Video Diary #8: Bruise Day

The scene we were filming this weekend took place the morning after the infamous boxing match. As such we needed to ensure that Jon had various cuts and bruises on his face. Sadly he wouldn't let us put real ones on, so we had to settle for make-up.

It's all in the preparation

Years ago I remember some manager type banging on to me about the "7 Ps" which stood for "Perfect preparation prevents p1ss poor performance" and despite the fact I always felt that was only 6 P's, the message stuck. So with this in mind we've been set building, prop creating and make up testing prior to some pretty full on filming activity that is due to take place over the next week or so.

Firstly, and I'm not going to tell you why just yet, we needed to convert a rather nice looking office chair into something a bit more... well... used... so with the application of coffee, violence, fire, violence, wood and violence we 'aged' this fine looking chair and made into something a bit more... um... crappie



Next up, due to the boxing scene which we covered below, there is a need to play about with some make up and so that we dont look like complete morons in front of all the hired help on the day - we thought we'd have a bit of play at making Dazza look like he'd done several rounds with Ivan Drago.



Its worth noting that this was the output of a massive 2 minutes work - we were more interested in 'proof of concept' than anything else - also I was pretty happy that I was able to reassure Dazza that the burning sensation in his eyes the next day was quite normal.

Jon

Time for an update!

Well its been a busy few weeks since August and our last post. Jon has been training with Paul Henry to get the movements right for the boxing scene and we even have a couple of photos from one of the training sessions taken on location at the gym used in the film!

In this first shot, Jon is receiving some instructional guidance from Paul.


The advice is then being put into use over in the ring!


Lots of other things have been going on - mostly involving spending money! We appear to be some 25% over budget now but hopefully most of the expenses have been met. Darren has been off on shopping sprees getting incidental props sorted out for set dressing etc and we are expecting our permits for filming in and around Bristol to come through any day now!

Video Diary #4: Clamp It!

A clamp turned up in the post today. I made good use of it!

The clamp was purchased from the excellent people at B. Hague & Co Ltd who got it to me in record time!

Video Diary #3: This Is Sparring!

As we've mentioned before, one of the key scenes of the movie takes place in the boxing ring. We got together to try out some moves and camera angles. And, er... mostly to punch each other.



Stead is very keen for the boxing to look as authentic as it possibly can, so he's bravely volunteered to enter the ring with a professional boxer (more on him later) and actually get punched around a bit! Now that's dedication for you!

He's done a bit of bag and pad work in the past, but has never been in the ring, so between now and the shoot in September, he's got to get used to being hit!