Cold as Hell

Lee Chambers recounts his winter of pandemic filmmaking

By Lee Chambers


“I just need to get one more shot,” I said to my frozen cinematographer, Tony Quiñones.

—Famous last words spoken by directors looking to ensure their editor will have all the coverage needed to tell a story. On this particularly frigid day in December 2020, it meant everyone on our crew of six needed to go the extra mile to make sure it happened safely. Tony rubbed his cold hands together. “Alright, let’s do it,” he said. “As fast as possible.”

After the COVID-19 pandemic threw much of the world into lockdown-mode, I dug deep, looking for ways to be inspired as a filmmaker. Isolated from each other with only Zoom for comfort, I wondered what the worst-case-scenario for us as individuals could be. We had to come together to protect each other, but what if one person’s decisions and bad luck had the power to affect us all?

Hell in a Handbasket became a short sci-fi comedy about Dale, a lonely lab worker in the arctic who is entrusted to protect the world during a global pandemic. His only contact with the outside world is through a video conference with his boss Dr. Forester, who calls in from Los Angeles in a panic as the world is going up in flames. Sadly, Dale makes poor decisions and suffers from a massive dose of bad luck that threatens to doom the entire planet.

Extreme weather on film is always visually dramatic to watch. From the snowy barren landscapes of Fargo, to the Hoth system battles in The Empire Strikes Back, cold and snow on screen are always beautiful for audiences to behold — but miserable for any cast and crew forced to endure the long hours of a mid-winter shooting day.

After experiencing mild temperatures over the previous few days, on my one-day shoot for Hell in a Handbasket, Saskatchewan was suddenly plunged into an extreme cold snap. While only a few on-screen moments take place outdoors, the winds at our primary location, on a wide-open field on the outskirts of Regina, blasted up to minus 35 degrees Celsius.

After capturing the barren landscapes that were meant to double for the North Pole, we moved indoors to warm up in a garage in Pilot Butte. This make-shift “science lab” setting only really offered protection from the wind. Extreme cold was still part of the misery for the cast and crew for the rest of the day.

Actor, Robert Bryn Mann (Dale), nearly froze to death during a scene in which he had to lay flat on his back on a frozen slab of concrete. This was one of the rare occasions where protecting the safety of my cast was more important to me than trying to get additional takes. Some of the material shown in the final film are ‘one-take wonders’. Luckily, Robert’s professionalism and solid acting skills saved the day, even if his character Dale couldn’t.

Actor, Hoyt Richards recorded all of his video monitor scenes as Dr. Forester a month in advance, using his iPhone from the warm confines of an ocean-view pad in sunny Los Angeles. Once uploaded and retrieved from the cloud, I edited together all his best takes. The advantage of this approach was that Robert had a chance to rehearse his lines against Hoyt’s actual performance in the film.

The result worked perfectly, thanks to the editorial work of Trevor Aikman, who blended the performances together flawlessly into a trim five-minute package, complimented by an original score from UK-based composer, Charlie Fisher.

Good planning during pre-production combined with a dedicated cast and crew will always increase your chances for success. Despite the cold, Regina didn’t get that much snow this past winter. This meant our test drone footage from the shoot needed some ‘digital-snow’ added to a few shots from the good folks at Rafni FX in India.

Collaborating with artists from LA to India to England during the pandemic, truly made Hell in a Handbasket a global short film crafted in the heart of Saskatchewan.

Regina-based writer/director Lee Chambers has worked professionally in London, Los Angeles, and Australia. Hell in a Handbasket was the screenplay winner at the 2020 Newark International Film Festival. The film is currently on festival release already picking up multiple awards and nominations around the world. More information at www.leechambers.com