In the Mix at last.

So, we're nearing the finishing post and currently in the sound mix.  Pavol our fabulous sound designer and Jered our very talented composer have been busy squirrelling away on the film in a dark dubbing theatre for five days - and the end is in sight, which is great for us, but not for the local coffee house - which we have been keeping the caffeine levels at an appropriate level. 

Pavol Kajan (Sound Designer) and Jered Sorkin (composer) in the dubbing theatre.

Pavol hard at work in the Dubbing Theatre.

Meanwhile Leo Costa and his team of helpers are busy creating the visual effects - including ripples in water, compositing green screens and creating dust and debris.  


More info coming soon!

Picture Locked!

So, we have finished the first hurdle - we have picture locked the film. Hurrah! 


Chloe and Dave have been slaving away for weeks in a dark room and its safe to say its looking great. 


But don't start leaping to find the nearest screening just yet - thats just one small part of the post production process! 


We're now in the track laying period - where Pavol Kajan our trusty sound designer is getting to grips with the sound design - digging up war sounds, bombs and explosions.

All that hard work fits into just 8 cans! 

Meanwhile - I dropped off the rolls of film with our friends at  Deluxe Digital to be scanned ready for the VFX work to take place.  


Keep popping back for more updates. 

It's all gone quiet!

Hello people! 

Its all been a bit quiet since the shoot  -  after all that hard work we all had a little bit of summer holiday to recover and now we're back! Hurrah!

So - update on the film - Chloe, our wonderful editor is busy editing the film at the moment - and last week we had the pleasure of seeing the first cut. I've got to say (though i might be a bit biased!) that the film is starting to take shape - and it's looking amazing!

For those of you who don't know about post production process - its going to be some time before you get to see the finished film  - we still have the edit, sound track lay, visual effects, mix and grade to do - so it'll be at least december before we're finished. 

That said, we'll give you regular updates on the progress - and I might even sneak some photos up too! 

 One of the sets 

Andrew Havill (Roland) and Amelda Brown (Betty)

Victoria Ross (Florence) discovers the bomb

Months to build, days to destroy

for those of you have been following this blog - you all know how long it took us to make our set - with all the love and hard work (thank you art department volunteers!!) it still took almost 2 months to build. But all good things come to and end... and just three days after we wrapped - it was like we were never there.

The last section of the radio booth being taken down...

For all of you who enjoyed reading the blog - do not fear! I will still be updating it in the coming months to let you all know how the film is getting on going through post, and coming soon I will be posting the official production stills.

That's a Wrap!

1000 litres of paint
60 bin bags
26 Rolls of film
7 days filming
3 crew caught napping on the prop bunk beds
1 fantastic shoot


Thank you so, so much everyone for all your help and support and watch this space for more updates of the film.

Its the last day of the shoot!!

Its the last day of the shoot - and that time when we have mixed feelings about the end - we're sad to finish, but also glad we almost have it in the can.

Behind the scenes production have been working tirelessly to make sure the film runs to schedule and to budget - and so the last day of shooting is a triumphant day for us, but also exhausting one where nine times out of ten, we simply need coffee and sugar to keep us going for that final push to the end.

James O'Donnell our production manager, finally finished the movement orders...

here comes pedro!!

We start on the music library bombsite....

and two days later... we're ready for the cameras to come in. Pedro, our bomb nestles in for the night!

It all starts with a script...

Krysty, our wonderful and talented writer has been an absolute star - even helping out  production on the odd day or two by running to the shop for us and picking up crew at some ungodly time in the mornings.

She has been convincing us that she has been working on some exciting new scripts... we're not so sure about her sanity now though....

Some photos from the set after day 4

 Miles ('Bruce Belfrage') reads the news 

Final checks take place with Victoria before sending her to set.

(above photos courtesy of Sara Azmy)

It's a tight squeeze in the radio booth!

What do we do with our day's off....

As some of you might know - we have been working to quite a tight, but also somewhat random schedule - including a number of 'days off' inbetween.
Well, though many of the crew have had time to rest during these days - The Art Department and SFX have been busy transforming the set from pre-bomb, to post bomb, and later to post explosion.  no mean feet in a 50ft long stage.



Adele and her team at Wycombe Recycling have been very kind in letting us raid their stockyard and borrow loads of rubble and mortar, along with other bits and bobs of demolition debris - which has been helping us bring it all together.

 Jen rustles up some exciting rubble and hardcore

"Sarah! There's some lovely bricks down here! "

One of three van loads of rubble...

All we need to do now is get it into the set and destroy all our wonderful hard work and break the set! The music library is first, as this is where the bomb hits the building. Watch this space.

SFX is dirty work...

Today was the shot with the mortar cannon - and we needed the 'rubble'  to be fired out of the pig dirtied up a bit - so SFX Jenny  got to it, and then wandered around set all day oblivious to her lovely new face paint. We were going to show you the results of the shot (which, incidentally, looked awesome) but you'll just have to wait to see the film to see that!

Some photos from the set after day 2

Dave woodman prepares for another take

Luke Newberry ('William') waits while Focus Puller, Emillo does final the checks 

Photos Courtesy of Sara Azmy

We've wrapped on day 2 and Director Dave updates us on it's progress

 

(Apologies for the shonky camera work... I'm a producer, not a cinematographer! )

Good evening, here is the 9 o'clock news and this is Bruce Belfrage reading it.

Its here! 


All the months of preparation have come to and end and the camera turned over at 10.38am today.


Its been hard work and everyone has pushed themselves to the limits - but it was all worth it when at 9am a collection of 35 cast, crew, volunteers  and NFTS students arrived at the studio ready for the first day shooting.


Here are some sneak preview shots of the set! 

This the the BBC...

Director Dave Chats to Bill Thomas (Alfred) on set

 Everyone is in high spirits while Dave chats to Amelda Brown (Betty)

Cinematographer Dave Woodman does some final tweaks 

Steve puts the finishing touches to the props

Another day in BBC Broadcasting house? (Left to right Victoria Ross ('Florence') Dudley Hinton ('John') Andrew Havill ('Roland') and Miles Richardson ('Bruce Belfrage') 

Photos courtesy of Sam Parsons

Vintage radio equipment? No problem!

Steve Granger, our production designer had a big task on his hands - a huge set build, a period piece, and, to top it all off a vast amount of vintage radio equipment to find. Lucky for us, we stumbled across Washford Radio Museum - which is choc full of radio and broadcasting equipment from years gone by. 

We've got to say with all the research we have done in the last few months - nothing prepared us for such a fantastic collection. Neil, the museum owner, has been a radio broadcasting enthusiast for his whole life - and has been diligently collecting and restoring the equipment on display for over 20 years. The museum is housed in an the old Washford Transmitting Station, and has a displays outdoor broadcasting units, microphones, switcher and broadcasting racks, transmitter valves and a huge collection of radios too - well worth a visit!!


Neil, the museum owner - very kindly loaned us some broadcasting racks for our set - and gave us quite an impressive history lesson too!  


Watch this space for some photos of the borrowed equipment on set! 

Finding Blackout Curtains in Aladdin's Cave

When you're prepping for a film like this you frequently find yourself running around looking for absurd things - and today was no different. Where does one find blackout curtains to fit 10ft high windows? We discovered the answer - you don't, you have to make them.

With time ticking on  (we turnover in less than two days) we're faced with the challenge of finding over ten metres of thick black material with which to make the curtains with - but we lucked out finding The Fabric Warehouse just outside Uxbridge.

I'm one of those people who gets extremely excited about pretty things and shiny things and walking into this shop was like walking into a magical fabric grotto of happiness!  The lovely staff there were kind enough to give us a curtain making 101 and helped us find everything we needed to make a set of heavy velvet blackout curtains.


We did consider buying hot pink faux fur curtains - or trimming the more sombre blackout material with marabou feathers and some fabulous jewel detailing - but feared we might be risking the wrath of Steve our Production Designer!!

Blowing up the producer..

As promised, here is the SFX test where I get 'blown up' 

Got to be said the blast is nowhere near as big as it looks on camera - and i despite what it looks like I wasn't even hit by the dust or debris!  The camera wobble was deliberate too - before you think we got a fright!! 

Costumes!

Well, its getting close to the shooting date - and our costumes are starting to take shape.

Judith More, our fantastic costume designer, has been working hard at creating the costumes for our cast of nine actors. A talented seamstress, she has been working on designs for the women's clothing, and scouring vintage clothing stores and costume hire companies for the mens. Here are some photos of the work in progress....

Jolliffes in Marlow helped us source the costume for John, our BBC military guard. They had an excellent wardrobe of outfits and clothing that we could pick through - and we found a1940's military uniform that was perfect for John's character. Photos coming soon!

Betty's costume has been created with a combination of found items and a pinny Judith has made. It has been inspired by the archetypal 1940's charlady.

Here's a snapshot of the work in progress! 

Here's some trivia for you people - did you know that British  pinafores traditionally were wrap around (as above) whereas modern pinafores are more like traditional American pinafores  - with two shoulder straps.  I didn't know that either until Judith gave me the history lesson!

The outfit for Florence, one of the monitoring service staff is substantially more glamourous than Betty's - with a sleek and streamlined style inspired with 1940's fashion.

Judith is busy creating this style for Florence

SFX Testing - Meet 'The Pig'

What better way to break from the hard slog of pre-production's catering, crewing and transport plans than to skulk onto the set to catch the special effects being tested. 

We've been putting out heads together for weeks trying to work out how we can safely but effectively create the effect of a bomb coming through the ceiling in the room next door. Jenny Groves, our SFX Supervisor suggested we try a mortar cannon - also known as 'the pig'. A mortar cannon uses pressured air to fire dust and debris from it at high speed - but it means you can vary the pressure and the amount of dirt you put into the end of it. 

SFX Legend Richard Conway helps Jenny and her team prep the mortar cannon.

We used a combination of bentonite, vermiculite and chunks of polyurethane 

to create the desired effect of dust and debris from a bomb hitting. 

Jenny Approved!

The final result?  well take a look yourself! 

Excited by how great the results looks I made the error of pointing out the need to be able to see what it looks like with a person in shot.... and guess who became the guinea pig?!   Oh yes, it was me. 

Watch this space Jenny and Dave  'blow up' the producer. 

Set Update

Here are some updated photos from the set.  

Now all the wallpaper stripping and hanging has been done - we're onto the painting - watch this space for more details.


A big thanks to all the art department assistants who are working so hard on getting such a huge set together! 

What's in a name?

Pop quiz people! 

What is the most common question we have been asked so far throughout our development and prep?

A) "Is it really a true story?"

B) "Why is it called All Men's Dead?"

C) "How are you going to make the bo... I mean, how are you going to make Pedro?"

Actually they are all common questions we have been asked - but the most common is A - closely followed by B - why is it called what its called?

Well it's called All Men's Dead because of to something the American Poet Archibald MacLeish once said about broadcaster Edward R Murrow when talking about his WW2 news broadcasting.

"You made real and urgent and present to the men and women of those comfortable rooms, those safe enclosures, what the men and women had not known was present there or real. You burned the city of London in our houses and we felt the flames that burnt it. You laid the dead of London at our doors and we knew the dead were our dead – were all men’s dead – were all mankind’s dead – and ours.”

The importance of the work of all news broadcasters during the war was a huge inspiration to our writer Krysty - which is why we decided to use the name. That said - it is a working title and so it is very likely to change before we complete the film. The only thing is that we can't change the name halfway through production - because it will confuse people something rotten - so for now, it's All Men's Dead. 

Casting, Churchill and ...Pedro?!

Thanks to our amazing casting director, Kate Rhodes James we have now secured all of our main cast, and what a cast indeed! We'll be announcing who they are nearer the shoot, but its safe to say that Dave and I feel extremely lucky to be working with such high calibre and incredibly talented artists.

As for the search for the bomb - we took a visit to the Churchill War Rooms for some inspiration earlier in the week and low and behold what did we spot hanging from the ceiling at the entrance? An original and fully intact 500lb delayed action bomb, just like the one we have been looking for. 

Needless to say, the real deal is a bit too heavy to be lugging around on a set, but Steven (our production designer) found a fantastic replica at Bapty & Co so our bomb problem has been solved.  This is great news for us - because now we can stop discussing bombs everywhere we go - resulting in a lot of funny looks - We even resorted to affectionately calling it ‘Pedro’ when around others - especially on public transport.

Things are Set in motion

Exciting times as our set starts to take take shape.  Steven Granger our production designer and his team of brilliant assistants have been busy all week stripping the flats, ready to start wallpapering and decorating the set.

Ok ok so it might not look like much now, but squint a little and think about Art Deco furnishings and voila, its Broadcasting House! 

Casting for Bombs...

Last week we had our first round of casting sessions, but this weekend we went looking for the other major character in the film - our 500lb delayed action bomb.

In every film there is 'the prop'. The one item which has to look and be perfect. Its the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and the time machine in Back to the Future. Ours, is the bomb. 

Funnily enough, there are not a lot of WW2 bombs kicking around any more - especially not german ones, but we managed to track down a real SC500 - the big brother of our bomb - at Sywell Aviation Museum so Dave and I went on a jolly to Northampton armed with a camera, notebook and tape measure. The museum is awesome - well worth a visit even if you're not researching a film, and being able to see the size a real WW2 bomb is pretty awe inspiring. 

They are huge!! They also weigh just under half a tonne when they're empty - so we're going to have to build a replica - the question is how...

The guys at the museum very kindly chatted to us, and pointed us in the right direction about who to speak to about  laying our hands on a bomb-a-like - so watch this space! 

29 days until filming starts...

Hello!

This is the production blog of the short film All Men's Dead (working title). We absolutely love the build up to shooting a film - so thought a blog would be a fun way to keep you all up to speed with our progress.

All Mens Dead is a National Film and Television School graduation project, and is based on the true story of the night of 15th October 1940 when a 500lb delayed action bomb hit BBC broadcasting house during the blitz.

The film is being directed by David Simpson, and is written by Krysty Wilson. 

We've got a monster set build, large cast, and extremely high ambitions for the film. We have 29 days before we're due to turn over - so here goes!