Norway II Report

We returned from Norway late on Friday night and I think I have recovered enough to make sense of it all.
It did not start well. We made it to the airport in good time but were shocked to see how many people were at Stansted at that time in the morning. Sorting out the baggage was complicated but finally we managed and were told by Ryanair that we had enough time. We went through security, picked up a few things at the Chemist and went to the gate...and the plane was gone. It had left a few minutes early and we were a few minutes late. Essentially the long lines in security plus the crowded Stansted trains delayed us enough we missed it. So now what to do? Ryanair would put us on the next plane for £100 each. What a deal! This was hard to stomach considering all those people were there because Ryanair tries to get out so many planes at the time in the morning. Why reassure us we had plenty of time when they know very well we did not? If we had ran to the gate we would've made it.
After adding the costs of this fee against flying the next day but having to include the baggage costs, plus most importantly missing another day of shooting I decided to swallow this fee. There was a lot of messing around, first retrieving the luggage, then getting new boarding passes and checking the luggage again, going through security again, etc. All the while Flora is quite ill. Is this going to be a complete disaster?
Finally we airborne, Flora is at least able to sleep a little, as do we. All of us only had 4 hours sleep, if that. We land at Torp, buy as much wine and beer as we can carry, knowing the cost of alcohol in Norway, retrieve all of our luggage, and then wait while Roland gets the rental car. Another problem: EuropaCar has given our car away. We were more than three-hours late. They have another car, but it costs more than the one we rented and we have to make up the the difference. This is even more incredible than the Ryanair situation. We have already paid for the car. They would not lose anything regardless how late were were and they could've still rented the more-expensive car to the other customer. Apparently poor service from this company is not unusual.
Finally we are on the road and arrive in Risor in two hours. We do a little grocery shopping, load the boat and putter down the fjord. We settle in, eat some lunch, and then while Flora sleeps the rest of us, that is JC, Roland, and Lara and I, go out to reccy some of the locations that are away from the cabin. The weather is warm, with cloud and sun. The beach area is beautiful at that time of day. We probably need to do 2/3rds of our shooting here in the sun, but the weather forecast is not promising. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday shows rain with periods of cloud. Sun is only forecast for Wednesday. Can we do all this on Wednesday?
After dinner, with Roland and Lara sharing most of the cooking duties, I make my plan.
We will shoot the arrival scene on Tuesday. This is essentially a development of Claire's arrival at the cabin. I had struggled to show Claire's relationship to her past, with a set of mementoes that she carries with her throughout the film, even bringing them along to show to Sophie in one scene, but this idea was never clear to anyone. I finally realised that the past is already represented in Claire's return to the cabin in Norway, and that we required more detail here. How does she see the cabin? How does she approach the cabin? What does she do while she is waiting for nightfall? How does she break-in? Why does she wait until night-fall to break-in? How does she feel when she gets in? For continuity this is meant to happen in the rain.
On Wednesday we then had the unenviable task of trying to capture all the sun material in one day. We started by a couple of pickups, Claire seeing Natalie sunbathing out on the lawn. Of course Katrine, who plays Natalie was with us in Norway, so we cheated her presence by dressing Flora in some Natalie-like clothing.
Once that was complete we moved by boat to the beach area which was to be our base for the day. I have wanted to simplify the Norway segment by establishing some clear geographical locations, which partly meant showing Claire making her to the beach. I wrote a new scene to follow in the final part where we find Claire after she leaves her sister at the cabin, which we shot in the thick forest at the base of a ridge. We also developed the beach scene itself, and then the scene where she goes hiking with Natalie. Again, we cheated one shot by shooting from the neck down, and putting Lara into Natalie's jacket and scarf.
That brought us to around 7pm, the sun was fading and we were exhausted. We returned to the cabin and had a few beers out by the water, knowing that this might be best day we had and we needed to enjoy it.
We also later found that in tramping about in the forest we had managed to attract a large number of tics. Nasty little things. I had one on my neck, and two in the crotch. Everyone else was afflicted as well. We sat in the kitchen in our pants, checking each other thoroughly with a bicycle-lamp, and removed the little parasites. Roland now doubled as sound man and tick-removalist-specialist.
On Thursday, once the rain stopped in the afternoon we decided to return to the beach area and picked-up a few of the shots we missed on Wednesday. We shall have to see if we are able to change the colour-temperature of these shots to match the other material.
Friday was the same, except that Flora was now feeling well enough to go swimming in the fjord with Roland.
As we were loading the boat at 5pm, getting ready to leave, the sun came out again. It looked beautiful, but was too late to help us.
JC brings in the footage tomorrow and we shall see the results on Thursday. That's the next post.

More weather

And as soon as I posted the weather forecast changed.
Norway weather forecast.

I suppose this is better, but what does mixed sun and cloud really mean?

We shall see.

Sweating the weather

So the preparations are well enough along for me now to sweat over the long-range weather Norway weather forecast.
Hmmm. Only one day of full-sun. This is a problem. This is the Friday we are leaving. In the evening, yes, but we have a lot of material to cover (17 shots). And ground too, as the locations are some ways from our base (the cabin).
One day of rain is good. We have a number of shots (13) around Claire's arrival at the cabin, which for continuity, happens in either the rain, or it's-going-rain.
I have scheduled a number of shots for the Thursday (mixed sun and cloud), but that is being optimistic. It would better if it were sunny that day too. So, I can only hope for some change as we come closer to our shooting dates.

Norway preparations

So what are we doing in Norway?
I have just finished a first draft of the shot list, which includes nearly 50 shots, around 10 a day. Some of these are alternates, so I would guess in the end we will shoot 45 different shots.
This is certainly not about shooting pickups, this is all about developing the story of Claire in Norway.
Some highlights...
Claire arrives at the cabin
Until now I have included a metaphor for her past in a box of momentoes she carries with her, which included antique jewelery and photos of forgotten relations. It always felt a weak idea and most everyone found it either confusing or pointless. Now I realise that the image of the past is the cabin itself. She arrives in the day but waits until dark to break in, like a burglar. What does she do/feel in the meantime? It is David's idea to make the cabin a character itself - how does she see this place? Claire has come here because it is about the past, so her arrival and how she relates to this place are central.
Claire goes swimming
On Claire's first full-day in Norway she goes to the beach. This is about Claire finding a new energy in beauty and nature. Currently the scene is weak. I would like to simplify the whole Norway segment by first showing Claire making her way to the beach area. This means we will have a short-hand for these locations later, that is I we will be able reuse them again. And by creating a simple construct - Claire is going to the beach - I will be able to express more conceptual ideas.
Once she arrives at the beach we need to develop the swimming sequence so we understand what this means to her. More on this below.
Not quite the ending
Along with a few shots which are missing or which we felt are weak there is the ending. This too is underdeveloped. Some ideas, such as the coda sequence that follows her view of her sister, is strong, but I think could get more out of this scene by using shots of locations where we have previously seen Claire. For example, the places she passes through on the way to the beach. They would take on another resonance because Claire is now absent from them.
Before the ending itself it also felt that we needed another scene with Claire. She needed to develop in between. So what happens? I am calling this my Claire-as-an-animal sequence, in that I would like to see Claire now changed, as no longer self-conscious, as focused, and full of energy.
The ending
I have already written quite a deal about this, but suffice to say we thinking of other elements around that final shot. Or is it another ending altogether? I suppose we won't know until we have the material and have edited it altogether.
More on preparations coming soon...

More on the end

Whew, this has been a long time in coming. I apologise. I have had everything but the film to do this past month. Now it is officially August it is time to get back to it. I have nearly a month to get ready for Norway.
So I promised more on the ending. I have known for a while that it needed work. It was John who asked back at Christmas time, seeing the old edit, 'so, what happens at the end?'
First some comment from David. I am going to paraphrase. Remember in my last post, so long ago, that David changed his mind about the last shot after seeing the edit?

A problem might be that the pace, the shooting style, all the elements are the same as the other parts of the film. Perhaps they need to change and evolve? What about a different approach to the storytelling, shooting, editing and sound? Perhaps there is a faster pace as Claire moves through the forest?

David even detailed a sequence of shots that begins when Claire leaves her sister at the cabin and arrives at the final shot. I am not going to detail this here as I am going to meet David to work through this sequence on video.


I think that the new edit made the final shot work, but I think it was really down to the last shot but one: the shot of the mountainside. Prior to that I think the sequence of the landscape images works, but perhaps would work better with being set up: that is if Claire is absent in these shots she needs to be present before then. This means setting up something where we find her in the forest in a sequence between leaving her sister and this sequence.
More ideas below...but first some of the comments from David on the ending:
So altogether...
We create another part at the end, along with the first three, a part that starts after her view of her sister below and runs to the final shot. This includes a sequence of landscape shots where Claire is absent, it doesn't need her. This final sequence will develop the language of the film, perhaps a slower film stock (64ASA), a wider lens (we may to have borrow one!), perhaps a different pace for Claire, a different way she moved through the landscape, and then more. In what happens there is a difference too. I have been imagining images of her, capturing as if an animal, that is not self-conscious, instinctive, as a part of the place. A landscape, trees and shrubs, a small creek. It is light at the top, but down low, where the shrubs are concentrated it is dark, filled with shadows. We have not seen Claire for sometime so it takes some to make her out at the bottom-right of the frame, crouched over, concentrating on some task. We don't know what. Yes, she is drinking from the creek, like an animal at the watering hole. We come closer. She continues to drink, then looks up, hearing something. Then we write the sounds with the images, that is instead of sounds being an adjunct of the image, rather the images picture the sound, eg. we see what is making noise. Again we have left Claire behind.
We eventually reach the shot of the mountainside that presently work so well - JC calls this is Ozu shot. We use the last shot, but we also create other shots which build it, eg. fragments of her or the place, with perhaps her out of focus (soft) in contrast with the a sharp image in the foreground. The idea is that we play with the idea that she is a part of the landscape, using focus, light and shadow...
Is that what happens between leaving Natalie and the final shot?
Well more on this later this week after I meet with David. I promise to be more involved this month.