Location Scouting - Performance

A huge part of the video would revolve around the locations, and it's part of the reason the damn project took quite a while. We would rather wait it out for a brilliant location as opposed to settling for half, which explains our decision not to use the first location we scouted, among other reasons.

Location 1: School Hall Stage, Wilmington Grammar School

We considered using this for convenience of location, as it was right on our collective doorstep. It also had a slightly dramatic look to it, being a drama stage, with curtains and lighting and shiny wooden flooring. Some problems immediately identified included availability of the location - obviously drama lessons and assemblies would be taking place in there, as well as other functions, so we would have to work around this in our shooting schedule. Also, it would be difficult to manoeuvre the various equipment and props stored at the rear of the stage out of shot, and it could possibly ruin good shots by getting in the way in the background of shots. But otherwise, it looked just about good enough for us, until we found...

Location 2: Trailer Storage Warehouse, Longfield Hill.

When myself and Mike managed to make it here to check out this location, we knew we had hit gold with it. My parents' signmaking company put us in touch with a guy who owns fast food trailers, which are usually put to use at various music festivals and outdoor events. His warehouse, located in Longfield Hill, has the perfect look for our video, and by chance he was heading away for a week, and gave me the spare key to the warehouse so I could access it for the week. With the main lorry he used moved out, we had a brilliant space to work in, despite the fact there were a number of other trailers and equipment around the walls. There was also, helpfully, a storage container in one corner of the unit, with a padlock on it, which we could (and eventually did) use to store equipment if anybody needed to. We also found some handy flat panels of wood to spread across the floor, to give, as I said at the time, an 'Abbey Road' type feel to the performance shoot, in combination with the equipment when set up. Details of the equipment list will be posted up in a future post.

The obvious limitations revolved around the trailers and equipment in the background, but unlike in the school hall, the equipment had a similar rugged feel (except for the brightly-coloured trailers, obviously) and therefore blended more into the background. We would have to work around the trailers, and ensure that they either were not in shot altogether or were only fleetingly in shot for a very very small period of time. The only other problem revolved around it's location - not only did our performance noise disturb the one local who actually lived nearby, but it was rather off the beaten path - more than a mile or so from the nearest train station or bus stop. It was also rather cold, being a relatively unheated warehouse, but otherwise, we loved it, simply because it had the perfect look - a great look of dilapidated, industrial, concrete grittiness (there really is no other word to describe it). It also had great light, both naturally or with the lights inside the warehouse.

Details of the equipment, clothing etc we took up there to come in a future post.