2. Pre-Production
• Neil Marshall is the writer and director of ‘The Descent’ so most of the ideas for the film came from him
with help from the team of filmmakers also involved in making the film. Before ‘The Descent’ Neil Marshall
had made a film before ‘The Descent’ called ‘Dog Soldiers’ where he had hundreds of requests giving
positive feedback and encouraged to direct more horror films.
• Neil Marshall spent over 2 years writing the script for ‘The Descent’ with help from the producer Christian
Colson who is also mangering director of Celador Films Production. Neil and Christian went through 10 to
15 drafts to make the script for the film.
• The filming took place in the United Kingdom, the outside scene took place in Ashbridge Park, Scotland
and inside the cave scenes was filmed on sets built at Pinewood Studios where set designer Simon Bowles
had created all the sets for the cave adding up to 21 cave sets overall. The cave scenes was filmed in
studios because the filmmakers thought it was too dangerous and time-consuming to film in a real cave
and the location of the film outside was considered by help from the location mangers.
• Marshalls original plan was to cast a mix of male and females but because most horror films did this and in
his other film ‘Dog Soldiers’ he casted all boys so therefore he casted all women as the main characters. He
also gave all the characters different accents so that the viewers can tell the difference between all of
them. To find the actors to play the roles in the film, Neil Marshall would go through managers of actors
and visit casting studios to find the right people to play the role.
• Christian Colson was the producer of ‘The Descent’ and also mangering director of Celador Films so they
financed the film but at a very low budget. Celador films aren’t just the main suppliers for the film, there is
also Pathe (French company) and 20th Century Fox (American company) who helped with the budget and
to get distribution rights for Europe and the United States.
3. Production
• The only example of shooting real action on a public location is at the start of the film
when the three girls, Sarah, Juno and Beth are white water rafting, this means every
other scene in the film is private.
• To help produce the film carefully the women acting in the film had to take part in
different activities to get more prepared for the film. They did water rafting training for
the beginning of the film, a climbing course and they also went caving to help them
know what its like when shooting the film to help them with there acting too. When
shooting the film, it had to be in a controlled location for example at the beginning
when Sarah, her husband and her daughter was in the car and then had a car crash at
the end of the scene, this scene had to be in a controlled location so there wasn’t any
people or other cars about when they shot it.
• The film also used model shots and green screens to make the film. An example of
using the green screen is when the women was lowered down into the cave to show
the surroundings of the cave and what inside the cave looked like. An example of using
model shots is at the beginning in the rapids, they used dummies instead of the
actresses in the more dangerous shots.
• When shooting on the studio set the filmmakers decided to use the lighting that the
characters had on them like the head lights on their helmets instead of set lights to
make it more realistic and create a more dark effect. Overall there was 21 cave sets
built by Rod Vass and his company.
4. Post-Production
• After the film was finished with the production a lot of editing was made
after to get all the film put together correctly. Lots of effects was made in
the crash sequence, for example there was loads of small shots that
happened quickly in one scene and when editing it, it has to suit what the
director wants to happen.
• When the film is finished we don’t see the green scene that was used on
set, we see the background used inside the cave and displaying what the
cave would look like. We also don’t see the dummies used in the water
rafting scene because of the position of the camera so the audience don’t
notice.
• CGI was also used in the film but only once in the cave when a group of
bats jumps out on Sarah. The CGI wasn’t very good in the film and it
wasn’t used much either, it was very weak.
• Sound effects was also used a lot throughout the film like at the beginning
in the white water rafting scene where the sound of the water was busted
and made louder. Sound effects was also used inside the cave like the cave
collapsing and the sound of the creeping monsters that live down in the
cave.
