when things stop turning out the way you plan

The fact that shooting has been taking up all my time and I haven't been able to update should be a good sign, right? Not so much in fact. Yes, the shoot in Sweden is over. Yes, the bags are packed and I'm leaving a quarter to midnight for Australia. But no, I didn't get everything that I need. I had to re-shoot one of the scenes, and that went well. Joakim got sick, so the tree scene , although we ended up doing an improvised version of it without him will most likely be re-shot in Oz. Kalle had to take Joakim's scenes, so in one way those scenes are covered, but not as I planned.

The show-piece that is meant to sparkle up the film is a major let-down as well as 1) it turned out the only show available was a 60's musical that 2) did not have that much showy dance moments and 3) I only have it from one angle as 4) it got cancelled due to lead actor getting sick on the day I was supposed to go back and get more footage, which 5) also meant I do not have enough behind-the-scenes-at-the-theater footage either. Seems like a rewrite of the script will be needed...

art direction fail

So for tomorrows scene there's this tree, with photographs hanging from every branch. I have successfully tied threads through 110 holes in 110 photos. Wouldn't want to do that finger-work once there, freezing. So ready we go on our little trip, a 20 minute walk in the snow, out on a field, after dark, with a ladder and flashlights. All good. Except it's windy and -14°C. So the five hanging photos soon ended up tangled beyond salvation. Note to self: calculate potential wind when planning epicness.

When it comes to weather, I've had the most amazing luck. Today for instance, we headed out to Söderköping to shoot a short scene 11, at the top of the Ramunder Mountain (feels weird spelling it out as that, to me it will always be Ramunderberget), and it was a clear and sunny afternoon. Bliss. Imagine how it would've looked if it was cloudy and gloomy. So far this is my favorite scene I've shot for this film, it's just such an amazing location. And today we've officially shot half of the scenes that need to be shot here in Sweden. One more week to go.

The stills have my suggested color grade, but I know it will change by the time I'm done in June.

scene 7 rushes stills

the production that turned into a horror film

You know when there's one thing in the whole world that is not supposed to happen? That's right. It has happened. As of this morning, my camera isn't working. Perfect timing, just as I'm getting into my shooting week and have less than two weeks left.

my own private snow machine

The weather lately has easily been described as "melting away". My winter wonderland has slowly been replaced with ice that melts, rather than soft snow. Some fields are frozen soil, while some fields still have a white blanket. But they all kept melting away. So I am stoked that it's been snowing for four hours straight this morning. Exactly what I needed!

I've stocked up on umbrellas (to cover the camera), flashlights and candles. We're lighting up the cemetery tonight and I'm paying everyone with home baked sweets and coffee and tea.

rehearsal

I had a word with darling Anders today, the janitor/technician at the theater about using some of the lights. As the whole theater stage is going through a heavy construction (they are taking out all electrical wires to restore the stage to it's previous state) all the spotlights and lights are lined up on the floor and unplugged. The sockets upstairs where I'm filming would only take one of them (equivalent to a Blonde I assume) so we're gonna have a look at some other lights tomorrow or Thursday that could be the key-lights (night-time). Meanwhile we had a rehearsal (Eve & Celia) with the available lights, and as the stills show it was rather dark. Although the lighting isn't flat, it's too dark and results in a whole lot of grain. But I love the texture on the walls, such a relief to not have to work with a 'flat' surface considering I don't have much to fill the walls with besides photos.

Oh, and finally one more exciting thing (after a serious breakdown when scheduling the shoots, I tell you it's about time I get some good news!) we finally found ourselves Eve's father. He's going to be played by Tino Wallentin. Sounds like a movie star already.

the many faces of Adam

The character Adam changes appearance quite a lot throughout the film. It's starting to get a little bit like The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. With other words, one character is played by several different people that in one way or another look sort of similar. They're all brunettes for instance. They will have the same hairstyle, similar (if not the same) clothes. Adam simply changes his appearance depending on the dream. He's just an imagination, and sometimes he feels like changing his looks. Sounds confusing? That's surrealism for you.

I met up with Joakim today, someone suggested by a friend, and it now looks like I have my two Adams locked in for the shoots in Sweden. He's the only out of the three that has some film experience, the others are from a theatrical background.

a humble beginning - ACTION!

At last, the shooting begins. We began with the scene where Eve's best friend Celia is dragging her out in the real world after being locked up in her bedroom for Gods know how long. It was a very nice soft start I guess, just to get a vibe of how the girls would work together and how the three of them would potentially look on screen. At the end of the shoot the sun hid behind the houses so I was getting worried about the light continuity. The lack of a dolly or glidecam was obvious when I'm walking backwards with my boom operator over the bridge when getting a MS of the girls. It looks all right with the hand-held as I go through the dailies, but I'm suspicious it won't on a big screen.

the bedroom

The redocaration has begun. It's not finished, obviously, but there's some stuff we found within the many walls and labyrinthic corridors of the theatre. Now I need to throw plenty of girly clothes all over the place to make it messy, get flowers, bed-sheet´s, photos all over the walls and dirty plates with food around the bed. Oh and change that dreadful carpet...