Shooting 'October Sands'

We shot October Sands in Newcastle - Embleton on the 25th of February for four days and we headed back on the Monday.

The journey to Newcastle was one journey I will never forget as we almost never made it up there. We missed our first coach which mean we had to book another which we did, we then missed that coach and tried to catch up with it. The coach was heading to Golders Green and we were in the cab going hysterical. Looking back at it it makes me laugh and happy as we all (Me, Nayomi and Ethan) pulled together as a team. We eventually made it to Golders Green and got on the coach.

We started filming the next day as we got there too late in the evening. We didn't stick to the storyboard exactly as we skipped a few shots and went back to the ones we needed shooting and added a few of our own. This was to have variety and more choice as to see what suits better.

Filming October Sands was exciting and so much fun however it was very draining and tiring. The reasons were because of the time schedule. One of the reasons were because we didn't realise how time consuming the bathroom scenes would have taken. The lighting was difficult as we had to make sure the splashing of the water wasn't getting into the light bulbs. To prevent that from happening we covered it in a transparent plastic bag. We used a smoke machine to add effect and mystery at why Robert was melting. Also it was challenging for me to make sure the boom stick was in the appropriate area and was picking up on all significant sounds as Robert was shouting and in my opinion, making slight disturbing noises however suited his state of mind as it was severly deteriorating due to his lack of emotional hunger.

I had to make sure the boom stick wasn't getting wet as Robert was splashing hysterically using his arms, waving them everywhere. This is overwhelming me and it can be stated boom operating can be very demanding.

Overall, my role in the October Sands production was to operate the boom, make - up, costume and prop organising. I enjoyed the production of October Sands to the extent where Ethan and the film itself ahs inspired me to go away and create a stylistic piece of film. Something which is passionate to me as much as it clearly was to our director Ethan Race.