More animation test updates.  Just 8 seconds long but it gives you an idea - the Judge running into a tree! Thanks Ashleigh - we're getting excited!!!  Read Ashleigh's blog updates to find out all about the trials and tribulations of this kind of animation

Yesterday we shot the last major sequence from the film. From the start, this sequence was *always* going to be shot outside principle photography because, well mainly because principle photography was really short (8 days) and also because it's a flashback to Pob and Staggy as kids and I knew it would take ages to find the right boys.  

As recently as late January, I was beginning to panic that I'd never find them; I had tried a few casting companies, drama schools and what-not and I was drawing a blank at every turn - and then a coincidence...

A friend of mine posted on Facebook that she was thrilled her son had got the lead role in a local theatre production, I didn't even know her son was into acting.  We auditioned Dylan and his mate Torin and as well as a physical resemblance they had just the right amount of mischief for the roles.  So we booked the day, rang the ever helpful Ashley at Pinball Films to borrow his jib arm and then went location scouting.  James and I spent an afternoon traipsing around the alleys of Walker but we couldn't find what we were looking for - the crappier parts of Walker have all been knocked down or regenerated lately so we gave up on reality and came closer to home.  A few more hours driving around our beloved Bensham and we came across a fabulous alley just of Saltwell Road. Red brick oppression on 3 sides.

Anyway recreating the 1980s in an anonymous alley isn't too hard, so we managed without a big crew. In fact this was the smallest crew yet: just me, James, Richy (who was acting in this scene too), Dougie and Dryden.  Needless to say, without the extra bodies, we cracked through the sequence of 3 scenes really quickly and we wrapped two hours early! This little shoot brought our number of shooting days to fourteen (including the two reshoot days) - which in some ways is silly considering principle photography was only 8 days, but 3 of the extra days related to new scenes that weren't even written when we shot in the summer and another was yesterday - which as I said was always an extra day.  Then as you'll know if you've been following this production from the start we had some major problems in production - so really it's not too shabby at all.  

David is up from Leeds at the weekend and then we'll sit and put the new footage into the timeline; and at that point we will pretty much have the entire film in front of us for the first time and then we'll know if we have anymore shots to pick up.  From there it's on to final cut, the grade and the mix... the finish line is well and truly in sight.

Lee is in the film - he's hilarious - though he can't speak! This video is from his first stand up gig last weekend in Sunderland. You can follow him on Twitter here and Facebook here don't forget to check his website for forthcoming gigs.