Iain’s slates“Operating the clapperboard is a responsibility one should not take lightly on a film set.
A nice loud SNAP following Charles shouting, “SPEED!” and Spencer shouting, “ROLLING!” is what ensures these two components can sync together easily when director watts sits down to assemble it all. But, since shooting a movie is a lot of HURRY UP, HURRY UP, WAIT, we had to do something to keep us sharp as we worked 18-hour days in minus 30 winter.
Throughout shooting, the title of the movie had yet to be finalized so the off-screen talent—as well as some of the on-screen talent—devised a game to come up with the dumbest and worst titles possible for the movie that would totally misrepresent and undermine all the hard work that went into making it a reality. as the days wore on, the game evolved from pitching silly titles to trying to capture the urgency, frustration and utter exhaustion we began to suffer from.
Months after shooting wrapped and DIRECTOR WATTS was deep in the editing process, he revealed that this little game of making up bad titles was a real boon, since every time he moved on to a new sequence he was presented with a silly little easter egg only he would see.
I personally don’t remember much from those days on location. Mostly I can recall being cold and tired and the relief I felt whenever we were cleared to return to our cottage and TracY had absolutely crushed it on the craft services front.
But in looking at these slates, I’m reminded of how much fun it was to be very silent, sometimes lying on my stomach to make sure I didn’t inadvertently blow a take by being caught in the frame, and watch my talent friends create a truly great, endlessly watchable movie through sheer force of will.
-Iain F. MacNeil
