Watching the live watch party of ‘Maniacal’ last night reminded me how originally I was going to created a very different short horror for the anthology but the day before shooting we had to come up with something brand new from scratch.
Below is my social media post from 4 years ago on the day of shooting.
Maniacal is a feature-length anthology horror produced by Trash Arts featuring short film segments created by South-Coast filmmakers. 'Deadbolt' directed by Rachel Stephens is one of the featured shorts.
So after 6 weeks of planning my short horror shoot for today, I had to cancel yesterday due to the weather - no practical way to film it in the rain not to mention not suitable for the story - never had to do that before so was feeling pretty rubbish.
However during my meeting with the Director of Photography, Ben Grace and the 1st Assistant Director, Georgina Morgan last night we decided to make a different film. We managed to come up with a completely new idea from scratch - with an inside location and a third of the cast and crew needed - and wrote the script within a few hours.
Today we filmed it. AND IT WAS AWESOME!
Although at times it felt like we had put ourselves in an impromptu 24-hour film challenge, we still made a really strong film with incredible acting performances. So impressive considering the circumstances.
I feel completely drained by the drama of the last 24 hours and the intensity of today's shoot but it is in the best way.
I still plan to make the other film, hopefully some when soon but am really looking forward to getting the new one ready for screening.
