In my mind I considered shooting at the following locations:
-[EXT.]a backgarden
-[EXT.]a park
-[ETX.]mote park
-[ETX.]markets
-[INT.] kitchen
-[INT.] empty room
-[INT.] bedroom
-[EXT.] memorial
But I visited some of the locations and did seem to find problems with a lot of them. Here are the problems I faced and then the solutions I came up with.
Firstly,
When looking online at mote park (never been before) I thought it looked absolutely beautiful, there was a long tight path with trees from both sides creating a path for my actress to walk down, it looked really nice and I thought if I go down and visit it, I can take a better look.
When visiting the park I found that the spot I wanted was really hard to find, it took another 15-30 minutes to walk round the park to actually find a good place to film, which wasted more time and I was worried I would forget where about it was on the day of filming and waste more precious filming time. Also as it's winter, the location doesn't look as pretty and nice as the photos. The leaves have all fallen off the tree's which makes the location look more horror based than a dramatic summer piece. I also realised that it was a 40 minute walk from the first location and if I wasn't 100% sure on the location - it would be a huge waste of time and money (as I wouldn't want my actress to walk there as i'm shooting it the same day at the scene in my garden). I decided the location wasn't for me and crossed this off my list.
For the memorial scene, there is a memorial plaque near my house near Maidstone West station. As it was recently remembrance day - the memorial looks beautiful filled with hundreds of stunning red poppies all around it and notes from people. When first walking past it, I really liked how it looked. However, when going back to the location I thought it wouldn't fit with my story, the reason was is I want a photograph of Jack in a photo frame and another of Jack and his best friend, along with a box with her locket in it and the poem, but why would Nancy bring all these things to a memorial, to take them out just to put them back? I thought it would make more sense to have her lighting candles in her room creating a very dramatical piece in a dark room with just a spot light on Nancy. This was my original idea and I really do feel it will create a stronger story than an old lady being sat at a memorial with lots of objects. Another reason I didn't choose this location is because I want her to walk away from the memorial and I worked out that Nancy is 20 in the 1920s and the older Nancy is 80 which means that the older Nancy will be set in the 80s. I feel that the background wouldn't fit an 80's theme and it also has too many modern things in it. Therefore i've completely crossed this off my location list.
I wanted to film at some old fashioned markets as I feel this would add another dimension to the theme in the 20's. However, when scouting markets I could only find some that where on a Saturday and Tuesday. When filming i'm being very specific as I do want the sunshine (although with a filter it might not be too obvious it's not sunny) and I found that these days where raining - continuity would become broken from sunny filming dates. I also found that when I visited the markets it would be hard to make them look old fashioned as they are busy and if costumes are not old fashioned it would be very obvious and ruin the whole style of the film - which I desperately don't want.
Although the 3 locations above are proving to be difficult to find a place to film, I had lots of back up ideas so I aren't stuck.
An idea that wasn't a back up idea but was pure luck was a small field with benches and large tree's when walking back from mote park. I saw it and decided to explore it more. I really liked the look of it as it was small, had a nice grass part to film on and had lots of trees and areas which I could use to walk out of shot. I really like the park and I am definitely choosing this for one of the scenes when Nancy leaves the garden party.
I also needed a garden in my film and immediately wanted to use mine. This is because our garden is quite big and long with lots of grass available and a huge back door which I want. It's also free to use whenever I want. I've decided I'm going to film the garden party in my back garden.
For the beginning of the film and towards the end, I want Nancy to appear in the kitchen as she is setting out the garden party and also when she comes back from her walk and finds a letter left from the army about her husband dying. I've decided to use the kitchen at my house for a few different reasons. The first is what it looks like. Luckily when we moved in the kitchen is the lower floor which means it looks quite old fashioned as it's sort of like a base ment and the walls are old styled. We also have a huge brown table which I thought is perfect as I need an old fashioned style table. I knew that when I added an old style effect to my film it would make it look even better. Another reason I choose the kitchen is because it's big and has lots of space. If our kitchen was small I definitely wouldn't have used it no matter what, this is because I need space in the kitchen for my character to move around and if it's too small it will look strange and off putting to the audience. The final reason but least important is the convenience. I can use it when I want and I know when people are most likely to need to use it for cooking (which is hardly ever in the morning...!) so I knew I would have availability to it!
As I mentioned above, I want the memorial (remembrance) scene instead to be in a dark room with just a table and spot light shining on the old Nancy. Once again I luckily have a spare room in our house which is absolutely perfect for what I want. The room has a window which doesn't let too much light in as it's the ground floor. I tried placing a desk in front of the window, shutting the curtain and turning the light off (during daylight). Even without the lighting kit the room looked really nice and dramatic. However, I definitely do need to book out the lighting kit as I need light in the room to make it look warm and show how my character Nancy is isolated and alone - I also think it will add drama to my film.
Overall, I'm happy with the locations I've chosen and I'm glad I went out and looked for them as if I only looked online at mote park and turned up on the day I would of wasted at least 2 hours (travelling there and back then walking around looking for somewhere to film) and also if I just appeared on the day I might not have been completely happy with what I found. Another reason I'm glad I scouted locations is because if I hadn't have gone to mote park I wouldn't of found the other small field/garden that I want to film on for definite.
No comments:
Post a Comment