Initial Location Scouting

 

I did some location scouting of some potential filming locations and was pleased with the places I found.

 

The first place I went to is a wood that it about 1 minute away from my house. I chose to look here because I have been here many times so I already had a few ideas about where in this wood could be good filming locations. Also, it is much closer to my house that other locations that I had considered, which make it more efficient because I don’t need to be driven there, it's closer if it starts to rain (although I will be checking the weather forecast as part of my planning). Also, because we are not allowed out for that long during the day at the moment with the coronavirus, I can get to it quickly, without seeing lots of other people (so that is good for social distancing) and it can form part of my allowed exercise each day. Although at the moment people are allowed to drive to go somewhere to exercise, this could change at any moment, so I decided it is better to choose somewhere that I don’t need to drive to.

 

I found 3 locations that I am pleased with. They are all good locations for showing off camera movement options, and for me speaking to camera.

 

The first was a location in the woods but on the edge of the woods, there is a clearing of about 10 feet with a bench, with a back and sides, looking out over a really nice view. I'm thinking I could film one of my parents sitting on the bench, and film firstly with no movement, secondly using a Slider Track or Steadicam and then thirdly using a handheld camera, to show the difference between camera movements. Starting with no movement is to enable the audience to have a base line to compare the other shots to. I want to include hand-held because it is a form of camera movement that can often end up a bit shaky and thus be more noticeable. It also doesn't use extra equipment. Using a Slider Track shows using some of the equipment that I will have been talking about. A back-up idea, if I can’t get a Slider Track, is to experiment using a tripod as a monopod by putting all its legs together. This isn't a piece of equipment specifically designed for movement, but it can be improvised into one when necessary.

 

A monopod gives a different type of movement to panning or tracking because the length of the tripod is fixed while you are filming it as it would be too tricky to try to smoothly change the height of all 3 legs at the same time as you are using it as a monopod. But having the length stay the same will give a different type of movement which I can experiment with.

 

The second location is on a winding path with trees either side of it. I have a good view of the path as it winds between the trees so I can track a person walking or running. For this location I'm thinking of contrasting a stationary shot just using a camera on a tripod with a tracking mid-shot following a person through the trees with trees being behind them and also between them and the camera.

 

The third location is a large clearing in the woods with a bench with no back or sides in the middle of it. There is quite a lot of space all the way round this bench. I haven’t yet made my final decision as to what to film there since I am still writing my script, but I'm glad I found it as it will help me to develop my ideas and script further.

 

This part of the script will need to be edited depending on the outcome of these particular scenes because I want to show the clips in the order that I think works best when I have watched them back. This is because I want to show the audience "here is what didn’t work", then "here is what worked OK" and finish on "here is what worked really well", finish each sequence with a positive "bang". So, I will start with an intended order but will keep make my final decision as to the order for some parts when I see my footage. Many parts of my plan regarding the order have a pre-determined order that I need to do, e.g. it's no good going through my example shots that I have filmed before I explain the different types and effects of camera movement. But for other parts I need to keep an open mind and make my final decisions in editing to see which order works best.

 

A good thing about being in a wood is that although when the sun is shining it is bright, I don’t need to worry so much about the direction of the sun as the trees will shade it from shining directly at the camera.

These are roughly the locations that I have had in mind since I came up with this idea, and my location scouting has confirmed to me their potential for getting the type of shots that I am after.

 

However, while I was Location Scouting, I did spot a potential problem with these locations. I first thought of these locations in the woods right by my house just after we had gone into lockdown. At that point, these woods were usually pretty much deserted. There was the occasional person walking their dog but not many. It was that lack of people that was part of why I thought it would make a good location. At the start of lockdown, I learnt that we are only supposed to be exercising for about an hour a day. I thought that would be OK because we (me and my mum and dad as crew) could go straight to one of these locations, do some filming for less than an hour with almost no interruptions then leave. But because there are many more people walking around there now, probably to get their hour of exercise, then there will be a lot more interruptions. So I need to think of a backup location

 

Because of this, another area that I did location scouting was in my garden. This is as a backdrop for when I am speaking to camera and being on camera, as opposed to doing a voice over.

 

Updated Location Scouting

 

There have been many Location issues over several weeks which I have detailed and discussed in my blogs. At several points I didn’t think I would be able to film in the woods at all, and may have even had to film part inside, which was far from ideal from a creative perspective.

 

However, eventually, most things worked out, and I have found a shady glade  in the original woods that are a couple of minutes' walk away from me, that will be perfect. It is about 40 metres in diameter, with no paths closer that about 20 metres from the centre, which helps with the Risk Assessment. The amount of shade is great for the lighting plan, and because you have to walk through some brambles and nettles to get there (need good walking boots) people are very unlikely to wander over. There are lots of good angle and trees to film by. It is actually a lot better and more varied than the original locations that I describe above.

 

 

I am pleased with my final location. Instead of the several different locations that I had originally been investigating, I have found one location that actually gives me a large variety of different shot possibilities, more than my original plans gave me.

 

I have 2 main groups of shots to film there.

 

1. The "filming me filming" shots

This is where I use Camera 1 to film a sequence of 4 shots of my Mum standing still, repeating this with 3 different types of camera movement. While I film this, I am being filmed by a stationary Camera 2. I have identified several possible places for my Mum to stand. I will make my final decision on the day since it depends on the amount of sunlight/cloud, and how that is affected by the time of day that my Dad is available to crew for me. But I have plenty of options.

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2. Filming me speaking to camera.

This is a series of 8 shots in different locations, of me speaking to camera. Originally they were all going to be shot in the same location with the same background, but finding this glade allows for each shot to appear in a slightly different location, by turning the camera in a different direction, or standing by different trees etc, whilst still all being linked. I have spent time experimenting here, so I know I have plenty of options to allow me to make the best use of the light on the day (see Lighting Preproduction plan).

 

Here are some photos of the location.