Filming completed: success is a struggle

Having spent probably more time than we would have liked filming our two minute opening sequence, as of Tuesday 29th March we have finally compiled all of our desired clips comfortably before the end of filming deadline. However this did not come without any setbacks, as we soon realised filming would be a lot more difficult than first thought.

One of the most difficult decisions for our group when we were deciding on filming locations for our opening sequence was where to shoot our first scene. The difficulty was that we needed a house to shoot in that was fairly plain and simple to fit in with our character's persona. Our initial idea was to film at our director's (Yemi Moses) house as it's a short bus ride from Loreto College, so very accessible, and we would not have to depend on anyone else outside of our media group. However, after some deliberation and research we decided on another location, a small modern flat on Ormsgill Street in Hulme. This location was perfect as it reflected our character's persona perfectly with it's basic design and plain, simple features. After we had finished shooting the scene we thought we had obtained our desired footage. However, poor natural lighting in this house ruined some of our key shots and we soon realised that this house was not suitable after all. So, after some discussion we returned to our original idea to set the first scene at Yemi's house. This turned out to be very successful and we are currently in the process of editing the shots taken at this location.

During the filming process we had a number of minor problems. For example we narrowly avoided a continuity problem when our lead actor Jordan pointed out that we'd already filmed the closing scene of him getting on a train with a small rucksack and were now about to film the opening scene of him packing a much larger rucksack.

Filming locations: Post production

Our opening sequence is about a lost character in search of rejuvenation, deciding that the time has come to move on. For this we needed to find locations around Manchester that would fit into this idea. One of the main group decisions was that we wanted the scene to finish with our character walking down a train track away from the camera which would reinforce the idea of solitude. Our first plan was to visit the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester town centre as we knew that they had a disused train track (pictured left) on their premises. Unfortunately, due to health and safety we were not allowed on the track on our first visit and after calling them days later, we then discovered that our finances would not allow us to cover their extortionate hourly rate of £250. After this set back we then stumbled upon Deansgate railway station (pictured right) and thought of an alternate idea; our character getting on a train rather than walking down the track. Our experience was a much happier one at Deansgate station as we were allowed to film with no trouble and at no expense.



We began filming our first sequence at a friends house in Hulme, Manchester. We found that the mise en scene in this location suited our idea as it is modern, plain, white and quite empty supporting the theme of 'moving on'. This location was easily accessible allowing us to have the maximum amount of time to film our project. However, when we reviewed the footage we had obtained here we realised the natural lighting in this house had ruined some of our key shots. And after much deliberation, we decided to move the location of the first scene to our director's (Yemi Moses') house (pictured above left). We completed filming here on Tuesday 29th March after a very successful shooting session.


For our third and final location we needed to find an area that suited the idea for our character's flashback. For this, an area of grassland where dog walking would be permitted was our target location. We found an area that fitted these conditions which was close to college and the actor's house in Hulme. The final setting for the flashback was a disused field (pictured right) between Ormsgill street and Otterburn Close. This site was ideal as it was large enough and fairly deserted which allowed us complete freedom for filming. We also needed to make sure that we were far enough away from any busy roads as one member of our cast was only four years old. Despite early problems concerning working with a young actor and an animal, after a decent period of filming we acquired our desired shots.

Research for possible locations in Manchester

We thought that this was an interesting shot because we were considering different landscapes in our film and thought that this setting would be appropriate as it includes buildings, land and water.

Our original idea for the film would suit this area as it would use the old style buildings in this setting.

Again, in this image we thought the style between building and water would suit our film well.

Again, in this image we thought the style between building and water would suit our film well.

In this tunnel we knew that most of our film is based around a mysterious setting and thought that this setting would be appropriate.

Again, in this image we thought the style between building and water would suit our film well.

Again, in this image we thought the style between building and water would suit our film well.

Again, in this image we thought the style between building and water would suit our film well.

Again, in this image we thought the style between building and water would suit our film well.

We thought that this building would reflect the new image of the city our film is based in, and thought this would be a good alternate idea to older style buildings.

Again, we thought that this building would reflect the new image of the city our film is based in, and thought this would be a good alternate idea to older style buildings.

We thought this image would juxtapose both old and new style buildings in our film.

We thought that this image reflected the large area the city is and this shows how minor our character is in the city.

We thought this image would juxtapose both old and new style buildings in our film.

We thought this image would juxtapose both old and new style buildings in our film.

We thought that this framed image of a building would, again, reflect the mysterious setting in our film.

We thought this image would juxtapose both old and new style buildings in our film.

We thought this image would juxtapose both old and new style buildings in our film.

In this image we thought the buildings and cars reflected the busyness of the city.

We thought this alley was interesting because it could have been a match cut to our train track in the film opening.

One of our ideas would use a tunnel with water under it, and we thought this location would be appropriate if we used that idea

We thought that this location, a busy car park on the edge of a canal, would be appropriate for one of our film ideas.

This shot we particularly liked because of the light contrasting the buildings, and also it's reflection in the water.

We liked this shot because the concrete walls framed it rather nicely, and also it could give the impression that someone is peering through, which could add mystery and drama to a film