Hood The Movie

Hood's Director Patrick Graham talks about the making of the film

The Hood shoot went very smoothly overall. As is the case on all shoots there were always a few moments of tension, particularly filming the climax of the film when it was literally a race against the sun to get the story shots put on film.

As we were filming in the middle of winter daylight lasted for only eight hours and there were many day-exteriors planned on the shoot. The climax scene was always going to be complicated to film and also contained some minor special fx when one of the main characters gets shot' Ater experiencing some technical difficulties with the squibs and blood-packs we lost several hours and it was a rush to get all the shots done in time although we managed it just as the sun finally sank below the horizon.

As is often the case with filmmaking it is frequently the unexpected that crops up at the crucial moment and makes life difficult. When we were shooting the loading-bay scene we all just assumed that the massive electronic doors would just open smoothly when the remote control button was pressed. This of course was not the case and to get a smooth opening, which looks so effective in the finished film, it took four crew members to get behind the damn thing and slide it open with all their might.

For the most part, however, it was smooth sailing and the cast and crew worked well together, forging a good work ethic and working hard to realise the film's vision. It's always a pleasure to shoot on film and the film looks great as a result.

Sometimes though the cost of shooting on film does pull money from other areas; a scene that needed to be reshot was admirably lit by the DP with four theatre lights that had to be balanced on a table, then shot on a camera that was decades old and very, very, noisy - but it's always fun having to improvise and get a good result with limited resources.

The cast were very talented with some great performances. The characters of Stone and Don were very well thought out and the interraction between the two really comes alive on the screen. Frank was brilliant at playing the world-weary veteran while Marcus added a touch of sympathy to a character who is so clearly out of his depth.

All in all a great experience.