Greetings from our editing suite in Barcelona!
People often ask me whether I like or dislike watching my playback and seeing myself on screen.
It’s a strange one because I have found there to be times in this process where I’ve enjoyed it, and other times I’ve felt myself collapse so far inside myself that I’d vow to myself to never look at the footage again (and thankfully Bruno and those around me are able to throw me a rescue line and pull me back into myself).
I’ve been in a unique privileged position with this film. Since it’s produced by our production company, Slowcooked we’ve been able to call the shots and decide - to a certain extent, budget-dependent - on how we wanted to do things.
There were lots of learnings from this project, and I’m still honestly processing the whole experience.
But one thing that has been an absolute result, is the decision we made to work with our friend and editor Neto Jones.
We began principle photography (the industry term for the day you officially begin shooting) on 12th May 2025 and Neto arrived in London on 11th May, the day before.
Every day Bruno and I would leave for set and Neto was based in our editing suite, and began editing as soon as the first camera cards were ready to be digested.
It felt like we were going out on the front line each day, on this crazy adventure where time and factors outside of our control would threaten to compromise our story every day.
The hours were long and the adrenaline was pumping.
But 17/17 shooting days, we came back with what we (trusted we) needed. And I would look forward to arriving to our home base and getting glimpses of the edit assembly that was forming. Neto’s energy was so high and positive, it was such a huge reassurance that we were on the right path with the film; as long as that energy and excitement for the story remained, I trusted we were in a good place! (And it did).
Due to time constraints and the story being tweaked and written right up until the final moments, Neto discovered our story through the editing process - which is quite an interesting approach in itself. He worked with the script alongside the material he was receiving but he was experiencing Darker Days scene by scene and take by take - and I’m pleased to say his triumphant smile held up!
Fast forward to today; 59 days since we wrapped.
And THIS WEEK we exported the first (rough) cut of our feature-length project. It’s currently coming in at 1 hour and 38 minutes.
With a fresh mind we sat down, blacked out the suite and watched the film in its entirety, making notes as we went through. Neto has since made those changes and I’m looking forward to watching it all over again.
Our incredible VFX team MIDAS (who wrapped on Jurassic World the day before joining us on ours) are hard at work and I CANNOT WAIT to see the next evolutionary step for this project.
Music, colour grade and sound design is on the cards after picture lock.
As for now, I’m (metaphorically) bathing in the post-production process and in absolute awe of every single filmmaker out there who has ever been through this process of making a feature film - and making it look so easy?!
Making a film is so intensive and all-consuming: from sourcing finance, writing the story, finding the team, pitching, casting, sourcing locations to editing, marketing and distributing.
This is one of my biggest learning curves to date and I thank my lucky stars for being able to experience this, and having the headspace to archive it and share it with you.
So excited for you as the project develops more.
It's fascinating and amazing how much the process of film making has changed and (like music) has become much more accessible and flexible making it possible for films like yours to be made.
Fascinating read Louise! I can only imagine the amount of love and energy that goes into making a project like this. Much respect 🙏