Vera Mark
Aug 11, 20192 min
Continuing this little series about the shoot of ‘Blue Widow’ with the good, the bad and the freezing cold. Well, nothing was actually really ‘bad’. But it was definitely cold!
Sub-zero filming
A cemetery turned out to be our most challenging location.
Not that I had trouble getting permits, on the contrary; I found the people in charge surprisingly helpful. They were probably quite happy to have some live action for a change... But those permits were, of course, issued on condition that if there was a funeral, we could not film. That resulted in postponing the shoot three times, and since we had to schedule the car shoot (see below) on the same day, the logistics became complicated, to put it mildly.
When we finally did get to film without funereal interference, it was a very early start in sub-zero temperatures. Setting up at a cemetery in the dark at 6am – this was mid-February – with no access to heat or water tested my team’s skills and resilience, but they were just great, staying focused and cheerful in the freezing cold.
Wroom wroom!
After five hours in the freezing cold we were all ready for a change of scenery, and on we went to what turned out to be everyone’s favourite location: a Ferrari repair shop. Or rather, repair boutique. I’m definitely not a car lover (they help kill this planet and all that), but filming surrounded by about 25 Ferraris, two Maseratis and a Lamborghini was just cool!
I used the term ‘boutique’, and it truly was, but I want to emphasise that the people running it were just super cool and relaxed. They even offered to arrange a helicopter if I needed one... next film perhaps!
So where’s the bad?
Actually, there wasn’t. Seriously. I still can’t believe that nothing went wrong with this, my first film. Sure, we’re still in post-production as I write this, six months later, but that’s par for the course. Call it luck? I call it finding the right people to work with.
Next step: adding the soundtrack and then start submitting to festivals. Watch this space!
#BlueWidowShort #shortfilm #comedy #darkcomedy #filmmaking #screenwriting #writerdirector #rookiedirector #teamwork