Before my crew arrived, my sound designer Kevin and I spent a few hours recording foley for various parts of the film. This pre-recording went by without a hitch and when we finished it was just a matter of waiting for Annie and James to arrive.
They both arrived promptly and we started straight into the shoot, aware of the time constraints on us.
The first problem we had to overcome was lighting some of the first shots. In my movie, the main character doesn't have any electricity, so we had to cheat candlelight. We had tried to light with candles only in our run through but quickly realised that this wouldn't work. Without the benefit of working lights in college, I had to think of a way to add extra light to each scene so that the character and his surroundings were clearly visible while still maintaining the illusion of candlelight.
I tackled this problem with an ordinary desk lamp that I dimmed by placing a yellow pillow case over it's shade. I had tried this previously and was careful to check that there was no danger that the case would catch fire and that it produced the desired effect.
To doubly ensure that the footage was of the best quality, I connected the Z5 to my tv at regular intervals and made sure it looked good. I was pleased with the footage and I am not expecting to need any major reshoots, although I may decide on some when I begin to edit.
With this problem solved we moved forward and by the time we reached our first break at around 4.30am, we were on schedule. We broke, relaxed, ate and when we returned to work, dawn was breaking.
We had to be even more vigilant and aware of our scheduling for the shots using low light from the sun rising because it would disappear fast.
Our extras arrived at around 6 am and we had them made up in 20 mins, ready to shoot the final scene of the movie. Again, this passed off without a hitch and we wrapped shortly before 7 am.
One of my chief concerns about the shoot was that my cast and crew would tire as the night wore on. I made sure there was plenty of tea and coffee, and food available and tried to keep the mood light-hearted. To everyone's credit, they gave it their all and I was very happy with the way the night progressed. We encountered some minor problems with the equipment such as batteries running low but all were easily solved.
Unfortunately, by the end of last week, the footage still hadn't been digitised, so I asked Stephen to make it a priority and I will begin editing on monday. I should have a rough assemble by the end of the week and Annie and James have said they will make themselves available if reshoots are necessary.
Here's a picture of my Zombies, Colum, Dan and James.
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