Pre-Production Process
All of Eurofox’s film productions are original projects and fully developed from scratch. A team of researchers and writers firstly collaborate on story and script development. Full character breakdowns and histories are also compiled once a script is completed to aid the pre-production casting process. As director of all productions Stephen works with a team of creative artists and designers. Story boarding is a primary tool used consistently throughout. Story boards greatly aid his preparation for the production process in terms of organizing shooting schedules, set up, camera, crews etc. Stephen also shoots film and images for story boards using miniature models, props and blue/green screen. This allows for very early experimentation with camera, colours, lighting, texturing and special effects and ultimately makes the future production process more time efficient. Having a collection of test film and images also serves to provide costume, prop and set designers with a strong sense of the production and what is needed in each field.
From the beginning much stock music is also compiled, not necessarily to be a part of the final production, but used as a ‘fill in’ to inspire all the creative units with the ambience Stephen hopes their individual creations will collectively convey. Blending all units harmoniously is a challenging task, especially when units are working separately in different parts of the world, from across Europe, to America, to Asia. The age of the internet has allowed for great networking and production collaboration worldwide, but Stephen must ensure at all times his vision is adhered to and that all fields are on the same page. From the beginning the music score is addressed early on and in the case of the ‘Dracula’s Stoker’ production several composers and various styles of music were tried out, with the soundtracks of BAFTA and MTV’s VMA award winning Jeremy Soule making up the majority of the final score, with contributions also from Julian Soule. Much of their music inspired shooting and production from the very onset. 15 other tracks by a mix of composers across the world also made the final cut.
A worldwide mix and varied collaboration supported by much experimentation is evident at all stages of production. This is strongly reflected in the cultural mix of actors so far cast in Eurofox’s productions. Performers from Persia, Russia, Latvia, Poland, England, Ireland and China name but a few nationalities. These choices are enhanced also by the much varied locations. Even for a two second shot a ‘no compromise’ methodology to location scouting is upheld throughout. This is reflected in Eurofox’s ‘Dracula’s Stoker’, which embodies shots from all corners of Ireland and across the world, including Bran castle on the border of Brashof and Transylvania in Romania. Specific Dublin locations included St Anne’s Church, Dublin Castle’s State Apartments, Coach House and Undercroft, The Bram Stoker’s Dracula Centre, Trinity College and rare access to the underground vaults of St. Michan’s.
