Danny Ruhlmann ACS ~ Postcard from London, on the set of “Survivor”
Hi Ron,
Greetings from London.
I’m here at the moment shooting another James McTeigue film with the working
title of “Survivor”.
My greatest challenge so far, apart from the cold and grey was getting the right
crew. Considering we are shooting here as well as Bulgaria, we decided to get
a mix of Londoners, Bulgarians and some Australians as part of your crew.
Where does one start? As soon as pre-production started I made contact with
a number of ACS members who were able to help. Thanks to Russell Boyd ACS,
Simon Duggan ACS and David Elmes for their help with my Bulgarian crew and
with the help of Garry Phillips ACS and Matt Windon I was able to find a great
crew here in London.
My next even larger challenge is surviving the schedule especially considering
the length of the daylight hours at this time of the year. The script comprises of
350 scenes, albeit short scenes but 45 shoot days doesn’t seem enough days.
My solution, considering the film is an action thriller, is to use as many cameras
as possible and hope for the best! Only time will tell how the plan comes
together.
We are lucky to get eight hours of shootable light for our day exteriors, for our day
exteriors, this means rehearsing and blocking the scenes before sunrise,
shooting our continuous day, {no lunch break} and then prepping for the next
day in the afternoon darkness.
I’m most happy though to be working with my old mates James McTeigue and
Matt Windon. James is a great director and a really good guy and Matt is an
amazing technician with a wonderful attitude, a great guy as well.
I feel very fortunate having these guys around me I’m sure we will be having a
good time and hopefully at the same time do some good work.
Best wishes
Danny Ruhlmann ACS
