Production Process
The production stage of Eurofox’s projects involves much juggling and ‘keeping up’ with Stephen’s usual fast pace. Production begins on prepared scenes before pre-production has ended on others. All units push forward very quickly simultaneously, all directed by Stephen and he even begins final editing on scenes shot within days of the start of filming. Filming is fast paced, intense and an average work day for Stephen is consistently 15-20 hours during the filming process. Stephen works closely with all crew members and, when time allows for it, prioritizes socializing with all crew members, be it a simple coffee, dinner or arranging a group cinema day. Creating a friendly atmosphere and truly getting to know the people he collaborates with has always been an important factor to him in both collectively achieving production goals and making the most of the experience with the people he involves. It is especially important to him to get to know the performers and their personalities as it allows him to recognize their needs and to decipher his best approach to them.
As a director Stephen has no general ‘director’s approach’ to directing, but rather an individual approach to each actor. Each actor’s experience can be very different if not the polar opposite of another’s experience. While filming on location, the first priority, as with any shoot, is to get the director’s vision ‘in the can’. Armed with images, sketches, story boards and hours of mock test footage, Stephen’s preparation usually means he knows exactly when he has achieved the shots he wants on the day. After this point at least a couple of hours are set aside for improvisation, new ideas and also an opportunity for the actors to experiment themselves free from restrictions. Improvements and fresh interpretations are always considered. Though Stephen knows the foundation of what he wants, nothing is ever set in stone. If new and better ideas emerge, though scenes are already shot, they will be completely redone if necessary. This is another reason for the editing process to begin early on during filming. Stephen likes to see exactly what he has got and ‘pick up’ shots are picked up early on or entire scenes scrapped and redone.
Outdoor shoots can be the most challenging, especially when set in Ireland with the weather being unpredictable all year round. Stephen always prepares a ‘plan B’ and ‘plan C’ for all shoot days. If the weather cannot allow for ‘plan A’ shoot to be filmed while on location, a ‘plan B or C’ shoot will take over where the weather will be ideal, either for a completely different scene, publicity shoot, footage or interviews for a ‘making of documentary’ or pick up shots for other scenes whose locations can blend in editing. No day is cancelled or wasted. Every day is precious and something of value will be done towards the production despite the main plan going askew which inevitably happened from time to time.
Stephen’s approach of juggling pre-production with early filming while also editing scenes nearly as quickly as he has shot them has been made possible by the facilities he has accumulated for Eurofox Pictures. Blue screen, green screen, cameras, monitors, full lighting, sound recording, editing, special effects, projectors, screening room, props, costumes and sets are some of the conveniences at his fingertips. Though he collaborates with many assistants, researchers, designers and IT aides, Stephen takes an independent ‘hands on’ approach to an extreme level. A gifted artist, he designs all costumes, props & sets himself before passing them on to the contractors for building/creation. Stephen fully sketches all story boards, operates all cameras, edits all footage and creates the majority of the CGI and VFX effects. His self-reliant abilities are extremely time efficient during production and his familiarity and ability at all stages of creation greatly facilitate communication and harmony with all collaborating units both at home and abroad.
