SUNDAY
Debbie and I were much refreshed by our 6 hours of sleep, when we awoke and arose on Sunday. We grabbed a quick bite of toast for breakfast, forgot to put the Sushi in the car that I had intended to eat as real breakfast at Jenni and Lee’s, then headed back down to Wellington. We had to stop for petrol on the way, but we made it down by about 9:15.
Some of the cast and crew had already headed off to the Botanical gardens to shoot the Duel Perilous, and the external Fairy Court stuff. I got changed as quickly as I could, a little worried about my left big toe as it was kind of numb, then headed to the gardens.
It was really nice to see everyone looking less tired, and more genki than they had at the end of the day yesterday. Part of this was the pleasant weather and location, but also I suspect that the break / sleep had been good for people.
We filmed a few scenes, including some ‘emotional’ acting from me that was decidedly flat, then wrapped for the shoot. It was pretty awesome to be at the end of the filming stage – a lot of pressure off me, and a real, substantial sense of achievement to boot.
Highlights of the morning would have to include:
1. Being pulled out from behind Seraph’s back in the duel – not a physically easy task, but it worked OK (and looked great when edited into the film).
2. Lee’s bear puppetry.
3. Me having to act like I was blowing my nose, and instead actually blowing my nose and ending the scene with a huge bogey hanging out of my nose (and then stuffing the hanky back into Seraph’s pocket).
4. Seeing some of the footage from the previous day edited together on Norman’s laptop (he was editing at the botanical gardens while we were shooting).
5. Seeing Seraph completely wrapped up in a rope.
6. Feeling genuinely moved by the Disneyesque line – “You have a couple of friends who can help you.”
We had finished! Amazing! The feeling of relief and achievement was indescribable.
Debbie and I headed off to buy meat pies on the way to Norman’s, where we needed to be available in case of reshoots / ADR. We also took a wee detour via Rongotai, as I was driving on autopilot and completely failed to drive to the right suburb. We did eventually get to the right place though :)
Sunday afternoon featured a lot of sitting around waiting, not being allowed to go downstairs to watch the editing process. We went out to get food for Norman (and others), rerecorded Debbie’s school teacher line (with awesome voice-coaching from Lee), and a few other random sound effects for the film. We also went on a quick rock search, as the rock used in the duel was too… blue?
It was pretty cool seeing everyone taking a breath, and reflecting on what we’d achieved. Of course, Norman didn’t get to take any such breath, as he was still beavering away like crazy.
I brought in a pretentious art film that I’d made a few years earlier to distract us from the waiting. It got a couple of laughs, and it turned out that Seraph knows one of my old flatmates.
Lee’s mother and sister recorded some excellent sounding violin and flute music for the film, the rock band that Lee had organised delivered their Disneyesque track, and we waited some more.
We started to get pretty anxious as the clock ticked past 6pm, then 6:15pm, then 6:30, then 6:45. We were all primed by the door, ready to go, Luke designated as the fastest driver in the group. Debbie and I went ahead to see how long it took to drive, and we made it with about 30 seconds to spare. Unfortunately we knew that the actual tape would be at least 4 minutes behind us, and that even if Luke was the craziest, fastest driver in the universe, we were probably too late.
2 minutes, 41 seconds.
So we missed by a little, but that wasn’t important. The cool thing was the 7:30pm premiere of our film. We all gathered at Jenni and Lee’s, massive banana splits were made, and we watched our film. Jenni’s speech was very touching (especially the first bit: save my space). Norman’s sentiments were also very heartfelt, as were Hix’s. The atmosphere was triumphant, warm, and wonderful. Such a nice feeling.
As I may have mentioned elsewhere, I usually get teary-eyed with embarrassment when I see myself on screen. Seeing myself in this film was nothing but cool. It looked great, the story was funny, and there was so much going on that I had no time to be distracted by embarrassment. It was excellent.
Now, I’m super looking forward to 2 things:
1. Seeing and hearing an audience’s reaction to the film. Debbie and I need to get tickets for the screening, so anyone who’s buying some, let us know.
2. Seeing the director’s cut. What we saw on Sunday was great, and it’s going to be even better when all of the music is put in and the picture is widescreenised.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The people we worked with were all fantastic. The writing team worked super hard on Friday, with a zany, friendly, positive energy. Norman and Mark were there right to the end, even though they knew that they’d be working like crazy right up to the deadline. Scribes and producers and directors worked like crazy while they were there, and over the rest of the weekend.
The filming was a mad-cap, awesome experience. I hadn’t planned to act in anything more than an extra capacity, but I’m damn glad that I agreed to be Bodil (given that it actually worked out – had it gone badly, it would be a very different story!). The tireless effort and unrelenting politeness and friendliness of everyone involved was outstanding.
The wonderful sense of camaraderie at the premiere was brilliant. We really achieved something special over the weekend, and it was a chance for all of us to show our quality (to quote Debbie quoting LotR). Not one person involved in the project gave less than their all, and the product we saw on Sunday is a result of all that effort and energy and good will.
And to echo Debbie again – I love our movie. I am very proud that we made something that has a heart, as well as laughs. I really wanted Max to get his imagination back, I really wanted the library to be saved.
Was the 48 hour film competition good? Did I develop an even greater respect for my friends, and forge new and stronger friendships? Am I damn proud of every member of our team, and of myself?
Hell yes.
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