Location Recce!!

Our next workshop was all about scoping out our filming locations for hazards and challenges we might come across during filming! When you find a spot to start filming, you can't just film straight away!! There are many things that you have to assess before you start shooting such as:

- What hazards are there? ( Trips, falls, equipment damage, fire )

- Noise pollution? ( Road nearby, Park, Place where there are people )

- Things in the background? ( People walking by, reflections, people in windows )

It's very important that before the camera crew even gets there, the place is fully assessed and made safe for everybody to prevent injury.

We started by looking at a picture of Kenilworth Castle and we had to assess every detail to fully ensure it would be a safe and suitable area to film.

As you can see, there is a main road right next to the castle! This would cause lots of noise pollution as the cars are constantly going by. You can also see that the castle is in ruins so some of the parts may not be safe for an actor or camera operator to enter.

On the right side of the photo you can see a gift shop/cafe which would be

a perfect spot so that the crew can use facilities and have food and drink.

We had now learned the basics of completing a location recce and we were tasked to put these skills into action! We were told to go out and take 3 photos of the campus (inside and out) to recce for a zombie apocalypse movie, so it was best to take them in run down old places!

After taking a few pictures around campus, we came back into the class to recce them, here's my recces!!

As you can see, I just went around with my phone taking pictures of areas that look like they would be in a zombie movie! We came back and I fully assessed the surroundings and what could go wrong if you were to film there. Having these places assessed and written down prevents people being injured and also

prevents people trying to sue you! I enjoyed this workshop as it showed me how you cant just turn up and film straight away!! This is important if I want to pursue the goal of becoming a director as I will need to acknowledge all of these things before we get on set. I found this workshop a bit difficult as it was hard to find lots of potential risks and problems. Compared to other workshops, this one was fun as we were able to get out and put our new learned skills into practice.