Production Diary - Resource Bank

I have been conducting a ‘resource bank’ for usage in my short film. This is a list of locations, actors, props and techniques I could use to make a high-quality, professional short film. Ideally I wouldn’t need to work backwards from these utilities to develop a story – rather meet halfway with a story that’s decent with a set or location that looks brilliant.
These are some of the Locations I have gathered.

South Quay.

This is an area near Canary Warf. As a location it is visually exciting, looks futuristic and is likely to be very easy to film at on a Sunday when no one is working. At night the lights transform the area into a brightly lit, colourful metropolis. I would consider using this location to tell a smaller, futuristic science fiction story, probably using the ‘ten minutes into the future’ trope to tell an exciting story – possibly exploring what happens to the people that don’t get to work in the big, bright buildings. Being on the other side of London it might be tricky to co-ordinate transporting equipment and actors as often as necessary so that would need to be considered.

Ruislip Lido.

A lot less glamorous than South Quay but that would be the point. Ruislip Lido is a hole of rancid water by an artificial beach with a park that needs just a bit more paint. This idea of urban decay would work with a story about outsiders and outcasts – perhaps a story about two people meeting and their lives changing. This location looks best at night: the lights from the pub across the ‘lake’ offer some beautiful visuals which is important for a film. I wouldn’t be the first person to shoot there either – Cliff Richard made his music video there too!

Woods.

We are lucky to have woods nearby. Not only due to the fact we’re near London where trees are rapidly becoming an endangered species, but they also look really cool to film in. While there is the idea that every student film ever is shot in the woods, it is for good reason as the woods offer an exotic environment with vivid colours and imagery. If I was shooting in the woods I’d want it to be with a story that could only be told in the woods – for example, a fantasy. While typically the budgets for fantasy films are very expensive, the children’s show ‘The Legend of Dick and Dom’ manages to be consistently low budget due to clever story telling techniques in regards to the locations and characters. If I was doing a fantasy in the woods, costumes and props to begin to ‘world build’ would be very important to sustain the suspension of disbelief. The proximity of the location lends itself to camera rehearsals without the actors or full equipment, just preparation of the camera to see how the location looks on frame.

Others.

I have a caravan in Wales which I will be going to in the summer so while it wouldn’t be practical to bring my whole cast and crew up here, there would be an opportunity for acquiring some B-roll footage to enhance something that may have been shot in the woods. For example: mountains, rivers and buildings. This part of Wales looks like its a couple hundred years behind everyone else, anyway.

There is also a canal nearby that offers some interesting and exciting visuals. At one point in the stretch between Rickmansworth and Harefield there is what looks like the framework of a building that has burnt down with a stuffed Gorilla hanging from it by a noose. I’d love to buy a canal boat and tell the story of someone who lives in a canal boat but sadly that is a bit over-budget for this project.