FRANK’S GREAT PRAGUE ADVENTURE
First written 23 July-00
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The opening shot of “From Hell” takes place at night on the Whitechapel set. The shot runs for 3 script pages without a cut. It sets the scene for the film by showing us what life was like on the streets of the East End of London in 1888.
THE 10 BELLS PUB AND FOURNIER STREET (STAND-IN DRESSED IN CONTEMPORARY CLOTHES)
GOULSTON ALLEY
The shot is done with a Steadicam. It starts with John Ward, our Steadicam operator on a platform on top of an Arriflex crane. The crane comes down the face of a building, revealing 3 floors of windows, each showing a tableau of day-to-day life in 1888. When the crane lands, John walks down a set of stairs. He crosses through Goulston Alley, past the Gin Palace onto Commercial Street. Then the camera finds Mary Kelly (Heather Graham) and follows her across the street, past the 10 Bells Pub, down Fournier Street into an alley, where the shot ends. If you want to know what happens to her when she enters the alley, you'll have to see the movie!
ALBERT AND
ALLEN CONFER WITH SUSAN LAMBIE, SCRIPT SUPERVISOR
We would like to show you pictures of how the shot looked while we were filming, but, alas, we were too busy recording the sound. Robbie Baumgartner, our Gaffer and his electric crew really worked hard to light such a large area. After the mandatory Czech nightly rain shower made a Special Effects water wet down unnecessary, we shot until the Directors were satisfied and then went home at dawn to sleep.
Gosh, they look tired! That’s all for now. We’ll be back with more when we are back with
more!
