This post first appeared on Ren’s Patreon page.

Currently I feel like I’m doing all possible stages of the filmmaking process at once.

I have just reviewed the current draft of the Season Three script preparatory to writing a new version.

Chris Dane and I have just cast a new character who will appear in that season and also in pick-ups for Season Two which go before the cameras this coming weekend.

Those pick-ups of course require all the other pre-production tasks like organising crew, transport, locations, insurance and so on. Rose and Ash have been busy preparing props and miniatures too.

On Thursday morning we film a few shots with a skeleton crew and a horse and rider, then on Saturday we return to the farm to prepare for our main pick-ups shoot the next day.  And the following Thursday we’re heading to the Peak District with another small team to get some landscape shots.

Editing of the season is ongoing. Cat and I spent last Monday refining episodes 201-203, which have now come to life with temporary music and even a few VFX shots here and there.

Nine people are presently working on the visual effects for the season. We have about 80 VFX shots, similar to Season One, so it’s a huge part of the work. Shots underway at the moment range from the spectacular, like Ren using her Mahri abilities, to things that you won’t even notice, like painting out modern lights.

Dale has been busy editing the sound for 202, and he’s just taken delivery of 201 and 203 to start work on those. This includes building the background sounds that give the setting realism and atmosphere, like the chattering of tavern-goers or the keening wind of a lonely hilltop.

Last night I held a screening of the edits as they currently stand, inviting several friends who hadn’t been involved in the making of this season (though some were key to the making of Season One, namely co-producer Michelle Golder and scenic artist Amanda Stekly). The aim was to see if people who hadn’t been on set or read the script could follow the story and if it was pacy enough to hold their attention. It’s an important part of post-production and I’ve done it with everything I’ve produced or directed. It always picks up problems you can’t spot because you’re too close to it, and sure enough I came away with copious useful notes.

Pretty much the only thing we aren’t doing at the moment is writing the music, but that will come soon enough!

This post first appeared on Ren’s Patreon page.

I wrote most of this post at 4am, unable to sleep. Yesterday I was one of six people – the only six people in the world – who watched Ren: The Girl with the Mark, Season Two.

The directors and editors have spent the last couple of months sorting, sifting and assembling the 4TB of footage we recorded in late April and throughout May. Filmmaking can be likened to creating a jigsaw puzzle: the script is the picture on the box, the shoot is when you make the individual pieces – often so absorbed in the details that you forget about the overall picture – and the edit is putting those pieces together… but will it look like the picture on the box? I’m always pleasantly surprised when it does.

We certainly have made and are making something pretty special. By the end of the season you really feel like you’ve been on a journey, and the emotional moments in the finale particularly pack a punch. It’s all very exciting.

The reason I couldn’t sleep is that my mind was turning over all the things that have to happen next. Having had a relatively easy couple of months while the directors quietly got on with their cuts, I am now in the position of assessing and organising all the work required before the season is fit to be watched by more than six people.

Firstly there are pick-ups to shoot. Pick-ups are parts of scenes, or occasionally full scenes, that didn’t get filmed during principal photography, due to lack of time or other unavoidable circumstances. (For example, we had a few shots of a horse that we couldn’t do because the steed in question had an injury.) They can also include new shots or scenes that were never scripted but which, with the hindsight afforded in the edit suite, you feel the show needs in order to tell the story properly. Pick-ups can also include reshoots, if something doesn’t work as well as you hoped in the context of the edit. We have all three types of pick-up on Ren Season Two, so it’s now my job to organise getting the relevant people, props and costumes back together and filming them. (I know that some of the cast and crew read this, so a bit like when a newsreader says “The family of the deceased have been notified”, I should say that everyone needed has been contacted. We will need extras again though, so look out for more info about that.)

Secondly there are the visual effects. A list of all the VFX required in episode 202 has existed for several weeks, and five of them have already been ticked off. I’ve started compiling similar lists for the remaining episodes, and then the shots need assigning to people with the relevant skills. There are about half a dozen people contributing VFX so far, but this will need to expand, especially as we nail down exactly what’s required in 201, which is by far the most VFX-heavy episode. VFX on Ren varies widely and includes digital matte paintings (like the village seen from afar), particle effects (like the glowing energy of the Mahri spirit) and compositing (last week I added a window to a wall that never had one).

Thirdly there is the continuing editing process. Two of the directors are still working with the editors to refine their cuts, and then I will need to spend some time polishing up the season as a whole.

Fourthly there is the soundtrack. Dale has already made a start on editing the dialogue from 202, but pretty soon he’ll need to start on other episodes. It also won’t be long before Rob will want to begin composing the music.

So that is where we’re at now.

The other thing I’ve been doing, but now need to put aside for a while, is the new title sequence. (Look out for a tiny sneak-peek on my Instagram account this Friday.) In the process I dug out some old versions from Season One which have never seen the light of day, so I plan to bring you a special Patreon video about that in the not-too-distant future.

Don’t forget The Mouth of Truth is coming up this Thursday evening, with guests Rose Collis and Ash Finn. You can submit your questions for them by commenting on the post about it below. See you then!