I’ve finished cutting the extra material into the pilot. It gives it a whole new lease of life.
With just two weeks to go until Sci-Fi London, it’s become clear that a finished, polished pilot on 35mm with surround sound isn’t going to happen in time. Instead viewers will see a nearly finished pilot with a few FX unfinished and a temporary mix, on HD video. And, of course, a fascinating behind-the-scenes documentary… which I still have to edit. Eek!
The Dark Side of the Earth: April 11th, 2009
The Borderlines screening went well. It was a good turnout for a Wednesday afternoon and several people wished me luck with the project afterwards.
This week just gone saw the frantic activity of the pickups shoot. My tiny flat was crammed full of people on Tuesday and Wednesday – including stalwarts Ian, Col and Jenny and modelmakers Beth and Jonathan – as the ceiling mechanism miniature was completed, a full size girder was refurbished and a small section of airship hull was rebuilt.
On Thursday and Friday we descended on the function room of the Drayton Court pub in West Ealing for the filming. Joined by my fiancee Katie, DP Ollie and behind-the-scenes cameraman Gerard, we embarked on an ambitious schedule of shots which would finally render the pilot scenes complete. On Thursday we filmed the model shots, with Lau and Lou’s superb Swordsman taking centre stage. Shooting upside-down proved to be a major headache. I had turned the monitor upside-down, leading to communications problems as directions like “left a bit” or “higher” actually meant “right a bit” and “lower” for the puppeteers. Nonetheless we got everything I wanted and wrapped at the very reasonable time of 5:30pm.
Friday was more laid back. The day involved setting up first the full size Swordsman, then the full size ceiling mechanism piece, then a few other bits and bobs (including Katie, in Isabelle’s dress) in front of the airship hull piece and the girder. The resemblance to the original set was quite remarkable, though of course we had to keep moving the hull to make sure we weren’t seeing off the edge of it, and everything had to be shot fairly tight. The last few shots were quite hurried, but we didn’t drop anything significant and I was very pleased with what we’d done.
The Dark Side of the Earth: March 31st, 2009
John and I had a progress meeting with Aidan and Joe about the VFX yesterday. They’ve made excellent progress. One particular shot looking down on the Swordsman and Isabelle, which used to be crammed full of puppeteers, has been completely transformed by their removal. You really buy that the ropes are controlling the puppet…. as, of course, I always knew you would. Ahem.
Tomorrow is the Borderlines preview showing, 4:15pm in the studio theatre at The Courtyard, Hereford. Many times have I stood before an expectant audience in that room and screened my wares.
And tickets are now available for the proper screening at Sci Fi London. They’re free but you still need to book them. It’s at the Apollo West End on Lower Regent Street at 10:30am on Saturday May 2nd.
The Dark Side of the Earth: March 29th, 2009
This afternoon I met with Lao, Lou and Beth to try out their two pieces of the miniature together. The mini Swordsman is almost complete and, like his full size counterpart, gained a new dimension when he was tied to the ceiling mechanism. Since the model is going to be shot upside-down, we had to make sure it was all going to hang correctly and not give the game away, but it looked great.
The Dark Side of the Earth: March 20th, 2009
The UK Film Council rejected Dark Side for development funding. Again.
That’s the bad news out of the way. The good news is that Chiok’s model ceiling mechanism looks great. Combined with Jonathan’s mini girders and wall panels you can immediately see the missing part of the live action set come to life. Of course there’s plenty more work to do on it before it’s ready to shoot, and the sands of time are running out.
Lau and Lou’s mini Swordsman is at an early stage, but a strong steel framework is in place and Lou has painstakingly carved a remarkably detailed scale replica of the head. Beth has made a spot-on miniature of the gramophone and skill indicator piece. When this and the mini Swordsman are positioned beneath the ceiling mechanism (or in fact above, since it’s all been built upside down) it’s great to see how the mechanism dwarves the robot.
Progress on the visual FX has been good too. Aidan and Joe from SAE have really got stuck in, while Ricardo Fearon, Andrea Caserini and Allison Moore have been contributing some great work too. Some of the puppeteer removals are extremely tricky, but everyone is rising to the challenge.
The featurette for Borderlines is almost done. It focuses on the unique challenges of the shoot, namely the puppet and the inflatable bio-suit. Watching it back, it’s not hard for me to see why people doubt my sanity.
The Dark Side of the Earth: February 22nd, 2009
“This all seems very familiar,” as my nemesis Biff Tannen once said. Whilst pre-production on this pilot brought with it the new experience of set building, and production had the novel extravangance of 35mm, post-production is very much in the DIY vein of Soul Searcher. I only hope it doesn’t last as long.
I’ve been gradually building up the soundtrack, so far using mostly recycled sound effects from Soul Searcher. A sound that was once Dante dragging a chain across a wooden floor works equally well as the rumble and clatter of the Swordsman’s wheel. Chris Mayall’s squeaky bathroom doorknob – once the hinge of Dante’s trunk – is now the Swordsman’s axle. Little things like a squeaky wheel breathe a surprising amount of life into the scene.
Scott’s first demo came through this evening for scene two, and did not disappoint. This too is like another coat of paint on the film – another step on the ladder that leads from a jumble of rushes to a finished scene.
The Dark Side of the Earth Podcast #6: Paint Drying
Scenic Artist Elaine Carr talks about painting and texturing the set for the airship’s training room.
The Dark Side of the Earth: February 20th, 2009
Things are ticking along nicely. All the major components of the miniature are under construction and the roto and paint-out work has begun on the 2K on-line footage. Hopefully this weekend I’ll break the back of the sound design; to date I’ve only got as far as trimming the dialogue and track-laying some basic foley.
I’m delighted to announce the pilot will be musically ennobled by Scott Benzie, the man responsible for The-Best-Thing-About-Soul-Searcher TM (i.e. its score). I look forward to experiencing his orchestral maneuvres on the Dark Side.
On April Fools Day, lucky patrons of the Borderlines Film Festival in Hereford will get a sneak peek at part of the pilot and a brief glimpse behind-the-scenes, not to mention an edifying oration from Yours Truly. Those wishing to see it complete and in all its 35mm Dolby 5.1 glory will still have to wait for Sci-Fi London, however.
The Dark Side of the Earth: February 13th, 2009
Yesterday I went up to Elstree to see Lau and Lou who are making a miniature Swordsman. The couple showed me some of their previous work, including an automaton representing the seven deadly sins which took the form of a Pan’s Labyrinth-esque journey into phantasmagorical underground caves.
Ian had kindly delivered the full size Swordsman, the top half of which now lounges scandalously on a sofa bed in Lau and Lou’s spare room. Since the miniature will be shot upside-down, we had to figure out certain issues of gravity and loose parts that would hang the wrong way and the give the game away.
Tomorrow I have a meeting with John Galloway and two students from the SAE Institute who will be handling some of the puppeteer paint-out work.
The Dark Side of the Earth: February 1st, 2009
Post-production finally feels like it’s getting up to speed. Two students from the SAE – a college in Islington that I used to lecture at – have begun painting out puppeteers, just in low rez off-line shots for now, but the 2K scan should be done by next week, then they can really get cracking.
Meanwhile preparations are underway to build a miniature Swordsman and ceiling mechanism for shooting in late March along with the rest of the pick-ups.