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FEATURE IN FOCUS
THE DESCENT PART2
“IT’S VERY DIFFICULT TO MAKE SOMETHING LOOK FILMIC IN DIGITAL. FOR ME, WORKING IN FILM IS ALWAYS FASTER THAN DIGITAL.”
hosen to be the Closing Night CGala at this year’s prestigious
FrightFest (August 27-31) in London’s West End, The Descent: Part 2 will then open
generally in the UK from December 4. The much-awaited sequel to one
of the UK sleeper hits of 2005 (it grossed more than $60m worldwide) the Appalachian-set horror story continues the perils of caver Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) who barely sur- vived before with her life after close encounters with the deadly subterranean Crawlers.
Co-starring are Natalie Jackson Mendoza, Krysten Cummings, Gavan O’Herlihy, Douglas Hodge, Anna Skellern and Joshua Dallas.
First time feature director Jon Harris, who edited the original (win- ning a BIFA for Technical Achievement in the process) is also joined by Production Designer Simon Boswell, Make-up Effects wizard Paul Hyett and cinematographer Sam McCurdy, who have all returned for well deserved second helpings.
As before, McCurdy shot the movie on Fujifilm in locations ranging from Bourne Woods, Farnham (best known for some of the Gladiator exteriors) and Scotland to Ealing Studios, using 35mm ETERNA 500T and 250T.
Said McCurdy, who recently completed Centurion (directed by Neil Marshall who originated the Descent franchise): “The ETERNA range have been the most perfect stocks as before. The crucial thing for me was being able to go black.
“We’ve used the 500T as well as some 250T for exterior day. I ended up filtering the 250T not correcting it, leaving it blue and adding the 80 filters in to saturate the blues even more for exterior day stuff. I knew that it’d go cold.
“This one starts with big exteriors, then begins to feel much more contained before opening out again as you go through the story. When the girls went down the caves the first time, they took a couple of torches and some flares and that was it.
“This time round with rescuers involved, there’s more emphasis on the technical side of lighting involving videoing cameras and thermal imaging. So it’s been a different journey for me.” Albeit, McCurdy also confirmed, once again involving “gallons of blood”.
The Descent: Part 2 was originated on 35mm Fujicolor ETERNA 500T 8573 and ETERNA 250T 8553
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