Production Diary
Every film has a journey — a series of moments that shape it from an initial idea to the spectacle on screen. Our production diary captures those pivotal milestones, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the creativity, challenges, and triumphs that bring this story to life.
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Here, you’ll find key dates marking everything from script development and casting calls to location shoots and post-production breakthroughs. As we continue this journey, we’ll share updates, sneak peeks, and glimpses of what’s ahead.
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Stay tuned and join us as we document the magic of filmmaking, one milestone at a time.
by Andrew griffin & Francesca White
01
THE IDEA
Title comes from a quote from Steven Hawking about travelling at the speed of light. He said you could return before you set out. This quote, and a comment made by a philosophical bike dealer in Dubin brought about a question – what would happen if you ‘lost’ a time machine? How would you lose it? Where? And Why? And, probably the best question, When? The consequences of losing a time machine are huge!!
So, with this as a starting point, we set out to create a film –
BEFORE YOU SET OUT.
02
THE PLAN
The decision was made to start by making a high quality trailer. This is to help with crowdfunding (in case we can't find a backer) and to help introduce the concept of the film, like most trailers.
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We start to think about the opening shot. Kind of a close up of booted feet walking toward a newsstand and a paperboy. 1930's London. A voiceover starts with "We've all heard of the Grandfather Paradox. No? Look it up, it'll amuse you."
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Because a teaser/trailer is a short film in itself, and we have no footage from which to extract some shots, we need a script. A trailer is usually about 90 seconds to 2 minutes, unless we’re talking teaser trailer of about 30 seconds. With no footage, this means shooting very short clips to stitch together and pray it tells part of the story!!
So as to not give away anything except the sci-fi and time travel elements, maybe its best to start at the end and work back?
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We know we want Dan to be our DOP, and Francesca wants Samuel J. Taylor to be our editor. Now we need to put together the rest of our teaser team.
03
finding the right people
24 August 2024. So, Francesca Louise White came on board at the start of things. She’s acting as Producer on this as well! Some good ideas came from our original meeting. Much to do but at least we’ve started.
21st October 2024.
Cheska has been hard at it, despite not feeling too well. As a result we have... FRANK!!
The rather AWESOME Jacob Anderton. Recommended by many.
3rd November 2024. We've realised we need Maya in our teaser - she's too vital a part in the short film to not have her. Shotlist is ever changing! Cheska has post a casting on Mandy.
10th November 2024. Wow, so many incredible self-tapes. We've had a few who could be brilliant in the role. Difficult decision ahead.
13th November 2024. Wahey, we've found our Maya! Gloria Adereti sent in a helluva self-tape. She's just signed onto the project and we are thrilled. We have to move the teaser dates that we had in mind to better suit her schedule - and Dan's, our DOP - but they are worth it.
04
SHOOTING THE TEASER
January 10th & 11th 2025. It's unexpectedly minus 7 degrees, and we largely shooting outside... fun fun. Lucky we have a great team, heat pads for hands and toes, and some very kind people at Becket's Pavilion Cafe in Northampton who let us use their storage room and heater to keep everyone as comfortable as we could. A huge thank you to our BTS photographer Richard Wakefield for putting himself through it with us and taking amazing shots. Also, a huge huge thank you to our family members who were runners, time-machine holders, drivers, chefs, costume fetchers et al.
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January 14th 2025. So, the teaser shoot came and went. Some good, some not so good shots, more down to location and timing than anything else. But in general, apart from freezing our nuts off, it all went well. It was great to finally meet our cast and crew who we'd only chatted to via email. Gloria and Jacob are both fun to work with and interesting to talk to, some of the things they're doing are just incredible.
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April 7th 2025. We have just received the Assembly edit from our editor and are figuring out our next steps & discussing with our DOP Dan. Sam has done a brilliant job. Though, we have realised we need a separate 3D modeller to take on our time machine.
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May 10th 2025. Sam has completed two different drafts of our teaser. We both preferred the same draft. Exciting times.
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May 16th 2025. After posting the position on Shooting People, the fantastic Neil Monaghan has come on board to build our time machine.
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May 28th 2025. Neil has created an excellent egg for the shot in our teaser, and expressed interest in doing so for our short film too. Now we just have to slot the shot into the teaser, and we're good to get it out there.
05
PROMOTING, AND FUNDING
We have a fantastic pitch deck ready to send to private investors. We've submitted to several grants, fingers hugely crossed, and we're looking into & making moves into our other options.
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April 15th 2025. The legendary Starburst Magazine have run press release on 'Before You Set Out'!! We are very grateful.
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June 2nd 2025. Our fabulous website goes live, huge thanks to our marketing guru, Katrina White, for designing it and helping with our pitch deck too.
05
SHORT Filming
....Coming soon...
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