It’s 7am, and I meet Simon, one of the apprentices on the project, and set off to the church in Wolfhampcote. We arrive at 7.30am and help Chris and Damien clear the space. The 14th century pews are really heavy! We set up the floor space, light the room (with added candle light) and set up the first shot. We have a little scare when the generator doesn’t start but we keep trying and eventually it starts. At 9.30am Simon rehearses his pool cue solo and Cathryn arrives with the costumes and props.
The kids arrive at 10am, and they get in costume straight away and start practicing the material. We try for our first shot of the day and we can’t get the generator to work – it’s rented from a respected company but they are not much help when we ring to try and get some advice! 20 minutes are wasted sorting it out but eventually we get it going, chuffing away like Thomas The Tank Engine!
We eventually take our first shot at 10.30am. The lads are really focused and perform the material well; they seem to really get into the occasion and display a very professional attitude. It’s nice to see that even though the lads are from two separate schools and have never before met, they interact well and give each other a lot of respect.We then need to give the lads a break while the Chris and Damien set up the next shot, and they have fun being creative with the shadows created by the lights on the back wall of the church. We shoot some tracking shots: head and shoulder height on the lads, plus some tracking shots on the floor of the lads lying down – it all looks beautiful, and we go to lunch feeling very inspired and positive.
We arranged for the local pub to serve everyone food. We get a lift there on the mini buses; everyone tucks in and freshens up for the next shoot. But when everyone gets back to the church – DISASTER strikes!! The generator refuses to restart again and we have to end the day losing five hours of shooting time. UPSHOT? The filmed material looks great, but we have not got enough footage for the section to make sense. Fingers crossed, we might be able to get everyone together again and shoot the rest of the footage with a generator that works!
