Apologies for the delay in documenting the shoot days as have been distracted these past few weeks, but thought I would cover both day 4 and 5 before I forget how each day was, as it already feels like so long ago!
Day 4 was always going to be the longest and most challenging of the film, from a logistical as well as a storyline perspective as the scenes we were shooting were the standoff in the film, where Bonzo challenges Mr.Fernelli to a clown off to decide the best clown in town and the resulting battle.
We were filming in 'Woodies' freehouse in New Malden from around 8am until they closed at 11pm so after a nice hot breakfast, we had a team briefing, outlined a schedule and what we wanted to achieve in the day and everyone got to work. One of the first challenges was, as we had to make the pub look as if it was night-time, shutting as much light out of the pub as possible, which is difficult in any location...let alone a pub that opened at midday!
Luckily the owner Linda and her customers were very accommodating as we basically took over the main part of the pub. This was also the first scene we had shot with both Bonzo and Fernelli, and with minimal rehearsal time, we had to get the tone of the scene right, so maximized the time camera and lighting were using to talk it through with the actors. Luckily in actors David Schaal and Matt Jure, we had people who understood the script and are very subtle so they played their parts perfectly.
We ran slightly over time for this scene, so had lunch at around 3pm before most of the cast and crew had a break for a few hours before the big fight scene. Myself and the DOP Azul Serra however, went to investigate the park location for the following day, which he had not seen so far. It was a scene as well in which David had to jump into the lake and stamp out the ‘reflection’ of Fernelli, so in order to make it safe for him, it was only fair that I jumped in first! After being happy with this, he went back to the pub where we briefed everyone about the evening, that we would be working very quickly in order to get all the shots we could in the five hours we could shoot once light fell and the order we planned to shoot things in.
During this time, the rest of the camera and lighting team had prepped everything for the fight scene so at 6.15pm we had everyone in place and could start shooting. One of the trickier things was getting extras to turn up at a pub in New Malden at 6pm on a Monday and stand out in the cold, but we managed to get a crowd to watch the final scene that consisted of my brother, the make-up artist and friends of the cast and crew!
We cracked through the scene pretty quickly, which was amazing considering the amount of crew, the low light (meaning we also had to be careful when moving around set) and that we had to make sure we had everything. The night finished with the one take wonder of the ‘pie-in-the-face’ shot...this was the moment when Bonzo finally gets victory by hitting Mr. Fernelli full in the face with a pie to win the battle and as you can imagine, due to the messy nature of it and how it affected costume and makeup, we only had one go at it...especially as it was 10.55pm and we had to be out by 11pm! Luckily, whilst me and Azul had been jumping in ponds during the afternoon, the production team had been testing various consistencies of pies and frame rates to see what worked best for the shot, which meant production manager Katherine and 1st AD Greer smelt of jam and cream for most of the evening...
After the final shot had been completed, everyone wrapped double quick so we could people home on public transport as we still had another day to shoot. Katherine had kindly found some space for crew around her parents so people were close for the following day.
The fifth and final day consisted of four smaller scenes and any pickups we were missing. Whilst not as hectic schedule wise, we had less crew, no unit base and tiredness was starting to kick in after four intense days. We quickly shot the park scene where Bonzo awakes to find himself out of alcohol, before moving on to a four shot montage in a nearby newsagents. Breaking swiftly for lunch, we filmed the trickiest scene of the day in which Bonzo walks through the park, only to be confronted by the reflection of Mr. Ferneli in the pond. This was difficult for a number of reasons. 1) the light was constantly changing (meaning the strength of the reflection was also) 2) Matt Jure (Mr. Fernelli) was unavailable for this day so we had to use a stand in and 3) the tree had been broken so it now obstructed the shot. Thanks to a mirror and quick thinking and shooting from Azul, we managed to get what we wanted and then filmed the rest of the scene, culminating in Bonzo jumping in to the pond and stamping all over what he believed was a taunting Fernelli. Ever safety consciouss, we had runners on standby with blankets and warm clothes once David was finished as this was his last shot of the film.
However, even though David was wrapped...we were not. As an effort of good faith to Markus, Dan and all the others who had appeared in the film, I donned a wet and dirty Bonzo costume to take the final steps of the film, which show Bonzo heading towards the pub as light fell. As the rest of the crew started to pack up, Azul set the camera and then I stomped to the pub, doing my finest Bonzo impression (from the back anyway). After a few takes, Azul was happy and I got to say the magic words “Thats a wrap!”.
It had been a long old journey, not just for me but for all the cast and crew who had given up so much of their time to be a part of it. I do think everyone enjoyed and is proud of the work they have done as many kind words were said as we sat down to have a beer with some of the crew afterwards.
With all five days of the shoot complete, it was agreed everyone take at least a week off to get back to normal before reconciling all the production issues, sorting the stills shoot out and cracking on with post production....I think its fair to say everyone deserved it after putting in so much to make the shoot happen. :-)
The idea of this came about from an image actress Kiki Kendrick sent me from her website (left). It just seemed like a more visual and interesting way to show the project with the actors as the characters they play, and rather than as I usually do, making the stills and poster an after thought after the film is shot, to use it partly for us to test out costumes and makeup, partly to raise funding and partly for the cast and crew to start working with each other so that there would be more understanding when it came to shooting the film.