PRE-PRODUCTION DETAILS

July 2009 and the wheels are starting to turn on our second short film ‘Belly of the Wolf‘

We knew that for our second film we wanted to address a more mature subject matter, something that was going to be a direct contrast to ‘When I Stand on the Moon’. We wanted our next film to be modern, gritty and dark.

Originally the idea for Belly of the Wolf started out as a factually dark adaptation of the nursery rhyme Knick Knack Paddy Whack. Writer and Director Mark Fisher produced a number of drafts before deciding on the idea of adding a supernatural undertone to the whole story. Mark says “I started to think more along the lines of adapting a fairy tale using my original story opposed to sticking with the nursery rhyme Knick Knack Paddy Whack. This opened the door wider to the realms of fantasy and allowed for a more adventurous and creative story”

After reading countless fairy tales it wasn’t until Mark read the Brothers Grimm version of Little Red Riding Hood when everything fell into place regarding the type of story that we wanted to tell - Knick Knack Paddy Whack very quickly became Belly of the Wolf - Mark goes on to explain “I was able to retain the original story and subject matter but add a supernatural element, which made the project, morally speaking, more acceptable to make. Dealing with the realms of fantasy and make-believe has given the project a different dimension. Although the subject matter is very much based in reality we are not limited to the interpretation of a real life event”

The scripts got the production office buzzing and everyone is really excited for the months ahead. Co-Producer Allison Johnson is working frantically on the budget and with the help of Storyboard artist Adrian Brown we have begun producing rough boards to map out the story.

Storyboards - Belly of the Wolf

Location, Location, Location - Looks like we have fallen on our feet in terms of finding our two main locations. Our first location is the old RAF Bentwaters Airbase near Rendlesham in Suffolk.

RAF Bentwaters Airbase – The Bomb Stores

Mark says “There is a wonderfully grim and dilapidated area within Bentwaters called the bomb stores. It fits the script perfectly in terms of conveying across a sense of isolation." Mark carries on “I always like to think of locations as integral characters within a film. They should have their own personality and with Bentwaters that personality hits you like a brick as soon as you walk onto the base”.

For our second location we have managed to gain the support of West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds.

West Suffolk Hospital, Operating theatre

The end of the film is set within a hospital in an operating theatre and childrens’ ward. West Suffolk Hospital have given us the opportunity to use their new day surgery building, which of course is a complete contrast to the dark, grubby and derelict interiors of the run down bomb stores.

During our search for locations we also held auditions to find our two young actors to play the roles of Sarah and Daniel Parker. We held auditions at Stagecoach Theatre School in Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds. Although we did not find our Daniel, we certainly found our Sarah, a fantastic young actress, 10 year old Maia Elsey. Mark said “Maia’s audition was flawless, she even remained in character after I said cut - a complete natural. Maias’ ability to convey across such emotion at this young age is quite simply amazing”

We later held auditions at the Young Actors Company, based in Cambridge, where a wonderful actor by the name of Finn Morrell auditioned for the role of Daniel. Mark said “Finns audition was brilliant. He fits the role of Daniel perfectly. There was honesty in Finns performance and a sense of believability and emotion that brought the character to life in a way that I had not foreseen”

Alongside Maia and Finn we have a great guy called Paul Kasey involved in our project. Paul has been in a number of successful T.V programmes and feature films including 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, Blade 2, Doctor Who, Tourchwood and the Sarah Jane adventures, although you wouldn’t recognise him as Paul spends most of his time covered in prosthetics. Paul happens to be one of the leading creature movement co-ordinators in the Country and has probably the best job out of everyone on this film. Paul will be playing the role of our Wolf character. Mark explains “When I wrote the first draft of Belly of the Wolf I always had at the back of my mind the idea of changing the physical characteristics of our main antagonist from human to wolf form. However, my interpretation of this character was not your traditional werewolf we have seen countless times in films like Van Helsing and Underworld and being portrayed as physically strong killing machines” Mark continues, “Our creature will be an outcast, a shape shifter yes, but one that is so weak and pathetic that it’s incapable of fully transforming. It has no hair and its skin is as white as snow from living underground and cowering in the shadows of derelict buildings. To survive it lives off small animals, rabbits, foxes, anything that would be deemed as an easy catch. This creature is a scavenger with pure evil intent. It has also become very devious in the way that it catches its prey”.

After these initial thoughts Concept Designer Reb Capper came on board and worked with Mark to produce the visual look of the Wolf character.

Concept sketches – Wolf

After several concept sketches to establish the overall look to the creature we were then able to produce a highly detailed final design that we handed over to Millennium FX who would bring the creature to life.

Final design - Wolf character – Belly of the Wolf

Mark says “I already knew about Millennium FX from a fellow graduate of National Film and Television School Kate Walshe, who works for them. Kate loved the sketches we produced and set up a meeting with Managing Director Rob Mayor. Rob and Kate showed us around the studio and for me it was like being a kid in a sweet shop, with all the body parts, masks and prosthetics from well known films and Television programmes”. After the meeting Rob agreed to take on the design and later produced the prosthetics and make up which allowed us to shoot a teaser trailer for Belly of the Wolf.

Millenium FX - Clay sculpture of Wolf

Paul Kasey as the Wolf – Belly of the Wolf

Production still - Belly of the Wolf teaser trailer

Purely from a marketing point of view the teaser trailer will allow us to visually promote the film and gain interest from potential investors. We shot the teaser trailer on the 18th August 2009 with the help from local DoP Andrew Parson and his production company Bruizer.

To help us create the atmospheric look of the film we have enlisted the help of Snowbusiness who are the world leaders in artificial snow and winter effects. Mark and Allison met up with the founder of Snowbusiness Darcey Crownshaw to talk about the project and what would be possible with such a low budget. Allison says “Mark always wanted Belly of the Wolf to be set during the winter in foot thick snow. Although we knew it was unlikely to get this effect with such a small budget Darcey was able to show us images of different snow effects that would convey across the same atmosphere that Mark wanted. Darcey even made it possible for us to actually see different types of snow as a technician covered their back-lot using snow-cannons”

Snowbusiness at work, Production Still - Alien vs Predator

We are very excited to have Snowbusiness involved. The level of experience that they will bring to the project combined with the vision of Director Mark Fisher will truly make Belly of the Wolf visually stand out from the pack!

October 2009 and the search for funding begins. . .

Please read our funding proposal to see if you can help.