last shot

The last shot of the film. In a perfect world, it is leisurely, unhurried and we crack open a bottle of fizz after we cut, pat ourselves on the back, and savour the moment. 

Alas, this world isn’t perfect. Our last shot was in near darkness and pouring rain. The clock was ticking, the sun was setting and the house where our gear was stored was going to be closed up for three weeks in a half hour, our stuff locked inside if we didn’t finish and retrieve it in time. Our actors, Gray O’Brien and Sean Stevenson, were soaked to the bone, like the rest of us. Our lead, Lauren McQueen, was enroute to set, picking her way through the muck as fast as she could, which felt not nearly fast enough. We only needed her hand for the shot, so we used mine for a quick rehearsal, finding the right placement that would make the shot perfect.  At the last second, Lauren stepped in, I called action and away we went.

Lauren McQueen, not in the last shot.

 ​Thirty seconds later it was over. And it was a stunning shot.
 
“Cut!” I yelled.”That’s a wrap.”
 
“Of the movie?” asked our DOP Michal. “Are you sure there’s nothing else you want?”
 
“The movie,” I said. “There’s nothing else I want. We got it all. Cut. Wrap. Done.”
 
And like that, everyone was gone, sprinting to the house to pack up before our van turned into pumpkin. I started to follow them, and then stopped as it hit me:
 
We got it all. This was the end of filming.
 
There was no time to savour, but I took it anyway. I turned around, stared out at the bleak, wet, beautiful meadow of sodden sheep, down the rising river, took a deep breath and sent up a prayer of thanks.
 
This was it. We did it.  We did it. We did it.
 
Then I ran to the house.