Director

Editing

The first draft of the edit was roughly seven minutes and at that point it was unclear what structure the film needed. It was close to what we first envisioned but the pace didn’t feel right. Also Patrick’s clothes showed through the costume at certain points in the shots so we had to work the edit around this. After a number drafts we started to find points to edit on that personally I don’t think there would be a better place to make the edit. From the footage that we got, I’m entirely satisfied with the finished product. We placed phrases from the score over the transitional shots from hiker to Neolithic man but kept the soundscape as organic as possible. The whole process from start to finish was hugely beneficial to me. It gave me the confidence to direct and not to be afraid to make decisions and deal with the consequences. 

Sound

Given that the sound equipment failed during the shoot, we had to figure out what way we would go about recreating the sounds. It would be difficult to find somewhere that would sound authentic. I remembered that there was a forest with a stream running through it near my house in Cavan. I felt it would be better to bring the equipment to Cavan as there would be less background noise. I enlisted the help of my brother as he knew the area better than I did. I watched a version of the film I exported and noted every single sound that may be heard. I made sure to record even the most minute detail even if I thought it wouldn't be used. 

Initially we decided that we would not use a score and really let the film rely on a rich soundscape but just to be safe I got in contact with someone from Belfast who agreed to make the score. I sent him some rough cuts and he responded with some rough cuts he had done. Initially they were too epic and sounded more like battle music so I gave him notes and he eventually sent us something closer to what we wanted but I feel like he never really grasped the theme. I told him to make it so that if we needed to we could chop it up and use it in parts by fading in and out. This turned out to be useful in the end as it worked only in parts. 

Shoot Day 2

The second day would require more effort than the first due getting the costume looking right. We met Patrick at half ten and immediately began getting him into costume. I brought some strips of cloth I tore of a t shirt and ran them into soil so that I could tie the hessian to his legs. Patrick was very comfortable on camera and look direction well. He was also easy to get along with and was funny so it made the long day shooting easier. Towards the top there were quite a few people hiking. It got to the stage we were lucky to get a shot every twenty minutes so we had to make sure we got it right. Towards the end I could see Patrick was getting a bit restless so I tried to keep him entertained with humour. Marcos came up for the last hour and that wrapped up the shoot. 

Shoot day 1

Initially we were going to shoot the film over three days. All of Marcos’s scenes would be shot on Friday, all of Patricks on the Saturday and then we would get both of them up on the Sunday for the last scene which had both actors in it simultaneously. After reviewing our schedule we decided it would be better fitting if we shot all of Marcos’s scenes on Saturday, Patricks on Sunday and then have Marcos come out on Sunday for the last scene. Our lift for the first day of shooting became unavailable so we arranged that we would get a lift with Marcos. The shoot went without a hitch besides the sound gear not working but that was fine because it gave us the opportunity to put more focus on the Foley later. Marcos was easy to direct and seemed happy to do each shot in a number of takes. 

Producer

Costume Part 2

We met with Patrick at the Abbey Theatre store room and chatted for a bit before showing him what we had picked out. It became clear very quickly that the items were going to be too small so we had to start fresh and find something that could work. Patrick was very helpful and scouted out some items that could work until he found a large fur cloak and swung it across his shoulders. Initially I didn't think it would work because I was too use to picturing a costume similar to what we had first. But the more Patrick lunged around in it I knew that it would be perfect. It was quite expensive to hire so we had to make sure it didn't get damaged. Before we had gone out myself and Luke took a craft knife to the fake fur and hessian we ordered which came in handy to fill in the gaps underneath the cloak.

Casting

After posting an advertisement on various social media pages for actors I received a lot of interest in the roles. Initially I had and actor named Billy from Mayo to play the role of the Neolithic man but the more time I had to think about it I felt it would show much potential for something to go wrong if he was traveling from Mayo. Then we received interest from an actor named Patrick McEvoy who myself and Luke thought was perfect for the role aesthetically. The role for the hiker fell between two actors Michael and Marcos, who had two very different looks but couldn't decide which to go with without meeting them first but after a half an hour chat with each of them, it was still a close call. We gave ourselves it a week to think it about and we both felt that Marcos's look was what we were after as Michael's characteristics were too strong.  I kept in touch regularly with Marcos and Patrick informing them of every detail and change in schedule. I arranged with Patrick to meet us at the Abbey Theatre store room to fit the costume we had picked out.

Costume Part 1

I wasn’t too concerned about acquiring the Hiker costume as it didn’t consist of anything that would be difficult to source but shortly after beginning the search into finding the Neolithic costume, I realised it was going to be no easy task. The first route I took was to get in touch with the costume designers involved in Game of Thrones, Vikings, Tudors etc. and see what information they could give me. I sent out a few emails but to no avail. We began exploring the idea of making our own costume and looked at materials like faux fur and hessian online. Once we were satisfied with the amount we needed we went ahead and ordered them. Meanwhile Luke got in touch with the Abbey Theatre Store Room and arranged for us to look through their stock. The person he dealt with across the phone assured us that despite a lack of demand for what we needed, they had a few items that would suit. We picked out numerous pieces and placed them on a rail until we would return once we found our actor.

Weapons

I enlisted the help of my brother when it came to making the weapons as he is out-doorsy and had machete and other tools necessary to make an authentic looking Neolithic hand axe/hammer and spear. We went to a local forest in Cavan where he knew there would be trees with branches that had little kinks or bends in them. For the hand axe/hammer handle I chose a section of a tree about a foot long and had a slight kink to give it somewhere to grip. For the spear I cut down three staffs roughly seven foot in length.  I made sure to choose trees that was densely surrounded by others as they would most likely not survive anyway. Back at the house I put the axe/hammer handle in the vice and cut two five inch lines into the top and chiselled out the middle section. For the head I used a rounded river rock that had two grooves grinded into the side so it would slot onto the handle. I then wrapped two pieces of metal wire above and below the rock and twisted the ends with a pair of plyers to keep the weapon together. I wrapped the head of the axe/hammer with hemp twine similar to how it was done in pictures of weapons of that time. I used a similar technique for the spear and then with the machete, I hacked at the straight edges that were cut with the saw to make it look more authentic. The head of the spear was made by chipping away at a piece of slate before grinding it smooth. Finally I left the head of the spear and the axe/hammer in a bucket of murky water over night to shrink the twine tight to the wood and give it that old look.