'The next stop is Holywood'

Initially, I wanted to make the film on a Super 8mm film camera and have it all in literary one piece of film - one roll of celluloid that is. Due to some technical problems and financial issues, I decided to film it on a digital camera but to keep the whole 'one piece of celluloid - one shot - one take' concept. I couldn't get a Super 8 camera with a wide lens on it which was absolutely necessary to be able to film in a train where you don't have enough space to set the camera far from the actors in order to capture the whole action. So I found a digital camera (Canon XM2) with a wide lens and decided to use that.

I went on a train and filmed the view on the window for about 20 minutes. After doing that, I choose the most appropriate three minutes sequence (which I will upload to this blog soon) and started the rehearsals with the actors while screening the sequence in the background. I just told the actors the main story, the main features of their characters and they started to improvise within this frame that I have set. It was working very well, surprisingly well so this gave me confidence that it was going to be a good project. After we built all the actions and interactions we worked on synchronising everything with the background image and there we were, ready to go shooting.

We met on a Saturday morning at 6.30am. I know, inhuman one would say, but it had to be that early both because of lighting issues and because the train would be free at that time. We got on the train, picked the right seats and started to set up for the shoot since we were going to go all the way to Bangor (the terminus point of that train), stay in the train and film on the way back to Belfast. Ha ha, one thing I forgot to mention... the train was delayed with about 10 minutes, a detail to which I wouldn't pay too much attention normally (coming from Romania you would understand why) but wait to hear this: just two minutes after we got on the train, we heard an announcement saying we had to get down at the next stop and change the train. The conductor came to clarify things for us: ''There is a surreal bomb, you have to change the train.' 'A good start, a good Belfast - like atmosphere', I thought to myself and started to joke with the others about this.

We moved onto another train where the real bomb was and it was going to blow us off and only the camera would resist. This was all a plot that I had set up. But enough with the jokes and back to more (or not really) serious things. I set up everything, prepared the improvised pump filled with fake blood (water, flour and food colour) and waited to get to the right place.

The drunk (Stephen Don) was only going to join us in Bangor, a few minutes before the shoot so everything was tight and had to be well prepared. He jumped on the train in Bangor and the train headed right back, only stationing for about 1 minute in Bangor, probably trying to recover the delay. So we were even tighter. The shoot was going to start in a couple of minutes and Stephen had to change and attach the pump to his t-shirt. All set, everyone ready, camera rolling and ACTION!!! The three minutes flew and seemed like 20 seconds. And it didn't work well. Or it did, but not as well as I wanted it to go.

Initially the plan was to have the father (Colin Hanna) on the front seat on the left, the drunk (Stephen Don) next to him on the window seat, the girl (Aoife Fitzsimons) on the front seat on the right (being almost in a close-up this way) and the mother (Rachael Devenney) on the window seat next to her. But after the first day of rehearsals I looked at the recording and thought it would be better to change their position because you couldn't see the girl's face in the initial one. What I didn't realise at that point was that by seating them the other way around you wouldn't see the drunk almost at all. This was the big mistake. Apart from not rehearsing in the train (partly for financial reasons, partly for the 'one take - one shot' principle), the big mistake was the way I seated them and the framing that didn't allow the drunk to be seen.

I was quite disappointed and thought it was all lost now. But after a few minutes, my friend Michael (whom I have to thank for voluntarily waking up at the earliest hour in his life) suggested that we could take a few more shots, although the train was rolling now along new and unexplored grounds. In an absolute coincidence, the second shot we took looks pretty well and ends with the announcement "The next stop is Holywood".

I'm editing the sound now and will be adding the credits designed by another friend, Cosmin Valceanu, and hopefully will have it ready in a few days. And there will be photos from the shoot and maybe some more impressions and feedback coming soon. Keep an eye on it. Peace.