Nemesis

April 19, 2010

by Ric

Worked up in Leeds this weekend as 1st AD on a short film shoot, working title ‘Nemesis’.

Will Higo directed and produced, Andy Litt DOP’d.

Been a while since I last 1st AD’d a project. Last one was ‘Cops, Coke and Diamonds’ which we shot in Toronto. Usually the organisational side of doing a shoot isn’t my favourite, as I’d rather be focussed on creative things, like getting the best shots and performances I can. However, as an independent low budget filmmaker, often the task of producing falls on the shoulders of the director, so I’m used to handling that side of things.

I’d helped audition the cast, hired some of the crew and put the shooting schedule and call sheets together. All was going smoothly, until my not-so trusty Fiat Punto, filled full of lighting kit, decided it was time for the exhaust to start falling off again on the drive up. From that point on, things were busy.

Finally arriving on location, I helped Andy and Will get the pre-light underway. First scene on the schedule was a big crime scene outside a warehouse. Cast and crew started to arrive. One actor, who shall remain nameless, got in touch 10 minutes before their call time to tell us they wouldn’t be turning up at all. Awesome.

So the hunt for a replacement began. With a new actor finally in place, we started shooting at around 9PM. With the whole shoot night scenes, we shot until around 1AM then picked up the following morning for interior scenes at around noon.

We did another long day but managed to plough through the scenes pretty swiftly.

A long weekend, but lovely to work with a lot of new faces. Even those covered in blood.

Stills from the rushes: