The Snatching Time Diaries

While shooting "Snatching Time", Clive and I both wrote production diaries. Here, for the first time, told by the people behind the camera, is the story of a short...

(Clive's bits are in Times/Rob's bit's are in Courier)


The Halloween 48 Hour Film Challenge:
Make a 3 minute horror film in 48 hours.

The Rules:
1) The film must be shot on DV, DVCAM or HDV.
2) Title and sub-genre (eg. Sc-Fi/Horror, Chiller, Zombie etc.) to be drawn randomly at the start of the challenge.
3) Maximum of six members for any team (not including actors).
4) Screening masters must be handed back in to the BFI London IMAX cinema before 12noon on Monday 31st October. The top twenty completed films will be shown at the BFI London IMAX cinema at 21.00hrs.

Friday 28th October

20.30 hrs - Final pre-production meeting, and the first time both cast and crew have all been assembled in the same place. We meet at the Shakespeare’s Head in Holborn, London. Our team name is “The Sick Puppies”; the team consists of:

Me (Clive Ashenden) - producer/director/co-writer/editor and team leader. I’ve done a 48 hour challenge before and have written and directed many short films, including “Gunplay”, “Dirt” and “Twice Weekly”. I work in the editing department at St. Anne’s Post.

Amerita Banger - make-up, hair and FX person. Amerita has worked on wide variety of projects, from fashion and corporate work, to music videos and shorts.

Stephen Cartwright – sound recordist/sound designer/sound mixer and composer. Steve is primarily a composer, and his company Not2Bmissed Music Production have scored numerous shorts and computer games.

David Maddison – director of photography. As well as his D.O.P. work, Dave is a writer/director of shorts and one half of Oak Tree Film Productions (UK) Ltd. He has done a 48 hour challenge before.

Rob Wickings – co-writer/script supervisor/continuity and telecine colourist. Rob writes and directs short films, including “A Silent Film About Sound” for the Straight8 film competition. He is a senior colourist at Soho Images.

Graham Williams – camera operator/assistant director/assistant editor. Graham is also a writer/director of shorts and the other half of Oak Tree Film Productions (UK) Ltd. He has done a 48 hour challenge before.

Everyone has put aside their normal fee to work on this, and I’m really excited to have such an enthusiastic and creative team. I tested the camera and sound equipment last night with Graham and Steve. Everything was fine and everyone is relaxed and excited about the weekend ahead.

It’s difficult to cast a film when you don’t know what it’s going to be about, but those are the rules. I’ve cast three lead actors, and I’m confident that they’ll be flexible enough to cope with whatever twisted narrative we dream up on the day:

Scott Hinds – a black-belt in numerous marshal arts, Scott started as a stunt performer before moving into acting. His most recent film credits are “Star Wars Episode III – The Revenge Of The Sith”, “Batman Begins” and the short film “Innocent Victim”.

Laura Metcalfe – Laura works as a Post Production Producer for M2. She is also an accomplished actress, having recently completed work on the short film “8%”.

Hugo Myatt – a veteran theatre actor, Hugo received rave notices for his role as in Dr. Frank Bryant in Willy Russell’s “Educating Rita”. He is best known in the UK for his role as Treguard the Dungeonmaster in the long-running cult children’s TV series “Knightmare”.

Any other actors will have to come from the crew. I have a gut feeling that I’m going to have to step up…

I go over the plan for tomorrow: I’ll meet up with Graham and Dave at the IMAX cinema at 09.00hrs. We’ll meet up with the rest of the crew at 10.45hrs on the South Bank for brainstorming and storywriting. The cast will join us at 14.30hrs. After that it gets vague…as we don’t know what the film will be about yet we’ve organised a couple of possible locations, but the keyword will be flexibility. Everything may change at the last minute. Only the post production arrangements for Sunday/Monday are set.

Call sheets are handed out and everyone signs the required clearance forms. The atmosphere is jovial, but Dave and Graham give me a knowing grin. Having done a 48 hour film challenge up in Manchester they (like me) have some idea of how intense this is going to be. I don’t drink, wanting to be fresh for tomorrow. Soon the meeting is over and everyone is going home to get some much needed sleep.

Saturday 29th October

06.30hrs – I wake up from an anxiety dream, but the exact details of the dream escape me and I am left with just a vague feeling of un-ease . I haven’t had a good night’s sleep. God, I feel rough now…what am I going to be like in 48 hours time? I contemplate dozing for 10 minutes but realise that this would probably be fatal. I decide to bite the bullet and get up.

09.00hrs – I grab a bacon roll and meet Graham outside the BFI London IMAX cinema. He tells me that the Central and Piccadilly lines are closed along much of their length and that because of this, Dave is running late.

10.00hrs – We register our team and hang around in the main foyer waiting to go in for the 48 hour presentation. I look around at the other teams, some loud, some mute, and am reminded of the tagline to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Who will survive, and what will be left of them?

10.30hrs – Dave arrives just as everyone is filing into the auditorium. To the strains of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” a compilation of clips from classic horror movies unspools on the screen. I find myself grinning. I’m looking forward to this…

10.40hrs – The name of our team, “The Sick Puppies” is called out and I get up. Graham admonishes me not to pick anything rubbish. I laugh and step up to the podium. I stick my hand in the lucky dip buckets and pick out two envelopes.

Ideally I would like straight horror or horror/thriller, as I like the challenge of trying to scare people in only 3 minutes. Anything except Horror/Musical I’m thinking as I tear open the envelopes.

The title of our film will be…”Snatching Time”, and the theme/sub-genre is…horror/comedy. The organisers write down our title and sub-genre, and we’re off!

Well met at Waterloo. The Sick Puppies (this is the name we have given ourselves, as befits a bedraggled bunch of horror film makers) convene. Clive the director, Dave the lights, and Graham the camera meet me at the South Bank, fresh from gathering a sub-genre and title for our film. It's to be a horror comedy, entitled "Snatching Time". So, we don't get the musical. Things could be worse.

We find a base in a South Bank coffee shop, spread out some paper and pens, and start spitballing. We are quickly joined by the rest of our unholy band, Steve the sound and Amerita the makeup. Concepts are quickly thrown around. A time vampire idea is mused upon, as is the first appearance of a creature called The Snatcher, who attacks while its victims are on the loo. As Roy Walker would say, they're good, but they're not right.

Finally, an idea about a deranged game show host takes nebulous form. He snatches people off the street and forces them to compete in a game where they must win time points from each other. The loser runs out of time in every sense of the word. The winner gets however much of a head start in seconds they've managed to accrue. It's dark, but the idea has enough room for silliness that it might just work.

I come up with an idea for a fourth character that would give both a twist at the end and a punchline to a running joke. The character would be a hammer-wielding mask-wearing transvestite psychopath. The others agree that it’s a great idea and promptly nominate me to play “Anthea”, on the grounds that me in a frock will be both funny and disturbing. After a little badgering I agree, since I can’t really ask the actors to do something I’m not willing to do myself. Graham and Steve remind me that this will be immortalised on camera forever. Me and my big mouth…

Together, we thrash out enough of a treatment that we can send the boys off to start gathering set and props material, and for Amerita to begin work on a prosthetic torso for the all-important stabby stabby moment. Meanwhile, Clive and I get more coffee in, and start putting flesh on the bones.

We hit structural problems as we try and work out the mechanics of the gameshow within the film. With some relief we finally nail it and get on with typing up our scrawled notes into script form.

14.30hrs – The actors arrive. Since we don’t yet have a finished script, I tell them the story. Luckily, everyone gets the idea and is up for the challenge.

Costume is going to be a key part of making this idea work . Hugo needs a gameshow host costume. Scott will have to get a couple of T-shirts to match the one we are using for the FX. Since Laura is wearing what she has on, she gets the job of shopping for my costume. When I’ve explained what is needed she has a big grin on her face. I’m a big guy (6’1” and broad across the shoulders) and so it may prove difficult to find the required sequined dress in my size…Laura is determined that I won’t miss out though. Hugo and Laura go off in search of a costume shop.

Soon after, Scott bounds in. He's full of energy, loves the idea, and is keen to try something that shows off his acting chops, as opposed to the martial arts and stunt stuff he's more known for. We assure him that as his character will be gaffer-taped to a chair throughout, the chances of him being asked to do any stunts will be low. He's sent out on costume gathering duties, and I pull out the laptop. Time to get this thing into shape.

5 PM

The afternoon ebbs past. We lock the script. Laura and Hugo, exhausted, reappear and they have done sterling service. Hugo now has a fantastic game show host jacket in black with silver swirls, and Clive has a cracking gold spangly number to squeeze into. There's even a maid's pinny, that they trawled through most of the sex shops in Soho to find. Their dedication is (ahem) admirable. Drinks all round, Scott reappears (“Do you know how hard it is to find a plain white t-shirt in Soho?) and everyone gets a first look at the script. They laugh. In the right places. Thank Christ.

Oh, and I've foolishly added another character, a fresh victim to be strapped into the chair vacated by Scott at the end. There's nothing else for it. I volunteer to do my bit in front of the camera.

18.00hrs – I arrive back at the coffee shop after an emergency trip for art supplies to find Laura and Hugo telling tales of their adventures in Soho. I get a glimpse of my Anthea costume. Mmmm, gold sequins…nice. Time for a caffeine hit. Dave calls to say that he’s bringing his car to pick us up. Also, work has started on the gameshow set.

18.30hrs – Since Dave can’t park near us, we pick up all of our bags and heavily laden, traipse down to Waterloo station. The sun is setting…

It’s a squeeze getting five of us into Dave’s Mercedes but we manage it. Dave revs the engine and we’re away.

19.30hrs – We arrive at the Pavilion and unload the car. Carrying armfuls of equipment we walk past the Pavilion’s regulars and overhear dark mutterings about “More of that film lot.” It’s nice to be popular. Dave leads us to a function room at the back of the pub. The bar manager arrives, ready to do violence to a bunch of intruders. Then she sees Dave and everything is fine.

As the cast collapse heavily into chairs, Dave and Rob set up the laptop and start printing off the scripts. I go down into the pub’s cellar to check on the set. It’s a labyrinth of corridors in the cellar. Perfect for a horror film. Steve looks slightly manic, but perhaps that’s because he’s been using spray paint in a confined area… The set is coming together well. Graham has construction under control so I get out of his way.

19.45hrs – Break for food. A fed crew is a happy crew. This was one thing I knew going in to the challenge. Graham volunteered to sort out the food and he’s done us proud: rolls/sandwiches, crisps, fruit, biscuits, water and Red Bull. Everyone’s energy levels dramatically improve.

We grab some sarnies, and start the read-throughs. It quickly becomes clear that Hugo does evil brilliantly, Scott can do scared, and Laura can scream her head off very convincingly. Although when she's done she always collapses into giggles, which is both sweet and a little un-nerving. We iron out niggles, and have to explain to Hugo what most of the game shows we're lampooning actually are.

9 PM

Amerita arrives, with bags of makeup and a chunk of foam rubber in a t-shirt. This is our big effects shot. It doesn't look like much at the moment, but then it's only going to be used in brief flash cutaways. it's either that or stabbing Scott for real, something both Graham and more disturbingly Scott himself seem rather keen on. I start giving a hand with the set design, while Clive and Graham start blocking scenes. The arduous process of make-up begins at around 10.

Hugo is learning his lines and Laura’s hanging up the costumes. Rob relieves Graham on the set-building detail.

I sit down with Graham and we work out the shot list. In order to minimise the amount of lighting changes, I’ve worked out a shooting strategy that uses the gameshow concept to our advantage. Since most of the story takes place in a homemade TV studio, we will shoot as though we were making a proper TV gameshow. Thus, all the gameshow stuff will use the same lighting set-up. The chase and action portions of the story will be shot handheld with different lighting…

23.00hrs – Scott, Laura and Hugo have all had their make-up done. Scott looks nicely bloody. Since we are still at least thirty minutes away from shooting, Rob goes into the make-up chair to be scarred up. As “Anthea” wears a scary looking lady mask, I don’t need any make-up. I try on my blonde wig. It fits…just.

I flinch every time Amerita puts make-up on me. "You're not used to this, are you?" she says. Erm... no. I get a broken nose, throttle marks to the throat, and a torn ear. One for the family album.

23.55hrs – Final lighting checks: all is well. Hugo changes into his costume. Laura and Scott are wrapped in bandages and then gaffer-taped to their chairs.

It’s coming up for midnight and we haven’t shot anything yet. We’re about two hours behind schedule, and any time we lose here is coming out of the time we have available for the sound mix. Outside, I’m all smiles; inside a small knot tightens in my stomach.


Will they ever get anything on video? Will they get the film finished in time? Will they all still be friends afterwards? - Stay tuned for the exciting second part of "The Snatching Time Diaries"...