WHEEL GONE KID THREE AND A HALF - PLANE STUPID (REVIEW & INTERVIEW)
HFF: The previous episode was directed by Wayne Kelly, how did you get involved in the rest of this series? Especially for the work of writing.
MH: Wayne and I have worked together for many years and almost act as a single person now we know how each other works so well, it's a bit of a double act. Unfortunately Wayne had to leave the set not long after we started principal filming so I had to take over to direct, we only had a brief window to complete the project and use the sets that were booked so the show must go on. I had filmed and edited the previous episodes and knew the other actors from previous short films. The series developed from a short we made in lockdown with just Reece and Rita and it has grown in response to the popularity and leaving each film with the audience wanting more from the characters.
My side of the writing was to pepper the plane scene with slapstick moments drawn from films and TV commercials I watched as a kid. A plane is a confined space so we needed to come up with a series of funny ways to hamper Houdini Love's efforts to recover his stolen cash.
I'm a big fan of Laurel and Hardy and have been fortunate to work with Stan's great grand daughter Cassidy, so physical comedy still holds a dear place in my heart. There's also and affectionate homage to the film Airplane! in there.
HFF: What were your acting instructions for the actors?
MH: In a comedy you want everyone to have fun so the audience can feel the joy in the film when they watch it. We filmed on the hottest day England had seen in it's history so it wasn't easy for the cast, especially the out door scenes and physical comedy. Many directors of comedy give their cast the same advice "you need to act like this is a serious situation, your character doesn't know this is a comedy". It works really well when you play something "straight" rather for laughs. If the situation is comical it makes it funnier for the audience as they can see what's coming when the characters on screen are oblivious.
HFF: Was it complicated to direct the young Reece? How old was he when filming?
MH: When we started filming with Reece he was only 6 and had never acted on screen before, he's now 8 years old and homecoming a bit of a pro. We have built a trust over the 4 films and I think Reece knows that there are times when he will have to spring to life for a take as the character Aki, but also there will be breaks and fun to be had on set with the other actors. In this film Reece was mainly acting from the seat of the plane set so there were no windows to jump through or footballs to be kicked. He did get to use a remote controlled toy car, which he drove better than my demonstration! I think with all young actors the waiting around between scenes can be a bit of a drag but Reece was patient and sustained his energy for the whole day, I think he's got a bright future ahead if he keeps developing his skills like he has over the last 2 years.
HFF: How was the atmosphere on set? Most of the actors had worked together before...
MH: We had two quite different days. The first day, the hottest one, was mainly filming exteriors with Eleanor and Gabriel. They have worked in plays together and in short films and have a great chemistry.
The scene with the scooter riding off in to the distance was particularly tough and we had to shoot form several angles including with a drone, soi there was lots of getting on and off the scooter. Despite the heat they pretty much nailed it every time which really helped us wrap and cool down! The next day on the plane has post of the slapstick scenes.
The difficulty there was keeping a straight face, especially when Peter was required to have water thrown in his face several times to get all the angles covered. It was very funny and such a great set to film in too, not many Directors get to work with such a realistic plane interior, I think it really helped everyone's performance.
HFF: Did you have an idea of the choice of music at the time of writing, filming?
MH: Yeah, I think when you juxtapose overly dramatic music with comedy it makes a scene all that more amusing, but you can't be over the top all the time or the audience will get exhausted by it so there's high drama with some more whimsical pieces to slow it down before the next big set piece.
HFF: How did the filming go for all the sequences inside the plane and in particular the many gags? Where did you shoot them?
MH: Safety first as always. The key is to block out the action so everyone knows where to fall and make sure no one is going to get hurt. The plane set loaned to us kindly by Loughborough college is open on one side, the side the audience doesn't see, so there was plenty of space to move the camera, lights etc to make the most of the prat falls. Gabriel was great with the physical comedy, but also the dead pan reactions from Pete were pure Oliver Hardy and made me laugh while filming too.
HFF: We can see several aerial shots of the plane, how did you capture these images?
MH: We had to use stock footage of the plane as it's very cost prohibitive to get that kind of shot for a short film and we wanted to spend the money on the props we had more control over. If you shoot with pre-selected footage like that you can make it seem like the whole thing is happening all at once rather from different sources, the magic of the movies!
HFF: Which scenes were the most difficult to achieve?
MH: It's funny, filming in a phone box is pretty tough but there were quite a lot of tight spaces in this film. Wide angle lenses are a directors friend on shoots like this, you can get close to the action and give the impression half a plane set is the real thing. The drone shot was the hardest. It was 40 degrees outside, the talent were in crash helmets making it hot and heard to hear and strangely where we were near the open fields it was windy too. The bright sunshine was great on camera, gave it a bit of an Arizona feel, but it makes seeing the shot difficult, especially following a moving vehicle. That said take 1 was the best and is the one we used in the final edit.
HFF: Did you do any scouting work in advance for the exterior sequences?
MH: Fail to plan and you plan to fail. I'll leave it at that! Keith our producer really pulled out the stops with the locations and made the shooting schedule very slick.
HFF: How many technicians did you work with during the shoot?
MH: We only usually have two people doing all the technical stuff, but we ended up with just one on this as Wayne had to leave the shoot. I've been making films for 22 years now and often with little or know budget. I'm lucky in that as I've got older and more experienced the kit has become lighter and much more versatile. I use a C300mk2 for the short films and documentaries I make. I have some 2 great Pictor zoom lenses which between them can frame any shot. It is great to have a large crew, but when you're up against it but have the right kit its amazing what you can do when you need to.
HFF: How long did the work of writing, filming and editing take you?
MH: Wayne did most of the writing using Keith's first script. Keith usually maps out the idea then Wayne will make it into a shooting script. I really only added the physical comedy elements as I can really visualise that kind of thing, I tend to think in pictures.
HFF: Where will the film be released next?
MH: It's been programmed for the last screening block of the day at The Funny Life Film Festival in Shoreditch on Saturday 22nd October which is recognition. Possibility the film may also be screened at a special event at The Century Theatre in Coalville in November.
HFF: Do you have another project in sight? Do you plan to direct the continuation of this series?
MH: It gets harder each time to take the charters to new places. Will the plane crash on an island or get diverted somewhere exotic. We have toyed with the idea of a spy film, a sort of comedy James Bond. With all that's going on in the world it's always nice to have a funny film to look forward to. We all work so great together and its quite a collaborative creative process so I'm looking forward to getting back on set in 2023 to take the caper somewhere fun and exciting.
