No animals today, only small rooms. This was the Commanding Officer scene. After moving sofas, tables and carpets and some excellent set dressing, we had an office – well at least in part of the room.
We were very lucky to have a couple of Re-enactors help us today, one playing the Colonel and another on hand to help out and position some amazing props. It was a little disconcerting to see several period rifles and other weapons lying around, but it worked.
The lighting was set up – inside and out. We needed to burn out a modern decked area outside the window so high-powered “blondes” were used to provide a strong light. All was well; until the set designer gave a loud shout that it had started raining. I’ve never seen people move so fast as we all rushed to bring the lights in.
Also the monitor kept trying to fall off the camera, driving us all mad – and the redheads lighting the room interior were keeping us all nice and “warm”, which would have been fine had it been a cold day.
It was a long day and of course we were running behind schedule, but somehow there seemed to be mugs of tea everywhere. None of them however seemed to come my way. I did manage to find some pizza though!
Whilst the Captains were waiting, they practiced their swordplay in the garden – with sticks. When they were finally called, they complained about the uncomfortable, ill-fitting uniforms and the boots in particular, which were rather too small. Our re-enactors advised that the uniforms were the wrong period. Never mind, they looked good.
Once we finished in the house, I mean office; we headed down to Pendennis Castle to film the hanging scene. First of all we managed to confuse a few people, since a crew from another production company (Plymouth based Twofour) were filming for a daytime show. Anyway we were in and ready to go just after the Castle closed for the day. I’ll leave the rest for you to watch.
One of the re-enactors had his black powder licence with him together with the appropriate insurance for its use. So after a quick check with the falconry display group (there was a jousting at the Castle on during the day) and checking about the holiday cottage, we were ready for some real “shooting”.
There is something strange about turning away from a Hanging to be confronted by an 18th Century Green Jacket, heading your way, rifle half cocked and a smile on his face, swiftly followed by a very loud bang. This caused one the lead actors to jump into the air and then almost head butt the floor. The DOP was holding the camera just over the tripod and looking shocked.
The first loud bang was followed by a number of misfires. Good job we didn’t have the French charging at us! This went on for some time, whilst I tried to work out how the hell this all fitted into the plot. Wait and see…..
The Highwaywoman 