Tess of the D'Urbevilles

There is a scene in the Thomas Hardy classic where Tess and Angel stumble upon Stonehenge. Although some filming was allowed at the ancient site, logistical reasons meant that a key scene in the story would have to be shot as performance and separate back plates - the only scene in this version of the story.

The greenscreen setup was in a tiny grain barn in Dorset. The performance was shot first - not ideal in terms of lighting direction - but more practical for production.

We blocked the scene out from a plan, so that we could later shoot matched back plates at Stonehenge. The space was so small and the greens so narrow that in order to block the scene out, instead of moving the camera too much we moved the performers and the fibre glass 'rock'. Wojciech Szepel did a great job on the lighting.

Some days later I took a second unit to Stonehenge at dawn - hoping for an etherial, frosty and misty dawn (which would match the rest of the live action) - and got harsh 'low winter sun' light!

It was pretty cool to be among the stones at dawn with almost nobody else around.