Behind the scenes

Interview with Zbynek Podskalsky, the movie director.

Q: Did the making of "Orphan" differ from other, common spanking movies?

Z.P.: Indeed, completely - primarily because in fact it is not a spanking movie. Not that it would miss the typical scenes of the genre. But this movie is based on the story - it is a tad dark horror movie, which includes even a whipping scene. And many other strong scenes, including rape. In my opinion, this is the highlight of the film. I believe it has been shot very well.

Q: You are talking about "the film". Have you really used rolls of film?

Z.P.: No, not by chance. This would make the project too expensive. We have used common TV technology, at broadcasting level. Classical movie making was reflected in our extended lighting set, other accessories we used and most of all, our method of work. We have used moving camera and crane; approximately one half of the movie has been shot using steadycam.

Q: You have mentioned extensive lighting. Any interesting detail you would like to share with us?

Z.P.: The whole movie has quite interesting color composition. It is dominated by blues and warm oranges. The blue evokes cold - chilliness, storm, harshness. The opposite color appears in contrast - where people are present, carrying various lanterns or candles. They symbolize human warmth, niches of safety, to which the main character draws. But when the spectator sees these niches, he sees that they are very obscure and awesome. In situations where something should warm the soul and provide protection from danger, something indescribable and indefinable appears. This culminates by the farmer beating the orphan.

Q: How many people have participated in making the movie?

Z.P.: I have not counted them, because I concentrate on the communication with the main camera operator and the production engineer, and of course with the actors. The film crew included 30 to 40 people, depending on the particular scene. Making the movie has been quite demanding, because it includes many exterior scenes, and winter exteriors are hard - on the weather, actors, members of the crew and on the technology. The time has also been an issue - we have to work hard and fast, because the era when time did not matter is long gone. Two more days would be great. I have to thank all crew members. They were all great, starting with the actors up to the catering. I admire them all - and I thank them all for their efforts.

Q: Any funny stories from the set?

Z.P. When making horror movies or something which is supposed to scare the spectator, I always try to keep scary mood on the set as well. I personally like fun and jokes by the actors and the crew, but projects like this can really suffer from such light mood. Therefore, I tried to maintain a reasonable degree of stress during filming - my apologies to anyone who suffered due to this. It was for a good cause.

Of course, even the most serious projects include funny moments. I recall a wild wolf scurrying into a flock of chicken to be dismembered and killed by a wolfpack. The closer the wolf got to the chicken, the flabbier it became. Ignoring the instructions and my pleas, it approached the chicken very carefully and started to sniff it. The chicken did not like it and after some chuckle, pecked at the wolf's nuzzle. The wolf got definitively disinterested and run away. If wolves could speak, I believe I would be rebuked.

Q: You mentioned animals featured in the movie. How did you like working with them?

Z.P.: I have to admit that such extensive use of animals in a movie was my first time. Besides a few scenes with horses and a few short scenes with animals in various projects, I had no significant experience. And now I was about to make such a horror - I admit I was afraid. But I had a clear vision of the result and an exceptional main camera operator. It all combined well.

Q: So you are satisfied?

Z.P.: Yes, I am. Thanks to the production engineer's understanding and the efforts of the whole crew, we managed to make a truly extraordinary movie. Some shots were really tricky, from the enactment and also the technical points of view. For example, the staircase scene - we repeated it twelve times and it runs uninterrupted for 90 seconds. It also required changes of lighting, people with lanterns moved in it and in general, the lighting conditions were tricky. Add to it the demanding acting- for example the great actress in a supporting role: one of the wenches who lures the farmer to her room. She played the part superbly and showed how eyes can pass a message over a long and dark corridor.

We repeated some scenes twelve or fourteen times. But we succeeded in the end - without anyone giving up his original intentions. I like the result very much and would like to thank everyone involved once more.