So It Begins

Ashely Robson on set of Follow The Crows (by JWatts Video and Photography)

Sunday, 29th November 2015 marked the end of pre-production and the beginning of production on Follow The Crows. We've spent months planning to get to this point. From costumes, make-up, casting, location scouting, bringing aboard crew and actually writing the darn thing, it's been a hectic few months to say the least.

Now that production has officially begun there are more things we can tell you about the project (not too much mind you, we do want people to actually feel the need to see the film after all). I'm sure most of you will have already read the synopsis, but for those of you who haven't, head on over to the ABOUT page, where you can find out a whole lot more about just what the heck this damn thing is. But for now, let's talk a little about how we'll be putting this rather ambitious feature together, and how well our first day of shooting went.

The nature of Follow The Crows means that we have been able to keep costs fairly minimal. The post-apocalyptic setting has meant the the film will be shot on location in and around the Wiltshire area, and that we have been able to cast talented unknown actors in the roles, to give the film a more "real" feel. The plot also allows for us to be able to shoot during the weekends, and part of this is in an effort to show the time-span within the different sections of the movie.

This is not Mad Max or Waterworld. Nobody here is an expert hunter, a spectacular killer, a brilliant engineer (and no one has awesome cars). What we're dealing with in our film are the people who have been, to put it bluntly, lucky enough to survive in such a bleak, violent world. Where society has collapsed, more often than not it turns out it is the cowards and the vicious, those two ultra opposite ends of the spectrum, who have been able to make it through alive.

It is partially because of this that our narrative takes place over an undisclosed period of time (about a year and half), which means that we're hoping to catch the changes in seasons as we shoot. And we're both praying for (it'd look awesome) and against (logistically it's a freaking nightmare) snow.

Marcus Starr receives direction on set (by JWatts Video and Photography)

But what of our first shoot day, I hear you ask?

Well, it was a good one. As is always the case on film productions we had to roll with the punches a fair few times. The biggest issue of the day was the good old English weather (which, if you're (un)fortunate enough to live here, you'll know all about), which liked to jump between heavy rain, heavy wind and heavy still and silence.

Anyone who knows anything about filming will know that the heavy wind and heavy rain are both real pains in the backside when it comes to shooting. Luckily we managed to find some decent cover for the camera, which also lead to a far better shot than the one we had previously planned on. With some sinister looking trees blowing in the wind in our background, and our actors made up to perfection in our foreground, the stage was set for our first take.

Wind continued to be a problem throughout the day, of course. Several of our sound files are basically inaudible, and we'll be on the hunt for a talented sound engineer who will hopefully help us out of that hole. Worse comes to worse there's always ADR ("Automatic" Dialogue Recording), but that can be a pain and it involves extra time.

Our actors did an excellent job, requiring little direction in their roles. They knew exactly what tone we were going for and, on several occasions, added their own unique spin to their individual parts.

There's nothing quite like the feeling of seeing months of planning finally come together. Looking at our actors in their costumes, complete with make-up (courtesy of the talented and fantastic Bethany "Beats" Smith and Leah Crowley) and props, we felt a surge of enthusiasm run throughout the crew. This thing is going to work, and it's going to look incredible!

Director Alex Secker and DoP Darren Potter discuss the scene (by JWatts Video and Photography)

We'll be arranging our next day of shooting very soon, and there will be an update on that when the time comes, but for now there's a short, spoiler-free behind-the-scenes video up on our YouTube channel, which you can view here.

A big thank you to the cast and crew of Follow The Crows, who without this project would not be possible, all of them did excellent work on Sunday and we are sure will continue to do excellent work in the future.

And also a big thank you to you, for reading our posts and supporting this independent feature film. Without you, there wouldn't be any point. You're amazing, and we'll be sure you keep you posted.

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE for any further updates and "follow the crows" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for more behind-the-scenes goodness.

When you have nothing, something is everything.