Two days ago, Ted and I caught up on each other's lifes as well as on Shadows of the Tunnel people. It was an exciting and inspiring chat, full of positive energy.
We usually present each other the new ideas that we have come up with on the filmmaking front. This time it wasn't any different.
About an hour before our chat, I returned from a two hour hike to Mata de Margaraca, the forest that I mentioned in my recent post How I love Hiking aka My Life in Monte Frio - 2. On that hike, I had brought my GoPro Hero 5 Black along. This appeared to be a wise decision, as my iPhone didn't have storage space for any more pictures, let alone for a video.
I told Ted the following.
I am gonna shoot with the GoPro for this project. Not my iPhone.
I bought a ( very bright ) flashlight with a headstrap that I plan to use in my scenes
I found a stone that can function as the humming stone
on my way back from the hike I had some new thoughts about the stone
Ted soon talked me out of the latter, although he liked it. It would be complicated for me to pull those effects off and probably even harder to make it visually worthwhile. I might wanna try it anyway though. Sound wise it could get a little messy too. He's right.
Anyhow, less is more. So I guess I should keep things as easy on myself as possible. Acting ( directing ) and filming yourself is hard enough as it is ;>)
Ted, on his turn, shared his thoughts with me:
He wouldn't be filming in the ( flooded ) tunnels for a while, as he didn't want to risk damaging his filmmaking equipment. As soon as all is clear and clean again, he plans to go on a filming frenzy though.
Ted in the Tunnels
We spent quite some time talking about the audience rooting for our characters. We don't want the audience to dislike the characters so much that they want to get rid of them as soon as possible. The fact that we are the characters might have to do with that too, haha.
We brainstormed and tried to discover an underlying theme, that would be easy to relate to for most people. Soon we discovered – as we have in the past – that there's more than enough interesting themes / metaphors on society and human behavior in this story. I don't want to elaborate on this, as we want you / the audience to feel and figure it out for yourself. The picture from my notebook that I added to this post hints to some of the themes though.
I told Ted that – if my internet would permit it – I would send some footage his way in the coming week. In fact, I hope to do some filming tomorrow morning. It will probably be more like a rehearsal, as I still have a lot to figure out, both on the technical front and concerning the clothing and behavior of the character. I should really try not to overthink this and tojust do it. Whatever I come up with – whether it's good or mediocre, it will surely inspire Ted and give him new insights. It will also keep him occupied at a time that he himself won't be able to film.
Hopefully the tunnels will dry out soon. As soon as that happens, both of us will probably be on a roll and the first couple of episodes will premier and be finally available, for you to enjoy. I guess it's about time, after almost 20 posts on the pre production process ;>)
TO BE CONTINUED
P.S. The picture above this write up was taken from my balcony, on Tuesday morning. It reminded me of the Project that Ted and I worked on in 2016/'17 Los Ojos Rojos ( The Red Eyes ), that took place on the volcanic and often misty El Hierro ( Canary Islands ).