Production Diary

Friday 10th March:

Scenes to film- 18M, 33F, 37

The scenes filmed here all take place inside Jack’s house, which was, rather conveniently, Mike Slader’s house in Aldwick. Coincidentally enough, the shots are all part of music montage scenes, which made the first evening of filming a fairly gentle event. Present were Mike Slader, Ellie Price, Daniel, Hugo, Lucy Betts (as Producer and behind-the-scenes camera person) and our Costume Designer Izzy Frampton.

Despite a few technical problems and a few out-takes (and a lot of experimentation from Daniel, whose first real outing with the camera was this evening), things went incredibly smoothly. With only three of the seventy-five individual scenes done so far, though, there still remained a heck of a lot to do.

Friday 17th March:

Scenes to film- 50, 52

The segments of these two scenes filmed on this day take place at the very end of the film in Sarah’s house, and were filmed in Hugo’s sitting room in Hambrook. A much larger number of people were here this time- as well as those in the scenes above, this was Joshua Bott’s (playing Josh, Sarah’s older brother) first night of filming, as well as Anna Watson’s. Production Assistants Rhona Scott, Rebekah Humphrey and Gemma Searle all helped out behind the camera as Camera Assistant, Boom Operator and Make-Up Artist respectively.

Lighting inside the house became a rather complicated issue very quickly; insufficient light would mean that actors’ faces would be obscured, and with the camera being positioned where it was, Dan’s shadow was cast right across the set. With three ceiling lamps, several desk lamps and a Parcan, though, everything was solved and the final moments of the film were captured on the second shooting day.

Sunday 19th March:

Scenes to film- 29, 26

These scenes also take place in Sarah’s house, and thus Hugo’s house was again taken over by cast and crew; this time in the downstairs toilet and in the back garden. This time, they were joined by James Price as Tony and Ami Stidolph as Faith, who had some audio-only dialogue to record.

A special prop had been created specifically for the purpose of being dropped into the toilet. This required much rehearsal, and because of the size of the downstairs toilet Dan was left in a rather unfortunate position jammed on the floor next to the U-bend. Without an umbrella.

The next scene was a much more sensitive one, and proved a challenge in many different ways. Not only was lighting outside in the dark fairly difficult, competing with the ambient noise from traffic on the motorway and cold winds provided an even great challenge for actors Ellie and Mike who had to give consistent performances and pretend that the cold wasn’t there. The results were more than the film-makers could have asked for, though, and it remains one of their favourite scenes.

Saturday 25th March:

Scenes to film- 3, 6, 11, 17, 23, 18D

The first of four rather exhaustive days to be filming in and around Chichester College involved all of the classroom scenes. We had been designated an empty Psychology room in Chichester College’s B-Block in which we arranged our set and prepared ourselves for a gruelling day.

On camera for the first time were James Price, Anna Watson, Ami Stidolph, Lucy Betts (this time as Miss Jones), Adrian Quinton as Simon and Liz McNally as German teacher Ms Blöt; as well as a host of classmates.

Since the scenes to be filmed take place at varying times throughout the film, this was the first place where continuity notes had to be taken- with so many similar scenes in the same place, it would prove difficult to correctly remember what each character was wearing and holding, how they were moving and what had taken place in the scenes previously (all of them yet to be filmed). The cast all performed admirably, though, including all the extras who helped give the impression that the film took place in a real, believable school. And we finished before time, which meant we had more time to go home and capture the footage to the PC. Marvellous.

Friday 31st March:

Scenes to film- 8, 18J, 33D

The owner of Chichester Golf Course in Hunston Village was incredibly generous in letting their Crazy Golf course be taken over by the film for the morning. Eager to start early so as not to cause any disruption, Dan and Hugo left to arrive at eight in the morning to set up for a nine o’clock start. Production Assistant Lucy Featherstone saw her first day on set, acting as both Camera Assistant and Runner.

The weather was fairly erratic that morning- high winds and intermittent cloud cover meant that it was difficult to time shots correctly so that light levels would be consistent throughout the scene. The high winds also made operating the Boom rather difficult, and was constantly blowing into the microphone, meaning all dialogue will need to be recorded in post-production. It was due to rain fairly heavily that day as well, so the scenes were shot at pace. The last shot of the day was finished, and not more than three minutes later the heavens opened. We were incredibly lucky that morning!

Saturday 1st April:

Scenes to film- 22, 33E, 34, 42

The first pivotal scene in terms of plot events (Number 34) was to be filmed today, on Peter Pine’s first day on set as Mr Knight (the father of Josh, Sarah and Robbie). It was also Joshua Bott’s first big scene, and it was incredibly dialogue-heavy. Other scenes involving the kitchen and the hallway were also filmed, all of them inside Hugo’s house. Scene 22, which took place entirely in the kitchen, was attempted as a single, continuous shot all the way through and resulted in giving a satisfyingly frenetic pace to the scene.

Monday 3rd April:

Scenes to film- 25, 28, 33C

It was an early evening call for the cast on the Monday, and Eddie Porter, playing the part of Sarah’s little brother Robbie, joined them for the first time. Again, the action takes place inside Sarah’s house, albeit this time in the dining room and hallway.

Once the five cast members had assembled at the dinner table, food (a vinaigrette salad with pitta bread) was served for the characters as part of the scene. The actors, however, leapt upon it ravenously and were in danger of eating everything before the scene was even filmed. It’s never good etiquette to have eaten half the food before serving it.

Since we had to do multiple takes for each scene and the salad was rather messy, the plates all had to be cleaned after every cut to allow continuity. Costume Designer Izzy Frampton was diligently washing plates so we had a rotation of clean china to give the characters.

Then the actors got the giggles. But the results were good all the same.

Monday 10th April:

Scenes to film- 18E, 18C, 18H, 18G, 18L

The second week of the Easter holidays seemed a perfect time to get a lot of scenes done, since most of the cast were available for most of the days. For the next five filming days Nicola Hall joined us as a Production Assistant.

The difficulty with today’s filming wasn’t to do with the length of the scenes at all (they’re all shots of a music montage), but the fact that each one was in a different location in Chichester.

18E was filmed in a small vegetarian restaurant called Café Paradiso and involved Jack and Sarah talking to each other across a table. 18C took place in Crane Street, and also starred Ben Fawson as a busker, who was generous enough to lend his incredible vocal talent to a new version of Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’ which these scenes accompany. 18G was filmed inside Screen 7 of the Cineworld Cinema in Chichester. The manager even put on a silent advert reel for us to give realistic light levels.

Scene 18H required ducks, and it had been presumed that there would be some somewhere along Chichester Canal. Unfortunately enough, there weren’t any. And Hugo had forgotten to buy bread to feed them as well, so that idea was thrown out of the window. Some quick inspiration from James Price and Dan, however, turned the scene into a fantastic piece of Tony comedy, and also provided two younger extras (Roisin Mcnally and Mike Jeffery) quite a lot of exercise. We had other extras with us throughout the day, who were kind enough to just sit, stand or walk in the background over and over again until we’d got the right take.

The final scene of the day was due to be filmed at West Witterings beach, and it required the use of a dog. Hugo’s young Collie-Labrador cross Taiko was volunteered for the role, as he’s a fairly bouncy character and seemed fit, able and willing to chase Mike if given the impetus. Most of the time.

He didn’t enjoy the car journey (and neither did the person he was sitting on- he’s heavier than he looks), and was incredibly nervous when finally arriving at the location. Having been removed from the comfort of his home and pack, he barely wanted to walk, let alone go running after Mike. After much coaxing he still refused to co-operate, so Dan took the camera to act as the dog and chased after Mike at dog’s-eye-level. Today was very much an experience in improvising when something doesn’t work out the way you’d planned it to.

Tuesday 11th April:

Scenes to film: 46, 47, 48

The most climactic (and potentially most difficult, in terms of emotion and technical elements) scenes to film were at Shoreham Airport. The cast and crew were called to meet at half past nine at the small airfield, and were then briefed on the order of the day. And while everyone had prepared themselves for the scenes, the weather was a shock.

Cold winds ripped right through any layers of clothing and were freezing everyone; between takes all the cast would leap into either of the two cars to keep warm, and anyone who wasn’t visible in any particular shot sneaked away somewhere sheltered. Most of the cast were supposed to be in summer gear, too- Mike and James, for example, were stood outside in only T-Shirts and jeans. Thankfully, the shoot only lasted around two hours, and afterwards everyone went into the Airport Café for some well-earned hot drinks and food.

Wednesday 12th April:

Scenes to film- 1, 31

Geoffery Thompson joined us as Mr Fforsyth, head of Sixth Form, along with Geoff Goble in his role as Male Teacher.

Dan was away for filming on this day, which meant that Hugo was given full responsibility for the camera and directing of the scenes, both of which could potentially harbour up to fifty extras. Only twenty-five arrived though, which meant that it was less organisational work for Hugo, but also meant that making the hall look like it contained a hundred-odd Sixth Form students would be fairly difficult.

Since the first scene to film was the movie’s opening, it needed to have the right dramatic effect in order to bring the audience into the rest of the film. Dan had left very concise instructions as to the shots he wanted, making Hugo’s job much much easier. When it came to the crowd scenes, it was a case of looking into the camera and making sure that someone’s head or body filled every visible gap to crowd the screen.

The next scene involved everyone sitting on chairs, and a shot that trailed along the edge of a seating block to the back of the hall. Unfortunately, with so few extras, making the hall look realistically crowded was going to be an incredibly difficult task. In the end, they were lined up along the edge that the camera moved down and only the visible parts of the hall were used, with extras spread out as much as possible to populate it.

Thursday 13th April:

Scenes to film- 32, 33A

Having stood our cast in arctic winds for two hours, you wouldn’t have thought there would be much more to ask of them. Except be rained on for two hours. In the cold.

It was a fairly late decision to have this scene performed in the ‘rain’, which meant that Dan and Hugo had to construct a wet rig for the set by threading a hosepipe through some upstairs windows and locking a spray nozzle to it. It looked incredibly effective, if they did say so themselves.

Standing by in the sitting room were three huge fan heaters all on maximum to help dry them off and warm them up between takes. The actors all took it incredibly professionally, though, and (either through delirium or genuine interest) said subsequently that they enjoyed it. And the effect on camera is incredible.

Monday 17th April:

Scenes to film- 41, 43, 44, 45, 49

This time Hugo was away, meaning it was Dan’s turn to do everything by himself. Although considering most of the stuff being shot was inside a car, it would have been impossible to get two crew members and all the necessary cast inside without squashing everyone concerned.

One of the difficulties of today was the inclusion of an exploding car, the effect of which was gained by placing smoke pellets used to test chimneys under the bonnet.

Another problem was that a pigeon had to apparently hit the car and explode in a puff of feathers. Since no stunt pigeons were available, one of Dan’s feather pillows was mutilated and thwacked against the front of the car.

Friday 21st April: 

Scenes to film- 14, 16

Today saw the last of the large crowd scenes required for the film, which takes place at a Rugby Club Party and was filmed at Bosham Village Hall. In their roles as Rugby Player 1, Rubgy Player 2, Partygoer and Another Guy were Frank Osborne, Jeremy Graves, Alec Cecil and Chris Levens.

This scene was fairly complicated to put together. In terms of the script, everything happens at the same time but it’s divided into four separate sections: one for each of the main four characters, all of them playing a part in trying to rescue Sarah from the party. Tony had to keep the Rugby Players entertained, Alex was getting people increasingly drunk, Faith was looking for a way to cut the power and Jack was doing his best to try and protect Sarah.

This featured the outing of a jacket made especially for the film by Costume Designer Izzy Frampton- a black leather jacket with ‘DUDE’ written in studs across the back.

It involved two of our few stunts- Tony being dropped by the Rugby Players and, separately, having a can of beer thrown at his head. Despite some initial reservations about being dropped from so high, James performed very well, and the can (having been emptied of beer previously) bounced off his head without any problems.

Saturday 22nd April: 

Scenes to film- 4, 5, 38, 13, 15

Scenes 4 and 5 were shot in the Coasters food court in Chichester College. We had prop food for the actors to pick up and eat (due to budget constraints it was pretty cheap and revolting, though), and when filming we had to be careful about not disturbing the students who were trying to buy their breakfast.

Scene 38 was filmed in one of the male toilets at the college, and went past quickly and efficiently (as all things should in male toilets).

The last scenes of the day were filmed next to the Chichester Rugby Football Club building near Oaklands Park, Chichester. The owner was kind enough to let us use the Rugby Club’s mains point to power a floodlight to light a scene in the dark where Jack burbles out his feelings to Sarah. We tried filming it completely in the dark to see if it would work effectively enough, and then re-shot in the floodlight. For both versions, though, both Ellie and Mike had to be drenched in water, having (in the script) run through the rugby club’s sprinkler system.

When watching it back at the end of the day, the version shot in the dark was impossible to make out- you couldn’t see anything at all. We’re glad we used the spotlight.

Sunday 23rd April:

Scenes to film- 7, 18A, 18K, 39, 40

These scenes, most of them relatively short, were shot outside one of the Chichester College buildings. Izzy Frampton made a few cameo appearances as an extra, as did Josh Bott, James Price, Anna Watson, Lucy Betts and Ami Stidolph.

Due to having two characters missing, only Jack and Tony’s coverage of scenes 39 and 40 were filmed; we’d have to come back on another day to film the rest.

Saturday 29th April:

Scenes to film- 18F, 18N, 33B, 20, 21, 33G

Scenes 18F, 18N and 33B were filmed in Priory Park, Chichester, and were fairly short, simple montage scenes. One did involve Mike (playing Jack) getting hit in the back of the head with a Frisbee, though.

Scenes 20, 21 and 33G were filmed in Hugo’s house again; 20 and 21 are the first scenes where Sarah’s Dad appears, and required a lot of work to achieve the right pacing and emotion. And the cast kept laughing.

It was Josh’s last day on set, too; we thanked him and handed him a specially made card to show our appreciation for the effort he put into filming.

Sunday 30th April:

Scenes to film- 19, 24, 27, 30

These scenes all involved the driveway of Hugo’s house, both in the light and in the dark. Scenes 27 and 30 amounted to one line between them, and were filmed very very quickly. Scene 19, being a dialogue scene, took a bit longer, but since we then needed to wait for it to get dark Dan took some time to film a few shots for the music videos for the songs accompanying the film.

Saturday 6th May:

Scenes to film- 2, 9, 10, 12, 17, 18B, 33H, 35, 39, 40

It looks like a lot, but a lot of these scenes were fairly short and 39 and 40 were only the coverage shots missed earlier in the shoot. Miraculously, the weather was exactly the same as it had been on April 23rd, which was incredible news for Dan as an Editor- he didn’t need to tweak brightness levels or anything.

Since this was the last day we had to film at Chichester College, we needed to make the most of it. We filmed in the same B-Block corridor we did before, as well as the library, in a very small photocopying room and outside the front.

Sue Graves was a last-minute addition to the cast as the Librarian, coming into the role after having been back from Dubai for only half a day.

It was Adrian’s last day today, as well; we gave him a card and thanked him as well.

Sunday 7th May:

Scenes to film- 52, 52, 51

Today was the last day for five of the main characters- Faith, Tony, Ms Blöt, Dad and Robbie.

Faith’s last scene involved standing in an abandoned Georgian folly in Racton; she was standing on a wooden stool holding a five-and-a-half-foot sword on a giant stuffed monkey (which unfortunately couldn’t be seen on camera), surrounded by followers wearing hoodies and brandishing similar weapons. It sounds bizarre, but fits the character well, and was a suitably impressive last scene for Ami to be part of.

Tony and Ms Blöt’s last scene was filmed on the forecourt at Chidham Garage, with Tony washing a car while Ms Blöt searches for a new one to replace the one stolen earlier in the film.

Robbie and his Dad’s last scene, in the film takes place in Canada, but for convenience’s sake was filmed at Cobnor Activity Centre where they have lovely log cabin buildings that wouldn’t look out of place in Canada. For added effect, we also hired a Mountie outfit for Eddie to wear.

Thursday 11th May:

Scenes to film- 36, 18I

The two final scenes to film took place outside Ami’s house, and inside the Ship Hotel in Chichester. The first was Anna Watson’s last scene where her character Alex hands a letter from Sarah to Jack. The second, and very last scene, was a montage shot where Jack and Sarah are eating dinner at a restaurant, talking. Fittingly enough, we started on a montage scene involving those two characters, so it was rewarding to see the filming process come full circle.

Considering all everyone has done and been through as part of the film as both cast and crew, we can’t really thank them enough. Even a specially-made card doesn’t do any justice to the work everyone has put in. And although filming’s over, there’s still a lot more work yet to do.