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DESPERATEMEASURES
ON LOCATION IN WOKINGHAM WITH THE INDEPENDENT FILM DRAMA FOLLOWING FOOTSTEPS
he modest resources deployed Ton Richard Perry’s debut
feature belie its ambition. For the budding young hyphenate, who serves as writer-director-
producer-editor on Following Footsteps has not confused making economies with sacrificing quality.
For one thing, the suggestion to shoot in a digital format was initially raised, but never realistically entertained.
“I’ve always been film orientated,” Perry explains passionately. “When I go to the lodge at Pinewood and see pictures of cameramen with their wooden tripods on the Lawrence Of Arabia set I think it’s remarkable. If it was good enough then, why not now? Stocks have only improved anyway.”
Perry’s film benefits from a brand new stock, the Fujicolor ETERNA Vivid 500T in 16mm a coup in part attributable to the director’s experienced DP Robin Vidgeon BSC.
“I’d read that it was coming out,” Vidgeon recalls, “and when I rang Rachel at Fujifilm she said they had some test rolls and I asked if I could have one to use on this. I spoke to Roger Sapsford at ilab, who’s ex-Fujifilm. He sees all our rushes and said it looks really nice.”
With Perry happy to defer to the long experience of his cinematographer, Following Foot- steps is the culmination of a friendship between the pair that stretches back several years.
“I’ve known Richard for about three years now,” says Vidgeon, “I’ve done a couple of promos with him
and a commercial. We did a short film, the first job I did with him after he came out of the film school. I think he’s got a great talent, a good eye, he’s technically good and wants to learn all the time.”
The tyro director is savvy enough to see the advantage of casting a pair of hot young TV stars in his film. Matt Di Angelo is best known for playing Deano Wicks in EastEnders, while co-star Loui Batley recently left her long running role as Sarah Barnes in Hollyoaks.
Aside from the appeal the leads bring to a younger audience, their television experience prepares them for the pressures attendant in a feature shot in 15 days.
“The appeal of this for me was the script,” says Di Angelo, “as well as working with Rich and Robin and Ken Coles, the camera operator. It’s a great chance to work on film, so I’ve been watching Robin and Ken to see how they do it. This is in the same ballpark as tape, but it’s a different art form really; it’s quite unique.”
Di Angelo and Batley head a cast of characters whose lives interlock in an elegant tapestry of relation- ships, as Jack (Di Angelo) is forced into desperate measures when he gambles away the money intended to pay for his seriously ill younger brother’s medical care.
Shot in and around the Wokingham area, the obvious pressures that play their part in any production have been taken in the stride of Perry and his crew.
“The schedule is crazy,” Perry shrugs, “maybe two extra days would
just give us a little bit more freedom. It’s tough, but we’ve got crew who are used to a TV pace of working, and then you’ve got Ken and Robin who are experienced in features. They’re so good at their jobs.
“I don’t have to think about the camera because I’ve got such a high profile DP taking care of that. It’s refreshing for me, I’ve worked with Robin for years; he’s a friend so there’s trust there, just as there is between me, Matt, Loui and the other leads. We all know the whole scope of it and we never argue about character things.”
The footsteps have never faltered on this suspenseful character driven drama, and if Perry ever needed a boost fate seemed to be smiling upon him.
“When we filmed Matt’s car,” he adds, “the light played across their faces as the low evening sun came down. In the same sequence we shot through the window onto a little boy on the backseat, so you get the shades of the different trees as you go past playing in and out. It’s absolutely gorgeous.
“Another time we filmed in the churchyard at Barkham, and in the rushes I noticed that when we came down from the church, tracking past this scenery filled with flowers, the greens were absolutely stunning.
“We shot at the church in the morning and another location in the afternoon, and they were supposed to be two separate days. The morning was grey, horrible and a bit rainy so that added to the scene. Later that afternoon the sun was
out, and it looked summery, like two completely different days. So yes, fate seems to be smiling on me at the moment.” ANWAR BRETT
Following Footsteps was originated on 16mm Fujicolor ETERNA Vivid 500T 8647, ETERNA 500T 8673, ETERNA Vivid 160T 8643, and ETERNA 250T 8653
THE DP VIEW
ROBIN VIDGEON BSC
I always try to shoot a middle
neg so the director can go way “up or way down, so he’s got some latitude to play with. Scientists make a negative emulsion to be shot at an optimum exposure and you should learn to do that.
Use the latitude afterwards; don’t give the stock too much to play with when you actually shoot it.
But the thing about the ETERNA 500T stocks is that they really give
you what your eye sees; you’ve got
to add a little bit if you’ve got
artistes in the shot. You’ve got
to balance that, but then let
nature do its stuff. ”
Photo main left: Director Richard Perry and co-star Loui Batley on Following Footsteps; above l-r: Ken Coles, Richard Perry and DP Robin Vigeon BSC; Matt Di Angelo; Angelo with Loui Batley; Ken Coles
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