09.05 | Vampire Academy Graphic Novel Writer Emma Vieceli Talks About Her Set Visit to Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters

                 My Vampire Academy Set Visit ^_^

(It’s hugely late, but here it is in left-hand typed glory. Apologies for the long post.)
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"Oh, I’m sorry! Do you mind me touching your leg?"

Zoey Deutch is laughing and cheerful despite already needing to source strong coffee after an early-morning start, location shooting on Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters. I’m perched on a tall director’s chair while cast and crew take a well-earned break, flanked by Zoey and an equally smiling Lucy Fry, unable to possibly raise objection to the afore-mentioned touching of my leg; largely because these girls make it easy to feel in minutes that you’ve known them for years.
I suppose, in a way, I have.
After all, I’ve been drawing the characters they’re now playing for over three years. Rose and Lissa are incredibly alive to me and, though I don’t know Zoey and Lucy well, they’re so perfect for their roles that it’s hard to feel like a stranger.

I’d had a pretty early start myself, having stayed with friends in London (thanks Si and Emma!) so that I could get a crack-of-dawn taxi to the hotel where producer Don Murphy was staying. From there we drove to the location of the day’s shoot, somewhere outside of Oxford; the journey spent largely raving about Richelle’s (Mead, of course) amazing world and Don’s and the team’s visions for it. I’d been given the option of a visit to pinewood studios or a trip to the location shoot, which was a really tough choice. The scene I was about to watch being filmed didn’t feature all of the characters I desperately wanted to meet in the flesh (Alas, Christian’s Dominic Sherwood for one), but it did feature the core trio of Rose, Lissa and Dimitri (yes, Dimitri), and was in a fascinating location…as well as being Gabriel Byrne’s first day on set as Victor Dashkov. I’d hardly slept at all on my cocktail of excitement and nerves.

And so it was that when, on grabbing a break from a hectic day of shooting, Zoey and Lucy were kind enough to come and say ‘hi’, how could I possibly mind a little leg-touching? They, like everyone on set, had made an effort on a busy day to make me feel part of the family, and I was massively grateful.

The break was a short one, enough time for me to enthuse about how very much Rose and Lissa the girls were (and seriously, they just are! Zoey is pure energy and Lucy oozes grace), before they were summoned back on set. However, from that point on, I felt less of an outsider and more a part of the team, albeit one sat with a gaping mouth as she watched her drawings walking around and talking. How could I help it? Especially when I got my first glimpse of an in-character Danila Koslovsky as Dimitri.
You’ll have heard it through Richelle’s reports and Zoey’s tweets, but I’ll just add it again here, folks: Swoon. Off-screen, Danila was, like all of the cast, relaxed and funny, asking me about castles and historical sights he could visit on his trip in an adorable Russian accent…on screen he was pure Belikov. The transition was pretty incredible.

Likewise, the frail and tired Victor Dashkov became the very affable and charming Gabriel Byrne once the cameras were off. As well as, along with the quite stunningly beautiful Olga Kurylenko, being remarkably easy to talk to, he also offered me the line that I would really take away with me that day. While I enthused about how incredible I found the whole experience of the shoot, and geeked out about the admiration I had for them all, he flipped through the pages of the Frostbite graphic novel with interest and exclaimed in answer, “Yes, but I couldn’t make a comic book.”

*gulp*

I had in fact brought books for the cast and director as a thanks for letting me visit, and left a couple for the actors I wouldn’t be meeting too. Producer Don Murphy was a fantastic host and managed to find opportune moments between shooting for us to nip onto set and chat with director Mark Waters as well as the more casual moments with the cast off-set. Seeing different actors’ reactions to the graphic novel was like an eye into what they themselves were getting out of being a part of the Vampire Academy world. From Lucy’s admission that she was fearful to read ahead, wanting to be constantly surprised by where Lissa takes her (so, no spoilers, chaps!), through Danila’s energetic page flipping to find his favourite bits of the second book (“Oh, is this the bit where I..?”) up to more jaw dropping from me when Zoey exclaimed brightly “Oh, I have that already. I’ll only take another if you sign it.” Well, how could I refuse that? Though I’m still mortified that I spelled her name as Zooey and not Zoey in the dedication…how utterly embarrassing. I’m blaming sheer emotional overwhelming. I don’t think I was quite prepared for the unique experience of hugging physical manifestations of my drawings! A-maze-ing ^_^

As well as the actors, I was just blown away by how welcoming the whole crew were. Discussions included the phenomenal caterers’ offerings (I wanted to steal the catering staff), how to manage makeup for different lighting, being a wig master in the west end for Patrick Swayze…and even the vampire academy comics, as several crew members were interested in the alternate adaptation that Leigh (Dragoon) and I had made.

All in all it was a mind-blowing day and I’m so grateful to Don for arranging my visit, and to the whole Blood Sisters team for making sure I felt a part of the VAFamily (as it’s now hash-tagged on twitter). I went home, filled with energy to finish up Shadow Kiss; the third graphic novel instalment, due out December 31st this year. Its release will hopefully distract me in the long and exciting wait for the film’s launch in February 2014.

See you all at the cinema!

Source: Emma Vieceli's Inky Tasty