Silent Terror – Shoot Part 5
It’s cliché, but I’ll say it anyway, “and that’s a wrap!” Silent Terror has officially finished principle photography. Bar a couple of possible re-shoots in late June, we have done it. We have been filming for just under 8 weeks. It has been a tough time. I suppose it was always going to be. Working with such a low-budget means you have to take on a lot of tasks yourself. Paul and myself have done a tremendous amount of work, more than could reasonably be expected, but we were both focussed on getting the film made to as high a standard as possible. Paul has been terrific and without him the toll on me would have become unbearable. The opportunity to bounce ideas off people is also useful and prevents me from going into full perfectionist mode.
This final part of the shoot has been about mopping up the scenes that will fill in to tie it all together. That doesn’t mean they aren’t important and were easy to film. Indeed, this part of the shoot had us working with the most extras yet, upwards of 20 at a time, and this presented its own challenges. Fortunately everyone was very amenable and accommodating. A couple of hiccups cropped up, but they didn’t spiral to knock us off track. While out on the road a paramedic become overzealous in his attempt to patrol the streets like a Policeman and we side-stepped a potential problem involving a dangerous stunt to produce a terrific scene as a result.
It’s funny how quickly you release the tension. I already feel the burden has lifted. I didn’t fully appreciate how much the production took out of me, but now it has finished it has really hit me. Having been full of energy for the entire shoot, working crazy hours, etc, I now suddenly feel exhausted, barely able to put one foot in-front of the other. It’s clearly time for a short break with my neglected family before moving fully into post-production, which although time consuming, isn’t as frenetic and stressful as shooting. I have had a great time though and I now feel more able to deal with production than every previously. I am already sifting through my large collection of film ideas to decide on the next feature project, hopefully with a larger budget.
