G324 - Location Scouting

Before filming our music video, we had to decide on the locations that we would use. Location is an important part of any music video as it can alter the message being sent to the audience. If we chose an unsuitable location to film in, it would not only make filming difficult, but would also affect the way in which the audience viewed our video. To prevent this from happening, we scouted out multiple locations for each part of the video before deciding where to film.

Church:

We looked at two different churches of a similar style before choosing where to film this aspect of our video. The first church that we looked at was in Colchester. We decided to look at this church due to its location and because we both knew that we could easily transport all of the equipment there. Upon looking at the location, we saw that it would be difficult to film the long shots we had initially wanted to due to how close it was to the main road in Colchester. However, we felt that the atmosphere surrounding the building was perfect for what we wanted.

The second church that we looked at was near Cambridge. We liked the grey bricks as we felt it made it feel more like a wedding venue however the church itself was very busy and there were lots of people around which meant it would have been very difficult to film there. Not only this but we also admitted that attempting to get all of the equipment and crew to a location so far away was a near impossibility. Due to this, for ease, we decided that we would shoot the video at the church in Colchester instead.

Bench:

We then had to decide on a bench that we would use to film one of our scenes on. This is important due to the shot that we aim on creating. We therefore looked at two different benches in Colchester. We looked at benches in Colchester as it meant there would be less places to travel to, giving us more time to film as less time would have been taken up by travelling. The first bench that we looked at using was near the information centre of Castle Park. We looked at using this bench as it was secluded and therefore portrayed the idea of the singer being isolated. However, we soon
realised that the bench was completely surrounded by walls/ fences and therefore we wouldn't have been able to carry out the shot that we have planned.

We therefore looked at a second bench much further into the park. This bench was, like the previous bench, secluded however did not have the drawback of being enclosed by walls and therefore will allow us to create the arc shot that we want.

Old Arcade:

We need an old arcade for our video in order to reflect some of the lyrics within the song. We originally planned on using the Astoria in London, as stated in the song, however it is currently a building site and therefore we are unable to use this location. Instead, we had to find a location similar in style and so we have decided that we will use the old theatre in Colchester Town Centre as it not only reflects the changes but also is near to our other planned locations.

Bedroom:

For the inside scenes, we plan on using a bedroom in order to make the scenes appear more personal. To do this, we need to ensure that the atmosphere of the room suits the style of our video. The first bedroom that we considered was the spare bedroom in Olivia's step-father's house as it was extremely spacious and would allow us lots of room to set up equipment. However, the room is situated in Suffolk which was extremely far away and would be difficult to get to. Not only this but whilst we were there, we attempted to create the darker atmosphere that we wanted for our video, however due to the size of the room this was not possible.

Instead, we looked at the spare room of a friend's apartment in Kelvedon. The room itself was very compact and we knew that it could potentially cause problems when it comes to filming. However, due to the gloomy environment of the room, it takes away the need for lighting equipment and therefore the small amount of space stops being an issue. Therefore, we chose this location to shoot our inside shots.

Posted by Olivia Calver