The story behind "Dead Love"

In 2009 we started talking about making a short film, about five minutes long. We had very nice locations to film at a local spa, Hagabadet, so it would be stupid not to take the chance. We sat down and wrote a small script. It was about the janitor of the bath, David Nilsson who worked there at the time. He was also in front of the camera, playing himself. We finally got cameras and had two helpers with us.

The first version

Filming went quick, rushing at a devastating pace. The speed was all that mattered. There was no such thing as lighting. Audio recording was not even in the planning. In short, it was a disaster. This became brutally clear later on when David saw the raw footage, and he simply pressed the delete button and the entire evenings work was gone. The rest of us were a bit disappointed but David did not think his performance was good enough.

Anxiety, Swedish film and not giving up

After Davids disappointment , we put the movie on the shelf for a while in pure anxiety. Should it be that hard to film a little short movie that didn't look like crap? Later in the fall of 2011, I, Fredrik Lindau, began to think about whether I could take Davids place in front of the camera in lack of a better actors. To get something done. You learn nothing about movie making siting at home twiddling your thumbs.

After much thought and anxiety, we decided to make a second attempt. This time we sat down and wrote the script so it would be more thought through. We did not want to rush through this. It would have to take the time it needed. Little did we know it would take as long as it did.

The second version

First shot at the second attempt were horrible. I was supposed to act, something I've never done before and that was quite clear. We had contacted a very nice woman named Eva who lined up to be my co-star. Besides my lack of experience, there was some obvious physical problems. I am 190 cm tall, Eva was about 160 cm tall, David used the anamorphic lenses in a narrow corridor. For those who do not know, you can't zoom with an anamorphic lens. It also requires quite a lot of light to function properly. This in combination with the height difference between me and Eva made the angles very interesting to say the least.

New actors

We took another chance and hired an actor in the hope that she could take the focus off my bad acting and give the movie a little class. Anne Lichtenstein was her name. The script said that I wouldn't be so interested in her, all I wanted was for her to go home and leave me alone. She endured my arrogant behavior the entire evening, until she slammed a folder in my head. She did a good job though.

The ghost was played by two women. They play the same role, but because we couldn't synchronize our times with locations we had to hire two. I think no one will notice it for it's two completely different scenes. Nathalie Samuelsson was the first ghost, she had the grueling job of hanging in a construction harness about half a meter above the ground. The picture below shows her doing her make-up.

Woman number two, who succeeded Nathalie, was Annelie Sjölin. We wasn't especially kind to her either, she had to play a woman from the early 1900s in an unheated building for a few bitterly cold days in January 2012. She is the woman in the image above.

Late night, early morning

One of the biggest challenges of filming was that we could not do it during opening hours. We had about four hours each time. Either it was early in the morning at 5:00 AM or late evening until 11:00 PM. At worst, late night and then sleep for a few hours and up again to begin at 5:00 AM. That's how we kept on throughout the fall. We have calculated that we have put in about 60 hours on this movie. Hours for editing and effects not included.

Summary

In short, this film has been incredibly rewarding to do. Both technology, directing and anxiety wise. We hope someone out there bothers to read this, and also sees the movie, can get something out of the story.

Last but not least, both David and I must say a big thanks to all of you involved in making this movie. You have put up with the most weird things without complaining, and helped us to do something we have long dreamed of.