Curse of the Vampire Production Diary

by Matthew Kopelke

6th March

6.50pm. Shit! Work is boring tonight! Telemarketing is such a bad job. I wouldn't wish this job on my worst enemy. Surely I can find something exciting to do tonight? Might as well rearrange my drawer...

7.10pm. Hang on! Stuff the drawer! Jennifer's been on at me for days now to make my own 6M2 - why don't I make one? Surely they can't be that hard? Now, what can we film...

7.12pm. I know! Let's make a serious one! Well, I can't write comedy for peanuts, but I can write a half-decent drama script - especially if it's gonna be short. Now, how about a script about vampires...

7.45pm. I wish this shift would end - I wanna get home and write the blinking script! Can't do that hear, or I'll loose my job! :-(

8pm. Hurrah! Off home to write a script!

8.30pm. Pft! Too tired to write it now - am going to bed.

7th March

10am. Suppose I had better write that script, eh? Nah - let's just release a press release making us sound more advanced than we really are.

10.10am. That press release reads really well. Perhaps I'd better start writing the script?

02.30pm. Well, I've written the first scene, and I wanna film it this Friday night. Don't think it's possible, but here's hoping for the best!

8th March

1pm. Meet Kane and Jana at uni. Both agree to starring in the film, and reprising their roles as Vance and Jenny. Kane points out that supposed sequel to "Rapture" is coming out before "Rapture". Kindly tell him to shut the fuck up. Kane promptly talks even more.

8pm. Meet Runcie and collect camera gear off him for filming. Disaster! He needs finished script by tonight so he can learn lines! Rush home from work to finish script.

9pm. Meet Runcie on ICQ. Script nearing completion. Bloody hack job, and proving to not be a vampire film at all. Ho hum.

9.30pm. Who said anything about the script being near completion? Quickly wrap it up, dispatch to Runcie, and crawl into bed - need to get away from computer screen before eyeballs explode.

9th March

10am. Meet friend Witold on ICQ. He offers to script edit the movie script. Agree. He polishes it up, and sends back a slightly revised version. Forward this script to Kane and Jana's email addresses.

12pm. Heard nothing from no one, which can only be a good thing. But are those storm clouds a gathering outside?

1.30pm. Disaster! Jana cannot make filming tonight! Sick grandmother in hospital! After a flurry of phonecalls and emails, decide to cancel filming. Starts to rain outside. Heavily.

4pm. Still raining. Heavily. Thank God I was talked out of filming!

8pm. Still raining. Even more heavily. Surely it'll stop soon?

11.30pm. Rain still pouring down. See reports on ABC Online about flooding all over South-East Queensland and Northern NSW. Am glad we didn't film.

13th March

10am. Discover insurance company's are pissed off after the amount of damage caused in previous Friday's storm. Am *really* glad we didn't film.

12pm. Meet Kane and Jana at uni. Agree to film this Friday - no matter what happens.

16th March

1pm. Ring Kane. Suddenly realise we don't have anyone to play vampire. What followed was 120 minute conversation with Kane as we attempted to find a vampire. To no success.

3.30pm. After exhausting all possible angles, decide to email Bill at work to see if he's interested - being most unlikely person available at such short notice, I don't hold much hope. Kane still on phoneline.

3.32pm. Get phone call from Bill on second line. He's amenable! Hurrah! We have a vampire! Kane still on phone. Can detect faint snoring at other end of line.

4pm. Begin loading car up with all the stuff we'll need for filming. Either car has shrunk, or we really do have too many props / costumes / technical items. Kane is now off phone.

4.15pm. Leave my house for Kanes place.

4.30pm. Realise am very hungry - in confusion, forgot to have lunch!

4.40pm. Stop off at Red Rooster. Order two chicken rolls and large chips. Girl serving me gives me family sized chips at large chips price. Am to hungry to argue.

5pm. Arrive at Kane's place. After short look around filming location, we unload car and go inside his house to watch "Rapture" dailies.

5.15pm. Wish I wasn't given family chips. Too many. Feel sick now. "Rapture" footage proving to be a good laugh.

5.30pm. Kane and I waste time filming his scenes for no particular reason. He isn't in costume, and no other actors are present. Gives me a chance to get used to the camera.

6pm. Check out surrounding area to block fight scene at end. Decide nearby Alderly train station best location.

6.30pm. Runcie arrives for filming. Still no sign of Bill, however...

6.50pm. Jana arrives. Still no sign of Bill. Ring his mobile. Just leaving now. Idiot. :-) Decide to film opening shot of car driving past. Proves to be most difficult shot of night - everytime we try to film shot of car driving down always empty street, said street decides to fill with cars. Finally get the shot done.

7.15pm. Bill arrives. We start filming train station stuff. Runcie has panic attack about us using a plastic gun at a public train station. Runs away to listen to radio scanner to warn us if police are coming. Overall, footage comes out very nicely. We even get a large audience watching us film. We bid them all a good night, and depart. Runcie rejoins us for filming. No sign of police...

7.30pm. Start filming interior footage. All of it comes out in single takes, except for one bit where Bill stuffed up slightly. Decide to hang onto blooper and make available for download on the BTR site.

9pm. Finish interior scenes. Relocate for outside scenes.

9.05pm. Disaster! Battery goes flat! Bill decides to go home. We go inside, recharge battery, and watch telly whilst we wait. "Jerry Maguire" on, as is the football. Both are really boring.

9.30pm. Decide to risk battery integrity, and film outside scenes in as quick a manner possible. Results in some very "The Bill"-esque camera movements. Looks crap, but at least filming is done.

10pm. Filming finished. Am tired, and still feeling sick from eating too many chips. Pack up, and go home.

10.30pm. Arrive home. Review footage - very nice, except stuff filmed at the end. Have shower, and go to bed.

17th March

7am. Get out of bed. Can still taste chips in my mouth. Write posting for WFV mailing list about previous night's adventures. State that will start editing on following Monday.
7.30am. Give into temptation, and start capturing footage, and editing it.

11.30am. Have completed all basic editing and sound effects work. All I need to do now is do music stuff. But have to go to work. Damn! :-(

18th March

7am. Start working on music. Bill, Kane, and Jana will be around soon to record voice overs for film. Wanna have something really cool to show them.

10am. They arrive, and I show them film as it stands, complete with finished musical track.

10.10am. They love it! Quickly record voice overs.

12pm. They leave for home, and I leave for work. Again. Thankfully, this time cannot taste chips in mouth.

19th March

8.30am. At last! The whole thing is finished. Voiceovers and all. Quickly encode the video. Ouch. First scene looks very dark. Oh well - only an info dump. Hopefully no one will notice.

21st March

11.30am. Email the Feds telling them where to access the files online. Hope they like it.

11.47am. Get email from Jennifer. She loved it! Hurrah! Except she noticed the first dark scene. Damn.

4th April.

10.43am. Get email from Jennifer saying the film is officially approved! Hurrah! Now, when do I start the next one...