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didn’t. We shot that in our second week, and I remember looking round and seeing the crew in tears.”
Beginning life as an original screen- play by Australian writer Trevor Todd, Devil’s Gate came St Paul’s way five years ago. He changed the Australian setting of Todd’s story to a remote island that in reality was a combina- tion of locations in the Shetlands.
Shot by Scarlet Tunic DP Malcolm McLean on Fuji 16mm 250 tungsten and 250 daylight stocks, Devil’s Gate was digitally post produced and laser printed onto 35mm negative.
“The reason we shot on Super 16 was because of our schedule,” St Paul adds, “in addition to the weather condi- tions we were expecting, and the need to move a bit quicker and easier. And because there were no hotels we were renting accommodation in peoples’ houses so I was restricted with the physical number of people I could take.
“In the end we got away with a lot less lighting than we anticipated. Having said that, I still took out two lighting trucks and two generators, so we didn’t skimp. With the time, the weather conditions and the size of the sets we were working on, you have to take every eventuality into account.”
Working so far north might have been problematic in other ways, not least in finding a suitable source of equipment for a filming location that has only been used once before, for Michael Powell’s The Edge of the World in 1937.
“Our camera equipment actually came from Denmark,” St Paul reveals, “but that was as straightforward as getting it from Glasgow or London.”
Given the low budget limitations on any British film, the various light- ing challenges take on extra signifi- cance in terms of their potential cost in time and money.
For St Paul and McLean, these amounted to shooting day for night on more than one occasion, and creating just the right brooding atmosphere for a story that reveals its dark secrets slowly. A young girl, Rachael (Fraser) returns home to see her ailing father (Tom Bell) only to find his state of health has been exaggerated to lure her back. Childhood friend Rafe (Blue) and Matt (Luke Aikman), a stranger in this small community, vie for her attentions as the tragic secrets of her past gradually come into focus.
“I chose Shetland as a location for a number of reasons. I wanted the isolation of being in the middle of nowhere and also because I did want really dramatic, cinematic weather conditions.
“The weather was much better than England, though we had a special effects team up there in order to man- ufacture our own wind and rain.
“The thing that you can’t totally account for is that although you know it’s going to get wet, what you don’t
realise is that the whole of the island is like a bog. So when it’s wet and you’re walking around you tend to sink. Things like that were very uncomfortable for all of us.”
The setting of the film inevitably echoes The Wicker Man, although St Paul admits he was drawn more to specific character detail in some quite different films.
“I watched When A Man Loves A Woman because in that film there’s a situation where the woman is an alco- holic and the man sticks around out of love for her. We have a similar situa- tion here in that the main character – played by Laura – has her problems, and you have to start asking why are these two guys hanging around.
“I also looked at Deliverance, simply because this is a film about people going to a place where they don’t belong. How the local community have their own rules, their own laws and their own way of life. And often it’s a way of life that is totally alien to visitors.”
Fact and fiction happily parted company when it came to dealing with the real Shetland locals. A charm offensive from St Paul and his crew ensured the production had plenty of good will from the islanders, which even extended to being involved in a local ceremony that celebrates the local Viking heritage.
“We actually filmed three of those Viking ceremonies. They happen at dif- ferent times in January, and the reason we filmed three is because one is a big one. That gave us the scale we needed, but we weren’t allowed to be part of it.
“In the smaller villages they had a smaller version but they weren’t as strict, so I could put my two actors in costume in it. And the third one we used for pick ups.”
Not a man to shirk a challenge, St Paul remains in demand as a stunt co- ordinator as he builds his reputation as a director. He clearly has impres- sive powers of persuasion, but as someone who has proved himself will- ing to put his own money where his ambition is he deserves every respect.
“We called in some favours on this film,” he shrugs, “but at the same time we paid everybody. They were favours in the sense of asking people to go that extra yard that you normally wouldn’t on a small film.
“So there is an element of people doing you a favour, but we’ve all worked on pictures where we haven’t been paid as much.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
Devil’s Gate and The Scarlet Tunic were originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative
Photos main: Devil’s Gate Director Stuart St Paul on location, pondering on the weather conditions, in Shetland;
From top: DP Malcolm McLean; Stars of Devil’s Gate Callum Blue and Luke Aikman; Make-up and preparation on the set
Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video • Exposure • 33