BACK TO "my NIGHTMARE"
It was coming to the end of my second year at University and I was chatting away with a friend of mine from home on messenger. I was telling him about all the things I�d been filming, editing and so on and he suggested that we should make something together over the summer holidays. I couldn�t agree more. At this stage I was in the middle of filming my first film �Digital� and was already on the look out for a second project. Instinctually the thought of making a horror movie popped into my head, which my friend (Gareth � lead actor in the film) agreed to whole heartedly. So the idea had been conceived in early June 2004.
I then spent a few weeks coming up with ideas of what the film could be, I even roughed out the opening few shots of the film which then inspired me to write the script, those first few images acting as a starting point to work from. I had the first draft written in a couple of days � it was now time to start planning how we were going to make this film (including a location scouting session). I had Gareth on the bandwagon to star in it, but I still needed my killer � it was actually plural; killers, for the first and second drafts. So I spent about a week securing who would also act in the film as well as storyboarding, refining the script and experimenting with a fake blood mix � not to mention all the intricate little details that come with a production � it was txt messages all the way as my thumb began to wear down to the bone.
The first day of shooting was Saturday 7th August 2004 and just to get into the swing of things I decided to try and shoot all the �Gareth only� shots as I put it. Initially it was a matter of �where do we start?� � but after that period of getting into gear we were into the swing of things. The first shots filmed were Gareth�s arrival before heading off to one of the woodland locations to film some of his shots before we got the other actors (again at this stage I was going to be using two more actors) involved. The first day�s filming went well; we got the majority of what I initially planned to shoot done. We basically decided against filming some shots for the �barn sequence� as we�d been filming all afternoon and it being summer it was time to have some fun and hang out with some of our gang down at Trigate (where there is a local river people go to in the summer to swim etc).
Between the first and second day of filming (we shot on weekends) I discovered I could not get my two killers on the same day � disaster! Well, not entirely. I manage to re-write the script so that the two killers were in the same scene together, but not the same shot. The second draft of the script also encountered a whole re-write of the �barn sequence� which instead of another encounter with his hunters, Gareth�s character (referred to as The Driver) gets stuck in a �house of horrors� moment. This allowed greater freedom for myself and Gareth as the second day of filming � Saturday 14th August 2004 we again set aside just for the two of us. We grabbed a couple of shots I�d missed out the week before and then proceeded to film the entire �barn sequence�, which really pushed things along nicely. It just being the two of us we moved things along quite quickly, now really getting into the swing of the production. This second day was also the �day of blood� as I consider it � Gareth ended up drenched in fake blood by the end of it as we filmed further scenes in another section of woodland, including the majority of the throat slicing scene. I even managed to pull off blood gushing from the wound!
And yet again, during the week before the next day of filming the script changed. I really sat down and looked at it thoroughly and took a really critical eye to it for the first time and decided there was too much �killer, killer, killer� going on, so I ended up completely excising one of the actors from the film. I felt bad about doing it, but I felt if I�d left the film how it was I would have ended up flogging a dead horse narrative wise.
The third and final day of shooting was Sunday 22nd August 2004 and this proved a the most demanding day. We had two locations to shoot at, which meant plenty of trekking through fields and the un-tamed undergrowth of the woods of Llangaron. But not only that we were also fighting the sunlight. On previous days we had been shooting in the height of the afternoon sunlight, but this final day we started shooting around 5:40pm. There were roughly 25 scripted shots to get in about 2 hours (I also ended up shooting a lot of other things I either liked when I got on location or things I that had slipped my mind � I found myself using George A. Romero�s �cover your ass� technique of shooting � get everything you might possibly need; just keep filming!).
Not only was it myself and lead actor Gareth, it was also time to bring in the killer � another friend of mine; Emma. I felt Gareth was doing really well, especially for someone who had never done any sort of acting beforehand, I called him �my Bruce Campbell� and he retorted called me his �Sam Raimi� � I would torment Gareth by putting him through hell, having him run around all over the hot and humid woodlands (he was always hung over and with little sleep too!), not to mention soak him in fake blood. And then Emma strutted into the film and pulled off a great performance as a maniac � for those that know her, she is one of those really kind and fun people to be around, someone you never see angry. Now take that image and imagine this person turning into a hatchet wielding lunatic between �action� and �cut� � it was actually pretty scary. As a matter of fact, Emma had done drama in high school � so that really helped. I was especially pleased to see that she picked up on the subtle subtext of my script. The femme fatale enjoyed killing on a sexual level � another chance for me to turn some conventions on their heads. Instead of the �final girl� it was the �final boy� being chased by a female killer who got a sexual kick out of violence, as opposed to the usual (and controversial) thing of a male maniac turned on by his dirty deeds.
We managed to get through everything we needed and even shot some extra footage, all before the sun set. I even managed to match the light of early afternoon and early evening, so there were no glaringly obvious shifts in day light from one shot to the next in the final edit.
During the entire shoot I spent the evenings gathering a whole host of audio samples before playing around with them on my computer using a piece of audio editing software; to create the film�s dream-like, creepy soundtrack. I was inspired by Tobe Hooper�s �Texas Chainsaw Massacre� as well as John Carpenter � a filmmaker who knew nothing about making music who went on to score several very impressive, very creepy soundtracks to his films. During the editing process I layered in a whole host of tracks I had made myself to really add some serious atmosphere into the film � I wanted this film to be completely free of any copyright issues so that it was a pure DeadShed Productions film.
So it had been a tiring shoot with a number of heavy script re-writes, not to mention endless communication all over the shop (I found out I�m no fan of the role of producer � strange considering I�m such an organised control freak!), but the shoot was finally over � time to edit! Well � not quite � Sod�s Law struck in glorious fashion when my camera decided to pack up just before I got to capture the final day�s footage! So here I was sitting without a camera that worked (Hi8) and basically without a film � I can�t just have Gareth running away from big black blocks of �scene missing� can I? I ended up running all over the area trying to find someone who could capture my footage and whack it all on discs for me, but there was no way I was going to get it done. Then through a contact at a local computer shop I first of all got a guy named Ian Ashpole to try capturing my footage � but it turned out his computer was somewhat inadequate for the task (his 20gig hard drive versus my 160gig hard drive!), so in the very end of the day I borrowed his camera and captured it myself � which was the ideal situation.
Then finally I was able to finish the film (it was already partially edited at this stage), I even put together a location scouting video and a lengthy gag reel (for when I see about making a DVD for the film). Finally, as word had gradually spread through my circle of friends, my film was in hot demand for a screening, so thanks to my mate Ben (he even dubbed his living room �Jamin Theatres� � long story as to what that means, bit of an in-joke), he gave up his house and their home cinema set up for us all to have a first screening of �my NIGHTMARE�. And thankfully the response was all positive, everybody really enjoyed the film � so fingers crossed I might very well be able to gather enough souls to form my zombie hoard for my next film which I have begun thinking about!
�my NIGHTMARE� is a film about �the horror after the horror� as the tagline states. Gareth�s character has already been subjected to a night of terror at the hands of a serial killer but managed to escape � this film shows what happens when the �final boy� finds himself running after the typical horror film�s credits have long since scrolled by. This part of the genesis of �my NIGHTMARE� came to me when I was coming up with an idea for the film � I got thinking �what happened to Sally immediately after she escaped Leatherface? What if Leatherface tracked her down and subjected her to yet more horror that we didn�t see because the film we saw was already over?�
I am very proud of the final product and am so grateful towards Gareth and Emma who got involved and really brought this film to life.
the DVD
Special Features
Director's Commentary - listen to me jibber-jab about the film
Location Scouting - guided tour of where we filmed in Llangarron with Gareth
Trivia Track - learn some more interesting stuff about the film with on-screen factoids
Out-Takes - all the screw ups, all the witty banter and childish antics in between filming
"Decay" - my entry for the 2004 Nokia Shorts Competition