#DIALW Day Four and Five - ducking, burning, drinking, resting, editing

On day four we successfully sent the suspected witch to trial into the freezing waters of the River Test where the blacksmith divined the fact she is a witch by attempting to drown the woman - she lived! Clearly a witch. So we burned the devilspawn tied to a stake in Spinney Hollow (other amazing activities are also available). The evening descends into classic medieval debauchery and I slip away to dump the rushes and do a kit check ...

What can I say?

DeerCam1 after shooting for hours in freezing rain.

1. The Lord's rain does not show up in the frame when filming it. Mythbusted! I'm happy to have visual proof that it does show up if you aren't scared of a bit of rain, and have a light source and camera available to record. Sure, the rain has to be reasonably medium-to-heavy but by-jiminey if it doesn't look like fucking rain on playback - because it is fucking rain.

2. Thou shalt not use a smartphone to make a film. Poppycock! This commandment has been successfully debunked several times over and Dark Is A Long Way continues the trend.

3. Always use a smartphone case and screen protector. Well, yes. Do do that (my choice for DIALW being iPhone 6 Plus and Anker case). Because in the freezing rain and cold mud whilst slipping in the quagmire you won't need a camera assistant, you won't need an umbrella, you won't need to cry for your mummy, you can just keep shooting and shooting and shooting. Your fingers will freeze and you will die of hyperthermia and the screen protective case will keep capacitive-confusing moisture off the glass long after you are dead and have no need for phone. Except perhaps for an emergency call?

Vivobarefoot Tracker off-road boot.

4. Bonus/footnote - the Vivobarefoot Trackerperformed admirably in these conditions with a firm connection to the ground, I didn't slip once. More importantly perhaps, neither did I get soaking wet feet whilst standing in River Test nor galavanting around Spinney Hollow.

In summary - "nobody knows anything" - William Goldman.

On day five - well, there's hangovers to contend with and a very rough and loose edit to continue. We are at least over half way through the nine day production schedule now!