PRE-PRODUCTION
COLLOQUIUM DE ARTE – THE WRITING OF INLUSTRATIO
Of course, the writing responsibility fell on the project’s director – Patryk – and my involvement in the process was not particularly ground-breaking. He began putting his own spin on the idea (with my full support and approval), and during the process, due to us being flatmates, consulted his writing with me. Throughout the course of the script being written, I provided some structural and general feedback, most notably shifting the order of the last page (as well as addressing questionable wording choices and providing emotional support during the process).
PORTRAIT OF WIK ON FIRE – THE PAINTING
As I briefly mentioned in my first post, I consider myself to be an amateur painter – and since the entire project is based around a painting, after Patryk decided that its full visual should be included in the film, I volunteered to be the one who paints it (rather than use someone else’s work, simply printed on a canvas).
The choice, although a hesitant one, was hugely important to the entirety of the production; it allowed us to have an original artwork virtually for free (since I already owned my own supplies) and without copyright issues. I began the process by discussing the piece with Patryk – what he was expecting, and the aesthetic he wanted me to go for, in order to fit the overall atmosphere of the film. I sketched a quick preview – on a flyaway piece of paper, which I had unfortunately misplaced – and an enthusiastic approval from Patryk. As for the colour scheme, I suggested Saturn Devouring His Son by Francisco de Goya, which was also met with a green light.
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Then, I looked for more colour inspiration – focusing primarily on abstract oil paintings (consulting every step of the way with Patryk, of course). Below, you can see some of the colour palettes and paintings that served as a basis for my paint choices.
I began painting on December 5th – five days before the first day of our shoot (the date of which, at the time, was not completely settled on) , with what I was hoping was enough time to spare for the painting to dry. In the end, and retrospectively, I should have started the process sooner; the patches of paint that did not dry out completely in time picked up quite unfortunately on camera. However, the uncertainty surrounding production, as well as general ‘art fear’ were a contributing factor to the late beginning – and in the end, we still had a painting to use, which I consider an achievement.
The (extremely poor quality) progress photos of the painting process - beginning on December 5th and ending on December 9th.
FEAR AND LOATHING IN CLOTHWORKERS – THE VARIOUS DIFFICULTIES
The pre-production process altogether was certainly a turbulent one, with a more-than-complicated timeline. Our most major concern was locations; the inability to find both a gallery and forest space hindered greatly on the progress of production, bringing the entirety of the project to the end of November and beginning of December (which, as an editor, I found incredibly stressful). In the end, it was me who suggested the SMC common room as a possible last resort location for the gallery space (which we did use), and the final location for the forest shoot (the Hollies) was actually scouted by me and Patryk (on November 24th).
Photographs from our Hollies location scout!
Despite being the editor of the project, I was quite significantly involved in the pre-production; both through helping Patryk manage the stressful lack of locations situation, as well as attending rehearsals with actors (most notably the one with Rebecca Davis on December 3rd, which finalised our first filming day as December 10th) and generally attempting to push the production forward for the sake of myself and editing.
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Our forest shoot was especially problematic – we had the location (albeit late, as was everything to do with this project), but the unpredictable weather patterns, as well as actor availability, slowed the process down immensely. Multiple complications later, our producer had let go of an actor without finding a replacement, and everything began to crumble. My tickets to go home for Christmas were booked for December 17th – and a week beforehand, long after we were supposed to have finished filming on both locations, we still had the forest shoot to complete.
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On December 11th, the group was falling apart – we did not have an overlap with actors’ availabilities, the person who had been let go was not able to make it at all(despite our producer desperately trying to get him back), and there was consideration of scrapping the forest shoot altogether, and relying purely on gallery scenes. Patryk was defeated at that point, which I did not blame him for at all (and sympathised with heavily), and I decided to go for one final push (with some date mix-ups in my head, as I was convinced I was going home later than I was).
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We found a single day when Andrew, our lead, was available – Sunday the 15th of December. The weather was supposed to be decent in the morning, and Patryk decided he was happy to act, as we did not have a second male lead. Filming then meant I would have no time to edit in Leeds – but it also meant there would be footage to edit, and that was enough.
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