I had one day to shoot Tom Cromwell’s Ranger clips, since he was leaving for Newfoundland the next day. To make things more difficult, I would have to shoot the clips after work. Luckily the weather cooperated, and it was a fine evening of golden sunlight, just the sort of light that photographers like. Rob, Tom, myself and a new cast member, Steve Mosher, left the Citadel after the gates closed and arrived at the location by six o’clock.
One consequence of early success was the obsolescence of my original long term plans. I no longer had time to recruit a large body of re-enactors to play the Acadians and Rangers. This meant that my opposing units weren’t going to look as big on film as I’d hoped, which I would regret later, but I was so excited now that filming was underway that I didn’t care. My cast list was growing, and everyone on it was someone I had contact with every day. This meant efficient communications, which was worth a little reduction in scale.
My test scene had the exact affect I’d hoped it would. The people who saw it were excited, and, I think, had a little more faith in the project. The keenest were Jonathan and Jim, who were willing to start filming as soon as I could set a date. Realizing that waiting was no longer an option, I proposed a Friday afternoon when the three of us could get together. I would shoot all of the scenes that just featured Jonathan and Jim’s characters. If all went well, I declared for at least the third time, we would keep going.
