Director's Weekly Post Production Blog Weeks 3 - 4

WEEK 3 Saturday November 24th...

0-0 half time between QPR & Sheffield Wednesday. We should be winning. I haven't seen a game all season. I've not had time. Not that it's really my sport. Motor racing is by far...

Anyway, the third week of post production comes to an end. Somehow, though, I don't feel like I'm in post production yet. Why? Not much has really happened. Caroline has synced up 284 slates now. That still leaves 306. The sound was late getting to her as were the report sheets. She has them now. But all the picture still hasn't been transferred properly. Some of it was done in the wrong format so it has to be redone. She is still waiting for slates 285 to 590. Over half of it.

After three weeks of post production we are now about 4 weeks behind! At this rate we will not even get a first assembly before Christmas, let alone a rough cut, directors cut or fine cut. Williams is still missing and has all the outstanding invoices to pay! That's just another problem until the rest of the investment arrives. Hopefully he will surface this week.

The only substantial progress we have made this week is with potential investment, paperwork and with sorting through the 6000 stills that had been taken on the film to create a definitive set of production stills. A few days ago I didn't think the latter would happen this side of a court room.

I'll explain.

When I got off the plane in Mallorca there was a strange text from Steve Norris waiting for me. It said "I was the second bigest mover on the imdb cos of my film showing at the tate and your blog is full of hate towards a wonderfull bunch of people when u google and it ends in a blog with our names put to shame do u think thiakovsky or bergman treated people like this my dat is my work i take shots all the time i have worked with neil jorden .think"

Firstly, I was shocked as I wasn't aware of any hate in the blog. I mean, who could I hate? For what reason? Even Iain Dodds, the unfortunate dressing props guy who I had to sack. I don't hate him. He's a really nice guy. Do I hate Steve Norris, the guy whom I frequently talked to about Tarkovsky, a kindred spirit I thought. I don't hate anyone on the film! Why should I? They were all absolutely wonderful. I'd even go so far as to say I love them. The kind of love derived from a shared bond, like in a successful football team or a combat unit returning from the front.

The number of texts and e-mails I have had by people who have been inspired and even moved to tears by the creative struggle depicted in the blog, a struggle we all went through, is considerable. If he had said I was egotistical I'd accept it. That's just the flip side of self belief! But hateful! Hate! HATE! How ridiculous! That was the first text. Myself and Jonnie were subjected to a 12 hour barrage of increasingly surreal, offensive and mean spirited texts until finally I sent him one back saying "Do not ever contact me again". Jonnie eventually decided to just ignore them.

It seems that on each film I've done someone goes off the rails afterwards as if they are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or the making of the film is the final thing that pushes them over the edge. On The Frontline it was the Art Director who went nuts afterwards. On Boston Kickout the grip, who was a brilliant, disappeared without a trace straight after the wrap party never to be seen by anyone EVER again. On The Poet my fantastic script supervisor had a nervous breakdown right at the end. I hope that this is not the case with Steve!

His gripe is that his DAT machine went missing at the wrap party. Why it was taken there I don't know. But he was given it back by Axle at the wrap party. He lost it there. We can try and do an insurance claim. Williams can do that once we get hold of him but what else can we do? The question is does the insurance cover a wrap party? It's not a working situation, it's a social situation and it's after the film has finished shooting. We will see. I honestly don't know. His threat to us in texts was that he would withhold the photos until we got him a new DAT recorder. Of course we have a contract with him covering his services as a stills photographer. It was blatant blackmail on something out of our hands nor within our control.

Luckily, on Friday, the photos finally arrived along with a note from Steve apologising to me and Jonnie. I don't know why he had freaked out so dramatically. All I know is that It certainly isn't the way I would ask someone to help me recover my DAT recorder! Can I forgive him? Roger probably would. For me, I can't help thinking how he could do it? How he could be so full of anger towards me, towards Jonnie, towards the film. How he could want to damage it. Without his photographs the deliverables on the film would be bare and thus the marketing materials would be greatly diminished. That could effect the possibility of release in some territories and could thus effect the revenue and it's success.

Myself and Jonnie weren't the only ones making the film, investing time, energy, pain and sweat. We all were. We were in it together, a tribe, a unit, a family. Why hurt the product of our labour? Why hurt all the people who gave their all, investing time and money in the film? For what also? A Dat machine! At the party I wrote on Steve's elephant stone "You understand the film I am trying to make more than anyone!". I didn't write that on Roger's stone, not on Jonnie's stone, not even on Julie's stone. I wrote it on Steve's. That's how I felt, what I believed. Until now no-one knew that was what I wrote as they were all unique.

By chance I was booked on Thursday to give a lecture on distribution for CIDA and the NPA at Passing Clouds where we had the wrap party. I paid them the money outstanding and asked about the DAT machine. They hadn't found a DAT machine. But they had found Steve's elephant stone. They kept it for two and a half weeks. No-one called. No-one dropped by to pick it up. The day before I arrived they had finally thrown it out with the rubbish. When I told the owner of the club that it was a cast and crew present and how I came up with the idea while filming at Emma's house, how I had picked it by hand at night from the stream in the forest, humped it out with the others on my back, given it to Marina to transport back to London two days before we all left, how I had done the primer and Marina had hand painted a beautiful elephant on it - each one different - she was so shocked, so upset, so gutted at what she had done. I told her not to be. It wasn't her fault. I didn't tell her about the message on it, one of just 37 totally personal ones written. How could I?

Now there are just 36 elephant stones left. I treasure the one Marina wrote on for me above all the other tokens from the film shoot I have. All I feel about Steve now is sadness. Not hate.

WEEK 3 Saturday November 24th...

This week has flown by. It seems like it only lasted a couple of hours. The opposite of when you are shooting where one day can seem like a month or a year. Some times on a film I will look at the time and be surprised how little has gone by after so much has gone on or more likely with so much more to shoot. The night shoot in the forest sticks out most like that. After what seemed like an eternity I realised at one moment we had only done 2 out of 8 scenes. There were 3 more enternity's to go! The problem when time seems endless is keeping focused and not rushing things, still caring about every detail, still being on top of things. Some times when you are in the moment with pure intuition you overcome everything. When you are out of the moment through coldness, tiredness or outside pressures some times you have to even slow down just to get back on top and back in the moment. Of course, sometimes also a shot of coffee can help!

This week has slid by as I have been running about doing things unrelated to the film. They are related to future projects. The process called development. When I did Boston Kickout I assumed I would make my next film straight after, that I was somehow now on the track and could just reel them off. My next planned film collapsed 3 times over the next 5 years and has still not been made. It was a different film I made next in 2002. Now I feel a little like I did after Boston Kickout, the next one will be soon, next year I hope. Let's see. But anyway, in lieu of real post production that is what I am doing.

On Wednesday we kept going through the 6000 photos Steve Norris shot and brought them down to 318. Today we hoped to finish the job but we ran out of time. It will probably be next Tuesday now...

Today me and Jonnie met Samantha Crompton, the music supervisor to talk about music. Apart from having a score by Marcel Barsotti and a track or two by Francoise Hardy I also feel we should try out as many new bands and singers as we can find and see what will work with the film. At the moment the more indie, folksy or quirky the stuff is the better I feel it will fit. I certainly want to avoid straight rock or pop music and anything too MOR as I can't see that working. Of course until I actually put it with a cut scene I don't know for sure but that's my idea.

The real story of the week is what has happened to Williams Rodriguez. That's a question as I don't actually know. The last time I saw him was the Wednesday after the wrap. That's three and a half weeks ago now. I got a text two weeks ago canceling a meeting and saying he was ill but that's all. I have called his four mobiles many times and left messages, texted him many times but all to no avail.

This week I raised some more finance for the film. The problem we have, though, is that I do not have the invoices that are outstanding nor the bank statements and invoices paid. I'm totally in the dark. Short of ringing everyone and getting them to resubmit what can I do? The problem is also that many people have sent Williams the originals which we will need for VAT purposes.

Bizarrely just as we were starting pre-production I also thought Williams had disappeared. It turned out he was in the Pyrenees with a Catalan girl. He surfaced the day after we started official pre-production. Now he has disappeared again. The other problem this gives me is the relationship between Williams and Jonnie. I'm not quite sure how it started but the two don't quite get on. I've been trying to manage it all shoot but if he really has disappeared then what can I do? It's more the typical for the director and line producer to have a strained relationship. Their roles have so many possible friction points. On this film, though, I haven't had any conflict with Williams except when he said something blatantly untrue at Mont St. Michel on the first day in France. When I REALLY needed something happening I would text him and it would happen. In that he did a good job for me. A very good job as a Line Producer. Also the glowing light is we did it, we shot it, it's in the can. Many times we could have been shot down but we weren't. He should take credit for that as much as anyone.

The problem in France was that we didn't bring enough people in production. Williams wasn't there enough and there was too much for Julia to do. In retrospect 2 people wasn't enough in production in France. It should have been 3 as it was at the end after Paul Gernon arrived. The reason we took 2 though was to save money. False economy it was.

Williams took a lot of stick for not being there and the production being flimsy. Some was justified, some was not. His mantra to me was "It's not a team Paul, people are acting as individuals". My perception was not this. We were a team and everyone did care for each other. The day after the night shoot in the forest was visceral evidence for me of this if no other day was.

His gripe was that a film couldn't be made for our lowly budget without everyone chipping in, helping everyone else and not being precious. My perception is we did this. Daniel drove when required. Ian Martin went off sent when he didn't want to. Williams made soup for the entire crew. Julia covered for wardrobe. Steve covered for sound when needed. Roger helped his whole department. We all gripped and humped gear cast and crew alike. Anyway the film went over budget so maybe both points of view are true?

The other friction point was Stéph. Apart from Julie not wanting to see her, something I absolutely believed right, she also helped us gain permissions, publicity and assistance in France. Williams didn't quite get on with her also. He liked her but thought her role interfered with the chain of command.

Who is Stéph? It's occurred to me that she has barely featured in this blog. Her only mention, I think is on the ferry to France. She is referred to as Jonnie's girlfriend. The truth is she is much more. I don't just mean the permissions she gained for us on the shoot nor the help she did getting us respect by the local community around Brocéliande. She is the inspiration for the piece. The inspiration for the script. The real life "Malika".

I've probably not mentioned her in the blog for similar reason's to why Julie didn't want to meet her while we were shooting. The need to make something fresh. She is not my inspiration nor my muse. For me, "my Malika" is the composite of every amazing and magical woman I have ever met, all rolled into one!

During pre-production, in addition to helping the production I also used her from a research point of view, asking about the Celtic and Druidic belief systems for instance on an ad hoc basis. My mystical knowledge base is more African while Jonnie's is probably more Eastern. Thus the theo-mystical line in the film is a kind of marriage of all three. Not that they are worlds apart. They are not, as anyone who has studied Theology will know.

I also asked her once to read Tarot cards for the film. She replied "I've already done it!"
"What was the result?" I asked.
"You will create the magic" she replied.
Somehow I needed that seal of approval. Ultimately I am trying to do her justice!

If anyone has known someone that their partner doesn't get on with you will know the friction. Jonnie has been remarkably good to Williams considering. If he doesn't show up soon though I will start to lose my patience.

Unfortunately no more slates have been synced up this week so effectively we have not gained any time. In fact we have lost. This is thanks to the post house we are using being overloaded with another film. One with a much much bigger budget than ours. Of course that's not hard.

Am I worried about not being able to start editing. Strangely no. Why? Because I am now gaining something that is absolutely totally impossible while shooting - perspective. When you shoot a film it is hard to have that. You are in the moment reacting, adapting, adjusting, choosing, filtering, creating... Some directors can work with complete perspective, 3 miles away, looking at a monitor. I cannot nor do I believe it is right. No great director ever did that. I have that perspective before, that's why I shot list the entire film before shooting. Not during.

The time I am not in the cutting room is time to gain perspective. Just as long as it doesn't go on forever that is!

Anyway, If anyone sees Williams Rodriguez please get him to call me now!

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