R&P Post 15: Our planned filming location/set design/props

Our Set List

For filming our opening sequence, we immediately pinned down Bowyer's Water lake as a good shooting location. It was located near Georgina in our group and offered really aesthetically pleasing scenery for our shooting and when coupled with good weather, was an excellent place to shoot as it offered our opening sequence something to make it stand out, being good aesthetics. As we developed our opening sequence, it became apparent we would need to use a house to film some simple interior shots to start the sequence off. My house was chosen due to it being large enough to film in (albeit sometimes not comfortably) and it also offered lots of natural light through sky lights and windows, which would result in better looking shots in our final piece. We often chose to shoot in the mornings at Bowyer's Water lake as the sunrise and early morning sun suited our shots better and the mid afternoon bright sun was far better suited to shooting indoors at my house. We created a prop and set list to help us manage which sets and props we needed, as well as when we needed them.

With props and set design we really wanted to reinforce Craig's character, as well as our film's aesthetic. One key prop used to reinforce Craig's character is the notebook. We wanted to make it clear that Craig is an introvert and contemplative character who allowed himself to explore this through his notebook, therefore his notebook was used as a running motif in order to try to portray this. We also paid close attention to Craig's bedroom when thinking about props. We acquired two classic film posters from Casablanca as well as North by Northwest to try to show a little about his character as well as countless pieces of music equipment such as a drum kit, guitars and amps, as well as the vinyl player. Vinyl was chosen specifically as it suited the aesthetic and indie nature of our film and character. We also thought it might offer interesting cinematographic possibilities aswell.

Images of Bowyers Water

If we were to do the project again, I would have chosen two locations far closer together and locations closer to our own homes. Bowyers Water was located about an hour and a half away from everyone but Georgina's home by public transport and it took us around 45mins to travel by car between Bowyer's Water and my house in the middle of the shoot days by car. This meant that the logistics of travelling proved to be a serious issue that had to be solved by the group and even with the help of parents offering lifts, it still proved to negatively impact our shoots. This was evident as always during the ends of our shoots at my house, it was clear everyone was very tired and everything ended up taking longer that it should. That said the group managed to push through it and it resulted in lots of very aesthetically pleasing footage which the group was very proud of. Overall though, I am happy we chose the shooting locations we did.