Day 9: Filming Scene 1

So tonight we shot the first ever sequence of the film, the first thing you'll see in the cinema when the lights dim. And it had to look good, so we took our time over it which of course took its toll on the rest of the night's shoot. A scene that should have been shooting by 11pm actually started more like half 1.

There was a point around 2am when tensions were fraught and we had no better option than to become slaves to the shot list and the pre-viz - the rough video version of the scene that we'd blocked out and cut together a few weeks ago - and it really got us through. We set up the shots and ticked them off one by one, and despite a few incidents, like a couple of drunken monkeys fecking with the lights and cables, we survived and have now got about 70 out of 100 shots of the mammoth final scene.

We've had room to be creative many times during this shoot, but there comes a point where you have to trust your prep work and consult the storyboards or shot lists and just get the shots, because your head was probably in a better place when you planned them.

We have to go back to the Minster in October for pickups, but this shouldn't be a problem because we have the support of the wonderful Dean Court Hotel who not only provided us with power all night, but a conference room for the cast and crew and tea and coffee. Manager David Brooks and Ian the night porter, you are saints among men. SAINTS I TELL YOU!

Once again, York comes through for the CrimeFighters.