Manor Shoot

Over the past two days, we have finally completed our last shoot, calling an end to the production of the Cell. It was big change for us as a crew, to have worked solely in the studio, with our one actor David, to then go into a huge location with two additional actors. Hopefully the audience will feel the same dramatic change when the film is viewed. I arranged for all of us to meet at a service station just around the corner from the location in Pinchinthorpe, once we all arrived, we were introduced to our new actors, Gordon & Rachel. They were both lovely and came well prepared with their costuming and lines.

I had decided, since we had two days to shoot on location, we would let the weather dictate where we started, as we had a few outdoors shots. When we arrived the weather wasn't as nice as I would have liked but it was good enough to shoot outside. I thought it best to go ahead and shoot outside while we had the chance. 

We moved everyone outside and shot a few things while we were out there. The crew moved outside first while we set up and the actors had some time to prepare. It was nice to David have the ability to talk with fellow actors, something he hasn't had the chance to do until now. In the above picture you cant see that Rachel and Gordon are sat off camera just next to David, like the happy family they are. 

The weather slowly worsened over the course of the day, so we broke for lunch just as we felt some rain droplets. We had finished the majority of what we needed in the garden. Apart from two shots which we picked up the next day. After lunch we moved into the office which was where the majority  of these shots take place. We ran till around 5 the first day and got some of the most complex shots in the Office. We focused on the shots with the most movement as obviously they would be the hardest to complete. 

Once we had finished the office scenes, we picked up our final few shots in the Garden, before I then let Gordon and Rachel leave for the day, which was around 4 O'clock. I tried to get all of their stuff done first so that they could then leave and we could focus on some of the shots just involving David. The main one we had to do was one long shot which was David waking up and exploring this Manor for the first time. Me and Mikey cameoed in this shot as we wanted to have people walking the halls as if the manor was a functioning company. This took a few tries but I was happy to do it until we had it right as it was such a complex shot. 

Finally after this, we were done. We had finally completed the Cell. Of course a group picture was a necessity. I have really enjoyed making this project, there is a bond we have all formed which I am hoping extends past the Cell. I've said to David multiple times, at some point in this production he extended past just an actor and became a member of our crew.