Filmmakers zoom in on Hoy

A production company, hoping to film on location in Orkney, is on the last stretch to reach a target £15,000 needed to cover production costs.
Glasgow-based Gentle Giant Productions have set their hearts on filming the outdoor shots for their short film, In the Fall, at the Rackwick Bothy in Hoy.

So far, they have raised £13,544, via a crowdfunding page.
The brainchild of director Tom Gentle and producer Rupert Clague, the screenplay for In the Fall is based on Canadian author Alistair Macleod’s short story of the same name, taken from his Island collection.

Set in the late 19th century, on a smallholding in rural Scotland, In The Fall tells the story of a young boy’s struggle to understand his parents’ decision to send their loyal working horse to the knacker’s yard.

Tom, who has previously worked on several short films of his own, as well as other larger-scale productions, first came across the story after a long shoot in the Western Isles. Smitten by the Nova Scotian tale, it wasn’t long before he was pursuing rights to adapt the prose for the screen.

Once he got the go-ahead, the next big task was to find somewhere to shoot the film. After scouring rural Scotland, Tom and Rupert were enchanted by the ragged cliffs of Hoy.
“The location is what really sealed the deal,” explained Tom.
“That bothy, with the massive slates on the roof, really distilled what I had in my mind. It looks like this lonely, inaccessible place, but it’s not actually that far from a tarmac road.”

With hopes to start filming in February, Hoy will provide a rugged, brisk atmosphere for the film’s exterior shots. Meanwhile, interior shots are due to be filmed at a location in the central belt.
“It’s like a jigsaw puzzle, really,” Tom continued.
“The intention is to have the aesthetic of one single shot, so the narrative starts with the boy chopping wood down in a field by the coast, and we would follow him continuously walking to the house, and then it would move up on to the father and then to the mother — there would be no cuts.”
This technique, Tom believes, will reflect the seamless, flowing narrative of the orginal story. It will, however, be a complex feat to pull off, particularly in wintery conditions.

Lewis McGowan, the young actor best known for starring in the iconic 2011 John Lewis Christmas advert is to play the lead character in this project. With things moving forward rapidly, Tom and Rupert are hopeful that they will achieve their final goal.

To find out more about In the Fall, you can visit the crowdfunding page on www.indiegogo.com/projects/in-the-fall-short-film-canada-literature#/