"Somewhere in the middle of the Netherlands lies the town of Hernen." "A Dutch town like any other." "Where the baker and the butcher start their work in the morning without any changes to the daily routine." "The most noticeable building in Hernen is an old little castle that has been beautifully restored and is open to the public." "The swans of Doornenburg Castle located where the rivers Waal and Rhine split, near Nijmegen." "This is the -now empty- court from Floris." "This is the medieval side." "And where the rivers Maas and Waal join Loevestein Castle is located." "Loevestein Castle, Hernen and Doornenburg Castle are the only real medieval elements used in Floris." "This tent is entirely modern." "Although all the props are from yesterday." "Old stories require strange objects." "A skeleton, a crossbow, a mandolin, a reproduction... 14 tin mugs, do we have those?" "And 35 stone mugs." "24 tin plates, 10 candleholders." "And one plastic roasting pig." "Some props are alive, such as the horses that Floris and Sindala used to ride from one adventure to the next." "A medieval comic strip has to look good." "Hence the abundance of costumes, with corresponding administration." "Richard, do you know where the helmet is?" "All these costumes were getting dirty." "So the 50 helmets, 150 pairs of boots and 15 harnesses needed cleaning and polishing." "Guys, where's my outfit?" "When the horses have been looked after with brushes and currycombs filming can start." "A look behind the scenes kills the illusion." "What looked so real, has been created using a car a camera and ten people pushing." "And then it went wrong because someone braked." "What's with the braking?" "Braking?" "Yes, who was braking?" "Was anybody braking?" "Just let it go." "But then it rolls back." "No, we'll hold it." "Let's go through this for a bit." "You say: "Do you want anything?"" "We could add some atmosphere, since the shot's so short." "So that you really feel down." "And you say: "Let's go." "It's time we got to the castle."" "Again, guys." "Straight through the forest." "That's shorter." "The summer and autumn of 1968, when Floris was made were amongst the wettest in history." "Filming is always unpredictable, so there was no mud when they needed it." "So what do you do?" "You create mud." "The scenario said that the terrible Copper Dog canon was stuck in the mud." "And that the strong bombardier pulled it out." "It's difficult." "More difficult to get it into the mud than to get it out." "Put it in here." "Like that." "I look like a Christmas tree." "The director gives the star a few clues about his lines." "Action!" "Go, 1, 2, 3, come on, you!" "Bunch of scoundrels!" "You could do the "1, 2" faster." ""Go, 1, 2, go!"" "So you get a rhythm." "Go!" "2..." "Yes, don't make it take too long." "Go!" "Go!" "Yes?" "Go, 1, 2, go!" "Go, men!" "Go, 1, 2!" "Don't you like it?" "Yes, but I have to take another bite." "Swallow it." "But can you talk while you eat?" "Try that." "That's much more fun." "And so they rehearse and rehearse and rehearse." "Because many things can go wrong." "With the sound, for instance." "With the sound." "I would have let it roll, but anyway." "Or with the sound." "You thought it was an overview shot, but we follow him." "So the sound has to remain equally loud." "So I'm saying adjust it." "But the sound is away from the camera so we don't see his synchronicity." "Can't we do that?" "No, we've got all these effects." "It's not possible." "Let's do it with a boom once." "Action!" "You, lazy scoundrels!" "Put your shoulders under it." "Guys, coffee!" "And who come for coffee?" "The director and his assistant, the actors, 1 camera man with assistant 2 lighting technicians, 2 sound technicians, 2 script girls... ..2 dressing assistants, 2 make-up artists, the production assistant extras, drivers." "Everybody but the horses." "Get the coffee, Jan." "Perfect," "Don't forget about the mike." "A star who makes a movie, obviously has a stand-in." "In this case a sound engineer is the guinea pig." "Is that my lighter?" "Yes, it's yours." "Yes, this works." "You can lower him." "Hold on." "Yes, come on." "There you are." "It's about those people approaching and seeing that still man in the foreground." "The long body like this looks good." "Ok, we'll do that." "Let's see." "We'll have to use this." "Six men hoist the star's body up." "Even though, in the movie, Floris does it on his own." "Wait a moment..." "Guys, be as quiet as possible, please." "Yes, alright, the soldiers are walking to the side." "And let's include in this shot..." "Attention, quiet please!" "Behind the horse, gentlemen." "Sound's rolling." "Sound!" "Camera's rolling." "2351, first take." "Stretch." "Is he hanging alright?" "A bit lower." "A bit lower." "Stop!" "Like this?" "Yes, that's fine." "Ok, done." "Action!" "And then it goes wrong because a car drives into this medieval scene." "Get that car out!" "Are you crazy?" "How's it going, Hammy?" "But this problem can be solved." "We're about to shoot here." "We're working on it." "Thanks." "Adult stars may be hard to direct but how about the children?" "The ball." "Where is the ball, madam?" "Didn't you have that cloth ball?" "Can I have the ball?" "Can I have the ball, madam?" "Say "Can I have the ball, madam?"" "Say it out loud to me." "Can I have the ball, madam?" "Louder." "Very loud." "Can I have the ball, madam?" "One more time." "Can I have the ball, madam?" "Say to that lady "Can I have the ball, madam?"" "Go like this with your hands." "As if you want to catch a ball." "You come up and you go "Can I have the ball, madam?"" "Like this." "To that lady." "And you look at her too, with your hands stretched out." "Pretend you want to catch a ball." "Hands out." "Hands out, yes." "Stretch out your hands as if you want to catch the ball." "So you walk to the wall, turn to the lady and you say "Can I have the ball, madam?" Do you understand?" "Can you do it?" "Walk over to the wall." "Quickly, yes." "Can I have the ball, madam?" "Stretch out your hands." "Maybe when I say "Action"." "Then I send them in." "I have to check if that's correct." "You may have to wait a second and then send them in." "Nothing for them." "No, for her, Ida." "Sound." "Rolling." "523, second take." "Aren't you ashamed?" "During the time of mourning." "Can I have the ball, madam?" "And this is the result." "Catch." "Yes." "Try to get it." "Get the ball." "Outside, extra light is needed and inside it's an even bigger mess of lamps and cables." "In this mess, rehearsals take place." "Let's try it." "Men, our joculator." "So you say 'Men, our magician!" "'" "And then, when he steps forward then you walk slowly..." "I guess you can't go too slowly." "Like this." "Men, our magician!" "And then you have to..." "Let's try it." "Go ahead." "Try again?" "Ok, attention, please." "Silence." "Yes?" "Ok." "Quiet, come on." "Yes, action!" "Men... our magician." "Yes." "Try again?" "Ok, go ahead." "Attention, everybody ready!" "Silence!" "Action!" "Men... our joculator!" "After all the rehearsals, it's now for real." "Get the sticks!" "After the noisy fight, the peaceful silence of the Franciscan monastery." "Except, this is not a set, it's real." "The hotel in Alverna couldn't accommodate all the guests." "So monks house the film crew." "The working day for a film crew starts at 7 in the morning." "It ends at an uncertain hour, but always late with a simple yet nutritious meal." "Unfortunately, the working day doesn't end there." "To wrap it up, they watch the rushes from the previous day." "If something went wrong, they can still re-shoot it." "Everybody loudly comments." "The actors aren't present during the viewing of the rushes." "That might influence their acting and make them insecure." "That brow is great, as you know." "Besides, I do the make-up myself." "I had three years of lessons, so I can correct you now and then." "And how long did you attend the academy of dramatic art?" "Three years." "Just like the working day ends with watching the rushes it starts with make-up." "One part of the tent turns into a barbershop with make-up and wigs." "Character or beauty can come from a bottle and can't be distinguished from the real thing." "A bit more to the left." "When many extras are involved, the make-up artists have their hands full." "They also help during the takes." "Do you know what boots to wear, Rutger?" "Yes." "The orange ones." "Wait a moment." "Come together, the three of you." "Ok, spotlight this." "Get down a bit." "Ok." "Ok, that's about it." "Measure that." "Nine." "That's nine." "It seems to be chaos on the set." "While the camera man has the acting space spotlighted the director and the script girl make sure the scenes are coherent." "He also gives directions." "Try to come up as much as you can, while remaining seated." "And look that way." "If it makes sense." "I'm ready." "Raise your hand." "Action!" "Yes, I've got it!" "I've got it!" "Get him!" "This jump and splash were performed by the stunt team that does all the dangerous work, such as jumping dragging changing horses with fall and free flight." "With one exception: actor Rutger Hauer did it all himself." "The fencing scenes were rehearsed step by step by Master Van der Valk." "Viola, if you ever need a confessor..." "Viola, if you need a confessor..." "...just give me a call." "That's the idea." "Alright, I'll do that." "If you need a confessor, dot, dot, dot." "During shooting, the weather varied between very hot and icy cold." "At Loevestein Castle, it was very hot." "Don't forget Floris..." "Yes, ok." "Floris!" "Viola, if you ever need a confessor..." "Reverend, I need one three times a day." "The goblet!" "It sank!" "The goblet... the miracle goblet!" "Long live the miracle!" "Long live Rome!" "Don't!" "But it could also be very cold." "Do you remember the burning water?" "This is how they got it to burn." "Take 35 kilos of cold ice." "At 80 degrees below zero." "Chop it into pieces." "Throw those pieces into a ditch and you get a perfect imitation of bubbling marsh gas." "But it's not burning yet." "Well, 110 litters of petrol will help." "A vigilant fireman makes sure the forest doesn't go up in smoke." "Camera." "Running." "Action!" "After the shoot, the flames are quickly extinguished." "This is a point where the bang has to happen in time." "Bang!" "Could be long, could be short." "Let's pay attention to that." "One more time." "The atmosphere of a TV series, the suspense and the humour are strongly determined by the music." "A large orchestra filled many hours of tape." "The composer measures the required length using a stopwatch." "When the recordings are finished, the TV series doesn't exist yet." "From kilometres of material, the best audio and video recordings have to be combined with great care and artistry." "This is weeks of work for a single episode." "Anton Kortekaas and Jan Bosdriesz have given the series its final shape on the editing table." "This was done image by image, under supervision of Paul Verhoeven the director who was responsible for the result, from start to end." "AROUND FLORIS"