'Heathen' logs part 5

After the big week shooting with Thomas last month, we eased back into filming after a short break with a return visit to our forest location to finish what we started there the previous week. Tom and Amber had a lot of dialogue which makes up what is a very intense scene. Thankfully the elements stayed on our side and the rain held off. After this we've been making our way through what is left of the script, so far with everything going to plan. We're really back in full swing this week, shooting every single day, it's been fantastic.

Last weekend was an interesting one, we shot a driving sequence. Whilst I got plenty of shots with the characters driving past the camera, fixed at the road side, I wanted to try our luck and see if we could pull off a tracking shot without a car rig. So, Jamie volunteered to hang out the back of my tiny car, boot open, clinging to the camera on a tripod, whilst Amber and Tom drove after us down all these winding country lanes. It was exciting stuff, and Jamie did an amazing job operating the camera, I'd only given him a crash course on the controls a few minutes before hand! To my surprise and delight the shots are very smooth and will definitely find a place in the final cut - it's great to get the camera out moving in a nice big space after what has been a lot of shooting indoors. Alongside this we've shot several more dialogue scenes between the main characters, and Steve Lorrigan was back in town yesterday to wrap his scenes. It felt like ages since we last shot with Steve, we shot quite an emotionally charged scene in Preston Park, the only problem came from a strong cross wind which created some sound issues at times. We also had a mini reunion with John Hoye afterwards who came down to appear in some photographs which will be seen in the film.

By the end of this week Amber will almost be wrapped which just leaves the last few sequences for Tom's character. After already spending many hours editing the footage I have, I know that with so much I've not even started cutting yet, in many ways the real work is only just beginning..