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Your film One Hour
to Die - in a few words, what is it about?
Six friends come together in a secluded location to celebrate a
birthday party. After eating the cake, they open the cards to find a
sinister message ... One
Hour to Die was an experiment inasmuch as it was improvised on set
and shot entirely in one take - how did you come up with that idea, and
was there ever a point you doubted you and your cast could make it work?
Anybody
who knows me realises I like to experiment. I think by doing so you find
new ways of doing things and sometimes you come up with something
exciting. I wanted to see if a film could be made in one take with a group
of actors - trouble was, could I come up with a decent storyline? After a
few days of thinking it through I decided on the plot, but instead of
scripting it, I decided to see if I could find a bunch of actors willing
to adlib the entire plot and get it done in the prescribed time. It was
not easy. We rehearsed and rehearsed and always “rushed” the thing
through. We were 20 and even 30 minutes undershooting. Then something just
clicked. We had a discussion where I pointed out the awkward nature of the
plot and how it was better if we played to the spaces, the pauses. Great
paintings are really mostly space. If Jaws were shark eating human the
whole way through it would just get irritating. As
far as I know, you came up with the basic plot of the film - what were
your inspirations, and when devising the story, did you already have the
one-take/improvisation concept in mind? I
came up with the plot after reading about wolfsbane to be honest and a few
chats with friends and family. I decided to keep it as natural and normal
as possible so people could relate and believe in what was happening. I
always had a one-take-concept in mind, yes!
Jessica Messenger |
Based on the
fact that the cast improvised over your concept - did that lead to any
major changes in story?
Not
really because we rehearsed our arses off and so I could keep it on track.
Minor changes to characters developed and we put in a new character which
was really vital to creating the awkward moments. What can you tell us about your
cast, and why did you choose exactly them - and how much say did they have
in creating their characters?
All
of them are just wonderful people and great actors. We fished around for
the right age, sex etc and then just went for it. Mel Denholme [Melanie
Denholme interview - click here] I had
worked with before and knew she could pull it off anyway. Jessica
Messenger [Jessica Messenger
interview - click here] is just a diamond and brought a lot to the film. And to be
honest they were all just great, really enjoyed the process. You do (somehow) appear in
the film as the guy behind the camera - apart from the fact that you are
of course a "guy behind the camera" in real (professional) life,
to what extent did you identify with your character? Not
in the slightest to be honest. What can I say, he's not me, I was
“acting”. What
can you tell us about the actual shoot, the rehearsals, and how long did
it take to get everything just right to film it? And how many takes did it
take to get the movie done in one continuous take?
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We
shot the film in a very secluded location. It was battering down with rain
and wind outside. We all came together, spent two days working hard and
picked the camera up and shot it, first time. Scary eh!
Based
on the experiences with One
Hour to Die - could you ever be persuaded to base another movie of
yours on a similar experiment? Always! Any future projects you'd
like to talk about? Working on
pre-production for Paranormal Possession at the moment, which is a very
different take on the genre and involves special forces, mind games and
all that stuff I love! Your/your movie's website, Facebook,
whatever else? Latest film is
Exorcist Chronicles which will be out 2013. www.exorcistchronicles.com
mostly everything else can be reached from there under the links anyhow.
There's a certain person in that film called Michael that you may know :) Anything else you're dying to talk about
and I have merely forgotten to ask? What
happened to summer then? Thanks for the
interview!
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find Philip Gardiner at adultvideouniverse.com
