One thing I have learnt about making films guerilla style is to always look ahead, continue to push, forever believing that things will sort themselves out and that solutions will present themselves… and to never look back.

However I am going to break this rule, although already well into 2009 I still have fond memories of the extraordinary amount of work delivered by the team and events I witnessed across Autum and Winter 2008. With an awful summer in terms of weather, there were a lot of scenes to fit in before the end of the year.

First up, more Badlands scenes shot from Tow Law in Teesdale to North Shields in Tyne & Wear on the 21st and 28th of September.

     

Capturing empty streets and vacant buildings in urban areas is never easy, but a fair amount of luck and cheekyness worked for us. This was not to everybody’s taste and I still remember how upset a local resident was to see the ‘quarantine’ tape across some the buildings – well they say only truth hurts!

     

On the 4th of October Paul and I were invited to joing Mark Strange near his home town to help out on the creation of his own showreel. Meeting the nicest guy around and the potential for learning was too good to miss. We ended up in an old rubber factory and had a lovely day. It was great to see Mark, Chee, Fidel and many familiar faces again, the last time was at the premiere of Underground. Seeing a full production team in action was very interesting and I even got a small part in one of the short films (well I think you can see my left hand!). Paul and I helped out and got our hands dirty (literally) and join the rest of the team for a well deserved bevvy at the end of the day – we had the opportunity to show the concept trailer of The Solution which was well received by Mark Strange and Fidel who gave us some good advice to take our project forward. We would have loved to stay longer with the guys but we had to be up early the next day for filming.

     

So, next was the very cold yet sunny Sunday 5 2008, if the date is familiar to you it is because you may have been one of the many thousands of people taking part in the Great North Run. The plan was very simple: get to the Felling Bypass early, wait for the road to be cleared for the event, ask your three actors to walk in the middle of the road and capture the scene to end all scenes. A few things we didn’t plan for: the many BUPA Great North Run signs, the many spectators, the Jazz Band (see below) and the numerous police officers looking at the three hovering actors with suspicion. Once Knoll and I had stopped laughing at Jeff’s panic attack we seized the right moment (it was like the perfect alignment of planets). The Felling Bypass was cleared, spectators kindly moved out of the way and the coppers had better things to do… ACTION! …CUT! …Time for breakfast!

   

Following a doubtful breakfast at the local fast food place (I can’t bring myself to use the term restaurant) we continued with more Badlands scenes in and around Washington. Captured a great sequence on the bridge and surrounding areas, plus Knoll and Maddi got a chance to show off their make-up fx skills.

     

As we had an early start everybody got to go home early, alas a perfect day was spoiled by local vandals who covered Jeff’s car with drawings and words that could only be described as juvenile and quite inappropriate. If you recognise the hand writing or drawing style please contact us:

 

No rest for the wicked and the following weekend was the filming of Jake’s Flashback on the 12th of October. Each character has a flashback sequence in the film, the idea is to share with the audience some information about their past, the impact of the infection to their lives and perhaps an indication of what might motivate the character throughout the main story. The whole team invaded Jake’s house and I must say I felt a little sorry for Jake’s parents who would have preferred a quiet day no doubt. Although the bad feelings soon vanished with the offer of warm food and comfort, luxury really. Our deepest thanks to Jake and his family for their welcome and well done to Jake’s Dad, Jake’s Sister, Graham and Martin for pulling off a great performance on the day. Special commendation for the make-up FX from Maddi and Knoll.

     

Oddly we seem to be killing all our friends and family in The Solution, all those who have helped us are either one of the savages, or killed by one of the infected or killed by one of the heroes. This was indeed the case when my wife Denise and daughter Caitlin helped us complete a scene at Whickham Gardens. This was the same location we used for the intro sequence in Land of the Kami so it was great to be back. Knoll and Maddi were in charge of make-up FX and did a fantastic job, in fact at first I did not recognise Denise and Caitlin. The temperature was pretty low and despite a sunny start we were soon facing rain and clouds, more work at the editing stage, ah well…

   

Anyway, great laughs, great performances and great deaths with lots of blood, what more could you wish for on a Sunday? Just can’t wait to see this sequence on the big screen. I still wonder what my daughter’s headmaster thought when Cailtin told him ‘Yesterday was fun, my dad’s friend killed me with a big metal stick!’

Next was a long cold winter… watch this space for more looking back posts…