Week 2: Filming 'Holloway Road', The Scenes Outside

We filmed the outside scenes for our film opening in Ware, Hertfordshire. We were very specific on our location before hand. It was vital that it had an alleyway with a run down sort of look to the houses. We decided to have this sort of location for our filming as we felt it would give a sense of atmosphere to the film opening.

We encountered a number of problems whilst filming, firstly we arrived at our chosen location, turned the Camera on to start filming and noticed that it had no battery. Therefore, we had to walk back to my house and charge it for half an hour or so, this nearly caused another problem as it was another half an hour of daylight we would loose. Fortunatly we managed to film all of our shots before it started to get dark.

We all decided that Will and Andrew should walk some journey to my location, we wanted this not only to show their journey to my location but to reflect on the theme of the film, My journey in the rest of the film. Shots of Andrew and will making their way to mine shows structure, instead of them just randomly turning up at my door, without any indication of how they got there.

The last shot we filmed, turned out to be the most successful. It was one of Me, Andrew and Will making our way down the alley. For this shot we lowered the tripod and set the camera at a low angle, this made our characters look very purposeful and intimidating. We gained inspiration for this shot from other football hooliganism films such as 'Green Street' and 'Football Factory' with the characters walking in slow motion with a voice over on top.

Overall our filming went very well. We did have a few problems but we believe that our number of varied shots, a good story structure along with a powerful ending, will ensure a strong, well presented two minute fim opening.

Week 2: Filming 'Holloway Road'. The Inside Scenes

Location-Standon, Ware, Hertfordshire
Start Date-19th November 2009
Finish Date-26th November 2009
Camera Type-Canon Mini DV MD235
Tape Type-Panasonic Mini DV, 60 SP Mode, 90 LP Mode
Tripod Brand-Manfrotto
Filming Time-5 Hours in Standon, 1 Hour in Ware

We filmed the indoor shots in Standon, Hertfordshire. We mainly used two rooms in the house, the bedroom and the living room. Me, Will and Andrew got the bus to Standon, to meet Conor at the filming location. Whilst he was waiting for us to arrive, he set up the Tripod and Camera. However he had some difficulties. The underneath of the Camera would not screw onto the tripod head. For this reson we had to be extra careful when filming. This problem also meant that our shots were limited, and some shots such as the one of Will and Andrew walking along outside, may have to be eliminated.

Our filming as a whole went well in Standon. Although we did have to move some furniture around and make sure the cats were locked away as they consistently kept getting in the line of our shots. We had to replace some furniture with Tottenham memerobillia, such as a picture in the living room, we replaced with one of some former Tottenham players holding the European Cup. In the bedroom we had to move the Chest of Drawers to make room for the Camera. We also had to prop the camera up for one shot and make sure there was no unwanted noise in the background. It was very important that we prepared for all of the shots, such as placing objects that would be in the shot but not the main focus, to give clues about the story and set the scene for the rest of the film.