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| Last updated: 4 June 2003 |
Admonition Part 1 Filmed over Easter 1999, Admonition was the first cinematic venture for the CherryPie team and the first project in which the founding members were all involved from the start. With no budget whatsoever, the entire film was made on a small VHS-C camcorder and was filmed wholly in locations which the team were allowed to use for free. Having no specific plot to speak of, the film is essentially allegorical, although what it is an allegory of is open to debate, even between its two directors. Stephen feels it is simply about good and evil, while Ailish believes it is a representation of man in his purest forms. Like all good stories, exactly what the meaning of film is can never really be fully resolved. This, coupled with its visual style, is where the attraction lies. Such visual style will surely appeal even to those audience members who lose track of the narrative, with such beautiful and overwhelming scenes as the opening shot of Dark Man, the meeting of White Man and Dark Man and the stunning finale, all of which provide ample distraction from the elusive plot. Idea genesis: The very earliest origins of Admonition can be found in St. Pat's college during the week starting January 25 1999. It was during this week that Ailish Corcoran suggested to her friend Stephen Campbell that they make a film together. What this film was to be about, or how exactly they were to make it, they had no idea, but that, it seems, was a large part of the attraction. Particulalry for Stephen, once the idea was in his head, it was something which he had to complete, no matter how impossible it seemed. This determination would prove the saving grace of the film later on. Sitting in a history lecture a few days later, Stephen got the idea of a man dressed in black walking down a dark city street and uttering words about 'this being no way to begin'. He brought it to Ailish, who loved it and, although the opening in the finished film is radically different (mainly due to logistical problems) the essence of the scene is identical and the dialogue remained exactly the same throughout the entire production process. Over the next few days, this man became simply Dark Man, a mysterious and elusive character who neither Stephen nor Ailish really had a handle on just yet. To offset Dark Man, the idea of White Man was fairly natural. Ailish felt that if Dark Man was a man of the streets, why not make White Man a man of a room. Grey Man appeared soon after, based partly on a character in a screenplay which Martin had written, but both Stephen and Ailish liked the idea of the film presenting not just black and white, but shades of grey as well. Exactly who any of these people were wasn't clear just yet, and it is interesting to note that at this early stage, Ailish wanted Dark Man's scenes to be revealed to be dreams of White Man, while Stephen felt it would be more profound the other way around. In the end, both proposals were dropped in favour of the two halves of the one persona idea which is seen in the final film, with Grey Man being an amalgamation of both White Man and Dark Man. With all three principle characters in place, Ailish and Stephen now began to work on plot details. They came up with several fairly solid ideas, such as the threesome (to show how arbitrary, but seductive, Dark Man is), the meeting of White Man and Dark Man (an essential scene, and Ailish's favourite), the bus stop scenes (to show Dark Man's repetiveness), the scene in the past (to show Dark Man's agelessness), and, with the aid of Martin, they fleshed out the characters somewhat (White Man produces, Dark Man consumes). Once all of that was done, Stephen wrote the screenplay based on the vast of amount of notes which he and Ailish had compiled in their many meetings, giving an inherent, internal logic (however intangible) and structure to their mishmash of ideas. After two days work, Stephen had completed the first draft of the script and Admonition was alive. Preproduction: Admonition went into preproduction immediately after Stephen completed the script. The first stage was finding a cast. Neil was the first man approached, then Terry O'Brien for White Man and Karol Kelly for Grey Man. Ailish had directed both Karol and Terry on stage before, and Neil's acting skills were well known, having worked on several plays in Pat's, including Oedipus: A Context, where he was directed by Martin. Both Terry and Karol accepted their roles and Neil proved especially eager to make the jump from stage to film acting. After Oedipus: A Context, Martin French joined the team in a full time capacity as both production designer and a sounding board for ideas. The team had many meetings, particularly Stephen and Ailish, as they tried to sort through the vast amount of work that is preproduction, and to organise things for the approaching shoot. Slowly but surely, things began to fall into place. The majority of the rest of the cast was secured (including Neysa Dunne, Darren Kelly, Ann Marie Byrne and Melanie Piel, who all worked for Martin on Oedipus: A Context), as were loactions, costumes and make up. Martin and Stephen purchased a camera while Ailish purchased polystyrene sheets to construct the white room (it had been decided to construct the room as a suitable location could not be found). Stephen completed a few more drafts of the screenplay and had a number of meetings with the cast about their characters. Andy Bertaut, Stephen's uncle joined the crew as musician for the postproduction period. In late March, Stephen and Ailish found themselves compiling a production schedule and seemingly before they knew what had happened Admonition was ready to shoot. on to Admonition page 2 back to products links page back to home |
