'MORE smoke', shouts someone.

The kitchen is crowded, about 15 people are packed around the table. Camera tracks are laid out, heavy metal tripods with monitors.

Instructions are bouncing off the walls, as an assistant fans the smoke emerging from a generator placed on the kitchen countertop.

In the middle of all this the two main actors of the film are seated around the table with a plate of chicken curry in front of them. By the time the shooting is over, they will have had several portions of it.

“Just turn it off. Just make them disappear,” quips Cameron Brady, one of the two protagonists. “It helps, when everyone is really good at falling completely silent and disappearing into the walls.”

Brady plays James. “He is a school kid that is doing his leaving service and has fallen in love with this man, this other kid named Cillian, who is closeted and doesn't want to be in any way showing anyone that he is affectionate towards men.”

In the drama called 'Collision' the two teenagers have a secret love affair. Then, late at night, they're involved in a car crash, in which the local teacher is gravely injured. The boys decide to flee the scene and have to deal with the consequences afterwards.

A tough but modern topic for the film they were shooting at locations in Mayo last week.

“It's brilliant to film here in Westport,” says Emer Durcan, Produces at Western Front Studio: “This production is a particularly big one. It's a commission from RTÉ. There's 58 crew members, nine cast and 50 extras involved. It's the biggest production we've done ourselves.”

Large parts of the crew are local and have worked their way up together with Emer and her husband Brian, who is cinematographer.

More experienced specialists were brought in for this production, and according to Durcan, it creates a mish-mash of the two levels and it's giving the Western Front Studio crucial training and experience.

“And we're getting to make a high-end drama with a car crash here in Westport,” says Durcan joyfully.

READ NEXT: Wins for Tidy Towns from across Mayo at 2025 national awards

The two main actors Cúán Hosty Blaney, Cameron Brady and Western Front Studios cinematographer Brian Durcan. 

NO BLACK AND WHITE

One of the talents brought in for this production is director Michael Carolan. His drama work centres on creating provocative cinematic stories, blending realism with genre film to reflect personal and modern day societal issues.

“The film was inspired by a report last year, about Mayo road deaths were the highest they've had in twenty years,” explains Carolan, sitting on a couch during a break of filming scenes in a house in Aughagower:

“There's a large proportion of accidents happening in the West of Ireland with a lot of young drivers and especially male drivers. And then there's these two young men taking their first steps of freedom, who aren't fully aware of their sexuality yet. That all sort of collides in the film.”

The story taps into a lot of issues prevalent in our modern society. It's a repeating pattern in Carolan's work.

“I kind of like morally grey characters. They're neither good or bad people and their choices aren't weighed that way. It's like most people in real life, it's more realistic that way.”

A sentiment that's shared by Cúán Hosty Blaney. The actor from Armagh plays James, the other protagonist in 'Collision', alongside Cameron Brady.

“There's no black and white to the two boys. But I would consider my character's journey a really maturing one,” Blaney points out: “The consequences of what Cillian does will be huge and they will stay with him. But by the end of the story, the decisions that he takes and the responsibility he's able to shoulder, are somewhat heroic. Even if they're grounded in the dastardly things he's doing.”

Blaney was just recently seen by everyone who watched the Netflix series 'House of Guinness'. he played Patrick, one of Arthur Guinness' love interests.

He's having a great time, and his character in the film is a hurling ace so Blaney got to refresh his skills for some scenes out at St Patrick's Park in Westport.

“It's been a few years, since I had a hurl in my hands,” Blaney laughs. “It was great filming with a couple of local boys who are hurlers themselves. They were some guys, really talented.”

In general, the support from locals has been phenomenal, as Western Front Studios producer Emer Durcan explains: “People here made life easier, they didn't put barriers up. It would be very difficult to do something of this scale without all the support that we've gotten. Mayo County Council, the permits for the shooting, Westport GAA, the community centre, all the extras that were involved, girls from Sancta Maria College Louisburgh. And there was a party scene here and there were loads of Mayo based extras participating.”

Durcan lays out, Western Front Studios want to grow our team here and we want to do productions here. She hails the team spirit of everyone involved in the process.

Director Michael Carolan discussing next steps with Cúán Hosty Blaney on set.

MENTAL GYMNASTICS

Eithne McGreal is one of the local talent in front of the camera for 'Collision'. “It's great being part of this.

The team are brilliant. They've left nothing to chance. We have the accommodation, the infrastructure and we have the talent here in Mayo. It's a great place for filmmaking.

Eithne has always been interested in the Arts, it's not her main gig, but whenever she gets the chance, she gets involved.

“People probably having the idea of film being this glamorous pursuit when in actual fact, it's hard work. You do what it takes. If it's standing outside in the cold, in the rain, the waiting. But it looks glamorous on screen and everything is pointed towards that.”

It's striking how much time actors spend waiting. While everyone's swirling around the kitchen, camera angles are being changed, lighting adjusted, then the make-up artist corrects a few bits, and then someone spots an empty window sill in the back and they move some props there to create more depth and structure in the shot.

As an outside, one might be forgiven to think 'of course they're going to film it chronologically', but far from it:
“You might do the very last scene right on the first day of shooting. It's a wild world,” says actor Cameron Brady. “It's mental gymnastics but it's a great time. The first day we jumped into a scene that's halfway through the piece. You have to remember everything that's gone into the story before and bring it into your body.”

It's Cameron's first time for work in Mayo: “People here are so lovely. The weather has been pretty good. It's a very beautiful place. Western Front Studio are super efficient but also welcoming, calm, and great craic to work with.”

It's fascinating to observe all these moving parts on set. Everyone knows there role. Camera operator, focus puller, sound engineer, script supervisor, hair and make-up artists and so many more all cater for their specific role in the film shoot.

But once the director calls the famous word 'action', everything has fallen silent, and bar actors speaking and moving, one could hear a pin drop.

And in case someone was wondering, what they needed all that smoke for. It's essential in some situations to create depth in the shot, it helps to sculp light. I'm told, the difference between a shot with and without smoke is striking.

If you want to find out, what it looks like, the production 'Collision' will air on RTÉ this side of Christmas, with plenty of Mayo involved in it.

READ NEXT: Rolling back the years at reunion in Mayo