A sci-fi 'eco-fable' series filmed in Bristol is set to hit Netflix tomorrow (April 1). The Last Bus is packed with comedy, heart, adventure and mystery, and was filmed on location across Bristol and the South West.
Netflix's upcoming family-friendly release The Last Bus follows a group of mismatched students who become unlikely heroes during a school trip when a robot invasion zaps away the rest of humanity. Filming for the series kicked off in August 2020, and wrapped up nearly five months later.
The Last Bus, produced by award-winning Bristol company Wildseed Studios, broke green screen boundaries whilst filming at The Bottle Yard Studios, according to producers of the show. The exciting new series stars Robert Sheehan (Misfits, Umbrella Academy), Tom Basden (After Life, Plebs) and an ensemble cast of young actors.
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Over the course of a 19-week shoot, The Last Bus was filmed on location at Bristol's Redcliffe Caves and The Downs with the support of Bristol Film Office. Further afield, filming took place at other South West locations including Cheddar Gorge, Brean Leisure Park and Wookey Hole in Somerset, and the Eden Project in Cornwall.
Wildseed, which also worked on TV series PrankMe and sci-fi film The Darkest Dawn, took a fresh approach to filming for The Last Bus. Behind the scenes at The Bottle Yard Studios, the production team harnessed LED technology to enhance the possibilities offered by the Studios’ 5,000 sq ft green screen, adding in bespoke hydraulic systems on set that broke new ground in what could be achieved in the studio without the need for digital effects.
Ahead of the series dropping on Netflix tomorrow, producer Andy Mosse said: "Filming on location is expensive so we had to find a way of getting the bus scenes filmed in the studio at The Bottle Yard. Traditionally this is done with a green screen, but we developed a way to use LED screens as a full 360-degree wrap around the bus so that we could shoot in any direction with any backdrop, which hadn’t been done before.
"The panoramic 360 images we projected were captured with 12 x 4K cameras built on a bespoke rigged car we called the ‘hotdog’. Combine this with some hydraulic Wallace and Gromit type levers plugged into the suspension of the bus, you’ve got a moving bus interior that bumps and weaves with the road and can be shot in camera with no digital effects needed."
The Last Bus is created and written by Paul Neafcy, who was spotted by Wildseed making mobile films on YouTube from his bedroom. This is the third series Wildseed has worked on with Paul, following the success of Philip Human and PrankMe for a US-based subscription video on demand audience.
Alongside experienced directors Lawrence Gough and Steve Hughes, the series features burgeoning directors Drew Casson and Nour Wazzi. Now 25, Drew worked with Wildseed when he was just 18 to produce Hungerford, and then worked on its sequel, The Darkest Dawn - both of which were picked up by Netflix.
Meanwhile, The Last Bus is the first series for young rising star Nour Wazzi, one of the first Arabs to direct high-end TV in the UK, following her work with Wildseed on proof-of-concept film, The Moderators. The series is produced by first-time premium drama producer Andy Mosse and cast by Isabella Odoffin in her first TV job as sole casting director.
Laura Aviles, Senior Bristol Film Manager (The Bottle Yard Studios & Bristol Film Office) says: “We welcome every production that chooses to film in Bristol but The Last Bus, made by a homegrown company doing consistently fantastic work to develop new young talent, is a title we are particularly proud to have hosted. Wildseed’s approach to making scripted prime-time content, by discovering young creatives through their open access ideas portal, mentoring them through their development and pitching their ideas to premium platforms, is forward-thinking and refreshing. In the studio they showed themselves to be equally innovative in a technical sense.
"The result is a Bristol-made series that looks amazing and will no doubt be thoroughly enjoyed by family audiences the world over."
The Last Bus arrives on Netflix on Friday, April 1.
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