One scene was in a pub and the manager was most kind in allowing us to make up a corner after the lunch-time rush had finished and to have his staff be filmed serving drinks. The scene involved one main character and two others sitting down at a table having a drink and cutting a cake. Most of the camera-work was hand-held in this scene to add a feeling of reality. We used two cameras and some shots were taken from above with the camera-man standing on an adjacent table. We had some five takes but I'm not sure whether this was to have an extra drink or because the director wasn't happy with previous takes. Carly was directing this scene and she had grown in strength in the job taking total control of the actors and camera crew.
Another scene was in the local very busy Diner. The owner was so helpful and let us have full reign, even though they were busy. The diner is a long room and we used a table towards to rear so we weren't too much in the way. We had our waiter working from behind the counter and delivering a coffee to our actor. Then a group of her friends came in and were crowded round and talking. The scene was quite cramped in the narrow room but the shots worked really well. There was a great feeling throughout the filming and I believe much of this was to do with the day we all spent together about a month before when we did the read though rehearsal and familiarisation. We did this over a complete day and organised a buffet lunch which gave everyone time to talk to the others. I had an office for my business and this was an ideal place, just big enough for everyone to sit down.
We needed a club or other venue where we could simulate a rehearsal room for the Salem Witch play. There was a play within a play. I'd arranged to use a community hall but when I sent someone along to prepare the room, they phoned me to say that the building was locked up and there was no contact phone number or address. As everyone had come together from across the UK it was really essential that we found somewhere.
As luck would have it I was involved in managing a Show Girl Dance Group and they had performed just a couple of weeks ago in a local city pub that had space at the rear of the bar where they put on cabaret. I went in and spoke to the manager who immediately agreed for us to use the space.This was amazing as I expected to have to visit several venues to find a willing owner or manager.
This was a dramatic scene and our director was playing a main role as well so I was a bit concerned. The scene was rehearsing a section of the play The Salem Witches and involved dramatic action both in the rehearsal scene and also drama in the film script. It also involved the entire cast and obviously costumes as the scene was set in times gone bye. There was quite a bit of shouting and the cast needed to show some good reactions. Everything went well.We had scenes on a grave-yard, on the beach where we had a real barbecue, in a local busy pub in the evening and outside the Dylan Thomas Theatre. We also had a scenes in an amusement arcade, on a river boat and in a home . It was quite varied but luckily we had planned everything very carefully. There must have been some hitches but I can't remember any.
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