute I m finish my fag. Slap

around the head and say no your needed here now. Also with the focus if that gets disturbed then

that all adds up also actors and crew not being ready through poor unit communication for the take ,

props not ready costume missing all adds up. These are things that can so easily be knocked on the

head and when everyone has been doing such a cracking effort and the shots coming in fantastic it

seems a shame that we lost that one shot to something so trivial.

7:45pm

I ll stick my hand up for this one, I should of sent out for hot food at this point like we did on


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Saturday night. We had the Monday marked for continuity and talking to everyone the general feel I

got on set was everyone wanted to get the film in the can tonight and have Monday to recover. This

is also again where a DOP would of been handy as our lighting wasnt fullly set -up by this point as

well as having Tony away from the lighting as the camera man. A break was called for Tea to make

sure everyone got a drink down them and it was onto cracking on with the interiors

8:00 pm

Now on a night shoot , especially when you run over the day before it should be important that

everyone gets hot drinks down them regularly. Now unfortunately this didn't quite happen on our

set , but we know now and it is not something that is going to happen again. One of the first bits of

equipment we are investing in is a T-urn. Also ill touch more on this later there is looking after the

crew and there is also the responsibility of the crew member themselves to look after themselves. Its

long days hard work, don't be afraid to ask for breaks especially if you've been working with the

camera unit. Also when you do have that 5 minutes your not needed be sensible if you haven't eaten

, then get something down you before going to chat to your mates or having that cigarette. And

remember the producers watch works in a different time zone to everyone else, where 10 minutes

can suddenly become 5.

8:30 pm

On with the first interior, lovely frame but I had to call several times to get a box and a poncho onto

set, at this stage the crew were beginning to slow down and to be honest after the weekend so far,

quite in there right too. This is where we needed the drinks food flowing faster.

9:00PM

Swiftly onto the second set-up, where Mike finds the Girl Trapped under the rubble inside the

building. Key scene. The actors had been getting themselves really focused and pysched up for this.

It was also very cramped conditions. Me and Matt were huddle in a corner behind the monitor.

Renate and Sam were sort of hanging in from the sides and Tony was in the Mix of Dado Lights

and cables. Nerves were also running high as we went for the first take, in fact the first take you

could really tell the nervousness in Jim also it was very audible as well :)

10:30PM

Last shot for this scene, just Susie on her own reading a couple of her lines where she is calling for

help. Very real very believable acting, had to clap after the cut. Really felt like that you wanted to

help her.

10:45 pm

I had over my directing gloves to Matt to become the AD. The reason behind this was that I wanted

to get Susie into make up, as we didnt have a make up artist I was going to do it myself with the aid

of Anna. Now I gave Matt several shots that I wanted mainly pick up's so that I could get on with

the make up. Matt being the sound guy had been at my side all day so he had been seeing the shots I

had been getting in the monitor and I was confident he could keep the flow - how wrong I was :)

only kidding !!!!! Matt did an excelent job in the following shots

10:50 PM

A couple of people were really beginning to feel the beat of the weekend shoot, in hind sight this is


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where I would of taken a couple of people off of set. But as I was pre occupied when asking people

if they wanted to go everyone was coming up with being really fired up. And I just read that.

11:00 PM

Since Monday when we got the green light to go ahead, this is the only time I actually relaxed was

when I was doing the make up on Susie. In fact I m going round her house next week to do it again,you can keep your acupuncture, masseur's, meditation. Get yourselves an actress and some liquid

latex. The make up took about and hour to do. I had bought two different types of liqud latex, one I

had used before the other I was unsure about. I applied three layers of the stuff I hadnt used before

to one half of Susies face. While I was doing this Anna was on the other side with some "Horror

Flesh" building up. I had done some research into burnt faces before hand and I noticed that where

the skin burns away you can make out a change in level in the skin. Hence the flesh. The latex I

hadn't used before didn't seem to be working at first so I cracked open the stuff I had used before

and it had gone solid. but very soon realised how to work the other stuff. What you need to do is put

a bit on the back of your hand , or surface. Let it partly dry then roll it with your fingers and start

building onto the face and add more latex for it to stick, then you can start to tear the latex that you

put down earlier to get that fried flesh look. After the first lot of latex was down I used some strongred oil base stuff , very similar to what clowns use to do there smile to put blotches onto the latex.

When that was down used some black cake make up to go over everything to give that charcol

black. I think as well my this stage me and Anna had so much crap on our hands that was also

helping to colour it.

11:30

One of the scenes Matt was directing was taking too long, a bit of case of two many cooks spoil the

broth. The shot was to get a flaming pentagon. Also the fumes from the petrol were coming over

quiet strong and a couple of people were getting affected by them. So I took the decision if it wasn t

done in ten minutes it would be scrapped. Tensions were also getting a bit fickle at this point.

11:40

the guys got the shot in, one thing I wasn't happy was that I asked for a clear set during that shot and

that didn't quite happen. By now I think tiredness had really begin to take its toll on everyone

tempers were rising a little bit. So time for a prep talk. I got everyone to stop what they were doing

and go outside. I had my little chat re the safety then this is something I learnt as an Army Cadet

instructor and I think it really works, I also used this when I was in Barclays; is you get everyone

being silly for a few , get them in a line and get them start shaking there legs , arms to free up the

tension, get them jumping up and down, even get a song going, though im still surprised noteveryone knew the words to Ten went to Mow so I have put them on the web site here for next

time. The key word over the next few hours was going to be speed , everyone had been doing such a

f*ckign excellent job an I knew everyone was getting a little tired now so a bit more of a prep and it

was ready to rock and roll.

12:00

a few more pick ups from Matt to be done time to get more tea down everyone.

1:00 am

Everyone was really fired up ready to go now, the first interior shot we did was the spookey Girl ,Peters , JB all closing in on Mike and it was EVIL! EVIL EVIL EVIL. Dont know if anyone has

seen the film monster club starring Vincent Price and a god awful sound track by I think UB40


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anywhoo in one of the story's in that there's a bit where this guy is in a bar in a evil village and he

turns around and all the people are there. This was kind of the effect I was going for and boy got it.

1:40

The final scene of the night, by this time I have to confess my eyes were beginning to go a little and

it was getting hard to focus, I think everyone was in the same boat. But the scene looks fantastic itsmike finding the burnt girls body. Its pure EVIL

2:45

The final shots of the day of the hand and finger, I took over the camera from Tony as I could see

we had burnt him out by now.

2:50 am

WRAP - phew a long day but not over yet, time to get all the equipment re loaded and packed away

3:30 am

Again hot drinks and more crew could of been handy here but everyone was doing a cracking job.

Wasn't happy about people trying to get onto the roof in the pitch black with tree's and stuff and a

15ft drop. I think when planning your lighting requirements you should also take into consideration

lights for crew as well.

4:15 am

Time to wake up Ralph our driver with a Red Bull and start getting everything loaded in the van.

Also checking crew to see if they were still alive.

4:40 am

Final check to make sure we hadn't left anything or anybody behind and a litter sweep and its back

to sunny Stratford.

5:00 am

A few hearty choruses of ten men went to mow in the back of the Van, and thanks for braking sharpthree times Ralph :)

5:20 am

Into Stratford, Tony had taken back Anna, Susie , Renate to London and we dropped JB of on the

way to Stratford. Jim and Sam headed off back to Orpington in a cab, while me Ralph, Little Anna

and Matt went upstairs.

7:30 am "under the boardwalk"

Some mellow music on by the drifters and everyone falls asleep. Oh and Baby Anna snores reallyloud ;-)


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Monday

1:00 pm

we all look lovely, I look at my fingers and notice that all the skin is missing from most of my

fingertips so while everyone else is getting showered I m sitting there trying o put plasters on my

fingers with no feeling in them.

2:00 pm

off to the pub for the first pint since Friday and boy does it taste good. After some food and more

drinks say goodbye to little Anna as she makes her way back to Haywards heath, shortly later to go

is Matt of to Luton

6:30pm

Leave stratford back to orpington with all the kit in the Van, really beginning to feel it now,

7:20 pm

back in sunny orpington, get all the kit that needs to be unloaded , unloaded from the van and into

my house. For a cup of chow before checking through anything

7:40 pm

X calls us up, now folks see if you can work this one out, answers to a post card she owes us a

Grand and my phone that I so needed back the week before I owe her 50. Anyway she calls us up

and says can you come down the pub and drop the money off. And im thinking I ve had no sleep,

covered in about 6ft of mud, no feeling in my hands of legs so I said I ll call her back

7:50

Say goodbye to Ralph and its on with unpacking all the costumes and stuff. Look at the guns that

cost me 240 and weep. Got to get my money back on those through hiring them out.

8:20 pm

still unpacking everything, and sorting out what wasn't mine :) keep an eye on your own kit guys,call back the x and says she's got two hopes of me coming out, so I say if its that important pick it

up - but no she has to meet her friends in the pub and I was being unreasonable by not coming down

, and then she hangs up. Some people aye - anyway back to the film

10:30 pm

everything unloaded and checked, try to lift the box of costumes up the stairs, two hopes so there

staying down there till I get some feeling back in my arms , a call to Joe my executive producer to

talk through how the weekend was then onto some paper work.

11:30 pm

send e-mail out to thank everyone for the excellent effort


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12:30 am

put a bit of the "King" on and begin to chill out and start to put all the shots together in my head

3:00 am

get to sleep

Tuesday

7:30 am

get up and into the shower for the millionth time, have to confess really beginning to feel it now and

this morning moving very very slowly, more coffee and cigarettes needed

11:00 am

Moving very slowly indeed as I make my way into london to get the rushes done

12:00 am

Ralph the star has already dropped off all the equipment, so drop the tapes into Stanleys on

Wardour street and time for a quick pint before heading off to Grays to return the Key and pick up

my much needed deposit.

2:40 pm

return to Grays to drop the key off, and pick up the money. Totally forgot that there was a location

fee all involved in this, so hand a 100 quid back to Thurrock Council after getting the 500 back

from them. A tear comes to my eye. But no time to cry as I make my way back over to Soho to pick

up the rushes

4:40 pm

Get the rushes, cant wait to see them

6:00pm

Decide to go and see Ralph down at Fuegos , so decide to have a couple of drinks and then pop

back to watch the rushes

12:30am

Opps two drinks turned into about ten, leave the nighclub and make my way back to orpington

1:30 am

Arrive back and sit down with the Rushes.

6 am


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Finish watching the rushes and buzzing like mad as it look s like we have spent a small fortune on

the production. Everyone did an excellent professional job and it shows. A few funny outtakes as

well, overall very impressed. Only one shot I didn't get right which is where we lost the light, just

hope can sort it out in post.

Wednesday

8:00 am

Wake up, and guess what im going to be late for work again.

11:30 am

Arrive in work, mind in a totally different world, real big come down getting back to the desk

also now know why directors go for beards, look in the mirror and have a strange urge to start

singing "Club Tropicano"

3:00 pm

Start making phone calls to check people got kit back and if they have any issues they want

bringing up in the debrief. Get some really cool e-mails back from the crew on the deadlights e-mail

group. What I wanted to make sure was that everyone had a good time and got lots of experience

and came away learning something.

7:00pm

Down the White horse for the Debrief. I have put on this web site what the issue were and I think

everyone was on the same boat. Luckily no one had any major problems and Matt made a damm

good point.

10:00 pm

Beers flowing nicely and a all happy crew. So off to Fuego's for some debauchery

2:00am

Me, Matt, Sam go back to Ralphs to watch the rushes, I drift in and out of consciousness

Thursday

With Deadlights safely tucked in its can its time to get ready to do it all again for this Saturday with

Ad-Astra, luckily Just producing this one but still have to finalise all the crew and equipment, no

rest for the wicket.

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