2nd Orkney Movie Group Film - Trepidation

[DarkElastic]

Trepidation (Dictionary description: fear or anxiety about what is going to happen.)

Tonight, Friday 26th August, we have our final rehearsal, and then tomorrow will be our first day's filming. This is our second production under the O.M.G. name - our first one, Communication Breakdown, was enjoyed by many that have seen it. I would've put it up, but the others in the group do not want me to. If anyone would like to purchase a copy please PM me - and the Synopsis for Trepidation is below:

SYNOPSIS

While three boys drink beer on a shale beach - next to a boat slip - the leader of the trio, Tom, spots a woman limping along the shale picking up discarded objects to recycle. Tom leads a verbal assault upon the woman, only to be flabbergasted by the promise of a curse - to live their worst fears. The boys treat this threat as fiction. But could it be true?

I will put the final script draft and some photos up soon.

[DarkElastic]

Here is the 3rd and final draft of the script. Enjoy:

Trepidation

FADE IN.

PICK UP SHALE BEACH THROUGH A BOAT PROPELLER ENCASEMENT. CAMERA FOCUSES ON THREE FIGURES ON A SEWAGE PIPE, NEAR AN OLD RUSTED BOAT.

1. EXT. NEAR THE SEA, ON THE SHALE BEACH, CONCRETE BLOCKS - DAY.

PICK UP SHALE – CLOSE UP – A CAN OF BEER SITS CENTRAL ON THE SCREEN. SOMEONE KICKS IT OUT OF THE WAY TO REVEAL TWO MALES.

Two young men sit upon concrete blocks, on the shale beach. They all hold a bottle of beer. The leader of the trio – Tom – moves in between the two, standing. All three are between 14 – 16 years of age.

TOM: (Laughs) you know you would. I’ve seen the way you look at her!

Tom downs the last drops from his bottle, and then flings it into the long grass.

JACK: What? I wouldn’t touch her with yours. She’s a pig!

Carl bursts out laughing at this statement. Tom looks towards Carl smiling.

TOM: You can’t laugh. Remember Gemma?

Jack’s face turns from disgust to jubilation. He laughs and points at Carl.

JACK: Oh Yea.

CARL: Come on!

TOM: Beautiful.

CARL: I was wasted.

JACK: You still went there.

Carl drinks from his bottle. He shakes his head at the memory, and the bullying.

CARL: s***!

He drinks more, as the other two laugh.

The laughter is dying down. Tom begins to scan the area around them. His eyes land upon a woman walking in a strange way, towards their location. The person is using a walking stick for support, but she is not old. The Gypsy is dressed in normal clothing, but something about her seems odd.

The Gypsy bends down to pick up an object from the shale. She inspect it, cleans it, and then pockets the object.

JACK: Gemma Anderson? Wow.

CARL: Shut It!

Carl’s face is emotional with rage. Jack stares at him. The tension is building towards a fight. Suddenly Tom interrupts.

TOM: Oi!

Jack and Carl tentatively remove their eyes from each other’s. They look at Tom. Tom is pointing between the two.

TOM: Look at this!

Jack and Carl both turn from each other. They spin around on their concrete seats to see what he is pointing at. Their eyes land upon a woman scanning the ground that she is walking on. The Gypsy bends over and picks up a piece of debris, then either pockets it, or discards it.

JACK: Loony. Must’ve escaped from the hospital.

All three laugh. The Gypsy is now about four meters away. But still, they have not noticed the three boys, or she just doesn’t want to. Tom looks at Carl and Jack, and raises his eyebrows. He wears a sly smile.

TOM: Let’s find out.

Jack and Carl smile at Tom’s suggestion.

TOM: Oi Gimp Limp! Where’d you escape?

The woman stops walking. She looks up at the boys.

TOM: The people in the white jackets are on their way.

The gypsy limps with speed towards the boys. Jack turns from the gypsy.

JACK: She’s coming (whispers).

Carl joins Jack, turned away from the Gypsy. Both drink from their bottles. Tom stands motionless, staring at the oncoming woman. Carl notices a stone that stands out from the rest of the shale. He picks it up, playing with it between his fingers.

The Gypsy stops about a meter away from Tom, staring down at the seated boys.
Jack and Carl still look away, whilst Tom stares into her eyes.

GYPSY: You shouldn’t make fun of a person with a problem! I can’t help the way I walk.

TOM: Whatever! What you picking off the beach?

The Gypsy turns her attention onto Tom, only.

GYPSY: Anything I find useful.

TOM: Are you poor or something?

Jack and Carl smile.

GYPSY: I like to recycle.

Tom points, informing the Gypsy of his conclusion.

TOM: No! You’re poor? You recycle cause you can’t afford to buy.

The Gypsy remains quiet. Tom looks towards his companions. This lack of response makes the boys laugh.

The Gypsy’s face shows annoyance. She leans forward, in between the three boys.

GYPSY: I’m going to help you.

The boys look on, bemused.

TOM: You! How?

The Gypsy closes her eyes for a moment. Then suddenly opens them. She speaks in a normal tone.

GYPSY: By cursing you!

The boys look on, amused, and slightly shocked at the Gypsy’s behaviour. Tom looks towards Jack, then turns back to the Gypsy. She is now face to face with him, breaching his personal space.

GYPSY: Expect your worse fears to come true.

The Gypsy moves on, between the boys, walking away at a steady pace. All three boys look to one another. They burst out laughing.

JACK: Whatever wierdo!

The Gypsy is walking along the shale beach to the slip. Jack stands from the block. Tom walks forward, arms open, shouting after the Gypsy.

TOM: Where’re you going?

CARL: Come back crazy woman!

Jack moves to Tom. The two ignore Carl’s shout. Carl is away from the two closer friends. He drops his head in disgrace.

JACK: Definitely from the hospital.

TOM: I know.

The Gypsy is moving along the shale at a steady rate. Carl weighs the stone in his palm. Tom turns round to look at Carl and notices the Stone.

TOM: Go on Carl.

Jack turns to Carl as well to see what is happening. Carl’s head looks up at Tom, then down at the stone, and then back up to Tom. He drops his head again.

CARL: I… I can’t.

JACK: You’re soft!

Tom moves towards Carl, annoyed.

TOM: Give it here!

He snatches the stone from Carl, and throws it in one fluid motion. The stone strikes the Gypsy on her back.

TOM: Yes.

JACK: Oh, Nice shot.

The Gypsy turns suddenly to face the boys. Shock is on her face, but is soon replaced by a sly smile. She turns and moves on, limping faster than before. Tom and Jack laugh in victory. Carl joins in anxiously.

FADE OUT

CUT TO:

THE SOUND OF A FILM PLAYS OVER THE BLACK SCREEN

FADE IN.

2. INT. CARL’S HOME – EVENING.

The Room is empty of human life, as the television plays un-watched. The double bed, which faces the television, is also empty. Upon the television ‘Blade Runner’ plays.

A person quickly enters through the open door.

The person is Carl. He climbs back onto the ruffled bed. He gets comfortable after his quick toilet break. He is exhausted, but is trying his best to watch the film.

Carl’s eyes slowly flicker shut, then suddenly open again.

CARL: Come on Carl. Stay awake.

Upon the television screen, a woman dressed in plastic runs through the streets. She is shot a number of times by the hero of the film – Deckard. She falls through numerous panes of glass to the floor, and dies. Carl chuckles to himself.

There is a space in the film where the action slows. Once again Carl’s eyes begin to close. His eyes suddenly flicker open again. He is so tired, but notices that the movie is at the end. Roy Batty is dying, and is talking about what he has seen to Deckard. Once again Carl’s eyes begin to shut. This time he is deep asleep.

Suddenly, a strange wind blows across the room. There is no window or doors open. It blows across a magazine, and some documentation, flapping the pages. It then blows across Carl’s ear.

WIND: Deep Water.

The cold across his skin, and the whispered, heartless voice causes Carl’s eyes to move under the lids. Suddenly, he opens his eyes.

Instead of the light of the room, his eyes land upon the orange light of a setting sun. He is not lain down anymore, but is upright and bobbing. There is a blue horizon ahead. His eyes begin to focus on things nearer and he suddenly notices that there are waves, and sloshing sounds around him. His body, like his eyes, suddenly realises where he is, and an icy cold ache runs through his flesh and bone. He is floating, fully clothed, in the sea. At this realisation he goes under the water. He quickly recovers, and begins to tread water.

He scans the horizon with fully awake eyes.

CARL: Oh s***. Oh s***.

He is slowly panicking. His breath is quickening. He spins around and around. There is only horizon around and no land. Tears fill his eyes.

CARL: Where am I?… Where am I?

He is panicking now. His breathing is dangerously fast. His teeth are chattering.

CARL: W h e r e… a m

He begins to fit. The sudden cold, and the pressure on his lungs, sends him into hyperventilation. He splashes at the water, and begins to go under.

Suddenly, he is back in the Bedroom. He lies on the bed, still, scanning the familiar room. He is still breathing fast, and coughing. His clothes are soaking wet.

His breathing begins to slow.

CARL: M u m m y?

CUT TO:

3. INT. JACK’S HOME – NIGHT.

On the television a computer sprite fights another one. There is a sound of buttons being pressed in the background. Suddenly, one of the sprites falls to the ground and the words YOU LOSE flash up on the screen.

Jack yields back in disappointment.

JACK: Cheating bastard!

He looks at his watch and blows out his cheeks. He stands up, moves over to the television, crouches down and puts the control with the console. He turns the console and the television off and then stands up again.

He moves out to the hallway. After putting on the hall light, he turns around, and presses the Living room’s light off. He moves along the hall to his bedroom. Once he has turned the bedroom light on, he does the same as before – enters the bedroom, turns around and switches the hall light off. He pushes the door, but does not close it.

In the bedroom he begins to get ready for bed. When he is down to his boxer shorts, he moves to the lamp and switches it on. He then moves to the main light and switches it off.

A wind enters the house without the use of an open window or door. It moves across a box of tissues, flicking the top one. It does the same to a paperback book. The wind enters the hall, and then into the bedroom, via the slightly opened bedroom door, pushing it further open. Ice cold air hits the back of his head, and blows across his ear.

WIND: Darkness.

He turns around quickly. There is no movement by anyone else in the house, nor any other sign of the voice.

JACK: Hello?

He moves to the door and opens it fully.

JACK: Hello?

There is nothing but silence. He moves his hand along the wall to turn the hall light on. He finds it and presses the switch.

Instead of light filling the Hall, blackness envelops the whole house. He frantically reaches for the switch, but finds nothing but air. A cold wind blows across his almost naked body. He places both of his arms around himself.

JACK: Mum? Dad?

He hears a scuttling near him, and a rustling of grass. He looks about him, frantic, but can see nothing. He moves his head to look upwards. There is just enough light up there to see the outline of clouds.

JACK: Where am I?

Once again the winds blows through the grass. He clasps himself harder, as the cold bites into his flesh. Just then an owl flies by.

JACK: WHERE AM I?

He moves to his left. But stops at the sound of scurrying. He moves right and trips over long strands of grass. On his knees he looks about him. Slowly, he moves down onto the ground into a ball. The owl flies by again. He places his hands over his head.

JACK: Help me! (Whispers)

He rocks himself on the floor, holding his arms around his body, tight. Just then, an explosion of light. Jack is lay on the hall floor, under the light switch.

He whimpers, but does not move. His skin is pale with cold and fear, and his teeth are chattering. His arms clasp tighter around his body, and he curls tighter into a ball.

FADE OUT

CUT TO:

FADE IN

4. EXT. NEAR THE SEA, ON THE SEWAGE PIPE’S CONCRETE BLOCKS - DAY.

PICK UP THE CONCRETE BLOCKS, ON THE SHALE BEACH. JACK AND CARL SIT ON THEM, NOT LOOKING AT ONE ANOTHER. JACK IS STARING OUT AT THE SEA, WHILE CARL IS STARING AT THE SHALE.

The silence is disturbed by Tom sitting down. He smiles at them both, who look up slowly. Both of their faces do not change from blank.

TOM: Morning Boys… Good to see you two are in a good mood... What’s wrong with you both?

Jack shakes his head in disbelief, whilst Carl attempts to speak.

CARL: I… I… Curse.

TOM: What? You’re making no sense. What curse?

Jack quickly steals in at this point. Tom turns to face him, while Carl drops his head.

JACK: It… Happened.

TOM: What?

Jack struggles to continue. But, before he can force the words out another voice steps in.

GYPSY: You two look, frightened.

All three turn to look at the Gypsy. Tom spins around, surprised. She has managed to walk up the beach with no one hearing her approach. She is now stood behind the boys, about 2 - 3 meters away. She stares at Jack and Carl.

TOM: What do you want retard?

The Gypsy ignores Tom.

GYPSY: Worst fears?

Carl and Jack both nod gently, eyes down. They are feared of the woman stood before them.

GYPSY: Not the nicest way to be taught a lesson?

The two shake their heads, agreeing and disagreeing with whatever the Gypsy has to say.

TOM: What the hell are you talking about? Go away you weirdo!

The Gypsy turns to face Tom. Tom looks from him to Carl and Jack.

TOM: What is wrong with you both? This freak has no powers!

Carl and Jack look at him, then look down again, as if at the Gypsy’s commands. Tom’s face shows annoyance. The gypsy is staring right into Tom’s eyes, slightly smiling. Tom has one foot upon the sewage pipe.

TOM: You two are pathetic! I’m going to show you how…

Suddenly, the Gypsy holds her hand(s) out. Her fist is clenched. She interrupts Tom in mid-sentence.

GYPSY: I have something for you Tom.

Shocked, Tom stops speaking, interested in what is in the Gypsy’s palm.

TOM: What freak?

The Gypsy opens her palm(s), showing the stone that Tom had thrown the previous day.

GYPSY: This is yours, YES?

The Gypsy clenches her teeth, and squeezes her hand(s) shut on the stone, drawing it towards her. In one movement, she thrusts her hand forward, opening the palm(s) to reveal an empty hand.

Tom stares at the empty palm, then suddenly begins to gag. He looks down at his stomach. There is a large area of red on his clothes. The pain becomes too much, and Tom falls onto his knees, then keels over onto his side. Both Jack and Carl move away from the Gypsy, eyes firmly fixed on her. They back around the pipe to where their friend lies. The Gypsy is stood still, watching the area where Tom had stood. Her arm slowly drops to her side. At the same moment, the two remove their eyes from the Gypsy, and move to Tom’s aid.

TOM: Arrhhhh.

Blood is flowing freely from Tom’s wound. He has tears in his eyes. Carl grabs Tom’s hand, and Jack rummages in his pocket for his mobile phone. Just then, Carl and Jack look at one another. They suddenly turn and stand, looking for the Gypsy. The Gypsy has gone. They both look around but find no one.

TOM: Carl?

Carl crouches down.

CARL: It’s Ok Tom. She’s gone.

TOM: It’s not that. I…

Jack removes his phone and begins to ring for an ambulance.

JACK: Hello. Yes. We need an ambulance… Ok…

Carl’s voice trails off.

TOM: I…

CARL: Save your energy Tom. The ambulance is on its way.

TOM: No… You don’t understand. I…

CARL: What?

Tears flow from Tom’s eyes. Carl grips his hand tighter.

TOM: I don’t want to die… I’m afraid.

Carl looks into Tom’s eyes understandingly. He then looks out at the horizon, not sure what to say.

CUT

THE END

 2005 Marshall J. Dean

[DarkElastic]

Stupid double posts!!!!

[DarkElastic]

Due to the weather, and one of our Actor's need to work, filming has been put off until the forthcoming Saturday - 03/09/05. I will posts some pictures as soon as I can.

[Clarence]

Good script. In the darkness part, how is the viewer going to know that Jack curled up into a ball...or will there be some light?

[DarkElastic]

The night and the water scene will be filmed last. We know how to do the water scene - just off the beech, with at least 150 degrees of horizon. But, the darkness scene will be filmed, either, on a cloudy day and reduce the level of light in later stages, or, film in dark with a soft light on the actor to act like moon light.

Before we do any filming we will be going to film the location and work out the kinks before we get any actors on set.

To answer your question, we will make sure that the viewer can see enough to know that he is curled into a ball. That, and the fact that when the light comes back he will be in that form.

[DarkElastic]

I do have pictures to go with everyday of this diary, but unfortunately, I do not know how to get them up on the site like this: http://www.matthawkins.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6886
Or this:
http://www.matthawkins.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7246

Filming on the 3rd September 2005

The crew – Peter D, Paul, Chris & Peter W - and I arrived on set at 9:30am, and awaited the arrival of the actors. Michael – who plays Tom - arrived early, and so did Denise – who plays the Gypsy – and her husband Keith – who is helping the young actors with their roles, and assisting me. He also played the main character in our last production ‘Communication Breakdown’. Joe – who plays Carl – and Peter – who plays Jack – both arrived slightly late because they could not find the set’s location. Their late arrival was fine, as we were being held up from beginning filming due to a crane – located on the slip – awaiting a 20ft boat to lift out of the water and onto the slip. We set up anyway, and waited for the crane to complete its task and leave. We planned to film scene 4 first and then scene 1 second.

The weather was good, but the wind was slowly picking up all day. Even though we have a sponge shield, and a proper windshield for the microphone, the wind did on occasion interfere with sound, so a number of takes had to be shot. That was not the only problem we came across, as because this was the first time these young actors had ever done a film – they are theatre actors – it was quite hard to explain the process of mixing the story up to benefit filming time. This caused problems for them, so Keith and I had to constantly go through the scenes with the actors, which took time before every shoot. We had to stop filming around 3:30pm as Joe, Peter, Denise and Keith all had auditions for a Pantomime that was beginning production. We had only managed to film scene 4.

In postproduction, Paul – My Director of Cinematography – was not overly happy with amount of time taken getting shots, seen as though the scene would only last about 3 – 4 minutes. We also needed to revisit some shots as jumps were forming. We accepted this as a learning curve, as even though we had a number of rehearsals before until you actually get on set and film it you will not understand the filming process. So, we went away hoping that the young actors had learnt about this process, and would be able to fly through filming in the future.

[DarkElastic]

Filming on the 4th September 2005

Even though the day before had been hard, we wanted to progress with filming anyway and not hide away for a while. We decided, as it was a nice day, to get scene 2 done. Internal and external. We met at my house around 12 midday. Paul had brought Joe, and Keith had met them along the way. I had been setting up the spare bedroom to act as Carl’s bedroom at his Grandmother’s home. My friend Dale returned the DVD, which would feature in the film, minutes before we began filming – thanks mate. We set Joe going, and he acted very well. All the shots with the TV and the character went as planned. Then we set up Paul’s smoke machine – this would be for the curse/spirit’s entrance – and smoked my house out with special effect smoke. Nice! The shot was done on Steady Cam and will be manipulated in postproduction. Once the house was cleared of smoke, Joe was then to be soaked to look as though he had been in water. We did this by placing paper on the floor between the bedroom and the bathroom, and also, placing a plastic sheet under the bed sheets to keep the mattress and quilts dry. Joe was then showered until he was soaked, rushed into the room for filming, and had water flicked on him constantly to keep the freshly wet look. Joe acted very well, and the scene is looking very nice.

Outside, the day was looking very nice, and still – no wind. We liked the look of it and drove straight down to where we wanted to film the sea shots. I nipped up to my father-In-laws to borrow his two dry suits and his blow up dinghy. He came with us to help out, as Keith had had to leave. We got down to the coast at 3:30pm and began to set up. I got into one dry suit and so did Joe – I will not make my actors do something I would not do. We had to walk quite a way on rocks, as the sea was out. Once there, Joe and I climbed in the cold sea and positioned ourselves where my Director of Cinematography wanted to film Joe. When the dinghy was up, and Paul had climbed into it, I towed him out for filming and attempted to hold the dinghy still. Joe once again acted well, and the shots look great. Day two was a total success with no revisits necessary. Paul and I went away very happy.

[DarkElastic]

Filming on the 11th September 2005

We had our final rehearsal the Friday before. Paul brought his laptop in to show scene 4 of the film, so as to help the boys finally understand that what they are doing has an end product. The Crew and I arrived on set again at around 9:30am on the Sunday. The weather was not great – even though the weatherman said it was going to be. It was cloudy and spitting. The light was actually fine, but the water could have damaged the cameras. The rain was stopping for large intervals, so we decided to shoot. All our Actors turned up around 10am. Paul – my Director of Cinematography – had left something at home and went to get it. Suddenly, the heavens opened for ten to twenty minutes. Paul’s face held a grave look when he returned. We took shelter back in our cars – we also had to ship the equipment off set for this time. After this downpour the weather slowly picked up over the day until the sun shined. We had a window of four hours perfect weather – no rain, and not too bright. We started to film scene 1.

Indeed, our young actors had learnt from the first, long day’s filming. They knew their characters at this point in the movie. They knew their lines. Keith and I had an easier day, and the crew was not stood around twiddling thumbs. We flew through filming getting all the shots that we required. We had finished scene 1 at around 2pm, so decided to revisit some shots from scene 4. This took a bit longer as the sun decided to come out. We got some good shots, and now scene 4 is complete.

In posts production Paul found a problem. He rang me and informed me that camera 3 had continuously gone out of focus, even though he had personally focussed it before every shot. This was bad news, but we still had two cameras with the film captured fine. I awaited his conclusion when he had had time to do a quick edit, and decide what was needed. Luckily, when I watched a large portion of the movie, only a couple of close-up shots are required on Carl. Also, a close-up on the Gypsy’s rye smile. We will revisit these soon. Filming went very well on this day and we finished around 3:30pm.

[DarkElastic]

Filming on the 12th September 2005

Decided to film scene 3 this week with Peter as Jack. Monday was going to be the internal shots. Not the nicest of nights, but that didn't matter. We were kindly given permission to film in Keith and Denise’s house. We got there around 8:30pm and set up. We were ready to film for 9pm, and were getting the footage of Peter playing a classic game before giving up and going to bed. The acting was very good. We did all the small cut-ins, and all the main process of him moving to the bedroom, but keeping in the light. All shots took a while to sort out, as lighting and the camera needed to be set up for each shot, as lights were being turned on and off.

We got onto the smoke machine shots unaware of the time. After smoking the house out we were in the middle of the spirit/curse shot, coming into the room behind Jack, when Peter’s phone rang. It was his mum. She was worried about the time, as it was 11pm, and he had school the next day. We had totally forgot all about time. We told him to tell her that we won’t be long and that we would get him home a.s.a.p. In half an hour we managed to finish the smoke shots, clear the room of smoke, have his ‘return to the house’ scenes done and remove our equipment from the house.

Considering we rushed through the end of that night’s shooting, the footage looks good. But, Paul and I will have to go back to Keith and Denise’s house to get a few more cut-ins, as we are slightly short. We will also have to do a couple of shots again, as mistakes were made. All shots will take us about an hour in total. All in all we are happy with that night’s filming. The acting was good, and the classic game looks great. Once again, the spirit/curse footage will be manipulated in postproduction.

[Lawriejaffa]

Hmm about camera 3 going out of focus? Perhaps someone left the autofocus on?

Anyway get it posted supa soon when its ready cos im looking forward to this on

[the_boy]

Very good, now get a life you bald over weight puff [/img][/url]

[UFProductions]

Off to a nice start on the forums aren't you boy? Why don't you take your childish trollisms and get the fuc k out of here before I stab you in the face.

Sorry to sully your thread DarkElastic, the script is looking nice, sounds like the filming is coming along nicely, I look forward to developments.

[Supertrunks65]

All i have to say about "the boy" is basiclly the same thing as you ufproductions. if your going to be so negative you should get your pathetic crapy soul out of this fourm as fast as you can.

dark elastic i think that is is a very good script the only question i have is What is an oi gimp limp?

[DarkElastic]

Gimp Limp is just a name to call someone walking funny. More from the Manchester/Stockport area of England. Something from my vocabulary added to my film!

[the_boy]

Stab me in the face whats all that aboot, for your info you dick I know Darkelastic and was taking the p*** Ive seen his first film have you!!!!!!!!!You dont know me so dont come with little tart threats.

[Lawriejaffa]

perhaps if u werent such a puff the_boy...

[DarkElastic]

Filming on the 14th September 2005

Filming was cancelled this evening due to weather. Should resume this Friday as weather reports look good.

[DarkElastic]

Filming on the 16th September 2005

Friday was a perfectly still and dry night – excellent conditions for external filming. But, as we have been waiting to see what the weather was like before deciding whether to film or not, when we phoned our actor he had friends up visiting from down South, so could not do it. The night was not wasted though, as Paul and I went back to Keith and Denise’s house to get a couple of shots that had not come out right, and/or shots that we missed. On the way home from their home, we visited the area where we would be doing the night scene. The moon was out in all its glory, so we decided to film it and have it as a cut-in.

With these shots in place in editing, scene 3 is now looking very eerie. Exactly what I wanted. The moon shot was nice, but slow. So Paul has sped it up slightly, giving a very nice effect which will hopefully fit in nicely with the night scene.

[DarkElastic]

Filming on the 16th September 2005

Sunday started off windy, with drizzle. But as the day progressed the weather got better. Paul rang me asking - when he was finished at his daughter’s party around 4ish - whether we could film the new opening sequence. My Director of Cinematography is not happy with our opening sequence right now as we come into the action far too quickly. I have to agree with him. After attempting to get hold of the Actors it appeared that they were too busy to film at such short notice. But, Peter was fine to film that evening to complete scene 3 – the night scene.

We picked Peter up around 8pm. It takes 30 minutes to get to the area where we were filming – the hills in Orphir. While Paul and I found the adequate place to film, Peter dressed into the clothes he wore for the internal shots. After looking at it, we decided that the other hill on the opposite side of the road would be better, so we transported our equipment and my car to the other side. To light Peter up enough for filming we had to use a powerful torch – I think it is 300-candle light power. The problem with this torch is it only lasts 15 minutes. Guess what, it ran out with 10 more minutes of filming needed. To get the remaining footage I moved my car slightly, and found a small area of grass where we could place Peter in my car’s fog lights. With the moon behind him these shots looked really good. Poor Peter was freezing when we finished. With 2 T-shirts and a pair of shorts under his Pyjamas, he was still extremely cold without a coat.

I have looked at the edit, using all the footage from Sunday night’s filming, and it looks great. Just going to have our meeting with our musician and see what he can come up with, then this scene will look and flow great.

[DarkElastic]

Filming on the 24th September 2005

With the best weather of the year behind us, all remaining filming must be decided on the day of shooting. So, Saturday was going to be the only day this weekend that we could film on. We have very few shots left to get. We want a long shot of about 40 seconds for the opening sequence, but this will require all three of our young actors to be in it. The problem was that one of our actors – Michael – could not get out of work for an hour on Saturday, so we could not do this sequence. We will have to reschedule for the coming weekend.

We did manage to get the close-up shots of Joe done. These were required because of camera 3 losing focus on the 11th September, even though manual focus was selected. These shots took us all of 20 minutes to shoot, but probably 30 minutes to set up. We also had to take Joe back home to pick up clothing that were forgotten. This was so the new footage matched the existing.

At 1pm on Saturday we had a meeting with a work colleague of mine called Kenny. He is a musician who has been classically trained, and who has always wanted to do a movie’s music score. When we got there Kenny had his laptop and keyboard set up in his living room. We watched a rough edit of Trepidation for idea purposes, and began to discuss what music would fit, and where we would like it to go throughout the movie. Many ideas were played on his keyboard until we all agreed. Kenny has named Friday as the day that he will give me the CD with all the music and selected sound effects.

[DarkElastic]

Filming on the 2nd October 2005

Paul and I thought it necessary to get one last shot for the opening of the movie, as right now you come into the action too quickly. We chose Sunday as our day because on Saturday a number of people were scheduled to be removing their yachts from the sea for the winter period. Sunday was a horrible day, and while Saturday became nice later on Sunday did not. It rained constantly.

So, as we do not necessarily need this shot we will not be getting it. Our filming is complete, and so is our editing. The sound just needs balancing and a couple of sound effects need to be brought in. Then we are complete.

Also, I went to the local cinema to set the ball rolling on permission to show our movie, and how to go about it. I met the Manager of the cinema – but not the Manager of the complex – called Graham, and he basically told me that he feels the cinema should be backing us and promoting us. That means he wants to give us use of the Cinema for free. But we will have to wait and find out what the Manager of the complex decides when I ring him sometime this week.

[DarkElastic]

I have received confirmation that we can have the Cinema to premiere our movie. With this in mind we are now working hard to get another movie idea rolling so we have two films on the screen, as Trepidation is only 15 minutes long.

We have been told that we can have a Sunday, around 4pm, within November. So that leaves us the 6th, 13th, 20th & 27th as possible dates for the film. I think - all actors permitting - we will be going for the 13th.

So, if any of you fancy travelling all the way to Orkney I will waive the £1 entry fee, and give you the title of Special Guest .

[DarkElastic]

The Premiere was a success. We got over seventy people through the gate, and sold all thirty of our programmes. It was a shame we did not sell many DVDs - only three - but hopefully my friends and family down south will purchase some, and hopefully some of you out there will too.

I am about to send Matt copies so that he can be the first on here to review them, and hopefully, we can get some trailers done for you.

[DarkElastic]

Photos from Trepidation:

http://photobucket.com/albums/e316/Dark ... 5013AA.jpg

We will try to have the movie up soon.