Behind the Scenes (blog 24)

Day 2 of what is expected to be a 21 day shoot. Our first day was pretty much decapitated and had it's legs taken out from under, and thus really only counts at this stage as a preliminary run at the course, a limbering exercise, a shaking out of the joints before we take position at the starter line, and boy was it a sobering experience, talk about starting with a bang, we will probably end on a whimper. It is now 10 o'clock and we are just pushing off for the location, already two and half hours late. Daniel is fretting and predicting doom, as it is, this is a butt tight schedule and we cannot afford to loose any ground, today we are scripted to shoot three scenes, as well as having to make up on yesterday, so we got to get those slates a slapping and go go go. I am on the perpetual phone letting everyone know that we are back on track again, thankfully all those that have volunteered to help are standing by and have all had breakfast as I had requested. Everybody is in, Sam is on make up, the camera and scene is being prepared, there is a hustle of activity, about 20 individuals buzzing around, directions being given, and now that we have been given proper permission for take off, we can afford to gun the engines wide open and let them roar as my aim now is for us to get ahead of ourselves and start notching away at this hefty bark of what is to be 131 scenes. Holy...!!!!!

We have a meeting outside the front door of the house once again to explain what just happened and where too now, some roles have changed hands, and suggestions are made. Everybody bursts into a spontaneous round of applause in a mixed expression of due relief and enthusiasm to get cracking. It is 11 O'clock and we are shooting. I have asked Pamela if she would act as first AD and she has agreed. Vinit is our master DOP (director of photography)and he has his superb 1st AC (assistant camera) Pierre Branconnier at his side. Daniel our Director is discussing the shot, Pamela calling the requirements as 1st AD (assistant director) and Sean Hearn setting up the lights as our master Gaffer, and Alphonse A.Lanza in place with his boom recording sound (we have chosen to record directly into the camera). Added to this Pat Coulhane is for the moment on clapper board, George Doyle is sat observing the following set up, we are feeding via the HD/SDI OUT of the camera an output which is a 720P signal and this we are converting via a black magic HD link to a 2:1 image on my 23" Apple HD monitor via the DVI connection, the screen of which has been masked off to give Daniel a 2.35:1 aspect ratio which is the aspect ratio we have decided to shoot the film on (Lord of The Rings, serious wide screen) and all this is simply to act as an observation point for the Frame and Action to the Director and continuity.

Daithi is down in the depths working on the Production Design. Kevin Goodman is scurrying about making me laugh and pretty much everyone else as he deals with his role as props master, and smoke machine mechanic. Helen Broderick is acting as runner temporarily and doing a superb job as she is constantly back and forth on errands as the list of requests is unending. Angela Boyle is doing Lock Off for the moment and simply has to echo the words, 'Rolling, Quiet on Set.' but not for too long as I intend to rotate everybody that is assisting or working as PA's so that they can leave this film set feeling rewarded, it is not often one gets the chance to work on a feature film in Kerry. Sean Hearn is creating amazing byzantine structures using stands and flags to establish elaborate lighting effects. He really is something, what a worker, industrious, inventive, and utterly competent, this man has come to save the day, he has got to be one of the best in the industry, and we are so lucky to have him come on board as part of Vinit's team.

The actors are at their first positions and we are recording and downloading footage shooting at 4K, the maximum resolution this camera will allow. I have read through the Internet forest of information, that Steven Soderbergh has supposedly said that 2K is a sufficient resolution to print back to 35mm film. We will see about that in time, the plan is to capture the movie at the highest resolution available and then make a HD edit to shop around with, then whatever distributor should show interest in the project can purchase an untouched 4K asset and give it the 'Hollywood' treatment as such. Time will tell. For the moment have a look at the following, a rough edit of some behind the scenes footage from the making of the movie. Simply copy and paste the address beneath into your search field.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI2qQGAJaPY

please if you should like what you see, send this on to your friends and get a little snow ball rolling down that hill!!!

Plough-on (blog 23)

The entire team shaken and stirred, are now dispersing group by group and arranging to meet for dinner at the Allegro, our cornucopia for the next three weeks. The gear is safely packed away for the night and I am trawling the pit of my brain to find inspiration for this new nugget I have to pull clean and gleaming from the coal face. We need a significant injection of cash into the account by tomorrow morning or else we are all to languish like those abandoned souls on Théodore Géricault 'Le Radeau de la Méduse' on a raft drifting at a loose end, a crew without a cause, without a purpose, slowly floating toward despair. I thought this might have happened due to the equipment not making it into the country, now that grim possibility of being cast inert is once more upon us. We have set the stage, but oddly enough we are denied access, pure and simple, none shall pass!! until that cheque shows up in an interim holding account, our hands are tied. I manage to garner some information here and there about the nature of who we are dealing with, as it is necessary to have some kind of portrait of the expectations I should hold in mind when it comes to getting that money back, because I know we will honour our end of the deal, but will he?

First things first, we were back at Alan's house and I am on the phone with our lawyer, painting the scene for him and together formulating over what kind of letter was required to safe guard this transaction, and that turned out to be a letter of trust. I was then able to leave Brian Gormley to his own devices and draft the precise wording so he could get us that letter ASAP. We were back at the books and observing where the Hull was splitting and attempting to predict and plot our way through a possible financial crisis. Out of the experience of the first days expenditure we could with a certain statistical accuracy see into the immediate future to where the major currents of monies were going to gush and surge. And with a certain trepidation visibly see how much more money we would actually require to keep this omnivorous eighteen wheeler oiled and gassed for the next twenty days. Not a pretty forecast, but regardless of that I was going to have to rise to every occasion and attempt to provide upon request up to a point.

What slightly concerns me right now is the thought patterns of those involved, this is a micro-budget movie, not even a low budget movie, a low-budget movie would be a 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 euro. I have stated to all involved how much we have to play with and it is substantially beneath the above bar, and as a friend of mine, the photographer, Sante d'Orazio commented about the fact that we had so little money, expressing that we were actually better off, as we would be forced to invent and use imagination in the place of hard cash. This was a circumstance I was well aware of, and I am used to dealing with people like this and love it, as it is such a laugh watching someone come up with a solution that is usually brilliant. Daithi is a first class, prime example of the species, that can simply invent their way out of a corner, and can do this on the twist of a nickel. And can actually see value in what others might see as trash, hence Daithi's days spent trawling through the scrap yards and creating a set for the movie for free. He just went and did it. Necessity being the Mother of Invention.

Now it is my job to keep spirits up and not allow the mood to falter. It was a trying enough start to the process this morning, bordering on the traumatic, but as Daniel always said "the first couple of days will be hell, until we get into it." but not even Daniel could have foreseen this particular set of circumstances. I arranged for a meeting in Jesse MaCarthy's bar between Alan, Kevin Hannafin and I, where the three of us over a long involved consideration of our predicament hammered out a solution, and that was it, the money was now in my hot fist, all we had to do was get it to the real estate agent as soon as his door cracked open for business in the morning and then call the land lord and clear it with him. Until then there was a definite air of expectancy, anxiety, uncertainty, a sort of quiet unspoken ghost loitered about the place, no one was actually breaking that peculiar silence, for fear of hexing still further our faith, and so we all retired to our comfort zones to rest and get ready for whatever was to come in the morning. Kevin Hannafin had stood up and come to the rescue, his generosity and vision stepping into the breach, and now I felt the might of two powerful allies by my side, Alan and Kevin, both willing to go that extra mile, and neither one blanching in the face of this serious challenge.

Next day Alan and I were outside that office and chatting about whatever, when the time came for us to enter and pass over the cheque, it was DONE PRONTO! then we hopped back into the car, phoned the land lord, informed him of what had just transpired, only to be given an unusual reply. It was Alan that spoke with him and he just looked over at me. Then we drove to the apartments and I called for a meeting, gathering the crew into the casts apartment where I kept stum until I could inform everybody at once as to what the out come proved to be. There they were all eager and as anxious as one would hope from a team that were here to rock and roll. I could clearly see what I had accomplished in getting these individuals together right there and then, and there was definitely an esprit de corps, unified and staring back at what I was about to say.

THE FILM IS OVER. HE HAS DECIDED AGAINST IT. I AM SORRY BUT WE DID ALL WE COULD DO. THIS IS A DISASTER. I watched as eyes glared in dis-belief, some clearly crestfallen, and certain expletives of disappointment were uttered. I spoke some more about how sorry I was to see all this come to naught, and carried on a little while longer until it was time to turn away, bend over and sweep my coat tails up in the air as I hollered out 'BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS!!!! WE ARE BACK IN BUSINESS!!!! LET'S GET TO WORK!!!!!!' some people shouted out 'you bastard!! how could you could you do that!!' and other's laughed, and some stood looking rather annoyed at my little charade. I recall Alan walking out behind me laughing to himself and wondering what the hell just happened, and I was laughing as to me we were back from the edge where in fact we had ever so slightly fallen over, but somehow managed to yank ourselves back out, and I had every intention of enjoying the upsurge of energy that was now gushing once again, because just a few hours ago we had been rendered a solemn chain gang, our free spirits manacled in iron, and I found that unbearable, and now we had busted loose and were freed from under them shackles. That was it! there and then there was nothing lurking in my consciousness that could cloy or sully this vision, the above debacle had been a source for concern and did linger across my mind until now. If we stick to the plan, and everybody holds firm under what will be straightened circumstances, then we can make this MOVIE, and do as the land lord said "plough-on.".

There once was a Titan named Atlas (blog 22)

As we walk into the main room so to speak, nerves are certainly on edge, and judging from peoples slanted expressions outside before we entered they all have their fingers crossed and are saying private little prayers to their various gods. Meanwhile back on the floor where the real action is about to unfold Alan, Daithi, the Land Lord, his agents and I are stood in a sort of horse shoe configuration as I watch the man's eyes scan the interiors and literally see his blood begin to boil. Yes we had utterly distressed the space, certainly to the naked eye, or more poignantly for the camera lense. And as this man's fury mounted his eyes darted from one adjustment to the next up along a fiendish scale of absurdities. Once again I cannot describe these elements as they are of course essential to the plot, but suffice it to say should you be in this man's shoe's your head might well have popped off. We made an 11th hour effort to placate what appeared an incoming tidal wave by clearly showing how easily all of this could be undone. Snapping point snapped, and then he let loose, and demanded a huge sum be placed into a bank account and held as a deposit until the house was returned to the condition it was in before we arrived, but that was not all, and as his eyes scanned further afield his temper spilled over and morphed into the following nightmare "In fact, that's it!! stop filming right now...".

Whatever words I had up until then been administering were now being splintered and smashed to pieces between the jaws of a near apoplectic fury, and so as my last vowel flew up the chimney to escape, a deathly silence descended. I looked about at some of the faces here gathered and expressions were grave to say the least, Edward Munch would have been hard pressed to paint the scene. Then I took a look down into myself and settled into a sort of inner quietude and we all simply stood stock still for at least 10 seconds, which seemed a lot longer at the time, while the prospect of all this good Will and luck, and talent and hard work, over a frenetic 11 weeks as well as significant costs seemed now sucked into a super silent inter galactic Black Hole. Zip. Sip. Gone.

If I am allowed to write this, I consider myself a pretty good judge of character, and when I first saw this gentleman in his car and he and Alan spoke briefly, I got a feeling from him that things would ultimately work out, I don't know why, but I said that to Alan as we drove away. And somewhere in this present gulf that little rope ladder was down there while way out of sight, as daft as that may sound. Then Alan O'Sullivan simply asked the gentleman if he could have a word with him outside, they both left the room as the rest of us stood and chatted politely. After a certain time elapsed Alan entered the room again and asked us to join them, I could sense the ice cap was lifted and the freeze thawed. This was true, but new requisites were in place, which once again meant a significant cheque to be lodged into an account as a holding deposit, and a letter drawn up from our lawyer to his, qualifying the affair, BUT! there was to be no more shooting until the cheque was in the bank, which for us was still disastrous as we did not have that money to spare. We all talked together some more in a slightly warmer clime, agreed on matters of responsibility, shook hands, and the guys turned on their heels and left.

Alan O'Sullivan had saved the day and shouldered in under this ominous weight like Atlas hoisting up our little world that is Spiderhole.

Alan and I looked to one another and then walked to inform an anxiously expectant cast and crew of the outcome. They were not to be relieved as such, because we did not have that golden key to deposit, and so some high Latin would now be called for in my next series of incantations. I was going to have to pull a plump turkey out of the next hat I came across, and that had to happen in the next couple of hours. We had managed to get up and rolling for about 1.30 on the first day after dealing with the mornings blizzard, and now we were all land locked once more having tasted a few hours sweet gallop over the meadows, our bob sled slamming four square into this obstacle and sending us all like some Scoobby Doo crew hurtling off and landing humbled on our rear ends, puzzled and bruised.

Right then!! that's it for today!! it's a RAP, this was 6.30 and we would probably have shot as late as possible into that night to make up precious time, but no no, that was not to be, so while everybody slowly broke the gear down, Alan and I were on our phones and preparing for a hard days night.

Daniel had been locked away in the upstairs toilet observing the events, and after he told me a story about what was happening to him as all the above was unfolding for us, and it seems he was in a shit storm of his own, the night he told me about the stress of his predicament at that exact time, while we lay in our opposite beds I laughed like I have never laughed before. And will one of these blogs get round to a description particular of that moment of hilarity. Daniel and I were crying with laughter together once again, but doom was skulking, what else could we do, wear sack cloths and wilt!!!!!????? NO way.

House of Horrors (blog no.21)

Back track a few paces here and let's get some context on this calamity. When I got permission to shoot in this location there was a certain amount of ambiguity resonant on the atmosphere. Permission was got second hand so to speak via an intermediary agent working on behave of the owner. There was a delayed time frame in actually getting the go ahead in the first place, and so I had to hector the agent, by calling on the phone and into his office numerous times. Eventually and in my presence the owner was contacted over the phone and the request articulated to him in a digested form, by this I mean, down playing the matter to be fair as a favour to me in order to assist with furthering my project, and done sincerely as the man trusted me and knows my family, so he was pretty sure the house would be returned as we found it, and this was a given. I did ask the agent there and then if I could speak with the owner on the phone as I had no idea who he was, and wanted to explain what it was we had in mind. As far as he was concerned a film was being shot in the house, FAS were involved and some of the guys renting the premises were also involved, and that was it, but as I had mentioned to the agent and apologized for badgering him, I had a lot of people to deal with and flights to book and it all hinged around this location, hence my urgency. I left there with a green light.

Since then the house was slowly transformed as carefully as possible, this entailed hanging new wall paper over all the original wallpaper and then painting that to the tones we required, also inevitably painting over the walls and doors to generate the desired aesthetic feel, when we would finish shooting those changes would be utterly erased and a newly painted house once again back to it's original condition, or better as the paint work had by now aged considerably. There were other adjustments which I cannot mention simply because knowledge of these would affect the plot for any readers, but once again whatever we worked in the new was a cosmetic adaptation designed specifically to be easily reversed.


And now we were in a stew, the owner had shown up to see what was going on, and I suspect this was due to him being alerted by a neighbour to the fact that a serious commotion was in process about his premises. The morning of the first day I strolled over on seeing one of the neighbours get into his car and had a chat with him about what was going on, the location is situated about 35 yards from his grounds. He was not a happy camper, as he had had problems with certain flack that had spun off from various individuals leaving late night parties at the house, and this man was particularly angry I can tell you, so I had to assure him of our professional intentions, we exchanged numbers and I told him should he have any reason for complaint to call me and I will deal with it immediately. We were going to have a generator running for potentially 16 hours a day in his vicinity, and I was anxious that this be as quiet as possible, it was still not in place by that time as we had only just established the need for a different model. And as the county of Kerry is not a usual haunt for film industry activity, we had to get van's on the road to travel almost 300Km simply to get extra lights from Ardmore Studios in Bray, County Wicklow, and the generator was 150Km away, most essential film related materials that were requested required a significant amount of energy and expenditure to accumulate.

Back to the racing Merc and frantic phone calls as Alan and I headed for the location. I suggested we take an alternative route to speed the process up and by that decision we actually came across the owner in his car. By that time as Alan is a car aficionado, Alan had established who owned the house simply by asking Daithi what car was he driving and what was the registration, there and then he knew the man, and had had dealings with him in the past, and low and behold we crossed paths on the road and so stopped and got out to have a chat. I had spoken with him over the phone while he was on set, I introduced myself, informed him who I was, and told him that I was on my way, but in the mean time he had left and said to Daithi that he would be back at 6 O'clock. He seemed quiet relaxed and approachable sitting his car with the window down as both Alan's exchange simple pleasantries, then Alan mentioned that it was he that was involved with the Film, and so it was simply left that he would be up there soon and we would talk about it. Alan and I jumped into the car and arrived to the front door to a sudden stop, where everyone had gathered dump struck, despondent and utterly confused.

There was a certain element of arriving like the 7th cavalry or deus ex machina about this entrance, as this was a very serious situation, and it had to be surmounted right away. To date nothing has stopped the gallop of this production, while many high fences were thrown in our path, we cleared them all. This was a massive barbed fence, a moot, and a cliff hanger all in one. It was going to take a whole bag of inspired words and actions to get around this problem. And there stood Alan and I being looked too by the entire, crew, cast, extras, and the dogs with anxious eyes, as I simply said "we will get this sorted." and they all cheered and clapped as all everyone wanted to do was get on with making this movie happen. And no one had traveled all this way and put so much time and energy into this for us to be slapped down on the first day of shooting. Daniel was in a state of semi-despair and saying as he has done on numerous occasion "I knew it, it was all to good to be true! I knew something would go wrong." and I would retort, "that's bollocks! this movie is going to get made." and somehow I knew he felt a certain comfort from my big, bold, brash, belligerence, but deep down he seemed to always be prepared for the worst possible disappointment. And I wasn't having any of it.

Now what! we wait, and some people took the time to play swing ball on the lawn and smoke cigarettes and enjoy the sunshine. A representative of the agent arrived on set and I shook his hand and made some preliminary introductions, we walked him to see what the commotion was all about and he was pretty shocked and impressed by what it was we had undertaken, the house had on the surface of things been transformed but as we pointed out all things had been done with serious consideration involved, and steps had been taken with regard to returning the house to it's pre-horror-movie self. He left and returned about 10 minutes later with the owner and the main agent who I had been dealing with from day one, this was it, we had to explain and satisfy our position to a man who had been taken for six by the extent of our vision for his up until then reasonably domestic setting. I shook his hand, and we exchanged a few words then his team, Alan, Daithi and I walked into what was now a Film Set, with an impressive array of equipment, a dolly set up, lights, stands, cables, the beautiful sight of the Red Camera kitted out to the full, and the hallmarks of what seemed an unrecognizable interior as our setting for this pow wow which was about to get heated to the point of combustion. Christ! this is just our very first day of operations, what the hell have we got ourselves in for???

Alas First Day of Shooting (blog 20)

Here we go, day one of what is planned to be a 21 day shoot. We arrive to a set that appears tranquil under the spell of the morning light. The setting for the location is at the end of a drive through a pair of stolid cut stone pillars. Once upon a time horse and carriage would have ferried 'the quality' so to speak, people of money and reputed culture, in a nut shell, The Ascendancy. A Protestant class of the Anglican church who pretty much ruled the country unperturbed by the time this house was built 1827, since many of the rebellions, as they are called, were now great ships on the distant horizon drifting away into the veils of history. And the natives well brow beaten and while sullen, largely in line, for the time being anyhow. Here we were a motley crew disburdening our modern wares and gathering perhaps under the watchful curious eyes of the dead. About to embark on a spree.

We had an arrangement with FAS an Irish governmental sponsored organisation which helps provide training in a variety of fields. Tralee has a superb Television Production Course, largely due to the efforts of Mr.Paul Dolan down the years, steadily building this into a first class facility. The guys and girls that are training there were to be given the experience of assisting on a feature film while in turn we had the use of some of their equipment, such as rails, a dolly, a gib arm and so on, as well as these invaluable hands on deck. This excellent photograph above shows Pat Coulhane, who from the get go was to become a tenacious and resolute energy that I could absolutely rely on. People are beginning to rendezvous and lots of hand shakes set simple firm commitments. There is a bustle of excitement, Kev is up and at it and peeling off tired eyes, he is about to jump into the crew cab and go pick up the various gangs from their apartments. Geroge Doyle has arrived kitted out with all the gadgetry needed to hold down his responsibilities. Daniel and I are waltzing about the house in preparation for the show. This is it, we are at the starters orders, and it is now time to set the stop clock.

As people begin to pour in introductions are made while Alan and I consider our tactics, I am looking over Vinit's request list for more lights which he e-mailed me last night. Questions are being asked and answers given. The new generator has been brought to the set, Sean is having a look at it and kicking it in motion, it is still too loud and so we try to set it up a certain distance from the main rooms, but I am not so happy about this either as it is too close to the neighbours back wall and I can foresee a complaint. Obstacles, obstacles, what to do, Alphonse who arrived yesterday into Shannon and was whisked down to Tralee in Alan's badass Merc (by Joe O'Sullivan, Alan's uncle who will come on board and work over the duration of the shoot) is running some sound checks, the results are so-so and that is not good enough. I find myself on the phone speaking with Jason the utterly reliable Cine Electric connection, giving him the details for the lighting list and then asking for some advice on finding another generator literally right now. A series of phone calls later and we have two vans on the road and by the early afternoon, a big 16 KVA generator parked up and pumping out the wattage, as well as Joe returning with all the lights and extra requests for Vinit. Now that's what I am talking about!!

Food stuffs and materials had to be supplied and runners were back and forth in constant succession to stock the kitchen area with, a coffee machine, cups, paper towels, bottled water, milk, tea, snacks, first aid gear, tea towels, toilet paper, cleaning agents, paper plates, plastic glasses, around and around and around as new requests surfaced and were agreed to. We are breaking ground here and fast, seeds need to be in place and in fruition like yesterday. Roles are being assigned, and then a meeting is called and Brian Nolan goes over his concerns with regard to a fire drill and establishing a fire point, meanwhile we have bought several fire extinguishers and placed them appropriately. Kev is designated health and safety officer as well as props master. Daithi is busy at work on his set which is ever on going. More requests for various electrical parts, paints, tools, props, make up, more food stuffs for snacking on, and on and on and on, as we hemorrhage money but nonetheless get these bolts hammered home as they will hold the rigging that will see us sail through what ever typhoons lay ahead. We hope.

Our first group meeting serves to highlight any concerns and establish roles, we are now a group of about 20 people all keen and razor edged ready to cut the mustard. As I look about I feel a natural rise of emotion within, for here we are, on the shore of Daniel's first feature film, a dream come true for him, and 11 weeks manic effort for me, as well as feeling the fizzing excitement of other's, Alan and Joanne and the hundreds of studious hours of attention paid to this challange, Vinit and all the crew, excited by the prospect of carving our their first feature on The Red Camera. All the actors buzzing with energy and keen to crack on, the FAS team voyaging out into the waters of their first feature also. Brian Nolan still I think amazed that we have reached this point, and clearly excited. Everybody is happy and filled with gusto, we are now an extended band of brother's and sister's, and together we can make this happen. George Doyle is snapping with his high end Canon. Cameras are rolling as the documentary team are capturing the moment, as we all strap ourselves in and I reach out to push that big RED BUTTON. BLAST OFF....HOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Alan is pretty much acting as production manager on the ground in his ultra efficient way, organizing the cars and how we maintain a clear and effective drive way at all times. In the case of an accident, we may need an ambulance or fire brigade up here in a hurry. Consigning roles to various extra people involved, such as dealing with that serious ass generator, this will need to be observed and fueled, rubbish will need to be disposed of frequently and a quality control set in place to maintain the general area, lunches have to be picked up and on site everyday, and the constant string of requests addressed effectively. Cars are coming and going, supplies put in place, and the photograph has now been taken with the SPIDERHOLE clapper board on proud display in Daniel's hands, I am so happy for him, so we are off down the track like a hare and pack of hounds already before I could even hear action shouted as it was all action, ACTION ACTION!!! a mini blizzard was blowing around my ears. At 4 O'Clock Alan and I left for his place since we had to take stock, we had spent a giants fist of money already that day, and it was potentially a threatening situation, how the hell could we maintain a production if it was to keep pounding on like this? we had to a have a look into the books and steady as she goes.

there we were sat at a large table with numerous files and folders open, drinking a cup of tea and talking about the events of the day so far, somewhat relaxed in that moment as it had been a sprint since 5 that morning. Jessica and Abigail, Alan and Joanne's adorable children played about the place and brought a sweet inspiring energy to light. THEN!!! My phone rang, it was George Doyle, he simply said, 'Pat, the Landlord is on the set." this was enough to create a penetrating shiver of ice cold anxiety, we chatted for a little bit until it was obvious that all was not well, fucking far from it, and I needed to be there NOW, I looked to Alan and he read my countenance and was equally struck by this unknown prospect, his face dropped, and my mind blasted a stick a dynamite!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!! We bounced into his Merc and hit the road twice on the way back to the location, phone calls were constant as the plight unfolded, I was asking Daithi a series of questions, attempting to establish the mood, and this all boiled down to one conclusive and utterly despicable prospect HE HAS STOPPED THE FILM.

eyes wide open (section 19)

I made a phone call at 8.oo in the morning to George Doyle, and this man has played a hugely significant role in the film. George was the Creative Director for a company in Kerry entitled 'Stockbyte' that was sold for a huge sum a couple of years ago, the brain child of Jerry Kennelly's genius. George is a first class photographer and to my mind one of the best in Ireland. He had phoned me a couple of days earlier offering his help as he had been away in South Africa on a project and was just returned and had heard all about the Red Camera Feature I was putting together. Barry Murhpy was the man responsible for that, and is also as far as I am concerned the best interiors photographer in the country. After that initial phone call I had considered him for 1st AD (assistant director) but was also bordering on taking on that role myself as I thought that I would probably be able to articulate for Daniel on certain matters. But this was unrealistic since I still had so much ground to cover and there was no way I could be on set at all times. Then it clicked and was all too obvious. I asked George if he would take on Continuity to which he immediately said yes, the prospect of having him on board is deeply assuring to me, as one of his many qualities would certainly be his particular diligence, and I am sure he will bring his assiduity and professionalism to this production which I have no doubt will serve to lift this film once again up yet another serious notch. And by the way for all of you that have been enquiring about who took these magnificent photographs, well here he is, seated between Samantha and Angela Boyle who assisted him on continuity. Looking like a rock star.


Almost all the photographs through out the course of the blog were shot and colour adjusted by George, the weaker ones were done by me as I search through Aperture and my own collection to substantiate the story. And there it was established over one phone call, we had a first class Stills Photographer, and a man willing to sacrifice three weeks of his time, and it is the men and women of this ilk and character that have collectively made this feature a real contender.

Despite last nights carnage everyone is up reasonably early, as we need to get Samantha into the actors to do make up and then get them to Shindig where we will meet with Gary Brosnan and there they can rifle through the store for costumes, all of which we managed to accomplish for about 12.30. After this we were off to the location as the crew had already been there for a couple of hours preparing for a pre-light and to run some camera tests. The actors were well impressed by the location as Daniel guided them through their footsteps in the manner they should enter according to script. All of our lights from Cine Electric had been brought in to the house and from now on a lot of the gear was going to remain in the location and Kevin was going to act as security guard as well as master of props. There was no way we could break down in the evenings, so I informed our insurance company of these altered plans and got the go ahead.


We have a 6KVA generator courtesy of Alan and with this Sean is trying to establish as to whether that will be sufficient for the job, he has done a thorough investigation into all possible options and we brought in an electrician also to have a look over the location with him and the conclusion is that we will have to use a generator plane and simple, no choice. The house electrics being in such a precarious condition to say the least. After the numerous tests were done I brought the actors to do some shopping for extras they would require in relation to their costumes, and also as I had done previously with Joanne and Sam, shop for some food stuffs as we initially planned to supply breakfast elements to the apartments, cereals, tea/coffee, butter, bacon, eggs, sausages, beans, black and white pudding, milk, water, bread, juice, toiletries, and so on.

There was a gathering of various interested parties showing up to have a look see. My parents arrived, as well as my sister and her daughter Aoife who will have a small role to play, her friend Molly Regan came along as did a plethora of guests, all of which I was glad to see and show them around, as this was the time to do it before we start the lock off so to speak and get cracking, can't afford to escort people about while scenes are being shot, we will need absolute quiet on set, and I will have to be pretty strict about that. The noise of the generator is already posing a problem and in fact we have gone and got another one as Alan's will not be sufficient, we will hire an 8KVA super silent and test this one for sound first thing in the morning.

After these preliminaries were dusted over we drove to my home in Ballyheigue, where we met with Daniel and I fixed something to eat while we all had a laugh looking out pretty tired and peering brain dead off across the distant horizon over some glasses of wine. Tomorrow we are going to start in earnest, and will need to start stabbing home the ice picks one by one as we attempt to scale an unknown ascent. While we hung about Aofie my god daughter and Molly had been busy making themselves up in horror make up, and were both bags full of girly giggles and so excited but too shy to come out and show us, so I went in and strung them across my shoulders and brought out these little bursting artists much to the enjoyment of everybody and then it turns out that Emma and Amy were inspired by what they had done and so was Daniel, and it was decided as a result that Amy's make up would be changed thanks to these creative little souls. The future is bright. And Emma and Amy cooked up an idea where Aoife would be perfect for a part in the film. Good on you girls, and Daniel has decided to run with it.

What lies ahead for us is now slouching from its darkness and we are about to discover what trials and tribulations this experience will sling at us when one dares to take on the enormous task of making a feature film. We will all need to be capable of working like crazy for the next 21 days. I wonder how much partying will go on and how individuals will hold up to the pressures we are about to endure. I dropped the actors back to their apartment, and then went and joined the crew for dinner, eventually getting home about 11 O’Clock to write this and prepare for the morning, Daniel and I will talk no doubt and laugh and enjoy the teasing prospect of the madness we are about to dive straight into with eyes wide open.