Advantages
- Characteristic architecture gives great personality to mise en scene and its grandour is the right juxtaposition against the bleak abandoned surroundings of early dawn. This adds a surrealism that is marries with the tone i hope to create for the video, to fit the music video into the conventions of its genre it needs an element of lyricism.
- Can be presented to a certain extent as an urban environment yet is quiet enough to be deserted early in the day, making filming an easier task to manage.
- Natural Lighting should be good as it is opposite an estuary, open space and light reflecting of water should allow for good filming conditions.
- Easy Access by Car- car parking spaces less than 50metres away and shouldn't take longer than 20 minutes to get there by car.
- Is not directly situated within an inner city environment and therefore doesn't fit with my theme of people returning back to nature from built up surroundings.
- Isn't easily accessable by public transport and considering I am unable to drive this presents a problem.
Location 2 Texaco Petrol Station-Outskirts of Ringwood Location for Opening shots)
Advantages
- Close to where we live so easy to get to.
- Isolated positioning allows it to really stand out and make it easy to achieve derelict look.
- Dual carriage way frames station in the ugliness of man's imprint on earth.
- Trees present as in pavilion location, leads to a link between scenes and link with song title of "bitter branches".
- Petrol station has shop and is 24hr which means early morning filming is always possible.
- Might not be believable as on the outskirts of a city environment.
- Potentially difficult to get permission to film in food court of Texaco.
- Dual Carriageway is a safety hazard when trying to film long shots.
For filming later band shots or the girl and boy following ribbon. I like the expansive nature of the location and with the dual carriage way running underneath it sets it firmly in an urban setting.
Advantages
- Location wise its perfect in that its very close to both the school and my house meaning traveling to location would be extremely easy.
- Good opportunities for wide shots with height giving a wide, expansive background to shots.
- pavement on both sides gives opportunities for long tracking shots.
- Situated over the dual carriageway and near housing means urban setting is easily established.
Disadvantages
- It is a busy road which would make filming wide/tracking shots without interruption from passing cars a difficult task.
- Narrow pavement is potentially problematic when trying to fit the whole band in a row on it.
- Extravagant shots like the steadicam sweep from a mid shot of band into the ribbon could be challenging in such cramped conditions and with danger of traffic.
Location 4 Poulner foot Bridge
This would be crossed by either the boy or the girl following the ribbon.
This footbridge goes over the same dual carriageway as the previous bridge and I like idea of placing both the journeys of the band and the boy/girl following ribbon within the same setting. I think this would invoke a stronger sense of not only connection between the two but also perhaps a feeling of the band remembering.
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| Bridge in upper centre of photo |
Advantages
- Again this location is close to both my home and the school.
- There is a clear duality between this and the other Poulner bridge
- From a filmmaking perspective, I know the location well having filmed there for my AS film opening.
- Curve of bridge is quite prominent and striking and could make an effective wide shot.
Disadvantages
- Possibly not quite an urban enough setting. The housing estate on both sides suggests more small town than metropolitan city.
Location 5 Tree top trail, Moors Valley.
I want to use this location for the final meeting between the two main characters having finally escaped into nature.
Advantages
- The wooden structure is really striking and somewhat ethereal and I believe this will really help to emphasise the dream like quality and surrealism about this whole narrative.
- Gives plenty of opportunity for low angle shots and striking extreme wide shots.
- I like that it gives a clear path for each character to come from creating a clear meeting point with them coming from opposite sides.
- Forest setting is perfect to capture the escape into nature.
Disadvantages
- As its right in the middle of Moors Valley country park it isn't accessible by car and therefore hard to get to (I estimate about a 40 minute cycle from Ringwood School).
- The walkway is very narrow and only wide enough for one person and this could be a problem in getting certain shots like side on medium shots.
- The trail itself is very open meaning keeping the ribbon trail visible in frame might be difficult for some wide shots.
Location 6- Allum Chime
A potential shot location for the final stage of the bands journey when they reach the sea.
Advantages
- There is a clear path that leads right down to the beach meaning continuity can be kept, in terms of location, right from the pathway to reaching the waters edge.
- Easy to get to by car and parking isn't a problem as there is a small car park only 100 yards from path.
Disadvantages
- Path isn't wooded and too public to fully suggest an escape into nature similar to the other characters.
- A long drive away, might be difficult to create a shooting schedule that isn't going to seem like too much of a commitment to potential actors.
Location 7- Just off Maxwell road-Esplanade, Poole BH13 7, UK Drive time approximately 26mins.
Advantages
- A clear tree covered path that leads down to the beach, looks promising for a mid afternoon shoot near the golden hour with light spilling between the leaves on the trees.
- Path is tarmac covered meaning long sweeping shots using tripod on wheels or even track and dolly would be easier to achieve due to smooth surface.
Disadvantages
- Like Allum Chime it isn't nearby and therefore is potentially a time consuming shoot.
Location 8-Cooper dean roundabout, Bournemouth
I want to film both characters, particularly the girl, within a definite city/urban environment in the first half of the video. Both characters start their journeys early in the morning and although I wasn't looking for a zombie apocalypse desolation the striking imagery presented by the stillness and emptiness of an urban landscape and its vast, industrial architecture in films such Danny Boyle's opening to 28 days later. Living in a small town in the new forest makes finding such locations something of a challenge. However after scouting out areas of nearby Bournemouth I found somewhere that might be sufficient in helping to achieve the mise en scene i'm after.
Advantages
- With the dual carriageway running over it and another large road running underneath, it allows that lonely early morning atmosphere to be established easily with empty roads giving clear connotations of desolation. This could be particularly effective as I like the idea of my characters starting before the rush of human activity crowds the new day. It enhances the dream like state that following this ribbon induces.
- The bridge is great lump of solid concrete and it is this cold surrounding that I really want to play up and act as a contrast to the forest settings.
- The bridge also works well for my planned establishing shot of the girl where the camera tracks the ribbon across a wall (in this case it would be the side of the bridge) and then reveals the alleyway (pedestrian underpass) where the girl is framed in medium wide shot.
Disadvantages
- Is a very busy roundabout during the day and so would have to commit to filming at an early hour.
- Open space means plotting the path of the ribbon and keeping it in frame while wanting shoot some extreme wide shots would be a fiddly business.
- Bournemouth just isn't quite as urban as somewhere like Southampton where they have the massive tower blocks.
Location 9 Castlepoint, Bournemouth
Another man made surrounding nearby that could be combined into one filming session is this large shopping centre.
Advantages
- Is a very modern and expansive site of match human activity where the desertion is therefore more amplified. It is another cold, emotionless setting.
- Architecturally it is pretty prominent and would look good on film in wide shots particularly.
- As a shopping centre, it's a private property and therefore any attempts to film outside of the opening hours would be seen as trespassing and seeing as I only want to film there when nobody is around this is a problem.
- Is it too indirect a route for the ribbon to follow? Going through Castlepoint is a slightly bizarre idea..
Summary
Finding good shot locations is never easy but still a vital part of pre-production planning. The challenge will be in finding enough varieties of locations to film at that will create a sense of journey that is taking a whole day. While also trying to hold onto some continuity within this so that it doesn't seem like the characters are jumping all over the place and the sense of trail is lost amongst the audiences confusion at having to follow multiple journeys that are cross cutting each other.
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