Locations

When planning our actual story for the sequence of our opening, we had to greatly consider the locations in which we chose. As mentioned in previous blogs, we had problems that occurred with other initial location ideas which therefore meant that we had to re-think many of our ideas. However, locations we eventually decided would work which we therefore took forward in our final idea were:

- A Graveyard location (in the first part of the sequence)
- A dark blacked-out room (in the second part of the sequence)

We decided to open the scene in a graveyard as we felt that it would immediately create a gloomy, eerie atmosphere which would automatically put the audience on edge and make them feel uncomfortable. By doing research, looking on the Internet and by simply asking people, we found out that there was a local graveyard in Selhurst which is about a 5 minute walk away from the school. This would therefore mean that it would be viable for us to transfer equipment off-site fairly easily, as well as it being more of a convenience for our actors to travel to the filming location. When we finalized the idea of wanting to film in the graveyard we had to contact the local council in order to ask for permission, (details about this stage mentioned in previous blog.)
We wanted to use an enclosed space for a second location as we felt that it would create a contrast to the first half of the sequence due to it being in a grave-yard (an open, outside space with lots of things to look at) compared to a dark, enclosed room which would be simple, yet convey a claustrophobic atmosphere. A suitable location that we felt would meet this criteria was the school's t.v studio located in the main building, close to the media block. Not only did this space have blacked out walls, but it contained adjustable lighting as well as being an easily accessible space for being able to move equipment as well as getting our actors to get to the location. Therefore, once decided, we booked the studio for a suitable filming time.

Becky.