Simon begins shooting his second feature, “Judas Ghost”, on Monday 27th February. He will be blogging from set through the 18 day shoot and for the most up to date info you can follow him on twitter via @cbaproductions.
Counting down…
So, it’s been a while since I’ve made an entry to this blog (as I’m sure great hordes of you had noticed), so I thought it was
probably time for an update….
Well I’m just under a week away from starting production on feature number 2! “Judas Ghost” is a supernatural horror which will
be shot entirely on stage. The film is set within a single location and features only four members of cast. This presents an
interesting challenge visually as we have to maintain atmosphere and tension for 90 minutes within the same four walls. A
brilliant example of this is in Sidney Lumet’s film “Twelve Angry Men”, with Henry Fonda.
Tackling horror is also a new and exciting challenge for me, as I’ve always been intrigued by the notion of trying to make
something scary for an audience – whilst at the same time having to view it on set, so broken down into individual shots and
moments, with no music or sound being added until later, two things which are so key to effective examples of the genre. In many
ways it’s no different than creating effective drama or action I suppose – but, like comedy, to me it’s always seemed more of
a challenge. I guess I shall find out soon enough!
I have a great cast on-board who I’ve been working with in rehearsals this week, a part of the process that is more key than
usual given the single setting, as every member of cast will be on camera for the entire time.
From L to R: Lucy Cudden as team telepath Anna Gilmour, Martin Delaney as team leader Jerry Mackay, Simon Merrells as former Ghost Finder Mark Vega & Alexander Perkins as tech wizard Ian Calder
Finding a cast capable of taking on such a challenge was thanks to the support of Dowling Erdely casting agency, based in London,
who came on board the film in December last year. It was my first time working with a casting director and an extremely good
experience. Initially we had tried to cast the film ourselves, as I had always done previously, but we had almost 1000 responses
to our initial casting call and going through them all individually was just so time consuming, not to mention the process of
trying to set up auditions, and given the amount of pre-production needed we just couldn’t do it ourselves in the end.
Final auditions were set up through Dowling Erdely for the end of January and the decisions were made on cast just last week.
As we continue to rehearse our way through the script, set construction is underway, as well as last minute sourcing of some key
personnel.
Below are a few hints at what’s to come:
Our set.... in miniature!
The Judas hand! Our titular villain starts to take shape.....
A sculpted mock-up provides basis for the final prosthetic design, which will be produced by Mattes & Miniatures at Bray Film Studios
I’m going to blog from the set as much as possible over the next three weeks. We shoot for 18 days, a tight schedule for 84
pages of script, but one that should be manageable given our setting. Obviously being in studio we don’t have some of the same
concerns that might normally plague a film-shoot such as bad weather or fading daylight.
One part of the process I’m a little anxious about and which I’m sure will have the most affect on our schedule is the large
amount of VFX required. It will again be my first time working with them on this scale, so it’ll be interesting to see
how that goes. Thankfully we have a great FX team on-board in the shape of Peerless Camera Company, so I look forward to
working with them and am sure I shall learn a lot from the process!
For more info on the film itself, check out the projects page!
More soon……
Happy New Year!
Simon is currently prepping to shoot his second feature, “Judas Ghost”, in March for 18 days. The film is a fantasy/horror set entirely within the confines of an old village hall, where a team of professional ghost hunters has been dispatched to make a training video that goes badly wrong, when the spirit they encounter turns out to be far worse than they first anticipated…..
The film is an original screenplay written by New York Times best-selling author Simon R. Green, and is based on his “Ghost Finders” book series. For more on Simon and his books, check out www.simonrgreen.co.uk
The film will be shot on the Alexa and filmed at Eyelights Studio in Portishead.
September 2011
Simon’s short film “Broken” was recently selected for an “Award of Excellence” at the LA Movie Awards 2011, an online awards ceremony set up to support independent film-makers around the world. Categories for competition include shorts, features, music videos and animation.
Paul Tonkin also received an award for “Best Supporting Actor” in a short. Paul plays the lead in Simon’s next short “Intruder”, which is currently in post-production. The trailer for that can be found at the link below:
“Intruder” Trailer online!
Check it out below:
Simon Pearce Blog
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Here’s where to come for all the latest news on where Simon is, what he’s doing – and what he is shooting! Through this blog he’ll be keeping us updated on everything from the trials and tribulations of getting a film made, trying to make it as a young director, fighting for work as a freelancer, as well as keeping us abreast of all the news and information related to his latest production.
Check back regularly for updates.
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