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| Year 2006 Genre Comedy Duration 75m Ratio 16:9 Widescreen Colour | ||||||
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| Below is an ongoing production report
by Director Marq English.
This is designed to give an overview into the making of a low budget feature. Video Diaries can be found here and production images wthin the Gallery page. |
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On Sunday 1st October, we had our premiere screening of Return to Ravenswood. The film opened the 2006 Sutton Film Festival and thought it would be a good opportunity for cast / crew and audience to view a cut of the film before finalising the production. I also wanted to seek feedback from the audience to iron out any problems with story, pacing etc. The film went down very well and the performances were given very positive feedback. Although budget filmmaking is all about having to compromise, Ravenswood is pretty much the movie I wanted to make. This is a testament to the contribution from the incredible cast and crew during the production and notable mention must go to David Wells, Heather Tracy and Karla Mikenna for their invaluable support. So I’ve a little bit of tweaking to do on the edit and finish off the making of featurette Rural Encounters and the film is complete and ready for the festival circuit…then I’m going to have a lie down. |
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Back Row: Dave
Illett, Steve Palace, Rupert Booth, David Wells, Heather Tracy, Marq English,
Karla Mikenna, Giuliano Zampi, Ritchie Taylor,
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Busy putting the last touches to the movie before it receives its first screening at this year’s Sutton Film Festival on 1st October 2006. Its been over two years since the initial conception and its been a rather enjoyable but painstaking ride. You never know how the movie feels and paces until all the pieces are fitted together. Interestingly, I was recently interviewing filmmaker Neil Oseman for the FANZ documentary and we chatted about his low budget fantasy film Soul Searcher. Four years in the making and by all accounts, a very tough shoot indeed but his determination at seeing his goal achieved paid off in the end with the film receiving DVD distribution. A though Return to Ravenswood was a relatively trouble free shoot (mainly), the problems with logistics, schedules etc. are a constant battle and I think on any movie, is all part of the filmmaking process. Whereas Neil had battling demons and CGI pits of Hell and we had heathen hippies and sheep, it’s all the same game plan in getting your film finished and ‘out there’…how far out there of course, only time will tell. |
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Something I had been looking forward to for a while now had been the recording of the soundtrack for the film. Well, this finally materialised on Saturday 22nd April with the studio recording of Heather Tracy’s (Gwen Goodie) original folk songs that have quite literally blown me away. Working alongside engineers Baz and Duncan of Boxwing, the studio sessions comprised of Heather on vocals and arrangements, Oliver Bruce on guitar, Sarah Lee Allen on vocals and flute and Peter O’Shea on vocals and guitar. It was fascinating to watch how the songs built up through rehearsal, multi tracking and communication with the RAVENSWOOD REEL the first to be recorded. This song, an upbeat jig is to play out over the end credits and is designed to be the total opposite to the mysterious ending narration by Rupert Booth. Opening the film is ANIMA, a predominantly acapella composition with lots of mystery and reverb. Also recorded was WICKED and traditional folk songs TREAMOUNE (Sixteenth Century) and ROSEBUD. Baz and Duncan are now doing the final mix down. So all that’s left now is locking down the picture and handing over to Baz and Duncan again for the final sound mix. It’s a year since we started shooting now and I the project is finally drawing to a close…although I have just entered production on a documentary about DOCTOR WHO fans so it starts all over again!
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Happy New Year! Yes, I know it's gone a bit quiet lately but that's because I am shut away in the edit suite, piecing together the movie from a vast output of footage. As well as this, we are going into the studio with the cool guys from Boxwing to record the soundtrack with some excellent folk songs provided by Heather Tracy (Gwen Goodie), Emma-Lo Fox and incidentals by Ritchie Taylor (who is also designing the titles). I'm not going to say too much at the moment as a full report will be given when we have the workable edit in place...Blessed be.
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After a break of five weeks, we are now shooting the final block of the movie. This pause in filming was always planned and was put in place to cater for people’s vacations and for Amber Chakra actor Karla Mikenna to complete a theatre job in the West End (which she produced and performed in…and was very good too). So what else has been happening? Well, the first teaser trailer is now online and MEV regular Matt Wolf (he must be sick of working with me by now!) is going to provide his vocals for the role of the Narrator. Before the break, we had been shooting a lot including the big scenes of UFO Reception Day and footage of the Summer Solstice at the Avebury Stone Circle Monument in Wiltshire. More recently, we had a very good days production on Sunday 4th September at the wonderful location of Treadwell’s Bookshop in London’s Covent Garden. The shop was the stand in for Amber Chakra’s scenes and Christina and her staff at the shop were fantastic and very welcoming so this is a big shout-out to them…cheers guys! As well as Karla playing Amber, we had Sarah Fletcher playing Poppy and Susy Saker playing Jasmine (as well assisting on the production side). Heather Tracy as Gwen Goodie also made an appearance for just one shot, so to tie in with a canvassing scene shot earlier in June. At this stage, I have begun creating an assembly edit to see if the whole thing threads together. Although the script and scene outlines detail the order of the film; this is improv of course, so we have created scenes, changed structure and introduced / deleted characters so a massive puzzle is lining up in front of me on the edit suite to piece together as a coherent narrative – but more on the edit to come!
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A lot has been happening on the production front the last couple of weeks. We introduced Miles and Laura Cavendish into the picture, admirably played by Mark Trinick and Eve Webster. We returned to the location used as the Goodie resident (not that you would notice it’s the same house) and the ruins of Nonsuch Manor in Cheam. This was built by Henry VIII as a compliment to the nearby Nonsuch Palace (which no longer exists) and was perfect for what we needed. There was a very small technical issue with the equipment but this was fixed quickly by the expert skills of the tech crew, David Wells, Barry Heath and Nicola Zentilin. We also held an extra casting on 24th May for additional roles and this proved very successful, we now have a squad of villagers and new age hippies. On the 5th June, this extra cast was introduced in our biggest shoot yet – the village meeting scene! The original location had fell through so I had a week beforehand to find a new venue. After a lot of searching for a village hall (you try finding one that’s not booked on a Sunday!) I eventually settled on New Wimbledon Theatre in South London. I adapted the script slightly to accommodate this and changed the on-screen location from a village hall to a function room in a neighbouring town. This scene introduced nearly the entire cast to each other and a lot of them commenced their first day’s shooting. On set included actors Heather Tracy and Adrian Palmer (George and Gwen Goodie), Richard Aloi (Oscar Steinman), Robert Hamilton (Edward Franklin-Hall), Sarah Lee-Allen (Swallow), Giuliano Zampi (Gerald Burke), Nicki Walsh (Joan Harris), Richard and Gill Stoker (Morris and Mary Blake), Mark Bennett (Rev. John Magister), Mark Trinick and Eve Webster (Miles and Laura Cavendish), Rachel Watkins (Audrey Philpott), Tony Kemp (Reginald), Kathleen McNamara (Elizabeth Goodie), Carys Lewis (Beverly Trughill), Anna Fiertag (Molly Churchill), Rob Dawson (Journalist), Ian Wakelin (Journalist) and David Ilett (Journalist). There was also brilliant hippie brigade consisting of Alice Fernbank (playing her digeredoo!), Sarah Morrison, Etta Bell, Alexa Brown, Emma Dennis, Peter Friel and Jenny-Ann Topham (I can’t wait to see these characters do their stuff in upcoming shoots) – oh, and there was me doing my first proper scene as Dominic Clay (damn ego, having to be in it as well!). As well as the cast, the crew were exceptional on this day and I’m very honoured to have these people onboard. This was a two-camera set up so DOP David Wells overlooked Nicola Zentilin on camera A, Barry Heath on camera B with Mark Bennett moonlighting from his acting duties to take over on the boom (under Barry’s supervision) and Mary Newman providing her artistic skills.. The reason I wanted to give a shout out to everyone is because (as mentioned before) this was our toughest shoot yet, two cameras in a limited and very hot space – but everyone performed incredibly well with some great banter going on between ‘The Friends of Ravenswood’ and ‘The Ravenswood UFO Reception Committee’. The final shots of the meeting descending into spiritual warfare were brilliant with the hippies launching into a new age musical chant which was counteracted by the villagers vocal rendering of ‘Jerusalem’ - Priceless! |
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On Saturday 7th April, filming commenced on the main unit of ‘Return to Ravenswood’. Our location was Nork Park in Surrey with the small crew consisting of Elizabeth Newman playing Rhiannon, Director of Photography David Wells, Mark Bennett and myself. We kept the unit small so David and myself could slowly feel our way into the film without the pressure of a larger set-up. I have worked with David before and he is an exceptional talent, taking his time to get the best shot possible. Liz was brilliant as the solitary Priestess Rhiannon, giving a lovely paced performance to a character that has no time for the rest of the world. On the Sunday, we started shooting scenes with the Goodie family. The preparation from actors Heather Tracy and Adrian Palmer (Gwen and George Goodie) was exceptional and their performances raised the template for the film. Heather and Adrian have worked with me before on Dawnrazor (2001) and Shelf Life (2003) and it’s always a pleasure to watch them do their stuff. Also joining the cast was Kathleen McNamara playing the Goodie’s daughter Elizabeth (who gave a wonderful performance) and Mark Bennett (Rev John Magister), who had a brief cameo with the Goodie’s for a rendition of the hymn ‘Abide with me’- oh, what enchanting vocals! Joining David and myself on the crew front was sound engineer Barry Heath. Barry is very experienced in this field with over thirty years of experience and I am honoured to have two experts in their respective areas working on this production. On each set, I am having a behind the scenes camera to capture the making of the film for the EPK (Electronic Press Kit). Mark Bennett (away from his duties as Ravenswood’s vicar) is doing a great job on this and his material is being edited down for the online video diaries. I’m very pleased with the first weekends shoot and if this is an indication of what is to come, then this is one Director who is very excited indeed. |
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A trip to Los Angeles in mid-April was an opportunity not to be wasted. It was here that Karla Mikenna (Amber Chakra) and myself (as Dominic Clay) filmed inserts of Dom’s dowsing tour of the world. These sequences will be used as home video footage that’s inserted into the main feature of ‘Return to Ravenswood’. We are also using this material to make a teaser short film called ‘World Video Dowsing Tour with Dominic Clay’, this will be included on the two-disc DVD of ‘Return to Ravenswood’. Karla doubled up playing another character called Monica Jameson, a waitress from New York who accompanies Dom on his US travels. MEV regular George Murphy is living in Vancouver for a year so I had to take advantage of his trip to LA, having him essaying the mysterious ‘Man with no Name’. Mark Bennett (Rev John Magister) also played another part as the decidedly odd Mr Moffatt. For a short film, I think we proberly covered more locations than ever before. We encompassed London, Surrey and Kent in the UK, Bremen and Minden in Germany and Los Angeles (including Hollywood), Santa Monica, Malibu Beach, Las Vegas and the Nevada Desert in the United States...now let's check my overdraft! |
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I'm now finalising casting and attended a very productive meeting on Wednesday with a bunch of damn cool actors who work in London's West End. With the now absence of original actor playing Oscar Steinman (got a big UK tour which is fab!), I formally offered the role to the excellent Richard Aloi. It's all starting to get nicely and it's a case of sitting down and working out the schedule and boring stuff like that...oh well. So here I am two months before shooting, organising last cast details, working out locations, having headaches with scheduling, saving pennies (or is that cents?) for a trip to Los Angeles and locking down the final draft of the script...and I can't wait! |
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