Location Scouting
Although I already knew pretty much where I wanted to film, I went to check the locations out again, and it is a good job that I did, because there is a problem. I go into more details about where the locations are and why I want to film in those locations in my Location Scouting section, and also about why there is now a problem. It is essentially that when I first thought of these locations in the wood that is less than 1 minutes away from my house walking, there was no one in the wood most of the time. But this has changed and there are frequently a lot of people now, I suspect they are getting their hour a day exercise, which is fair enough. It doesn't really matter why they are there, the problem is that they are there.
I need to go back there at a few different times of day to see if it appears quieter at any particular time of day. If it doesn’t get any quieter, it could make it tricky to film there, especially since I should really only film there for about an hour a day too.
Because what I am filming is not like scenes from a fiction film, it is me speaking to camera and me being filmed trying some different camera movement shots, it may still be possible for me to film there, since I am hoping that filming will be a lot quicker than when I have filmed fiction films like my interactive neo-noir film which took 2 full days of filming. But I decided that I need to consider other locations other than the original parts of the wood that I found. When I discussed with my Dad the properties that I like about the areas that I was originally planning on filming at, he suggested an area of wood a bit further away that he passes when he goes on his exercise walks where he doesn't see anybody, so I will go with him to take a look and see if it would be suitable, and to take some photos.
If I do work out a way to still film there then I must remember to include in my Risk Assessment about the possibility of other people walking near, especially if social distancing is still happening. I will also have to plan my filming so that I can do it in one-hour chunks, to not be away from the house longer than we are supposed to be.
Because when I first thought of this the woods were deserted it had seemed a good place to film. Even if I find a way to film in the woods, I will need to reassess whether it is still a good idea or not when I do my Risk Assessment. In the meantime, I will investigate using my garden as a back-up location.
Test Filming
Because of the problems that I came across when I did my Location Scouting, I thought about it and decided that it was not a good idea to do any test filming in the wood until I had investigated the situation further, and until my Dad has shown the other location further in the wood and I have taken a look and assessed if it would work. This is because when I assessed the situation, I realised that if there are going to be more people around, even for test filming, then it is a more complex situation, and there are big safety issues.
Doing Risk Assessments for filming throughout the year, I have learnt the importance of safety when filming. I have come to appreciate that safety is very important. There are lots of safety problems that can occur without proper planning and thinking ahead. I know that I have found that once I start filming that I am engrossed in the filming process, and had I not done a Risk Assessment ahead of time, and put procedures in place to minimise the risks, then it would be very easy for a serious accident to happen. It is the same as I found after doing my Daily Schedule, that is that time spent wisely ahead of time can save time, and in this case, can avoid safety issues later.
I still hope that I will be able to film where I would like to. But in real-life filming location issues occur too, so if I do have to change location then it will be good practise. I know that I need to put safety ahead of nice shots, especially given the current situation with coronavirus.
I will do test filming when I have made more decisions about the location or locations.
Overall Reflection and Evaluation
I will be sad if I come to the conclusion that it is not safe to film in the locations that I would prefer and had partly planned my filming around in my mind. But I am not worried, at the moment, about time, because I had deliberately built a lot of contingency time for filming into my schedule. Part of the reason for that was that because I knew I was filming outside I had concerns about the weather. It could easily rain for a whole week, so I built in a lot of extra filming time, and also extra re-shoot days. This will be useful if I have to change to a different location.
I will go with my Dad when he is available so that he can show me the area the he is suggesting, and I will investigate it as a potential alternative location.
I will also start thinking more seriously about whether and how I could get the shots that I am after in my garden, and what adjustments I may need to make to my ideas and my script. It will be more complicated but again, it happens in real life, so it is a useful learning experience, even though it is annoying.
My Key Learning: I learnt that building contingency into my schedule was a really sensible thing to do.
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