The new videomatic, one of the most complex so far, was time-consuming to film. Ian’s Lady Vain deck model was about three metres long and took up much of the loft play-room where we were shooting. To represent the underside of the balloon, we suspended several bin bags from the sloping ceiling. This resulted in a lethal web of threads akin to that game in The Crystal Maze where touching the neon rods three times led to automatic lock-in. We managed to avoid tripping and falling on the model at any point, which was just as well since it was covered in cocktail sticks acting as deck railings.
Setting the model up took so long that, by the time Ian had to leave at 7:30pm, we were little more than halfway through the shots. The usual problems of manipulating the tiny figures were compounded by the bin bag ceiling and the difficulties of moving around the room without garrotting ourselves. However, despite the frustrations, by lunchtime today I had completed all the shots on the set and was able to pack it away for future use.
Merry Christmas!

Ian and I met on Wednesday to discuss a new videomatic involving an attack on one of the airships by flying beasties. I’ve been knocking up the creatures and some laughable props while Ian works on the set – which is going to be quite large, because it has to represent the entire deck of The Lady Vain.
There’s not much left to do on the Swordsman now. The next thing to think about is getting the set built, before which we need to lock down the design.

This month’s Impact magazine contains an interview with me in a feature by Phil Hobden about the state of British indie filmmaking today.