Filming- Weekend 2

So I was feeling confident after the first weekend of filming. And with that confidence we hit weekend 2 with a bag of buffaloes. Introducing a new actor on set changed the dynamics drastically. New wardrobe, new horse, new everything.

We started out friday afternoon with primary cameraman, Marcel Klopper dropping from a tree, breaking the only branch that would get him to the top. So I toughed up and shot the scenes from the tree myself, tied to the tree by a crusty piece of sisal rope. Friday night we had the amazing privilege to have Mr. Ernst Meyer on set, a man that I revere, and his presence on set showed everyone why I have so much respect for this man. For this reason it was quite hard to do to him what I did, but you'll just have to wait for the film to see what that was.

Saturday was a big filming day. One scene only, but it was a biggie, and would almost break cast and crew alike. We shot in the open veld on a conflict scene and here's the kicker: no trees around us for about 200m. We had lunch in a 20cm bar of shade cast by the vehicles. We quickly depleted our water supply and had Ombri 'the mule' Pieterse walk a solid piece of earth to get water. Little did we know that all the water pipes are above ground in the smoldering 36 degree heat. On top of that actors were jumping on each other, brawling in the dust, getting thrown to the ground. Take after take, they kept bringing the bacon and put up a massive performance.  I am so proud of the cast and crew for this scene and I'm looking forward to editing this part, because for once in my filming career, a scene actually played out exactly as I envisioned it.

Sunday was the best way to end off a film shoot. With a change of location we found ourselves on the Van Zyl smallholding near Boschkop. The river on this location had such a calming effect on everything, not to mention the fact that we had a canopy of trees overhead. After we did the shots we all got into the river to cool off and just unwind after a hectic shooting weekend.

Overall, a great weekend and a massive performance from cast and crew. I have been truly blessed in this crucial part of filmmaking. More updates to follow as post production kicks in pretty soon.