I wrote and we filmed this with no money and a borrowed camera 8 years ago, and then none of us had time to put it together. Then Peep Show came out and we lost the motivation as people would think we'd nicked the POV idea. It was originally shot as very long pieces of learned dialogue -- each scene location you see was shot as one continuous piece, with the lines of the unseen characters also learned by the actors and 'listened' to - because they were never spoken on set and not dubbed out later. It seemed like a good idea when we filmed but when I came to edit it together eight years later it felt more like an acting exercise than a film-making project. I've therefore 're-imagined' the original concept, ditched over half the dialogue and intercut the two characters much more than planned. This means I've managed to lose most of the pauses as the two main characters 'listened' to the unseen characters. Originally scripted at 28 minutes, a lot of dialogue is on the cutting room floor - but just as well really. The final shot was both actors in the fish and chip shop, where Abby explains all. This was way too laboured so it has all but gone, the only remnant of it being the shot of Fez after the closing credits. Originally the idea was to wrong-foot viewers for a while into thinking that Abby and Fez are looking for each other. It's now unclear as to who Abby actually is, but I'm happy for that not to be spelled out. It's not a classic in an attic but I'm reasonably pleased that I've finally completed something!
Production Info (Just in case you're interested)
We only shot myself and Hayley talking to camera eight years ago. (Using a borrowed Betacam SP)
To perk the footage up a bit, I've recently shot these extras. (In DvCam)
Doorbell and back gate close ups -- 'Beware of Dog,' 'We buy nothing at door', etc.
"Joint", cigarette papers, candles etc. on table
House roofs to give front door shot some depth
GVs in Tyre Fitters.
Church interiors
Keyboard CUs, Laptop on table (with Hayley added later in Avid)
Kettle boiling, coffee cup and spoon etc.
CU of rain on glass
Other footage
Me walking and de-focussed car headlights in opening montage taken from our 'Round Britain' trip.
Disco, disco lights taken from a wedding video I shot.
Post production.
I made newspaper mock-ups in order to discard the overlong explanation shot (in the fish and chip shop).
I did the mock-ups in Photoshop, then used After Effects to generate the moves. The resulting Quick-times were then imported into Avid.
The dv-shot house roofs were matted using Photoshop and plastered over top of hedge to give the shots at front door some depth. Boom man shoulder matted out. Shot flipped for composition.
Smoke effect superimposed over joint smoking shot.
Kitchen background blurred using a matte excluding Hayley.
Hayley was not cast when we shot me in pub so the photo I show the barman -- (a blank card) has had Hayley added in the Avid. (I used a frame from her shot at the front door).
I added lightning flashes to patio door glass. (a brightened-up frame, cropped to fit the glass, and picture-in-picture added over the shot).
Apart from the cemetery walking shot, all filming was done from a tripod. (It was a heavy camera!) Camera 'moves' have therefore been added in Avid. The first version uploaded did not have these camera moves -- and therefore encoded to a much smaller file size. I've therefore sacrificed a bit of quality to make it look hand-held -- but I think it was worth it.
I blanked out the bulk of the old TV in the background of the final shot in the care home, to make it look like a modern flat screen. I didn't bother to do this in the other care home shots as they were shorter and I figured no-one would have time to study the background!
Plus all the usual Avid strobe effects, sepia effects, lens flare effect, colour grading, contrast grading etc. etc.
All sound effects and background sounds have been added. Thanks to the tyre fitters in Mudeford for letting me record their various devices on my MP3 player!
Thanks to the man in the barbers in Fordingbridge who let me scrounge a cigarette from him. I told him it was for a little zero-budget film and he thought I wanted to smoke it to relax after filming. Didn't have the heart to tell him it was going to be ripped up to make a fake joint!
Music supplied by generous talented friends and family, plus two of my songs. ("It's Over" on acoustic guitar, and the bridge from "Promoted")
So okay, maybe it wasn't worth the eight year wait..... but at least I have closure!
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