This post first appeared on Ren’s Patreon page.

It’s 3am and I’m backing up the footage from the final day of shooting on Ren: The Girl with the Mark – Season Two. We did it.

Last time I checked in with you wonderful Patrons we had just completed the Wales location shoot. The travel and rest day went very quickly and we were back in Cambridgeshire on the 17th to complete Episode 203, shooting at various spots around Burleigh Hill Farm. It was another night shoot, and no-one had quite recovered from the Welsh marathon of nights, so it was tough going, but we captured some nice material including a scene featuring an impressive fake deer built by Tom O’Hare.

On the 20th we began a new marathon: five days shooting the Heretics’ Market for Episode 204, directed by Sophie Black. Much like Karn’s house in Season One, this was the first set to be built and the last to be shot, so anticipation was high. On the other hand we were also nervous about the number of people that would be involved, with all the extras playing stallholders and punters, not to mention that Rose and Ash in the art department almost worked themselves to death to get the set dressed and ready in time.

They were a very busy five days, especially the 21st when we shot a fight scene at lightning speed. The set looked absolutely stunning – Sophie was gasping with delight at the monitor – and with the help of all the lovely people who came along to be supporting artists and their costumes provided by Suzanne, Hanna and Ana, the market came alive at last. Several new actors joined the cast, extending the Ren family that had become closer and closer over the previous few weeks.

On Thursday we left the market behind and made one last road-trip, this time to the beautiful Sandon Hall in Staffordshire. This was a breath of fresh air both literally and figuratively from the Heretics’ Market, which for all its merits was a dark, dusty and dirty place to work.

Sandon Hall’s staff were very kind and helpful, and we spent a fairly chilled afternoon recording the final scene of Season Two and the first scene of Season Three. Yes, you read that right, the camera has rolled on the first piece of Season Three already. And remember, it’s your subscription that makes that possible! Be sure to encourage your friends and family to sign up if you want the rest of that season to get made.

Friday was the final day of the shooting schedule and had always been reserved for pick-ups – shots or scenes that had been dropped due to lack of time earlier. We had done so well that the pick-ups list was pretty minimal, mainly extra shots of Ren, Hunter and Kah’Nath archers on “horseback”. This time we didn’t even use the phoney ponies, instead shooting the cast in close-up and having them rock up and down on a box and a couple of cushions! It looked ridiculous to everyone else, but to me with my eye glued to the eyepiece of the camera it was completely convincing.

A few more simple close-ups followed, a couple of them back in the market set, where we got to feature Hans Goosen as a stallholder. Hans made props for both Seasons One and Two and had flown over from the Netherlands just in time to help with our last day of filming.

The very last shot was a reshoot of one originally done at about 4am in Wales. It had multiple problems that prompted us to give it another attempt. We didn’t want to wait for it to get dark, so Rose and Ash – in one more act of heroism – rustled up a forest in the studio in less than an hour. It turned out much better than the original! After four takes Jonnie called “cut!” and I had the pleasure of announcing that Season Two of Ren: The Girl with the Mark had wrapped.

There followed a very lovely wrap party around a bonfire. Everyone told me they had had a fantastic time on the shoot, especially the lead actors. Alex said it was one of the best experiences of his life. That’s exactly how I felt about working on Season One; it’s the main reason I wanted to make Season Two and I’m so happy that I’ve been able to pass that on.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone on the cast and crew for making the shoot the huge success that it was.

This post first appeared on Ren’s Patreon page.

When I first considered taking on the production of Season Two, I seriously considered basing the entire production in South Wales because of the many beautiful locations in that area. Ultimately it wasn’t practical, but going to Wales for part of the shoot was always going to happen. As I write this we are on our way back from five days of very successful filming in the Merthyr Tydfil area.

I say “days”, but we mostly filmed at night. Mostly. We needed a bridge to set a major action sequence on so Richard Roberts, the gaffer from Season One, suggested Pontygwaith a.k.a. the Works Bridge last autumn. This is a beautiful, steeply arched stone bridge over the River Taff near Treharris. It took a long time to figure out who owned it, going through various council departments and eventually writing a physical letter to the farm next door, who called me to say they did indeed own the bridge and would be very happy for us to film there. The whole family were really helpful and accommodating to us during our time there.

We shot the sequence over four nights with quite a large cast and also the prison cart which was a key part of the action. The art department, represented by Ash Finn, had to cover the modern road surface and signs, as well as dealing with all the flaming torches, while Jeremy and various helpers had a big lighting set-up to do every night. Everyone worked incredibly hard, sometimes until as late as 4:30 in the morning. To our great surprise and delight, apart from just a few spots one evening, the weather remained entirely dry, but even so it was tough on everyone being out in the cold for so long. Thanks so much to all the cast and crew for bearing it all with grace and positivity.

On Sunday we also captured some daylight scenes on and near the bridge, while Monday was all daylight scenes at a new location: Morlais Castle. This involved carrying all the gear about a third of a mile up a hill to a ruin with a very cool crypt. Oriana and Alex had a whale of a time (Wales of a time?) running around on the hillside while Jonathan Cundy shot them on his drone. Everyone had Lord of the Rings music in their heads all day! We captured the first few shots of Episode 204 as well.

We finished off with a gorgeous sunset shot on the very crest of the hill, with more than a little nod to Karate Kid, before heading out for a celebratory curry to mark the end of our trip.

Tomorrow is our last day of shooting on Episode 203, back at the studio in Cambridgeshire, and then at the weekend we embark properly on the final episode!

This post first appeared on Ren’s Patreon page.

Wednesday May 3rd marked the first time that Ren was directed by someone other than Kate Madison, as fellow series creator Christopher Dane took the reigns to shoot the first scenes from Episode 202.

We began with a special sequence involving a lot of dead bodies on the ground (thank you so much to our very patient extras!) that had to be filmed as a “point of view” or POV shot. Terry, the campsite manager at Burleigh Hill Farm where our studio is, very kindly and skilfully made a special camera platform attached to a helmet, on which we mounted a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. Gaffer Jeremy got the job of wearing this rig, and his hands had a starring role!

Next we worked our way around the fields shooting brief pieces for a travelling montage, before moving to the the other side of the campsite. Rose got a fire going and we recorded a nice little night scene with Oriana and Alex which will open the episode.

After wrapping we then had to load the van ready for our trip to Hampshire the next day. We arrived on Thursday lunchtime at Little Woodham Living History Village, one of the first places we reccied for the season. Now it was Jonnie Howard’s turn to take the helm for a while, as he directed his first scene for Episode 203. It was also the first scene in nine years for Richard Zeman as Commander Othon, who slipped back into the role like he’d never left it.

The cast and crew enjoyed a social evening at the hotel before getting up bright and early for a full day of filming at Little Woodham. Chris Dane was back in command, and the day had a bumpy start when we realised to our horror that we’d left an important costume behind in Cambridgeshire! Fortunately there was plenty we could still do in the morning and Ana, one of our costume team, came to the rescue by making the three-and-a-half-hour drive to deliver the outfit in time for the afternoon. We got through loads of great material that day, in the beautiful sunny and bluebell-filled surroundings of Little Woodham, assisted by the wonderful volunteers from the living history society who played soldiers, villagers and generally helped out. Oriana said it was her favourite day on set so far and I think we’d all agree!

We took Saturday off and resumed work at the farm in St. Ives on Sunday 7th of May. Much like we did on Season One, we used a convenient footpath as the approach to the gates of Ren’s village, Lyngarth. The amazing art team had built a huge slice of wooden palisade which had to be carried across the campsite from the studio by about eight people. Next to it we put up a blue screen into which footage from Season One will be dropped.

In the early afternoon we finished the scene, marking the completion of Episode 201 and a wrap for the one and only Kate Madison. Chris took over in the afternoon to record scenes outside a Kah’Nath tent rustled up by Ash, Kim and others.

The bank holiday Monday found us shooting yet another art department marvel, the Smoke and Ember tavern. Originally slated to be a set built from scratch, the tavern was ultimately a modification of one end of Burleigh Hill Farm’s genuine medieval barn, with Rose adding shuttered windows, a new/old door, timber beams, a hessian ceiling and an entire bar. Once it was dressed and the candles were lit, the effect was magical. A large portion of Episode 202 was recorded in the set.

We were back in there the next day to film the episode’s closing scene, bringing an end to Christopher Dane’s directing stint on the show. Jonnie Howard called the shots for a very moody and cinematic sequence with Richard Zeman. I hoped to sneak in an extra little scene outdoors to put us slightly ahead of schedule, but a stormy downpour put paid to that idea, and frankly I think we were all glad to wrap a little early anyway. Much as we are all enjoying the shoot, we do need to sleep occasionally!

This post first appeared on Ren’s Patreon page.

We have completed our first five days of filming on Ren: The Girl with the Mark – Season Two! It is very surreal to write that almost nine years after principal photography on the first season wrapped. Everyone – including me – thought we would never get here, but we did. A huge, huge thanks to the cast and crew who have worked so hard and so enthusiastically over the last week (and many weeks before that!) to get us to this point.

On Tuesday we collected the camera equipment which ARRI Rental kindly gave us an amazing deal on, the same camera which has been used on countless big TV shows and movies, and the same lenses which have been used by the likes of Kubrick and films such as Casino Royale. Then we headed down to Surrey ready to start early on Day One.

Conventional wisdom says you should start a long shoot with something relatively simple to let everyone get up to speed… so we started with a horse chase! In a weird way it was easier because we weren’t recording sound (all the sound in action scenes gets replaced in post-production anyway), we didn’t have the lead actors, just their doubles. Working with animals is usually slow, and it was quite late in the morning before the camera finally rolled, but Nicky de Neumann’s team from Equestrienne Stunt Shows did us proud. The sight of Ren and Hunter cantering through Staffhurst Woods pursued by three mounted Kah’Nath archers was an amazing way to kick off proceedings for Season Two.

Oriana (Ren) and Alex (Hunter) came along to observe, and on Day Two recorded their first scenes for the season. The day went really well, although rain in the afternoon put a literal dampener on the proceedings and left us with a van full of wet and muddy gear to transport back to Cambridgeshire!

Day Three found us in St. Ives near our studio, shooting scenes by the riverside. It was a relatively short day to give us some recovery time from the Surrey shoot, but all went well and we got some lovely moments in the can.

Day Four was one that I’m not ashamed to say I was very stressed about. We were due to record the bulk of Episode One’s running time, featuring as it did some key dialogue scenes, and I wasn’t sure we could make it. But the weather was lovely, many friendly faces showed up to help us on the crew side, and thanks to Kate we got everything we were scheduled to get and more. We shot at a couple of different spots around the farm and campsite where our studio is located and certainly got some interest from the weekend campers!

The fifth day found us inside the studio for the first time, shooting entirely against a blue screen with fake horses. For me as a DP this was an easy day, because the lighting didn’t have to change after it was set up, and the camera barely moved. For the art department it was very different story, having to shift the heavy phoney ponies around all day, rock them, bob the horses up and down, not to mention making last-minute ears and heads! The ponies actually looked really convincing on camera, especially once Oriana and Alex got on them and sold the urgency and desperation of the chase.

Plenty of challenges still lie ahead, but at long last most of a sixth episode of Ren: The Girl with the Mark now exists, and that is a huge achievement. Thank you to all our Patrons for helping to make it happen.