EXCELLENT BLOODY NEWS!
I believe that I now have my She-Devil. It's not entirely certain yet as I'm still to be told whether she'll be able to find time off work on the 16th and 17th. However, things are really beginning to look up!

There are a few things I still have to get hold of. This includes fake blood, a metal detector, someone to play the minion and a few extras of different ages for the funeral scene at the end.

I also still need to schedule the times of the shoot. The first day will take longer obviously (but I wonder if the second would if I'm co-ordinating a lot of extras for the funeral scene) but It might have to be shot a little later as I don't want to get in an argument with churchgoers.

Onwards and upwards!

First bit of good news for the last few days today! Before thinking about auditions, I was asking Jo about contact details of a few people from her audition - albeit didn't get quite what she was looking for - who stood out as decent actors who would be good to reference in the future. I've asked Jo about getting hold of these contacts but had no result. Now she's finally delivered so things might not look so bleakly last-minute after all!

Most of this morning's work has gone into my dissertation introduction - something which has taken a backseat for the time being while I work on organising casting. (And properly get down to over Christmas) I still need a room booked but the situation is starting to look up!

Now that I have the set dates (16th and 17th of January) I can now look ahead and notify people well in advance of filming so that I know that they can be definitely availible. I still also need some additional adult extras but I've got a few to be going on with for the time being.

Despite it all being shot on a stills camera, I wonder if it would be worth it to have Adam Fitfield to come and shoot a couple of stills for the sake of some behind-the-scenes shots.

One step forward two steps back. Thats how things feel at the moment.

On one hand, I have scouted the location over this weekend. I've decided to use Middleton-on-the-Hill because every part of the location ties in well with each scene, it's very picturesque and should be fairly easy to shoot.

I have also finalised the 16th/17th of January for the shoot, giving me a couple of weeks to prepare on getting back after Christmas. I am also having little trouble in getting hold of extras for the funeral scene.

However, there have been TWO GIANT STEPS BACK because I have absolutely no Jack O Kent or She Devil. I can't book an audition room because James has to book it for me WHICH STILL HASN'T BEEN DONE! This, coupled with the fact that I can't notify anyone about auditions until I myself know when I have the room for, is making matters incredibly difficult. I DON'T want to be casting at the last minute like last year because every other person left me out to dry.

November nearly over and am now in the process of searching for cast members. I should be able to get filming as soon as the next semester starts.

I've decided to change the Devil's original deal from being over turnips to being over jewellry as it would be more fitting in a modern context and work well with a she-Devil.

Going to get hold of Kat tomorrow and discuss possible designs for the Devil's face patterns. I've made two base designs (the first one being a more final fantasy-esque tribal tattoo idea and the second one being African tribal/Kabuki in style) and come to the decision that the second design is the best one due to it being that little bit more striking and demonic. Kaz also recommended that it is the design that I use.

The jewellry will probably be fairly difficult to get together, particularly if it's to take after a sutton hoo type find. Having said that, I'll look around for anyone who is willing to make something of the like.

EVERYTHING HAS TO BE FINALISED BY THE END OF THIS WEEK AND THE BEGINNING OF NEXT WEEK!

Recent developments...panicked early this morning since I assumed that the brief was January rather than mid February. I know almost exactly where I want to shoot it and I have logged into Jamendo in order to be able to legally download license free music directly. The only problem for the time being is sorting out the cast.

I have a fairly good idea who I would like as Jack O Kent as I want someone a bit older to play the role as I'm not too sure if the male drama student's faces would ideally fit. (Not that I'm not willing to give them a chance, I'm considering organising an audition sometime this week but none of the male drama students at Jo's audition strike me as having faces that would fit the part.) The Devil on the other hand is slightly more difficult. In retrospect, I would like to portray the Devil as a woman just to give the character a faintly seductive edge.

There is also the animation to organise for the bird fight sequence at the end, just as long as I can get one of the animation students oin board.

Just now I have seen some recently shot footage of Dave's work. I was assuming that I wouldn't be able to shoot anything before the new year but now I'm beginning to think otherwise. I don't want to leave ANYTHING to the last minute. Having said that, we haven't had any recent contact with Elizabeth lately.

Right, the Dissertation will always recieve attention but I'm beginning to get the feeling that it's time to keep pressing on.

Maybe I should start storyboarding before I make any changes to the script. I'm beginning to think that the Devil should be portrayed as being relatively abstract (discard the red skin, goatee beard and other cliches etc) but still distinctive enough for people to identify him for who he is.

In terms of actors, I think it would be a good idea to look towards the courtyard and possibly Estelle Van Warmelo's Feral productions group and see if I can get any older actors for the roles. Come to think of it, I'm not sure whether the courtyard or Feral are reliable or not in getting back to me in good order as last year's attempts in getting hold of an actress proved to be frustrating and involved me being left high and dry.

I'll see if I can get some locations scouted and photographed sometime soon. Eye Church seems a good location for the funeral scene at the end and the area surrounding Middleton-on-the-Hill come to mind as good locations for the earlier scenes. I wonder if I should bring it into a more modern setting, or even an ambiguously period setting?...wait, hold the thought!

Okay...just returned from shooting a five minute film over the weekend. Basically an exercise in using the HD camera again - easier than I thought I'd find it! - and its good practice. Maybe I can do as many of these as possible before the academic year is out but I digress!

Maybe I should try using the HD for the Jack O Kent shoot and the backgrounds. Having said that, I'm still looking towards doing it in the form of a stills camera and turning it into the stop motion style that Kaz used for his fiction film last year.

Elizabeth still hasn't got back to me and I don't know exactly when we're next going to meet up with her but I don't want to leave it too late. Having said that, I think that it's fairly unlikely that we're going to be able to shoot until at least next year and shooting over the holidays - due to the camera store's insurance policy - seems to be impossible.

Okay...first draft of the script has finally been sent off! Hopefully I can find out which direction I can take the script. In terms of filming I've had a recent discussion with James and have considered that it might be a good idea to have it partially animated. I recon it would make it even better in terms of budget and more interesting artistically.

Having said that, I've recently thought that it might be possible to intercut the funeral scene with two figures fighting (which could be either animated or live action) in order to symbolise the Devil's final battle for Jack O Kent's soul. Having said that, the original story of the crow and the dove fighting together during the funeral is slightly more traditional in terms of symbolism. I'll most probably discuss this with James tomorrow - and probably e-mail Elizabeth on it to see what she thinks.

Okay, just finished the script, trying to do it in one hour or less and get it out of the way. Had a chat with James yesterday about it and discussed the way it could be filmed. He suggested it being part animated which kind of brings to mind Kaz's post apocalyptic stills film he did last year. Maybe stop motion?

Going to make sure that I use the HD camera this time. The DV camera I used last time had terrible sound on it. I was going to use it for this weekend but one of the actors wasn't availible so changing it to next weekend.

Work is still ongoing with my dissertation but I'm still trying to get a balance between the two. Also spent the last couple of days trying to decide what folklore subject to do the film on. It's not as if there was little choice, it's more to do with finding something that I'm going to be entheusiastic about to stick with.

In the end, I decided on Jack O Kent, an anti-hero who made numerous deals with the devil and continually tricked him. It's easiest appeal would probably be to kids and anti-heroes are fairly good characters to use. Started the script yesterday but not entirely sure where to take it (modern setting or not?, should the Devil be obvious or more subtle in terms of character and appearence?, how will all the events be combined together?, Should I include other Jack O Kent myths like forming sugarloaf mountain? etc)