Pre-Production

We realised that the best way to go about our meetings would be to go to a mutual venue, near to where we all lived so that we could get there easily, somewhere where we were nice and comfortable where we could bounce ideas off each other and would be able to make enough noise conversing.

The obvious choice was Matty's Cafe on the Lower Bristol Road.

I find it impossible to focus in a meeting, and let my imagination run wild, without the aid of a good greasy fry-up.

Here, we discussed re-writes, locations, props, cast, and everything else that we needed to sort before the actual filming (over the course of two or three fry-ups on various days, may I point out...).

We decided that Josh would maintain his role of cameraman, Adam would be the stage-manager, Katy would direct, Annabel would edit, and I would be the producer. We felt these were the most practical roles for each of us, as we stayed within our own areas of 'expertise'.

I was particularly glad to be producer, as having lived in Bath my whole life, I am more clued up as to locations that may remain unknown to other students, and I know a lot of people in the area, so finding people who might own certain props would be easier.

We carried out auditions, and after a small dispute, agreed on our cast. Katy and I agreed from the start, whereas the boys seemed to have a slightly different vision. However, as director, Katy made the final decision, and I have to say that I am absolutely totally chuffed with our cast - I think everybody is perfect for their role, and those who are struggling a little more than others to 'become' their character will certainly get there with a little encouragement.

I have also liaised with an aunt and uncle of mine who own a stunning mansion on the outskirts of Bath which serves as an absolutely perfect location for the entire film. They agreed that we could use the property for the designated weekend. This means that we can shoot the entire thing in the same place, which solves the transport issues we had last time when we were trying to move from one area of Bath to another for all the different locations. We have also ensured that some of our cast members can drive, so that all of the cast and crew can get there in one journey. It is also on a major bus route - so if anyone can't drive and needs to arrive at a different time to the rest of the crew, they can get there easily.

Just to top it all off, the house is just down the road from our favourite film-group chippie.

This is a picture of the view from the house (for privacy reasons, the owners were uncomfortable with the idea of a photograph of the whole house appearing on the internet...):

I also spent a lot of time perusing the Bath shops, looking for props, gathering them from home, and asking friends and family what weird and wonderful objects they possessed. I also collated a lot of costumes.

We briefly toyed with the idea of using a sheep in the film. I have a friend who has a pet - yes a pet - sheep. She takes it for walks on a lead and everything. We thought it would be a nice addition to the film, to use animals.

We decided eventually against using the sheep for practicality purposes - we would not be able to transport the sheep to the location without a huge amount of logistical planning, and we wouldn't be able to fit into the schedule a trip to visit and film the sheep.

Shaun. Oh, sorry, I mean shame. (Terrible, isn't it?!)

We also set up a Facebook group, which served as a place where we could put all of our ideas, pictures, videos and so forth - just another means of communication between the five of us to make our life a little easier in the run-up to the shoot.