Location Scouting

My group and I took a preliminary trip to Soar Lane in Leicester town centre in order to get a feel for this location to see if it is valid and collate some footage. Here is what we got;

Location Video

Morgan added the 'Be Yourself' instrumental (covered in more detail within the 'Music/Sound' post) in order to see how the images would fit, and how certain edits would work. I really like the way the sound re-surges at points, and I think it would be great as a credits song from the overall mood of finality and nostalgia that it permeates.

Soar Lane Location

The urban/industrial quality of it is defiantly ideal. There is a bench by the bridge, just outside of the park and it has got a great setting for the kind of interaction between characters that we wanted to show. Overall, it's got a huge amount of potential.

Below is the location of soar lane within Leicester:

Above is where we primarily took footage of our location video within Soar Lane itself

Soar Lane is a great shooting location. However, accessibility is something that is left to be desired. There is no parking, which is particularly an issue for me as the one driving and with all of our equipment such as the cameras and sound equipment. Furthermore, as Leicester is a densely populated city area, it is difficult to obtain a time when there is nobody around. The main road seems to be a popular shortcut between East Leicester and the nearby Highcross shopping centre. Also, bikers and joggers frequently move over the bridges, so we need to be aware of that when shooting in those locations. As mentioned before though, is still has got a lot of potential. 

Countesthorpe-Leysland Community College Location

Nevertheless, location-wise, there are a few areas around our college that I think would be really fitting for the cerebral, 'mind' aspect of the short.

The major benefit of shooting at college is ease of access, resources available, and ease of congregation. James, for instance, will most likely already be working at the college, and, to get the shots we need, stay behind for only a few hours after school. During which time, we will be able to ensure that nobody comes into frame that we do not want there.

Though not completely unlimited, the ease of this means that we have the liberty and time to experiment somewhat with certain shots and go back to some other ones that we want to adjust. With Soar Lane, this will be far more difficult and convoluted.

Here are a few locations around the school itself I wanted to include:

There are a few places around college that you wouldn't affiliate with a college, and some areas that we could shoot in to reflect our main characters sense of isolation and alienation. I think placing him in a college is also very relevant to the story, as it reflects the source of much of his misery and apathy. But his age is why using a college to shoot at is so ideal. 

The ease of access and availability of these areas are what make it so appealing to shoot at, however we are still slightly restricted as to the timing of the filming. 

Final Location

Another location we plan to film in is a group member's bedroom. Most of the early shots take place in a bedroom and I wanted something with a window, bed and desk that felt as claustrophobic as it did generic. We're portraying a house without too much wealth, so I wanted to find somewhere small too.

The small amount of space that we have got to work with here will not only feel rather claustrophobic but when there are multiple people in here with our filming equipment, our actor will likely be able to perform well, feeling as if it is very small. This room has got potential, perhaps with some prop adjustment, we will be able to really grasp the atmosphere we are going for.