Block 2, Episode 2 - 7pm, Llandaff North.
This is a tough little diary to write for you. Why? Well, because- amongst other things- we filmed the final scenes of Episode 2 - which has a nice Spoiler moment! So moving on...
The evening shoot began at 7pm in Llandaff North, Cardiff. It's a quiet area of the city which, after our experience of trying to film in the centre, was a joy to behold! We had a very busy schedule to be fair - we had four scenes to film, two with a good few pages of dialogue, plus- being an evening shoot- we were fighting with the daylight. Episode 2 takes place all in one evening in Andrew's life so we are going to film his episode over a number of evenings so we can get the light right! Great idea but brings with it its own set of challenges. On this occasion it wasn't too bad - we shot the scenes in episode order just for this reason. On this shoot we had for the first time on set Rachel Dunston and Lisa Grace. Rachel is playing Andrew's sister in-law Kate and Lisa is playing Andrew's wife Anna. Both are a joy to work with - it's a tough thing to walk into a project at this stage, as we are a month into the shoot and the main cast and crew have formed a close bond.
First up was a scene between Rachel and Ben - the scene was great from a director's point of view - they knew it, got it and just gave me what I completely needed. The only problem we found was that everyone in the street was coming home from work a bit later than usual, so we found ourselves stopping and starting. What could have distracted them and taken them out of their performance did the opposite. It fuelled them both and we got it.
During a gap in filming that scene, the neighbours returned home- a lovely couple, one asks what we're doing, it turns out she's a massive Doctor Who fan! Next thing we know, we have new Facebook fans and tweets in numbers due to them plus a great behind the scenes pic! We will have one viewer at least!
After battling a neighbourhood getting home for the night, we were running slightly behind and had the big end scene to shoot. But I didn't have to worry. Lisa rocks up, enters the scene and we get the first one take of the filming so far!
With a few close ups just to be safe we pushed through. Being the writer of this episode, the subject of the drama within this one is very close to my heart so to hear and see the actors not only perform the scene but to perform it and make me forget I was directing - I was watching completely in the moment- was amazing. I can't wait to edit this one and share it.
Thank you Lisa, Rachel and Ben. Sadly that was Rachel wrapped with one shoot - so a big thank you to Rachel.