Location UK 2013 by Boutique Editions

LOCATION ShOwCASINg The FILm & TV PrOduCTION INduSTry - NO 2 - mAy 2013

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FIrsT For world-Class FIlm and TelevIsIon prodUCTIon The British Film Commission is the national agency responsible for maximising and supporting the production of international feature film and television in the UK. We offer: • Guidance on the UK’s lucrative film and television tax reliefs • Highly knowledgeable and experienced teams based in the UK and US • Free bespoke production support • Expertise throughout the UK via a network of industry partners • Assistance with sourcing key crew, talent, facilities, studios and locations

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INTRODUCTION - MASTHEAD

LOCATION SHOWCASING THE FILM & TV PRODUCTION INDUSTRY - NO 2 - MAY 2013

BRITISH FILM COMMISSION CHAIR, BRITISH FILM COMMISSION IAIN SMITH CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE BRITISH FILM COMMISSION AND FILM LONDON ADRIAN WOOTTON SENIOR PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE (UK) SAMANTHA PERAHIA EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, US PRODUCTION (US) KATTIE KOTOK SENIOR EXECUTIVE, INDUSTRY RELATIONS (US) TARA HALLORAN PRODUCTION ADMINISTRATOR (UK) HAZEL BORTHWICK PA TO THE BRITISH FILM COMMISSION (UK) SONYA WATT EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT (US) JENNIFER PATTERSON FILM LONDON CHAIRMAN, FILM LONDON DAVID PARFITT HEAD OF STRATEGY & RESOURCES DANIELA KIRCHNER LONDON FILMING PARTNERSHIP MANAGER JENNY COOPER HEAD OF FILM PROMOTION & CULTURE ANNA HIGHET ACTING HEAD OF FILM PROMOTION COLETTE GERAGHTY MARKETING & EVENTS CO-ORDINATOR SUART LORENTE-CRONIN COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER SONYA WILLIAM BRITISH FILM COMMISSION UK OFFICE BRITISH FILM COMMISSION - SUITE 6.10 THE TEA BUILDING - 56 SHOREDITCH HIGH STREET - LONDON E1 6JJ - UNITED KINGDOM T: +44 (0)20 7613 7675 - F: +44 (0)20 7613 7677 - E: ENQUIRIES@BRITISHFILMCOMMISSION.ORG.UK BRITISH FILM COMMISSION US OFFICE 2029 CENTURY PARK EAST - SUITE 1350 - LOS ANGELES, CA 90067 - USA - T. +1 310 481 2909 LOCATION UK IS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE BRITISH FILM COMMISSION AND IS PUBLISHED FOR THE BFC BY BOUTIQUE EDITIONS LTD. ADDITIONAL COPIES ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST FROM THE BFC. BRITISH FILM COMMISSION - SUITE 6.10 THE TEA BUILDING - 56 SHOREDITCH HIGH STREET - LONDON E1 6JJ - UNITED KINGDOM EDITOR JULIAN NEWBY MANAGING EDITOR DEBBIE LINCOLN CONTRIBUTORS CLIVE BULL, ANDY FRY, JULIANA KORANTENG, JOANNA STEPHENS PUBLISHER RICHARD WOOLLEY ART DIRECTOR CHRISTIAN ZIVOJINOVIC - WWW.ANOIR.FR PUBLISHED BY BOUTIQUE EDITIONS LTD - 117 WATERLOO ROAD - LONDON SE1 8UL - UNITED KINGDOM - T: +44 20 7902 1942 - F: +44 20 3006 8796 WWW.BOUTIQUEEDITIONS.COM ADVERTISING SALES JERRY ODLIN INTERNATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR - JODLIN@BOUTIQUEEDITIONS.COM LISA RAY SALES MANAGER - LRAY@BOUTIQUEEDITIONS.COM THE PAPER USED BY BOUTIQUE EDITIONS IS A NATURAL, RECYCLABLE PRODUCT MADE FROM WOOD GROWN IN SUSTAINABLE FORESTS. THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS CONFORMS TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS OF THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN. INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS EDITED FROM SUBMISSIONS PROVIDED BY THE INDIVIDUAL COMMISSIONS AND ORGANISATIONS. ALTHOUGH A REASONABLE EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE IN COMPILING THIS INFORMATION, BOUTIQUE EDITIONS LTD ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ACCURACY. THE PUBLISHER ASSUMES NO LIABILITY FOR UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS AND ARTWORK. COPYRIGHT ©2013 BOUTIQUE EDITIONS LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART OF ANY TEXT, PHOTOGRAPH OR ILLUSTRATION WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION OF BOUTIQUE EDITIONS LTD IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED

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INTRODUCTION - CONTENTS

CO N TEN TS

56 06

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL Who do you call if Tom Cruise needs to land a military helicopter in Trafalgar Square, in the heart of London? Andy Fry reports

A NEW LONDON LOCATION 08

RUSH

TAX RELIEF

Director Ron Howard tells Julian Newby about ﬁlming Formula 1 action in the UK

Tax relief in the UK has been extended to high-end TV and animation. Clive Bull reports on this new production incentive

TRANCE Danny Boyle had a busy 2012. After working on the Olympic ceremonies he put London centre stage again for Trance, starring James McAvoy

DA VINCI’S DEMONS Location UK talks to showrunner David S Goyer and actor Tom Riley about ﬁlming TV series Da Vinci’s Demons in Wales

POST PRODUCTION It used to be the end of the process, but now post production is integral to ﬁlmmaking from the start. Juliana Koranteng reports

IN PICTURES A collection of images of stunning locations around the UK — some famous on the big screen, some yet to be discovered

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London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park oﬀers new opportunities for ﬁlmmakers

FAST & FURIOUS 6

STUDIOS

Andy Fry hears how the latest installment of this action franchise burned up the roads and cars of the UK

To meet increasing demand, ﬁlm studios are popping up all over the UK oﬀering world-class facilities. Clive Bull reports

HERITAGE

MALEFICENT Angelina Jolie was on location in the UK for her role as the bad fairy Maleﬁcent in Disney’s retelling of Sleeping Beauty

WORLD WAR Z Glasgow became war-torn Philadelphia for Marc Forster’s post-apocalyptic zombie movie. Clive Bull reports

SUMMER IN FEBRUARY Actor Hattie Morahan explains how it felt to walk in the footsteps of the real-life character she plays in this new British ﬁlm

The UK is famous for its historical buildings, many of which are willing and able to open themselves up as ﬁlming locations. Joanna Stephens reports

THE WIPERS TIMES Northern Ireland stood in for the First World War trenches of Belgium in a ﬁlm that tells the story of a satirical newspaper created by soldiers. Julian Newby speaks to producer David Parﬁtt

SPONSORS & SUPPORTERS

OUR COVER SHOWS MILLENIUM PLACE IN THE CITY OF COVENTRY, ENGLAND Millennium Place is part of a £50m city-centre facelift for the city of Coventry in the West Midlands of England. The Glass Bridge that links Millennium Place to the Garden of International Friendship was designed by British artist Alexander Beleschenko. The Whittle Arch celebrates Coventry-born Sir Frank Whittle who pioneered the jet engine, changing the world of aviation. The project incorporates other public works of art including Francoise Schein’s 24-hour clock and the Peoples Bench & Obelisk, designed by Jochen Gerz. Recent ﬁlm productions to have used Coventry locations include feature ﬁlm Nativity 2: Danger In The Manger! (2012)and ITV comedy drama series Love And Marriage (2013). (Photo, courtesy Creative England)

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SPOTLIGHT - ALL YOU NEED IS KILL

SPOTLIGHT

IN NOVEMBER 2012 ROADS IN THE CENTRE OF LONDON CLOSED FOR A BRIEF MOMENT WHILE TOM CRUISE WAS HELICOPTERED INTO THE CITY’S ICONIC TRAFALGAR SQUARE. ANDY FRY REPORTS

ALL YOU NEED IS… THE RIGHT CONTACTS ACTION film star Tom Cruise doesn’t do anything by halves. Not content with climbing up skyscrapers and clinging to cliffs, his upcoming sci-fi spectacular, Doug Liman’s All You Need Is Kill (2014), sees him dropping into London’s Trafalgar Square in a military helicopter. The scene took place on Sunday, November 25, 2012. The crew had just three-and -a-half hours to film the scene, from 07.30 to 11.00, while parts of key central London streets Whitehall, Strand, Charing Cross Road, Northumberland Avenue, Pall Mall, and Parliament Street were closed off. The shot of Cruise’s helicopter coming in to land was filmed by Flying Pictures, a Hampshire-based company that has done aerial filming work for hundreds of features

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and commercials. In 2012 alone, it was involved with a list of titles that included Maleficent (2014), Trance (2013), Red 2 (2013), Skyfall (2012) and Jack Ryan (2013). Not to be overlooked either was its work on the recent London 2012 Olympics. According to Andy Stephens, head of film services at Flying Pictures, scenes like this one for Warner Bros.’ All You Need Is Kill require an immense amount of on-theground planning. “There are a lot of agencies involved in making a shoot like this happen,” he says. “Aside from the production’s locations people and organisations like Film London and the British Film Commission, you have to make sure you have local government, the police and Transport For London on board.

In addition, you need permission from the Civil Aviation Authority, because you’re dealing with a controlled airspace. And once you get the helicopters up in the air, they’re managed by Air Traffic Control, because they’re the ones that have the bigger picture of London’s airspace.” In the movie, Cruise’s character, Lt Colonel Bill Cage, is flown into Trafalgar Square in a Puma military helicopter that came from RAF Benson. It was then filmed by Flying Pictures with cameras mounted on a lightweight craft called a Squirrel AS 355. Liman was keen that the helicopter used in the scene was a Puma, because of its size and the dramatic impact it would have on the scene, but he and his team were struggling to get permission to use one.

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SPOTLIGHT - ALL YOU NEED IS KILL

The British Film Commission (BFC) was contacted by Liman’s team, which in turn contacted the Royal Air Force (RAF). Samantha Perahia, senior production executive at the BFC, contacted the Air Vice Marshall and explained what was needed for the shoot, as well as the associated benefits for the RAF and the UK in terms of the economy, tourism, and employment. As a result Perahia was able to secure a provisional agreement for use of the helicopter. Unit production manager and co-producer Tim Lewis took it from there. In this kind of scenario, the key challenge is safety. “When you have two machines up in the air in close proximity you need to make sure you have eliminated all risk,” Stephens says. “You need to plan who is

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going to fly in what direction.” Shots like this require a lot of flexibility too. “There’s always an element of unpredictability when you’re using military equipment or personnel because of their day job commitments,” Stephens says. “And then there’s the uncertainty surrounding the weather. On top of this, you have to keep in mind that Trafalgar Square is an important business and tourist area. So if you want to shut down a place like that, you have to be willing to work within any restrictions placed on the production.” Flying Pictures has been doing a lot of work in London recently, Stephens says — a clear sign of the city’s pro-film attitude. Although every shoot comes with its own particular logistical challenges, he says the

city’s stakeholders “are extremely supportive to filmmakers, as they have a level of respect for the complex jobs everyone is trying to do”. “One of the BFC’s key roles is troubleshooting for major US feature film and TV productions filming in the UK,” Perahia says. “As we sit between government and industry, and have established trust and strong working relationships with both over the years, the BFC is uniquely positioned to intervene when productions come up against problems.” She adds: “More often than not, the issues relate to use of particular locations or visas for international talent or key crew, but once in a while the enquiries are more out of the ordinary.”

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LIFE ON LOCATION - RUSH

LIFE ON LOCATION

IN THE MOVIE RUSH, DIRECTOR RON HOWARD TELLS THE STORY OF THE RIVALRY BETWEEN FORMULA 1 HEROES JAMES HUNT AND NIKI LAUDA. HOWARD SPOKE TO JULIAN NEWBY ABOUT WHY HE ENJOYS TELLING REAL-LIFE STORIES, IN REAL-LIFE LOCATIONS

FAILURE IS A POSSIBILITY RUSH is set in the golden age of Formula 1, back in the Seventies when it was still regarded as one of the most dangerous sports in the world. With that danger came big prizes as well as fame and notoriety, and British playboy James Hunt was the embodiment of all that was right, and all that was wrong, with the sport. His competitive spirit was without question, but fame, money and good looks often brought the wrong kind of attention to Hunt and to Formula 1. Meanwhile, driving alongside him

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was a rival whose methodical approach and precision behind the wheel marked a change in the sport. While Hunt’s behaviour was at times undisciplined, Austrian Niki Lauda took a businesslike approach to motor racing — cool and calculated and shunning the high life and the fame that Hunt drew like a magnet. Today the sport is full of Niki Laudas, but back then the contrast between these two men at the top of their game, and their equal desire to be Nº1, created a rivalry that made headlines around

the world. Controversy followed Hunt on and off the race track. One scandal that marred the period recorded by Howard’s film was when his team, McLaren, was accused of using illegal fuel, setting back Hunt’s quest for the world championship during the pivotal year of 1976. Lauda would attract attention in different ways, for example as a fierce campaigner for safety in Formula 1. Famously he tried to persuade fellow drivers not to race on Germany’s antiquated Nürburgring race track, pointing out many

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FIERCE RIVALS CHRIS HEMSWORTH AND DANIEL BRÜHL AS JAMES HUNT AND NIKI LAUDA RACE FOR THE 1976 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN RON HOWARD’S RUSH

LIFE ON LOCATION - RUSH

dangers including the fact that it was too narrow for the modern racing cars of the Seventies. Lauda failed to win that support and the German Grand Prix that was staged there in 1976 led to an accident that almost killed him, left him permanently disfigured, and threatened to take him out of contention for the rest of the year — and the rest of his life. At this point some 63 drivers had lost their lives competing for the ultimate Formula 1 prize. As veteran racing driver Emerson

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Fittipaldi puts it: “These were the terrible Seventies as we know them.” Much of Rush was shot in the UK. The main race track used in the film was Brands Hatch, in Kent just south of London, which hosted the 1976 British Grand Prix where Lauda, barely recovered from Nürburgring, had to pull out with car trouble. Hunt won that race, showing the first signs that he could catch up with — and even move ahead of — his Austrian rival for the world championship. “We shot in the UK

because the story is UK-based,” Ron Howard says. “We did some of the filming in Germany, but we also shot at Brands Hatch where James won that year.” Howard also used British race tracks Snetterton and Cadwell Park, “because some of the undulations and turns on those two tracks matched with moments in other races around the world. So those tracks were used as doubles — and then we digitally added signage and grandstands, and so on, after initial filming.” He adds: “The race footage we shot

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life on location - rush

Ron HowaRd on set with actor Daniel Brühl

/// was so authentic in the end that we used

probably 50% more of it in the final cut than I had ever intended to use.” A priority for howard is always to film as close to the place where the story is set. “The actual location is always the first thing you go for when making a film,” he says. “For Frost/ Nixon (2008), for example, we were able to shoot at richard Nixon’s home and at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, which was Nixon’s final resting place.” The same applied to his two-Oscar-winning and multi-Oscar-nominated 1995 hit Apollo 13: “We were able to shoot that at the Kennedy space Center in Florida, and also in houston.” he adds: “I was a TV actor for some years before I started directing and a lot of what I do in my films as a director comes from what I always tried to do then — which was to give an authentic performance if I could. so with filmmaking, if you do enhance the image on screen in some way or other after you have shot the scene, you’re always better off if you have an original location in the frame in the first place.” howard’s more recent films have focused on real-life people as well as real-life locations, telling stories that bring to life dramatic post-war memories that still live in the minds of howard’s fellow baby-boomers. Like Frost and Nixon, hunt and Lauda are names that are forever linked to his generation. “With characters like that you get drama, you get surprises

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and then, of course, there’s this unbelievably cinematic possibility, which is capturing that world, capturing Formula 1 — particularly in the seventies, which was a pretty reckless, sexy time.” howard says that to work with a real-life story about real-life people helps with the filmmaking process. “Apollo 13 was the first film I did that was based on real characters,” he says. “The astronauts were at the screening and it was nerve wracking. Failure is always a possibility!

ron howard

The ACTuAL LOCATION Is ALWAys The FIrsT ThING yOu GO FOr WheN MAKING A FILM” “I learned a lot about audiences when making Apollo 13. When a film is based on a true story the audience goes with you to vastly more emotional highs, and lows, because they know that what they are watching on the screen actually happened.” But that can depend on age. “There was one young guy who didn’t like it — he described the story as ‘more made-up hollywood bullshit’ he said: ‘They would never have survived in real life’!” rush also shot at Blackbushe Airport on the border of the counties of surrey and hampshire. The site was used to recreate the paddocks, pit-lanes, starting grids and spectator stands for

a number of Grands Prix including Nürburgring, Monza, sao Paulo and Fuji. The production was there for some five months including build time and during that period the British Film Commission (BFC) worked closely with howard’s team in liaising with the local community, members of which got involved in the movie on a number of levels. Locals appeared as extras; visits were organised for local schools and colleges; and work experience positions on the production were organised through the local job centre. Local people were given access to the site at all times and were able to watch filming — from a safe distance — and, importantly, were able to walk their dogs around the site in safety throughout the five-month period. “having liaised so closely with the production team and the local community, it was a real pleasure to spend a day on set and see the fruits of everyone’s labour, and to meet the local film students who were getting the experience of a lifetime,” BFC senior production executive, samantha Perahia, said. As ever with the films of ron howard it was a great story that drove the creative process from the outset. “It’s a great screenplay. When I read it I didn’t know very much about Formula 1, or James hunt and Niki Lauda. Those guys offer so many surprises. And I was just knocked out by the script by Peter Morgan — he’s great. We did Frost/Nixon together. he also did The Queen. he’s a great writer.”

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life on location

life on location - TRANCE

DANNy BOyLE ACHIEVED WORLDWIDE ACCLAIM LAST yEAR FOR HIS WORK ON THE LONDON 2012 OLyMPICS OPENING CEREMONy. BuT SOMEHOW, THE OSCAR-WINNING DIRECTOR OF SLuMDOG MILLIONAIRE ALSO CARVED OuT TIME TO MAKE TRANCE, A THRILLER STARRING JAMES MCAVOy. ANDy FRy REPORTS

The fine arT of filming SET IN London, Trance sees James McAvoy play the part of Simon, a fine-art auctioneer who teams up with a criminal gang to steal a Goya painting worth £25m. After a head injury sustained during the robbery, Simon has no recollection of where he has hidden the painting. So the gang, headed by Franck (Vincent Cassel), hires a hypnotherapist to try and unlock the location of the missing work. Shot exclusively in London, both on location and at 3 Mills Studios in the capital’s East End, a key ambition of the film was to avoid using familiar locations, aiming instead for a look that could be associated with any modern European city. “I love filming in London but I always try to make it look fresh if I can and choose locations that are a bit surprising,” Boyle says. The job of sourcing and delivering locations was shared by location managers Alex Gladstone and Charlotte Wright. The first big challenge was finding somewhere that could double as a high-quality art auction house. “In a perfect world,” Gladstone says, “the production would have shot somewhere like Sotheby’s or Christie’s. But that’s not really possible because of the high security at places like that. We were fortunate though, Sotheby’s allowed us to go behind the scenes and see how the world of auctions works.” As a bonus, Sotheby’s Europe deputy chairman Mark Poltimore appeared in the film as an auctioneer, lending that section of the film an extra level of authenticity. “Danny had been looking for an actor to play the auctioneer when he said ‘Why not use the real thing?’” Fortunately Poltimore agreed to do it. “We used four locations to get the overall effect. County Hall provided the auction hall, the V&A Museum gave us some great basements and we used the National Liberal Club in Whitehall and St Bartholomew’s Hospital for exteriors,” Wright says. “St

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Bart’s was where James McAvoy was filmed being hit by a red car.” Most of the gangster elements of the plot are set in East London. “Danny had an idea that Franck’s apartment should be above the club he owned — a bit like a penthouse suite,” Wright says, “and the location we used to capture that idea was the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane. It had great rooftop views and was perfect for night filming. The only drawback was that there was no lift access so we had to carry every bit of kit upstairs.” Keen to get the best out of Oscar-winning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle’s high-octane approach to filming, Boyle wanted to create an evocative skyline. So one of Wright’s responsibilities was to keep three nearby buildings lit up during the night shooting at Truman Brewery. This wasn’t as easy as it sounds: “One of the buildings had eco-friendly lights that automatically turn themselves off, so I had to arrange for an army of cleaners to keep the lights on during the shoot,” she says. “Another building was student accommodation, so we held a prize draw. Anyone who kept their lights on throughout filming got a chance to win tickets to the premiere of Trance.” Gladstone and Wright sought out other interesting locations in the East End. Their favourite discovery was Tilbury Docks, with both of them enthusing about the scale of the place. “It’s incredible,” Gladstone says, “there are big ships coming in and out, huge consignments ready to be shipped around the world and great big gantry cranes. It was fantastic to take a film in there and point cameras at the place.” Both Gladstone and Wright agree that one of the big thrills of being a locations manager is finding new places to shoot. At the opposite end of the spectrum from Tilbury, another favourite Trance location of

FIlm NoIr: Danny Boyle on set with trance star Vincent cassel. (Photo: susie allnutt)

Wright’s was St Bart’s MRI scanning facility: “It was the first time they’d allowed a film in there — and it was only possible because they have two units. We had to be very sensitive to the fact that this is very expensive kit, and also that seriously ill people might need to use it at any time.” Gladstone was also delighted to get permission to shoot a sequence at the Petroplus refinery on the eastern stretches of the River Thames. The studio elements of the film were handled out of 3 Mills, a world-class facility that has hosted movies such as Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Attack The Block (2011) and Made In Dagenham (2010). Studio executive Derek Watts says Boyle’s decision to bring Trance to 3 Mills continued a long and fruitful relationship between the two:

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LIFE ON LOCATION - TrAnCE

“Danny’s a big fan of the studio. He’s shot Millions (2004), 28 Days Later (2002) and Sunshine (2007) here previously. In the case of Sunshine, he was here for nine months and took over nine stages.” Adrian Wootton, chief executive of the British Film Commission and Film London, believes the availability of studios like 3 Mills is vital when trying to keep filmmakers like Boyle in the city: “It has a fantastic reputation. It is part of the city’s roster of world-class studios, which are crucial for us to successfully promote London as a filmmaking capital to the international and domestic industry.” Trance was directed by Danny Boyle and produced by Pathé, Cloud Eight Films, Decibel Films and Film4. It was distributed in the UK by Twentieth Century Fox.

THE OLYMPIC LEGACY IN A REMARKABLE juggling act, Danny Boyle worked seven-day weeks at London’s 3 Mills Studios towards the end of 2011, spending five days on Trance and two days on preparations for the Olympics Opening Ceremony. Trance only required two stages, but was filmed pretty much concurrently with Boyle’s work on the Ceremony. “He based both projects out of here,” studio executive Derek Watts says. “Starting in 2011 he was either filming Trance or rehearsing the Olympics Ceremony for months. They fit together very neatly!” London 2012 resulted in the transformation of some 2.5 square km of formerly industrial or waste land into green space. This parkland has been expanding since the games with the introduction of new trees and other planting. There are also numerous sporting venues within the park area, and related businesses — all of which are offering new locations to directors like Boyle who are looking for a different look to London. Eight months following the Games, British government culture secretary Maria Miller announced a tourism strategy that aims to bring private and public organisations together to grow visitor numbers by 29% by 2020. “Our opening and closing ceremonies gave the world an opportunity to look at Britain anew and were perhaps surprised by what they saw — a modern, diverse and creative country,” she says. Adrian Wootton, chief executive of the British Film Commission and Film London says: “There aren’t many places in the world that can say they’ve got Pinewood and Shepperton and Leavesden and Elstree and Ealing and 3 Mills — and the Olympic Park.”

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F E AT U R E

FEATURE - POST PRODUCTION

THE OF THE TRADE POST PRODUCTION USED TO BE THE AFTERTHOUGHT THAT FOLLOWED THE LIGHTS-CAMERA-ACTION PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY. HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED. JULIANA KORANTENG REPORTS

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feature - post production

haVe you seen chauffeur, the scrumptious Galaxy chocolate tV commercial starring the young Hollywood beauty Audrey Hepburn in her 1950s heyday? set in a fictional Mediterranean coastal town, it has been shot to give it a vintage technicolor look. And if you thought a post-production technician had superimposed an image of the chocolate bar into a scene from one of Hepburn’s movie classics, you couldn’t be more wrong. in fact, the spot, commissioned by ad agency AMV BBdo with visual effects (VFX) by London-based Framestore, is an original production, and the real Audrey Hepburn is not in it. What we see is the actress brought back to life today with digital technology. Framestore used numerous state-of-the-art post-production techniques, including FAcs (facial action coding system), which recorded more than 70 possible facial muscle movements, and used high-resolution computer-generated imagery (cGi) and an Arnold renderer to replicate Hepburn’s features and skin texture on the face of an actor. now the actor didn’t just look like Audrey Hepburn; she had become Audrey Hepburn. “computers have got faster, software has got more sophisticated, our artists have grown more experienced and our clients’ expectation of what we can create have increased in equal measures,” Matt Fox, joint managing director, film, Framestore, says. “We are no longer considered to be computer programmers and technicians, but collaborative digital artists and filmmakers in our own right.” Long gone are the days when post-production technicians were seen as a team of computer-programming geeks whose box of tricks could add a touch of 3d computer graphics here, or inject some sophisticated sound effects there. it would then take costly trial and error to ensure that the juxtaposition of human actors or artificial models of aliens or otherworldly environments made sense visually. But thanks to advances in digital technology, post production is now listed higher up in the production credits. And in the uK, where government tax relief has boosted movie-production work and is expected to do the same for animation, video games and high-end tV drama from 2013 onwards, the revenues earned from VFX alone are forecast to reach £600m next year. the uK is now home to a line-up of post-production experts whose skills are integral to the total creative process. innovative techniques such as previsualisation (or previs), motion capture (or performance capture), augmented reality and virtual production are not exactly new. But in the last

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Jonathan Liebesman’s alien invasion thriller Battle: Los Angeles (2011) with VFX provided by Cinesite

couple of years, the uK offerings have become slicker and faster, resulting in amazing on-screen effects. You can catch them in scenes from skyfall (2012), the latest James Bond movie that cost up to $200m; in the $195m Jack the Giant slayer (2013) from Warner Bros.; and in oblivion (2013), the new futuristic blockbuster starring tom cruise, distributed by universal studios. releases for next year featuring more of the same include disney’s $200m Maleficent (2014), which stars Angelina Jolie; and Warner Bros.’ $140m All You need is Kill (2014), based on the young-adult sci-fi novel by Japanese author Hiroshi sakurazaka. in addition to Framestore, uK post-production stalwarts include dneg, nvizage, cinesite, the Moving picture company, the third Floor London and the division at the iconic pinewood studios Group. Giles Farley, pinewood studios Group’s managing director of group digital content services, says: “We have a range of services but, increasingly, we’re also getting involved in production management and post-production management. one new trend is the recognition that the technologies involving film, tV and games are converging and the glue that binds them is digital.” His colleague darren Woolfson, pinewood’s group director of technology, adds: “We recognised that production services, stage facilities and other services such as in-house sound, picture post production and data management can be linked to that glue.” When smartphone cameras can deliver photographs good enough for commercial usage, post-production practitioners know that today’s discerning movie audiences will not suffer sub-standard work. in response, pinewood has spent millions upgrading the technology infrastructure required to transmit raw shots on digital, film, tape and other data throughout the chain of production command, from the producer and director to

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feature - post production

/// the post-production supervisor, regardless of where in the world they hap-

pen to be. Framestore has invested in capture Lab, a world-class performance-capture team and technology based in its soho studio in central London. “We can deploy the entire set-up on studio or location shoots and scale to any size a project demands,” Fox says. Framestore offers its expertise in previs via the third Floor (ttF) London, a Framestore joint venture with Los Angeles-based the third Floor inc. previs enables producers and directors to see a high-resolution animated version of scenes — even the entire movie — before the very first shoot. “previs is more common than ever before, especially as film productions get more complicated,” duncan Burbidge, producer, ttF London, says. “if a project is big, the previs can provide an effective means of communication among the different film departments. it shows everyone what the production is trying to achieve. it gives people a chance to ask more specific questions for their respective departments — questions that might not occur to them just by looking at a storyboard or script alone.” directors bring in previs experts early in the production cycle because, Burbidge says, previs is increasingly being deployed for development work

GOVeRnMenT BaCKinG FOR VFX aS Part of the 2013 uK budget announced in March 2013, the uK’s VfX industry is to receive further support from the government. announcing that it will launch a public consultation on options to provide further support for the VfX industry through the tax system, the British film Commission welcomed the decision which aims to make the uK more attractive to international investment. adrian Wootton, chief executive of the British film Commission and film London, says: “there is no disputing the uK is a centre of VfX excellence. these new measures will ensure that we can continue to compete globally on a level playing field; and continue to attract the biggest and most technically challenging film and television projects to the uK.”

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Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows — an “excellent VFX training ground”

when production companies go pitching to movie studios. such demands have made the concept of ‘virtual production’ popular. this uses a combination of cG previs environments, live-composited visuals and motion capture to rehearse and record live-action performances and camera moves. “now, we can visualise everything. We have reference points and tools such as simulcam to sync up cG elements, live elements and the shooting camera,” Burbidge adds. new digital technology is being used to enhance the realism of cG scenes of the natural world. Whether the creative post-production technician is working with Autodesk Maya, 3ds Max models or softimage, or a video compositor with blue or green screens, the goal is to contribute visuals that are as lifelike as possible. “ten years ago, anything to do with water or fire would require extensive r&d of proprietary tools,” Michele sciolette, cinesite’s head of VFX technology says. “today, visual effects involving natural phenomena are still very challenging, but it is often possible to deliver great work using commercial products. other areas of production have followed a similar pattern, with commercial [as opposed to proprietary] options now covering most of the production pipeline.” Martin chamney, co-founder and previs supervisor at nvizage, says that cloud servers have equally become game changers. “otoy [us-based cloud service provider] uses software such as its octane render to allow people to create complex 3d scenes by tapping the computing power of the cloud. Graphic artists don’t need a workstation with high-end hardware. instead, they can use as many

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feature - post production

/// cloud graphics processors as needed for a short time and pay for only that

usage,” he says. chamney does not hide his enthusiasm for the progress being made: “Action camera moves and shots can be planned out in advance of shooting in the most intuitive and effective way possible, helping to solve production issues, minimising risk and saving costs.” it isn’t only the uK’s VFX skills that impress the international audiovisual community, part of a global media-and-entertainment sector forecast to be worth $2tr by 2016. uK companies such as WB de Lane Lea in London are seeing the momentum pick up in audio post-production as well. its facilities enabled the firm to ensure crystal-clear audio of characters in ridley scott’s sci-fi prometheus (2012) when speaking while wearing space helmets. Most experts agree the Harry potter series shot at the uK’s Warner Bros. studios Leavesden provided an excellent training ground. At last year’s summit hosted by the uK government, Harry potter producer david Heyman said that by the sixth instalment of the Harry potter films — Harry potter And the Half-Blood prince (2009) — 95% of the effects were being handled in the uK. nvizage’s chamney says: “the Harry potter franchise has helped uK companies grow and expand, and now they offer serious competition to other VFX companies worldwide.” cinesite’s sciolette also believes the uK has nothing to fear from for-

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The Moving PicTure coMPany’s credits include an Oscar for Ang Lee’s 2012 release Life Of Pi

eign rivals. “But keeping great talent is extremely important,” he says. “Being able to solve problems creatively and minimising wasted effort is crucial in this environment.” the post-production experts at pinewood, for example, believe that an evolving but reliably robust technology infrastructure will ensure growth and longevity for the VFX sector. pinewood’s Woolfson says: “We are archiving the data on the data tape and managing them in very similar ways. that has allowed us to invest in knowledge, not just for the movies, but because we always have an eye on the future. in parallel, we work on the colour management, the final part of [visual] post-production. We help bring that process to the front end. then, the production team can see what the set, the costumes, the wigs will actually look like during the early stages of production.” His colleague Giles Farley adds: “the production team now has more time to do more at the front end, rather than at the back end.” Looking forward, uK post-production companies are seeing movie technology being extended to other forms of audiovisual content, including video games, tV commercials and even the design of theme-park roller coasters, and vice-versa. “i feel that, in the very near future, the wide availability of easy-to-use geometry acquisition technologies will affect some of our workflows,” cinesite’s sciolette says. “We started using proprietary technologies to automatically generate textured geometry out of image sets a few years ago, but this is now becoming easily accessible.” He foresees the use of Microsoft’s hands-free Kinect sensor, as well as real-time or near-real time renderers, used for video games, being used more often on final output images. Like sciolette, nvizage’s chamney is a big fan of the progress of digital technology. Yet, he reminds us that technology creates tools to be used and does not replace the technician’s competence. “these tools certainly make our lives a bit easier,” he says. “But they are no substitute for the core skills that are taught in education institutions and then utilised professionally in the industry.”

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13/05/13 11:47

CINESITE

FramESTorE

LONDON-based cinesite was sold by Eastman Kodak to private-equity firm Endless last year. it has retained its high capacity and VFX team to produce a wide range of digital effects for features and tV shows. the VFX services include digital environments, on-set Hdri (high dynamic range imaging) photography and previs. recent and current work includes columbia/Fox’s World War Z (2013), Jack ryan (2013) and iron Man 3 (2013). cinesite, also contributed to skyfall (2012), John carter (2012) the Harry potter series, and the HBo television series Generation Kill (2008).

FOuNDeD in 1986 as a television and commercials operation, Framestore employs over 600 staff. the company creates photo-real settings via services that include visual development, previs, VFX supervision, performance capture, digital humans and environment creation. its capture Lab offers clients virtual worlds and characters via virtual and augmented-reality technologies. dedicated previs services are supplied via sister company the third Floor London. Framestore won an oscar and a BAFtA for the Golden compass (2007). recent projects include iron Man 3 (2013), Gravity (2013), 47 ronin (2013) and robocop (2014).

CENTroId moTIoN CapTurE CeNtrOiD recently relocated to shepperton studios and now has access to a vast soundstage for full performance and body motion capture shoots. the studio is equipped with up to 168 Motion Analysis high-resolution Eagle cameras. For snow White And the Huntsman (2012) centroid captured the movements for the troll, the Fairies and the shadow Army. For Hugo (2011) centroid captured the body data for a scene featuring Hugo, the station inspector and his faithfull doberman. other recent projects include prometheus (2012), John carter (2012), total recall (2012) and World War Z (2013).

douBLE NEGaTIVE (dNEG) FOuNDeD 15 years ago with a team of just 30, double negative has grown to become one of Europe’s biggest providers of VFX for film. dneg has been recognised with a number of Visual Effects society awards for films including inception (2010) and sherlock Holmes (2009); BAFtA awards for inception and Harry potter And the deathly Hallows part 2 (2011); and an Academy Award for inception. recent projects include the Bourne Legacy (2012), skyfall (2012) and Les Miserables (2012). its most recent work features in: Man of steel (2013); rush (2013); captain phillips (2013); cuban Fury (2013); Fast & Furious 6 (2013); the Hunger Games (2012); catching Fire (2013); thor: the dark World (2013); and the World’s End (2013).

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NVIZaGE LAuNCHeD in 2003 as a mobile outfit specialising in previs, nvizage is now based in London’s soho. its services include storyboard and animatic creation, scene-sequence creation and motion studies. related post-production VFX services are handled by its sister company nvizible. recent credits include the dark Knight (2008), Alice in Wonderland (2010), snow White And the Huntsman (2012) and prince of persia (2010). nvizage provided the previs for the oscar-winning Hugo (2011) and also picked up the Visual Effects society award for the film.

pINEWood STudIoS Group WitH its uK sites at pinewood, teddington and shepperton pinewood continues to live up to its reputation as a global production service provider. James Bond producer Eon has remained loyal to pinewood for good reasons. over the past five years, it has installed a fibre-optic cable network around its massive 100-acre site containing many stages and facilities. the move responds to its clients’ round-the-clock need for high-speed connectivity and large bandwidth when transmitting raw data from pre-production, production and post-production content. the uK’s first dolby audio facilities were fitted at the pinewood and shepperton mixing theatres. other facilities include sound design, restoration and mastering, cGi and VFX, grading, colour correction and 3d post-production. projects for 2013 include Kick-Ass 2 and Jack ryan.

THE moVING pICTurE CompaNY WitH offices in London, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Bangalore and new York, the Moving picture company (Mpc) is part of France’s technicolor global conglomerate. it has worked on such top-flight box-office winners as Harry potter And the deathly Hallows (parts 1 and 2, 2010); Watchmen (2009) and the chronicles of narnia: the Voyage of the dawn treader (2010). Mpc’s services include its VFX software ALicE (Artificial Life crowd Engine), which has been used for crowd scenes in several movies, starting with the epic troy (2004). its awards include an oscar for Life of pi (2012).

feature - post production

WHo’S WHo IN uK poST produCTIoN

THE THIrd FLoor LoNdoN tHe tHirD Floor was launched in Los Angeles in 2004 by a group of previs artists who worked on star Wars: Episode iii - revenge of the sith (2005) on the third floor of George Lucas’ skywalker ranch. the London office, opened in november 2011, is a joint venture with Framestore. clients are mostly motion-picture studios, directors and producers. recent projects include Jack the Giant slayer (2013), oz the Great And powerful (2013), oblivion (2013) and iron Man 3 (2013), as well as commercials for nissan and pepsi. the company has also worked with major game developers and helped design theme-park rides.

WB dE LaNE LEa tHe 65-year-old company, based in dean street in London’s soho district, had its scope broadened last november when the former de Lane Lea was snapped up by Warner Bros. studios Leavesden. the company’s services include sound recording, audio mixing, Adr (automated or additional dialogue replacement), dry and wet hire cutting rooms, and a 37-seat preview theatre. With credits including skyfall (2012), Harry potter And the deathly Hallows (part 2, 2011) and cold Mountain (2003), its Adr skills can be heard during the turbulent crowd scenes in the itV version of titanic (2012), and the BAFtA award-winning effects on tinker tailor soldier spy (2011).

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13/05/13 11:47

F E AT U R E

FEATURE - TAX RELIEF

THE MISSING PIECE IN THE

JIGSAW TAX RELIEF LAUNCHED IN THE UK FOR HIGH-END TV AND ANIMATION, IS BEING HAILED AS “ONE OF THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITIES WE’VE HAD IN A GENERATION”. CLIVE BULL REPORTS THE UK’s ’s already robust film and television production sector is experiencing another uplift thanks to recently launched Creative Sector Tax Reliefs announced for high-end television and animation, with a games incentive pending EC State Aid Approval. The schemes include provision for tax relief on television productions where the budget exceeds £1m per broadcast hour, amounting to a 25% rebate on qualifying production spend within the UK, capped at 80% of the budget. To a large extent, the new television incentive is based on the existing Film Tax Relief (FTR), which is credited with bringing numerous major productions to the UK. As with the FTR, there is a points-based cultural test to establish whether the production qualifies as British. “The Film Tax Relief, since it was launched in its present form in 2007, has been a great success,” Adrian Wootton, chief executive of the British Film Commission and Film London, says. “It’s attracted an awful lot of inward investment, which has allowed the British film industry to invest and expand.” But while film companies were finding the UK an attractive proposition both in terms of the facilities available and the financial incentives, there was a growing feeling that large-scale television productions, par-

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John McVay, chief executive of Pact, which represents UK independent content, was on the Treasury working group that advised government on the structure of the new tax relief. He agrees that high-end series will be attracted to the UK by the scheme. “If you look at the strategies of a lot of the US networks that produce high-cost drama, they are looking to try and find ways to finance that,” he says. “They look around the globe for co-production partners, co-financing and incentives, because the TV industry has gone global very quickly. So the UK is well placed to be a hub for that type of production internationally. But also it’s a great opportunity for us, because we have very highquality international producers based in the UK. Having an incentive in your pocket when you go out into the market is very, very helpful.” McVay says the Starz/BBC Worldwide production Da Vinci’s Demons, shot in South Wales with the help of the Welsh government, is another example of the kind of high-quality drama already shooting in the UK. “They started that without incentives and I’m quite sure those sorts of channels and producers will be looking at the UK with even more interest now that we have an incentive,” he says. “People like to work in the UK because we offer very high quality, have a very can-do attitude, and the people are generally welcoming to production. We have very good technical skills, and very good post-production and CGI — that’s been the rationale for so many US feature films to come here.” Already prompting widespread interest from around the world, Wootton says the initiative will bring inward investment from big international dramas, coproductions with UK companies, and domestic drama that was previously going offshore. “I think it’s one of the biggest opportunities we’ve had in a generation,” Wootton adds. “This is a brand new opportunity and, certainly, if the volume of enquiries and level of interest that we’ve been getting both in London and in the US office of the British Film Commission is anything to go by, the UK will soon be first choice for international high-end production.”

FEATURE - TAX RELIEF

ticularly from the US, were not being offered the same competitive edge. Television producers, Wootton says, were “looking enviously at their corporate partners in the film divisions and thinking, ‘Hang on, they’re benefiting from this Film Tax Relief. Look at these locations, look at these studios, look at these visual-effects companies, look at the infrastructure they’ve got in the UK — and we can’t take advantage of it because there is no incentive to anchor it’.” That case was conveyed by the industry to the UK government and the result was the announcement of a tax relief which already appears to be attracting ambitious drama projects that might previously have had to look elsewhere. The lack of an incentive had led to ‘runaway’ productions being shot in far-flung parts of the world, even when the story itself was set in the UK. Director Edward Hall, who shot his production of William Boyd’s Restless in South Africa, says the tax relief will make a big difference. “It’s got to be in everybody’s interest that more work comes back here,” Hall says. “I have no desire to spend half my life abroad, miles away from my family. I also feel that work that’s generated in the UK, written by people here and conceived here, should be made here. There were so many people just not getting jobs, basically. There was a culture of going elsewhere because there were countries that would make it ludicrously easy for you.” So the new incentive will help drama productions set in the UK to be based in the location suggested by the story. “I don’t know a filmmaker who, given the choice, doesn’t want to shoot the real thing, if it exists and they can get access to it,” Wootton says. “If they are a high-end television director or they are one of the top feature filmmakers, they want it to be real. And that’s normally what they’re demanding from their production managers and, ultimately, the location managers.” Wootton says a lot of creative decision-making informs television companies’ choice of location, unless that choice is ruled out on the grounds of finance. Companies like HBO, he adds, were insisting that they wanted to come to the UK but needed the level playing field that a competitive incentive affords in order to make that choice. “They said, ‘We’re spending billions of dollars worldwide and where’s the one place we want to shoot and we can’t? It’s in the UK. So give us the reason to do it. We know what you can deliver and we’d rather make it with you if we could.’” It’s clear that the financial incentive is not the only motivation behind productions preferring to be based in the UK. “Think about the concentration of facilities that we have, the quality of the crews, the amount of investment we have made in training, the time zones — and also the language factor is not an inconsiderable one,” Wootton says. “There’s a whole multiplicity of factors and what we needed was the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle. We’ve got that missing piece now and I think we’ve got a really competitive and exciting offer that people will want to grab.” The worldwide shift towards high-end serial drama is another significant factor behind the new incentive, as terrestrial broadcasters, along with cable, satellite and online players, seeking to give themselves an audience USP, move increasingly towards more lavish shows with higher production values. Richard Williams, chief executive of Northern Ireland Screen, cites HBO’s Game Of Thrones as a case in point. “It is the perfect example,” he says. “I think our being able to articulate what the value of Game Of Thrones was to the development of the sector here, and its value to the economy, was one of a number of very significant arguments that led to the tax incentive.” The HBO epic fantasy series is now confirmed as shooting for a fourth season in Northern Ireland. Williams says help from the Northern Ireland Assembly in funding the pilot was the clincher: “We provided the same level of incentive for the pilot that we did for the first season, on the logic that if you don’t get the pilot, you can’t get the series. So that was a bit of a risk, but it paid off for us. And that is one of the important pieces of the legislation — that the incentive needs to be available to pilots, because for a lot of the broadcasters that’s still the way they do it. Game Of Thrones wouldn’t have happened in Northern Ireland if the pilot hadn’t happened in Northern Ireland.”

•

BOOST FOR UK CREATIVITY THE BRITISH government announced in a 2013 budget statement a £10m ($16m) increase in funding for skills development. This adds to the £6m announced at the end of 2012. This means co-investment with industry of a total of £16m, leading to a total of £32m. This will provide entry- and professional-level training for over 5,000 people working in film, high-end TV, animation, video games, and VFX. Industry body Creative Skillset is managing this investment through its Skills Investment Fund. Responding to the news, Stew Till, chair of Creative Skillset and CEO of Sonar Entertainment said: “Our industries have identified the UK’s skills and talent as one of the principal drivers of growth and of our global reputation.” He added: “Crucially, this news is totally aligned with employers’ ambitions to develop an innovative industrial partnership for the creative industries to take end-to-end responsibility for skills in our sectors.” Stephen Garrett, chairman of Kudos, executive chairman of Shine Pictures and Creative Skillset board member said: “The UK Creative Industries are renowned for having a world-beating skills base. A new challenge is making sure that we can boost growth and properly resource increased levels of production so that we compete even more successfully on the global stage.”

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There has never been a better time to choose the UK as a destination for film and TV production

Production companies can take advantage of the new tax breaks for high-end TV and animation to complement the ongoing tax relief on film production.

The multi-million pound Skills Investment Fund is there to support your production. Don’t miss out on: • Set-ready and subsidised trainees • Interns and apprentices • Funding for training for: - Craft & technical skills - Management and leadership - Health and safety • Head of Department training schemes • Short courses to address skills shortages • Shadowing and mentoring schemes

Find out more at: www.creativeskillset/sif FICHIER PUB uk.indd 22

13/05/13 11:58

life on location - da vinci’s demons

Tom Riley as Leonardo da Vinci in da Vinci’s demons

life on location

THe sTaRZ TeLevision seRies da vinci’s demons sees THe ReinvenTion of THe GReaT 15TH cenTuRY Genius BY BaTman TRiLoGY WRiTeR david s GoYeR. JuLian neWBY meT GoYeR, THe seRies’ sTaR Tom RiLeY, and some of THe PeoPLe THaT made iT PossiBLe foR THe seRies To Be sHoT in WaLes

Shedding new light on the Story of da Vinci STARZ’ new series about the life of the young Leonardo da vinci, starring Tom Riley, turns upside-down the enduring image of the thoughtful, grey-bearded artist, scientist and inventor, instead looking at his early life and portraying him as a young swashbuckling, wise-cracking maverick. But then its creator is david s Goyer. along with christopher nolan he reinvented

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Batman; he was script consultant on one of the world’s biggest selling video games call of duty: Black ops; and continuing in the same vein, with his boyish enthusiasm and his genius for creating characters with enormous gravitas peppered with humour, he has just reinvented superman too, for Zack snyder’s man of steel (2013). Goyer admits that historians would accuse him of

being ‘liberal’ with his script. “i’m calling it a historical fantasy,” he says. “i think we’ve been true to the spirit of the characters and the relationships… and then there’s a little bit of invention.” so where is the lair of screenwriting superhero david s Goyer? a penthouse in Gotham, sorry, new York? a private Pacific island where the bad people he creates can’t reach him? a sprawling mansion in the Hollywood Hills? Well, at the moment it’s in Wales, somewhere near swansea. Because that is where producers, cast and crew are filming the series — a process that might last for up to five years, as da vinci’s demons’ initial success has already led to the commissioning of a 10-part second series. Why Wales? “They have so many good castles, and the local government was very gracious in allowing us to film in them and blow things up, set fire to things and whatnot,” he says. and there are other reasons, for which location and studio manager Gareth skelding takes some credit. “i was the first person to meet david Goyer, to show him Wales and to try to convince him to come here,” he says. skelding was approached by Julie Gardner of BBc Worldwide to work on the project, Gardner having previously served as head of drama at BBc Wales — notably bringing hit sci-fi series doctor Who to swansea.

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DAVID S GOYER AND TOM RILEY ON LEONARDO DA VINCI /// Goyer and Gardner had looked at 10 other

LIFE ON LOCATION - DA VINCI’S DEMONS

countries as possible places to double for 15th-century Tuscany where the series is set. “But when I saw the scripts I thought, yes, we can throw something together here, not least because of the number of castles we have — we have I think 360 of them,” Skelding says. “And we have such a wide range of locations here, that once we had driven around for a day or two, David could see that we had so many options in a really small radius.” Margam County Park, about two miles from Port Talbot, is the principal location for Da Vinci’s Demons. Set in 850 acres with lakes, a monastery, abbey and castle, “that became our Medici palace and our Tuscany countryside”, Skelding says. Another base for the series is the 24,600 sq m former Ford car parts factory now known as Bay Studios, in Neath, Port Talbot. “It had been empty for five or six years,” Skelding says. “It was a dark, leaky warehouse with no power when we got here, and now it’s a fully-functioning studio that’s looking to expand.” “Wales is in a unique position in that the Welsh Government is able to offer property grants on vacant buildings,” Penny Skuse of Wales Screen Commission says. “Da Vinci’s Demons took advantage of this offer by using a property grant from the Welsh government to pay for some of the refurbishment costs involved in transforming the former Ford factory into a suitable space for such a high-profile TV drama series.” She adds: “This meant a significantly high proportion of the total budget was spent in Wales, providing work for companies and freelancers in the creative industry sector as well as boosting revenue for the hospitality and tourism sectors. A number of Cadw (the Welsh Government’s historic environment service) sites were also used in the series, including Caerphilly Castle, Castell Coch and Neath Abbey.”

“THERE was almost nothing Da Vinci wasn’t good at,” Da Vinci’s Demons’ showrunner David S Goyer says. “He was also a very good musician, he was known to be a very good horse rider, he was ambidextrous and a very good swordsman… and some people said ‘Oh, you’re turning him into an action star!’ Well, you know, he wasn’t just a painter, he really wasn’t. And if you read the biographies of him, he was tall and a strapping guy. I also don’t think that he wanted to be remembered as a painter. I think he wanted to be known as an inventor or scientist, but it was painting that got him the money to pursue those interests.” Tom Riley’s Leonardo Da Vinci shatters the image of the wise, bearded old man we have in our heads from one of the very few pictures that exist of the man. “I knew the high-school version of who he was — this figure frozen in stasis in his 60s, incredibly wise, having lived a long life, having seen an incredible amount of things and created these beautiful works of art. And that image has lived on through generations,” Riley says. “What I didn’t know about was so much of the other stuff that he was involved in that wasn’t art-based. I went to the anatomy exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, and saw his work as an anatomist. I was there with my girlfriend and I went very silent, because not only was there this whole section to his life — but at the end of the exhibition it stated that, had all of his work been published, he would have been the most important anatomist who had ever lived. And yet this was just a sidebar to everything else we know about him.” Riley turns Da Vinci into a wisecracking action hero, regularly getting into trouble. While clearly a genius, Da Vinci is also someone that the people of Florence treat as something of a maverick, even occasionally a local nuisance. “First and foremost it is wildly entertaining. We set out to make something that would be like a summer blockbuster on the small screen, but that happened to rooted in one of the greatest minds in history,” Riley says. “And it’s full of things that are potentially educational, as well as exciting. If I was at school or if I was having to study that old man with a beard who painted the Mona Lisa, this would certainly give me more of an incentive to do so.”

Welsh National Assembly Economy Minister Edwina Hart describes Da Vinci’s Demons as “a truly made-in-Wales production that utilised much of the talent in Wales, creating jobs across the sectors and boosting the regional economy”.

Da Vinci’s Demons was conceived and written by David S Goyer and developed and produced by the BBC’s Adjacent Productions for Starz in the US. It was filmed almost entirely in Wales with a second unit in Tuscany, Italy.

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Margam Castle, South Wales. Main location for Da Vinci’s Demons, TV drama supported by the Welsh Government’s Creative Sector team. Contact us for further information on how we can assist your production in Wales: penny.skuse@wales.gsi.gov.uk +44 (0)300 061 5634 walesscreencommission.com WG18460 Welsh Government Location UK.indd 1

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SHOWCASE

LOCATION UK IN

PICTURES

SHOWCASE - LOCATION UK IN PICTURES

LOCATION UK HAS TEAMED UP WITH FILM COMMISSIONS, LOCATION SCOUTS, AND PHOTOGRAPHERS, TO BRING YOU IMAGES OF STUNNING LOCATIONS AROUND BRITAIN. SOME ARE WELL-TRODDEN BY FILM CREWS, OTHERS STILL TO BE MADE FAMOUS ON THE BIG OR SMALL SCREEN...

THE OLYMPIC STADIUM, LONDON This picture was taken during the glittering Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics at The Olympic Stadium, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the east of London. As well as staging the opening and closing ceremonies for London 2012, all the major track and field events took place in the stadium. It now forms part of an area of parkland and state-of-the-art sporting and other facilities that will become regular locations in film and television productions, both local and international. (Photo, courtesy London Legacy Development Corporation)

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showcase - location uk in pictures

Sutton bank, yorkshire Described by author James Herriot as “the best view in England”, Sutton Bank is a high point in the Hambleton Hills and North York Moors National Park. The area provides spectacular landscapes with a patchwork of farms amid miles of beautiful, untouched rolling countryside, evoking an idyllic picture of rural England. Although this area has been used for various countryside reports for national TV and commercials, it is awaiting top billing for a film or TV production. (Photo, courtesy Creative England)

fort george, nr. inverness, scotland This Ministry of Defence property is the finest example of 18th century military engineering in the UK. The vast military camp and surroundings offer filmmakers authenticity and variety. Following the 1746 defeat at Culloden of Bonnie Prince Charlie, George II of England was motivated to create the ultimate defence against further Jacobite unrest in the construction of Fort George. Its garrison buildings, artillery and cannon, and superb collection of arms — including muskets, pikes, swords and ammunition pouches — provide a fascinating insight into 18th century military life. (Photo, courtesy Creative Scotland location services)

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showcase - location uk in pictures

kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cross station, london

The new semi-circular station concourse for this important station in the northern central London area, opened in 2012. The striking diagrid glass roof tops off the sympathetic redevelopment of the previously run-down terminus. Network Rail, which manages the station, is a film-friendly organisation and has managed a number of high-profile shoots. Famously, the station starred in the Harry Potter books and films, as the starting point for the Hogwarts Express, taking students to the school for wizards. A memorial to this is incorporated in the redevelopment of the station, with a plaque on the imaginary Platform 93/4 and a luggage trolley that seems to disppear into the brick wall below it. (Photo, courtesy Network Rail)

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ballintoy harbour, co. antrim, n. ireland

This beautiful working fishing harbour, which also has a small beach to its left, is reached by a steep winding road. Though a peaceful beauty spot in this picture, when it is windy and stormy the sea comes crashing over the rocks and the breaking waves can be enormous. It forms part of the famous Causeway Coast and Glens route which goes north from Belfast up to the Giantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Causeway, and Ballintoy is about 40 minutes out of Belfast on this road. This location came into its own in the second season of TV fantasy series Game Of Thrones (2011-), where it was used as Lordsport harbour on the island of Pyke, in the Iron Islands.

showcase - location uk in pictures

(Photo, courtesy Causeway Coast & Glens)

roman baths, Bath, somerset The Roman Baths is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the centre of the city of Bath, in the southwestern English county of Somerset. The site of the only naturally hot spring water in Britain, which can be seen flowing through original Roman lead pipes, the Roman Baths complex comprises the Great Bath, the Sacred Spring and many other features including a temple. The Pump Room, an elegant dining room with an ornate ceiling and chandeliers, is attached to the Roman Baths and was built in the 18th century to allow people to drink the spring water, becoming a focal point of Georgian society. This unique location has recently been used for TV film Persuasion (2007), TV series Bonekickers (2008) and Mariah Mundi And The Midas Box (2013). (Photo, courtesy Visit England/Bath Tourism Plus/Colin Hawkinds)

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great orme church, LLandudno, waLes On the northern side of limestone headland the Great Orme, at Llandudno in North Wales, stands the church of Saint Tudno, looking out to the Irish Sea. The churchyard and adjacent cemetery is approximately two miles from the town and still in use. Built in the 12th century on a Christian site that dates back to the sixth century, the church is dedicated to Saint Tudno, who established Christian worship in the area, his contemplative cell being in a cave on the headland. The area was used as a stage in the motor rally competition Wales Rally GB in 2011, but is awaiting its debut on the big screen. (Photo, courtesy Vinnod Jassal, Guild of Location Managers)

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leadenhall market, city of london Leadenhall is one of the oldest markets in London, dating back to the 14th century. It is located in the historic centre of the City of London, and formed part of the marathon course during the 2012 Olympic Games. The ornate roof — painted green, maroon and cream — and cobbled floors of the current structure were designed in 1881 by Sir Horace Jones, who also worked on Billingsgate and Smithfield markets in London. Originally a meat market, it is now home to shops and restaurants, busy with city workers through the week, and quieter at weekends, when it is easier to film. The market was used as a location to represent an area of London near The Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley in Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone (2001), and also featured in The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus (2009), Love Aaj Kal (2009) and Hereafter (2010). (Photo, courtesy Film London/James Dewar)

river thames, london This shot is taken from a Livett’s Launches boat on the River Thames. Marine consultant Livett’s is a specialist in filming on the river, working with The Port of London Authority, and played a major role in both the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee river pageant and the Olympic Games opening ceremony in 2012. Behind Westminster Bridge stands the famed Victorian Gothic Houses of Parliament, the third floor from which Robert Downey Jr jumped into the river in Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (2011). The Parliament building was blown up in V For Vendetta (2005), and the Doctor Who TV special An Adventure In Time And Space (2013) sees fantasy monsters The Daleks making their way across Westminster Bridge. Another unforgettable image of the River Thames was in the opening sequence of James Bond film The World Is Not Enough (1999). (Photo, courtesy James Dewar)

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wisley church, surrey Wisley is a small village in the southern English county of Surrey, and home to the Royal Horticultural Societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wisley Garden. The village dates back at least to the 11th century, where it was named in the survey, the Domesday Book, as Wislei. The church was built in 1150 and is one of a number of medieval churches in the area. This picture was taken while scouting for the HBO/BBC documentarystyle comedy TV series Family Tree, co-written and directed by Christopher Guest, and starring Chris Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Dowd. (Photo, courtesy Harriet Lawrence, Guild of Location Managers)

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banks of the tyne, newcastle

(Photo, courtesy Creative England)

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showcase - location uk in pictures

The northeastern English city of Newcastle straddles the River Tyne. The mixture of old and new architecture, incorporating examples of the best of contemporary design, as well as a number of unique bridges, creates a spectacular riverscape. Famously the 1971 gangster film Get Carter put Newcastle in the spotlight. More recently Billy Elliot (2000) filmed here, and TV series Tracy Beaker (2002-), Wire In The Blood (2002-) and Inspector George Gently (2007).

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showcase - location uk in pictures

killyleagh castle,

Co. down, northern ireland This fairy tale-style castle dates back in part to 1180, though its 19thcentury redesign by Sir Charles Lanyon gives it the look of a Loire chateau. Killyleagh has self-catering apartments that can be used by production crews, and is only a 30-minute drive from Belfast. Strangford Lough, a huge beautiful sea loch, is also close by. Cinderella (2007), part of a BBC TV series, filmed here, as did kid’s series Dani’s Castle (2012-). (Photo, courtesy Northern Ireland Screen)

snowdonia national park, wales This picture takes in the landscape of Snowdonia seen from a mountain road near the village of Nebo. On the western coast of Britain, Snowdonia National Park boasts the highest mountain in England and Wales and the largest natural lake in Wales. The Park was established in 1951 as the third National Park in Britain, and the first in Wales. It covers 823 square miles (2,140 sq km) and has 37 miles (60 km) of coastline, including sandy beaches, spectacular cliffs and estuaries. Films making use of Snowdonia include: Inn Of The Sixth Happiness (1958); Carry On... Up The Khyber (1968); Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life (2003); Clash Of The Titans (2010); and Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, the second unit (2011). (Photo, courtesy © Crown Copyright (2012) Visit Wales)

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five sisters of kintail, scottish highlands

One of the last few areas of wild land in Scotland, this rugged and remote estate in the West Highlands offers a true wilderness experience. The dramatic landscape encompasses the Five Sisters — a mountain ridge incorporating three Munros (a Scottish mountain higher than 3,000 ft/914.4 m) — and the Falls of Glomach, Britain’s second-highest waterfall, as well as lochs, glens and coastline.

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(Photo, courtesy National Trust of Scotland)

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belfast, river lagan northern ireland Belfast, Northern Ireland’s capital, is a vibrant city that developed on the flood plain of the River Lagan. The city grew and prospered as a centre for industry and commerce, including linen production, tobacco and shipbuilding — the main shipbuilders being Harland and Wolff, which built RMS Titanic. A rich history has left the city with a wide variety of architecture including Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian, as well as industrial buildings and ultra-modern steel and glass. Consequently Belfast has doubled for cities as diverse as New York, Copenhagen and London. Costs are competitive and within an hour or two you can reach beaches, mountains, lakes, forests and castles. The city airport is five minutes from the city centre, and the international airport is only 20 minutes away. (Photo, courtesy Northern Ireland Screen)

brecon beacons national park, wales The Brecon Beacons National Park contains stunning and diverse landscapes. This view takes in Pen y Fan, with its distinctive tabletop summit, and the neighbouring mountain in the ridge, Cribyn. The Park is also home to some of the UK’s most spectacular waterfalls, caves and wooded gorges. The National Parks in Wales all feature mountain landscapes that are easy to access and have therefore been used by numerous film and TV productions, including: An American Werewolf In London (1981); Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (2005); Stardust (2007); Killer Elite (2011); Wrath Of The Titans (2012); The Dark Knight Rises, the second unit (2012); Snow White And The Huntsman (2012); and TV series Merlin (2008-) and Da Vinci’s Demons (2013). (Photo, courtesy © Crown Copyright (2012) Visit Wales)

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FreeMasoNs’ HaLL LoBBY, london Freemasons’ Hall is the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England and the principal meeting place for Masonic Lodges in London. The Grand Lodge has been in Great Queen Street in central London since 1775, the present Hall being the third structure on the site. The stunning Art Deco building can double for institutional buildings anywhere in the world, and for UK TV series Spooks (2002-) it took the role of the secret service MI5 headquarters. Other productions using this location include: Sherlock Holmes (2009), Parade’s End (2012), and The Muppets... Again! (2014).

showcase - location uk in pictures

(Photo, courtesy Freemasons’ Hall)

george square, GlasGow, scotland George Square is a large civic square in the heart of Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city. It boasts grand historic buildings, including the City Council, and an important collection of statues and monuments dedicated to, among others, Robert Burns, James Watt, Sir Robert Peel and Sir Walter Scott. The streets surrounding the square are laid out in a grid system which can double for North American cities. Recent productions to use this area of Glasgow include: Cloud Atlas (2012), Under The Skin (2013), Fast & Furious 6 (2013) and World War Z (2013). (Photo, courtesy Creative Scotland location services)

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rhossili cliffs, gower peninsula, south wales The westernmost bay on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales, Rhossili Bay has a three-milelong sandy beach, popular with surfers, and overlooked by the Old Rectory, a National Trust holiday cottage. The Bay was voted the Best Beach in the UK in February 2013, and the thirdbest in Europe, in the Travellers’ Choice awards. At low tide there is a huge expanse of sand and it is possible to walk across the bay to the village of Llangennith or even cross to the Worm’s Head islet, and there are many nesting birds in the cliffs. Productions that have used this location include TV series Doctor Who (2005-) and Torchwood Miracle Day (2011), the music video Lover Of The Light for Mumford & Sons, and the shot of a choir singing on a beach in the Olympics Opening Ceremony was filmed here. (Photo, courtesy © Crown Copyright (2012) Visit Wales)

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spotlight - olympics

The aRcelORMiTTal ORBiT, the uk’s tallest sculpture

BMX TRack in the Queen elizabeth Olympic park

The VelOdROMe

spotlight

WiTH mAny THoUsAnds oF HoUrs oF TElEVision FooTAGE BroAdcAsT in THE sUmmEr oF 2012, london’s QUEEn ElizABETH olympic pArK HAs FAsT BEcomE A WEll-KnoWn lAndmArK AroUnd THE World. As THE pArK BEGins To opEn Up, THErE Will BE nEW opporTUniTiEs For FilmmAKErs To UsE iT As A locATion

A new London LocAtion FROM the Velodrome to the copper Box (formerly known as the Handball Arena), from the Arcelormittal orbit — the UK’s tallest sculpture — to the Aquatics centre, there is a diverse range of architecture and open spaces situated at london’s Queen Elizabeth olympic park. The back-of-house areas are likely to become of particular interest to high-end productions looking for alternative construction space set against an exciting backdrop that can double for many things — from interior spaceship walkways, modern reception areas and interrogation rooms through to barren sci-fi landscapes and established parkland, and local waterways within the park.

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With thousands of square feet of undeveloped warehouse space, offering a potential 60 feet clear height, robust connectivity as well as office space and parking, Film london and the British Film commission are already fielding enquiries for filming at the site. The press and Broadcasting centre also offers an ideal space for film houses. Film london has the job of mapping the park as it is being deconstructed and re-emerges to take its place among london’s iconic locations. it is also handling all filming enquiries which have included site recces for three major Us feature films. susie Williams, Film london’s Filming Advisor: industry, who handles

enquiries for the park’s owners, says: “With its blend of unique and generic features, the park holds endless possibilities for filmmakers. We are already hosting recces in the park and look forward to welcoming further enquiries.” According to Adrian Wootton, chief executive of the British Film commission and Film london: “it is an exciting time for Film london to be developing the potential of such a unique new london location set to attract filming from all areas, including commercials and high-end TV benefiting from the new TV tax relief.” it seems that the 2012 london olympic and paralympic Games were only the beginning for this iconic london landmark.

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F E AT U R E

ACTION

FEATURE - STUDIOS

THE NEED FOR STUDIO FACILITIES IN THE UK IS ON THE INCREASE. PINEWOOD STUDIOS, WARNER BROS. STUDIOS LEAVESDEN, AND ELSTREE STUDIOS ARE MORE IN DEMAND THAN EVER BEFORE. AND THE BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY HAS TAKEN ACTION, WITH A NUMBER OF NEW SPACES BEING ESTABLISHED TO MEET THAT DEMAND. CLIVE BULL REPORTS

THE UK is renowned for its famous film studios, many of which are among the great names of cinema history. Pinewood, Shepperton, Teddington, Elstree, Ealing and Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden are continually in demand from major film producers — so much so that there’s a great deal of expansion under way. Elstree Studios has secured funding for a multimillionpound redevelopment. Pinewood is expanding with 45,000 sq ft of additional space. After a £100m investment, Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden is now open, following a full-scale refurbishment and rebuild. But there are times when productions need to look further afield, often bringing an entirely new purpose to some unexpected locations. “On the one hand we are absolutely working with the existing studios to help in any way we can to sustain and develop their business,” Adrian Wootton, chief executive of the British Film Commission and Film London, says. “But at the same time we’re also aware of capacity. In the last few years, in film terms, there have been instances where we’ve had to work with film companies to bring into play, temporary, largely industrial spaces, whether they be warehouses, big hangars or disused runways.” With the prospect of high-end television productions attracted by the new tax relief, Wootton believes another aspect to this will be the possibility of ongoing drama series looking for studio space, potentially on a semi-permanent basis: “It’s not beyond the bounds

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/// of possibility that people will come here and say, ‘That works — we can

be here for a long time’. They can have a kind of ownership of that space, which is frankly what happened with Leavesden and Harry Potter. Leavesden was not a permanent studio facility — it was an extensive piece of land in which Warners saw huge potential and look what’s happened 10 years later: Warner Bros. has spent £100m making it a state-of-the-art permanent facility.” With the introduction of the new tax relief, it appears that a number of new studios are becoming active around the country. “This is an extension of what we’ve seen happen in film and shows our desire to get ahead of the curve and meet the demand,” Wootton says. “I’m confident that, with the partnership with the existing studio complexes, the brown-field industrial sites that we’ve already brought into play with film, and other spaces, developments and opportunities that our partners around the UK are looking at, we will have the studio capacity to cater for new productions coming to the UK.”

TITANIC STUDIOS The Paint Hall forms part of Titanic Studios, an eight-acre (3.2 ha) site that also includes two new purpose-built sound stages, offices, workshops, a green room and its own internal electrical substation. Originally part of the historic shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where parts of the Titanic were built, this is now one of the largest film studios in Europe. Home to some prestigious productions, the Paint Hall once housed the gigantic component parts of ships while they were painted in climate-controlled conditions. The sheer scale of the space is a major attraction for filmmakers. Most recently — and with a fourth season now confirmed — HBO’s epic TV fantasy Game Of Thrones chose the Paint Hall as the perfect site in which to locate parts of its giant mythological kingdom. Game Of Thrones is the largest and most expensive television production ever to be made in Northern Ireland. Production designer Martin Laing says he searched throughout Europe for a location big enough to feasibly build a whole city for City Of Ember (2008). “We came to this building, saw this facility and it was absolutely amazing, because it did allow us to build the city as we wanted to,” he says. The space is made up of four 16,000 sq ft (14,864 sq m) areas, which are set out in a square, each connected by an internal road and streets. “It actually makes it easier to shoot,” Laing says. “Rather than move from one stage to the next, here we have the luxury of filming the whole thing.” Each of the connected areas is 90 ft (27.4 metres) tall with one three-foot thick external wall. Noise pollution is also reduced by the building’s double skin.

BAY STUDIOS - THE OLD FORD FACTORY If Game Of Thrones is one good example of long-form drama moving into an unusual space and taking it into another dimension, then Da Vinci’s Demons is certainly another. Formerly a Ford components factory on the outskirts of Swansea in South Wales, it has been transformed into 15th century Florence for this big-budget television series from US cable channel Starz. The historical drama — written by David S Goyer, writer on Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy and 2013’s superman movie, Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel — imagines the early life of Leonardo da Vinci and has been crucial in establishing the former car components factory as a working film and television studio. A second series has been confirmed and the production team will remain in Wales at Bay Studios.

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The eight-part series has also helped create hundreds of part- and full-time jobs and there are hopes that a second series will be commissioned. There is certainly room for expansion, with some areas of the massive factory still as yet unused.

FEATURE - STUDIOS

CARDINGTON STUDIOS One of the most striking and unusual studio spaces in the UK is at Cardington. On the site of a former RAF airfield are two enormous hangars, originally built for barrage balloons and the construction of airships. “The scale of it is awesome. Nelson’s Column could easily stand in the hangar. There’s nothing in comparison to it,” Hayley Armstrong, Creative England’s production liaison manager for the east of England, says. She adds: “It’s the largest structure of its kind in Europe. You could fit Warner Bros.’ largest studio in Burbank in it six times over.” Warner Bros. had a lease on the site for eight years, taking advantage of the cavernous space to shoot Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Clearly a fan of Cardington, Nolan chose to construct an immensely complicated set in the hangar for Inception, where a long hotel corridor was able to rotate a full 360 degrees to create the effect of zero gravity. With Warner Bros. now based at Leavesden, Cardington became available for new productions at the beginning of the year. Situated in Bedfordshire, the

HAYLEY ARMSTRONG: “THE SCALE OF CARDINGTON IS AWESOME. NELSON’S COLUMN COULD EASILY STAND IN THE HANGAR” massive space is just over an hour from the centre of London, an hour from Pinewood and 55 minutes from Elstree. The site also offers production office space, workshop areas and a 20-acre backlot.

METROPOLITAN STUDIOS Offering more than 100,000 sq ft of studio space, the London Metropolitan Studios is another unconventional site that is now open for filming. “There are two pillar-less chambers without skylights, that are really well sound-insulated,” Anthony Iredale, managing director of The Collective, which manages the location, says. “They are adjacent to each other and are 35,000 sq ft each.” There is also a fur-

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/// ther 35,000 sq ft warehouse (each have 9.7 metre height clearance), plus

FEATURE - STUDIOS

production offices, a kitchen with canteen, storage areas and extensive secure parking for more than 200 vehicles. Situated just nine miles from central London, the studios are also within easy access of Ealing, Pinewood, Shepperton, Elstree and Leavesden. Originally a depot, the change of use is a sign of the times on the high street, with the site becoming vacant after the demise of Woolworths. “We are trying to find a mid- to long-term tenant ideally,” Iredale says.

ANTHONY IREDALE: “I THINK THERE ARE SOME HUGE ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE PIPELINE AND WE WILL NEED THIS STUDIO SPACE” “We see it as one of the higher quality unconventional studio spaces available in London, purely because most of the infrastructure is already there. Not a lot of money needs to be invested to be able to walk in and it be, in effect, a sound stage.” Iredale says high-end drama producers from overseas are already looking within the UK for semi-permanent locations, in part because of the new television tax relief. “I think there are some huge announcements in the pipeline and we will need this studio space,” he says. “Our ultimate objective was to offer this up across the globe as alternative studio space at a time when London really needs it.”

The smallest of the stages (4,225 sq ft) was formerly a testing chamber for military helicopters and is consequently an ideal height for housing larger sets. A wide range of workshops is available, along with office space and canteen facilities.

THE GILLETTE BUILDING Another impressive location given a new lease of life is the Gillette Building on the Great West Road in London. This Art Deco factory and office was once the European headquarters of Gillette and remains a prominent local landmark, with its high brick tower topped by an illuminated clock. Some of the larger sets for Rowan Atkinson’s spoof spy movie Johnny English (2003) were constructed inside the building. More recently, Great Expectations (2012) took over the site, transforming the interior into a large Victorian scene, complete with appropriately muddy streets and a selection of farm animals. Red 2 (2013), the crime caper starring Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones, spent in excess of six months at the Gillette Building, constructing Russian and Parisian streets at the facility. The production used the main warehouses, the outdoor space and the more industrial-looking factory area.

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THE BOTTLE YARD The South West of England’s largest dedicated studio space is The Bottle Yard, a site that for more than 50 years operated as a winery and bottling plant. But with film and television production space in the UK at a premium, this once empty warehouse has been brought back to life. The main warehouse alone is nearly 200,000 sq ft, and there are four smaller ‘tankhouses’ — buildings formerly used to blend and store wines and grape concentrate, one of which was the former home of six onemillion litre vessels of fortified wine. Eight miles from Bristol’s international airport and 15 minutes from Bristol city centre, the studio also has a large backlot that can be used for exterior set builds, with large exterior wall spaces for green screen use. The Bottle Yard is a controlled and secure environment capable of hosting driving and stunt sequences. For location shooting, the site has exteriors and interiors that have doubled for police stations, schools, hospitals and science labs. The facility can house two major productions at one time, both with separate production offices. Among the recent productions to use the facility were TV projects Sky’s Trollied and the BBC’s Dirk Gently and Inside Men.

LONGCROSS STUDIOS A former tank factory and British Ministry of Defence site, Longcross Studios in Surrey established itself as a production centre in 2006. Since then, the studios have proved immensely popular with major film producers, with Skyfall (2012), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Jack The Giant Slayer (2013) and Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014) among the numerous blockbusters that the studios have hosted. As well as a 200-acre backlot, the site also features a two-and-a-quarter-mile test track. Once used for testing 80-ton military tanks and now regularly in demand for filming, the track allows long shots to be created at high speed. There is also a 150-year-old manor house in the centre of the backlot, which is often used as a location, particularly for period dramas. Longcross has four main stages, the largest of which, at 42,000 sq ft, was used to create sets for Hugo (2011) and Clash Of The Titans (2010).

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13/05/13 12:02

SPOTLIGHT

DISNEY’S RE-TELLING OF THE STORY OF SLEEPING BEAUTY, FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE WICKED MALEFICENT, IS THE LATEST IN A SUCCESSION OF FAIRY TALE MOVIES TO BE SHOT IN THE UK. CLIVE BULL FINDS OUT WHERE

SPOTLIGHT - MALEFICENT

A TALE FROM THE DARK SIDE ANGELINA JOLIE AS MALEFICENT IN ROBERT STROMBERG’S FILM OF THE SAME NAME, RELEASED IN 2014

ONCE upon a time... classic tales like Snow White, Jack And The Beanstalk and Hansel And Gretel were handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. Nowadays it’s filmmakers who are re-telling these stories, and they are coming to the UK to do it. With such a rich vein of material, and the kind of technological advances now available to major studios, it’s no surprise that these timeless tales are being re-visited, and the UK has emerged as the natural choice of location. Snow White And The Huntsman (2012) and Jack The Giant Slayer (2013) were both filmed in the UK, taking advantage of the British countryside and the expertise of some of the world’s leading studios. Due for release in 2014, Disney’s live-action film Maleficent is a fresh twist on the Sleeping Beauty story, told from the perspective of the princess’ evil nemesis, played by Angelina Jolie. Exploring the origins of the evil fairy Maleficent and what led her to curse Princess Aurora, the movie also stars Elle Fanning and Juno Temple. Director Robert Stromberg based the production at Pinewood Studios,

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using a total of 12 different stages, including the world-famous 007 stage, the four-acre Paddock Lot and the 16-acre North Lot, which provides a vast open area that can accommodate massive standing sets and comes complete with its own cobbled street, originally constructed for The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes (1970).

bill darby

WE HAD SPACE THERE FOR 125 HORSES AND SOLDIERS” Members of the public reported catching occasional glimpses of Angelina Jolie as the production ventured into the English countryside for some of the exterior scenes. Supervising location manager Bill Darby selected several sites within easy reach of Pinewood, including Bullstrode Park in Gerrards Cross, where an enormous set was constructed. “We had space there for 125 horses and soldiers and we built a large green screen that we couldn’t fit in the studio at the time,”

Darby says. “A wall 40 ft (12.2 metres) high and 120 ft long gave us the scale and the coverage we needed.” Darby also took the production to the National Trust’s Ashridge, a country estate and stately home that has previously hosted films including Sleepy Hollow (1999) and Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (2005). Just 20 miles north west of London, Ashridge is in the Chiltern Hills, an area of outstanding beauty offering thousands of acres of commons and woodland. Maleficent also took advantage of the conveniently situated Black Park, a 500-acre area of heath and woodland adjacent to Pinewood Studios. Numerous productions including Thunderbirds (2004) and Phantom Of The Opera (2004) have used Black Park, a location that has also doubled for 19th century France, 19th century upstate New York, the Balkans, and a US summer camp. Meanwhile the fantasy theme continues with Disney’s forthcoming live-action production of Cinderella, the next fairy tale to be shot at Pinewood and in the surrounding countryside.

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14/05/13 13:13

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13/05/13 12:09

life on location - world war Z

CHaOS on the streets of PhiladelPhia, shot in GlasGow for world war Z

life on location

GlaSGow’S CITy CeNTre waS TraNSForMed INTo THe warTorN rUINS oF PHIladelPHIa laST SUMMer For THe FIlMING oF MarC ForSTer’S PoST-aPoCalyPTIC ZoMBIe MoVIe world war Z. ClIVe BUll rePorTS

The day zombies invaded GlasGow THE PROSPECT of Brad Pitt tackling a zombie pandemic in Glasgow’s city centre might seem unlikely — but that’s exactly what happened when world war Z (wwZ) came to Scotland’s largest city. Pitt plays UN worker Gerry lane, who travels the world attempting to halt the progress of a zombie takeover that could threaten the future of humanity. Based on the Max Brooks novel of the same name, the action-horror movie is directed by Marc Forster, who chose Glasgow as the city to take on the role of Philadelphia. “The opening sequence, in both the book and the script, is set in Philly and we needed to find a section of streets in the UK that

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could double for US streets,” location manager on world war Z, Michael Harm, says. “as it happens, I’d been to Glasgow many years before and remembered the grid layout and wide streets, which are uncommon in the UK.” Harm had noted that Glasgow’s side streets were often as wide as its main streets, echoing the style of US cities, while the architecture of the buildings also looked appropriate. “all we had to do was extend the buildings upwards in post production to make them taller,” he says. wwZ was the largest ever example of a city-centre shoot in Scotland. Glasgow’s central district and surrounding streets were

effectively closed for the duration. Brodie Pringle, Creative Scotland locations manager, says it was a huge operation, involving weeks of prep and two days of flooding George Square. “adding street signs and american street furniture, as well as fully functioning american traffic lights, created a convincing set that pulled together with the appearance of around 150 imported american cars, buses and taxis,” she says. “while filming, the VFX team scanned the entire area, which then allowed them to add a variety of skyscrapers and bridges to really give it the Philadelphia mark in post.” The shoot involved some complex action and stunts, including a car-crash sequence that sees a dustcart ploughing into a busy street of traffic. a cast and crew of around 1,200 people were assembled for the shoot, with hundreds of locals taken on as zombie extras. “what was truly fantastic was the excitement the residents and businesses showed in welcoming the filming,” Harm says. “There was constant interest in the shooting of the sequence and, although filming can be very disruptive, the vast majority of the public that were asked to make a detour around the action did so happily. The shoot went so well, very much through the support of the City of Glasgow and its residents.” Harm says that Glasgow City Council together with the Glasgow Film office were

13/05/13 12:50

LiFE On LOCAtiOn - world war Z

A ZOmbIE takes a yellow taxi ride through glasgow

/// central to the success of the shoot. “They

helped on all levels to bring the right people together to look at the smallest detail of how to facilitate a very large film unit in the heart of Glasgow for 17 consecutive days,” he says. The success of the wwZ shoot combined with the fact that the grid layout of the city-centre streets is reminiscent of many major US cities has prompted a number of other filmmakers to see Glasgow as highly

WORLD WAR Z IN THE UK AS WELL as Scotland, director Marc Forster and his vast crew shot in many other parts of the UK. A speedboat scene and other beach scenes were shot at picturesque Lulworth Cove in the southwest of England, and shots from a ship out at sea were shot a little further southwest off the coast of Falmouth in Cornwall. Other UK locations were Aldershot in Hampshire, England; Dunsfold Park in Dunsfold, Surrey, England; Southwark’s Heygate Estate, London; and a Royal Airforce base at Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire, England.

versatile with a talent for impersonation. “Glasgow features as Philadelphia in wwZ, San Francisco in Cloud atlas (2012) and, most recently, london in the forthcoming Fast & Furious 6 (2013),” Pringle says. “as a city, I think it’s fair to say that Glasgow is very proactive in promoting its availability as a location. It has worked hard over the years to pull together the logistics of supporting large-scale filming and can boast an impressive CV. Glasgow is very much open for business and has the experience throughout all the different city departments to make shoots of this scale happen quickly, smoothly and affordably.” Pringle says the city council and film office managed the wwZ shoot impeccably, and credits the crew with not missing a single deadline when it came to returning the streets to their original condition and re-opening them for business. “This is exciting because we now have a great template for working partnerships between the city and incoming filmmakers,” she says. “It’s also reassuring for

local residents and businesses to see that a proposal of this scale is entirely achievable and beneficial to the city.” once filming was completed each day and the set made safe and secure, families would arrive to take photographs, go on unofficial tours of the adapted square and enjoy the hospitality of the surrounding bars and restaurants. So how did the people of Glasgow react to a zombie invasion? “No-one really knew what to expect the first day the square was made accessible to the public, especially considering the scale of the closures,” Pringle says. “However the response was tremendous and the set created a real holiday atmosphere for its short spell in the city. There was a real buzz around the area and an influx of visitors from all over Scotland curious to see the transformation,” Pringle adds. “The zombies were kept well under wraps in between the action sequences. You never want to see the monster before you see the movie, do you?”

•

www.glasgowfilm.com info@glasgowfilm.com

Wide streets, an easily manageable grid system and eclectic architecture make Glasgow a top destination for your on-location filming

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13/05/13 15:10

spotlight

FOR THE FILMInG OF SuMMER In FEBRuARY, CAST AnD CREW STAYED WHERE THE REAL-LIFE ACTIOn HAPPEnED FOR MOST OF THE SHOOT. JuLIAn nEWBY SPOKE TO CAST MEMBER HATTIE MORAHAn

spotlight - SuMMER In FEBRuARY

WALKING IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS SUMMER In February is based on the 1995 novel by Jonathan Smith — who also wrote the screenplay. Set in the years running up to the First World War it tells the true story of the bohemian Lamorna Group of artists, dominated by the charismatic Alfred — or AJ — Munnings (Dominic Cooper), who was at the heart of a love triangle involving aspiring painter Florence Carter-Wood (Emily Browning) and Gilbert Evans (Dan Stevens), the land agent in charge of the Lamorna estate in Cornwall, on England’s south west peninsular. The film also stars Hattie Morahan as impressionist painter Laura Knight, with Shaun Dingwall as her husband Harold. The first half of the seven-week production schedule involved many of the dramatic coastal locations where the story took place almost exactly 100 years ago. The cast stayed at a hotel in the tiny hamlet of Lamorna, which has evolved from the original Jory’s Hotel where the story of AJ, Florence and Gilbert is played out. Just down the hill from there is The Wink pub, where the artists used to gather, and which is still popular with locals. While it was not possible to film in the newly modernised hotel, the production found its own version of Jory’s Hotel nearby. “We had all read the real characters’ memoirs, biographies and autobiographies — and they all describe the area, who lived where, where all the parties took place and so on,” Hattie Morahan says. “And the novel itself has wonderful descriptions of the beautiful coastline — and then suddenly we were all actually there. It was uncanny really. And for me it brought a whole new element to the part. I could leave the hotel before a day’s filming and in two minutes I’d be on the cliff’s edge, on the same path that my character describes as she walks carrying her canvasses — you know, literally treading in her footprints.

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And we’d go to the pub that they all used to go to — it’s something really magical to be able to do that, especially when you are playing a real character. You can just immerse yourself. “It was a most peculiar thing staying in the hotel. Even though it’s been revamped, the layout is the same as the old building. And the lead actress, Emily Browning, actually stayed in the room where her character killed herself. She would say that she could feel the presence of Florence — which, I have to say, would have freaked me out!” But a rare gift for an actor to be able to have that experience to bring to a performance? “Oh yes. And I’m sure that while film crews are always looking for authentic locations, nine times out of 10 they’ll go to the original place and it will look absolutely dreadful — there’ll be a Taco Bell there or something.” Producer Pippa Cross says that to shoot Cornwall properly they had to avoid the holiday season. “The obvious time to go to Cornwall is when the sun is shining and it’s a bit warmer, but then it’s also very busy. The great joy about being there in January and February was that we had it all to ourselves. And we shot

the hell out of it.” The uncertain weather brought the right look to the film according to director Christopher Menaul: “Although it looks sumptuous, it doesn’t look chocolate-box, which is another advantage of shooting it in the winter. Whenever you have good days, it has this sort of edge to it that you wouldn’t get in the summer.” Porthcurno, a windswept tidal beach beneath the Minack open-air theatre, provided the atmospheric setting for AJ’s night-time barbecue, while the panoramic Holywell Beach with shining sand and jagged rocks, was the backdrop for the film’s horse riding sequences. Other filming locations were found in the grounds and buildings attached to a castle in Oxfordshire; a 900-year-old Buckinghamshire pub; the Athenaeum Club in London’s Pall Mall; a church in Deptford, south London; York House in Twickenham, west London; and the courtyard of Burlington House in Piccadilly, home of the Royal Academy, of which Sir Alfred Munnings was president from 1944 to 1949. Distributed by Metrodome Distribution, the film’s producers are Apart Films, CrossDay Productions and Marwood Pictures.

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13/05/13 14:30

life on location

life on location - fast & furious 6

fast & furious 6 is the sixth installment in a series of universal studios action films that stars vin diesel and dwayne ‘the rock’ Johnson. the movie continues a long-running saga based around a group of street car racers who specialise in pulling off ambitious heists

THEY’RE BACK

Dwayne Johnson and Gina Carano in a sCene from fast & furious 6 shot on London’s Lambeth bridGe

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13/05/13 14:38

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fast 6 to the uK, he says: “Locations available only in London play an integral part of our story, and we’re grateful to the city’s people for welcoming the production.” initially, the fast 6 production team was concerned that shooting during the London 2012 olympic Games would be a problem — particularly given the number of ambitious driving sequences being lined up. so film London carried out an extensive feasibility study, liaising with councils and key agencies to see what they might be able to facilitate. the result was that the production shot in two blocks — first in June and then a main shoot from early september. By doing so, it avoided any clashes with the olympic and Paralympic Games. Jenny Cooper, filming partnership

manager at film London said: “the production came to film London early in pre-production with a wish list of iconic London locations.” scenes were shot in the central areas of Piccadilly Circus, Lincoln’s inn fields, King’s Cross, Wembley, Canary Wharf and Lambeth Bridge — which was turned into a war zone with Dwayne Johnson at the heart of it. “Even central government contributed by granting permission to film in an HM treasury parking lot,” samantha Perahia, senior production executive, British film Commission, says. fast 6 director Justin Lin had one minor setback when he was unable to obtain permission to shoot an action sequence at Piccadilly Circus involving an exploding oil

life on location - fast & furious 6

THE FAST & furious series of movies started to plateau after the fourth film. But the introduction of Dwayne Johnson as a hardcore fBi agent in fast 5 helped trigger a bounce-back, with global box office revenues hitting $626m — double what fast 4 had taken. that persuaded universal to back the release of director Justin Lin’s fast 6 with a big budget. all of which is good news for the uK, which hosted the fast 6 production in 2012. London in particular was a big beneficiary, with producer Neal Moritz “excited to bring the next chapter of the fast & furious franchise to one of the world’s most amazing cities”. Moritz has worked in London previously, on the movie Jack the Giant slayer (2013). Explaining why he brought

13/05/13 14:38

life on location - fast & furious 6

Shooting FaSt 6 on the streets of GlasGow at niGht

/// tanker. But fortunately he was able to turn to

nearby shepperton studios, which was tasked with building a replica for Lin to play with. While London was the big draw for fast 6, other pockets of the uK also got involved in the madness and mayhem. these included Hertfordshire’s raf Bovingdon. a military airfield that was frequently used in the 1960s for World War 2 movies such as the 633 squadron (1964), Bovingdon was used by fast 6, from october to November 2012, to stage a plane crash. it wasn’t just the southeast of England that benefited from the arrival of the fast 6 circus. Heading north, the production team filmed a series of car chases in central

Liverpool and the nearby Birkenhead tunnel. there was also a series of stunt and chase work for Glasgow. spread over two weeks, that part of the filming took place at night and involved 250 crew — a major shot in the arm for scotland’s production community. Hamish Walker of the Glasgow film office (Gfo) says the decision by the fast 6 production team to base part of its filming in the city is a vindication of the decision to set up the Gfo in 1997. “the Gfo was set up to help position the city as a production hub. since then, the economic impact for the city as a result of film, tV and commercials production has been over £200m ($309m).” some £23.1m of that total came in 2012

as Glasgow hosted high-profile productions such as World War Z (2013), Cloud atlas (2012) and fast 6. so how did the latter relationship come about? “Early last year, the location team on fast 6 was putting out feelers for remote locations that might be suitable for stunts and crashes involving fast cars,” Walker says. “as part of that process they came to scotland. While they were up here they spoke to us about whether we had any city locations that might double up as a modern business district. so we sent them some images.” after that initial contact everything went quiet for a few months. “But then they came back to us with a list of questions about what might be possible in terms of the production

FREEMASONS’ HALL Freemasons’ Hall is an extraordinary Art Deco Grade II* listed venue. Its spectacular corridors, floors and remarkable fittings provide a uniquely memorable atmosphere to film depicting either modern or period settings. All this within one, extraordinarily evocative labyrinth makes it a truly wonderful hidden treasure in Covent Garden, London. Contact: khaigh@ugle.org.uk

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13/05/13 14:38

life on location - fast & furious 6

Fast & Furious Factoids the producers of the fast franchise have proved very adept at finding locations that offer tax incentives and high levels of production support. in the case of fast 6, some of the film was shot in tenerife on the canary islands, including an ambitious sequence where a motorway bridge is blown to pieces. Previous films in the franchise have shot in Japan and Puerto Rico, the latter doubling up for Brazil. Key action sequences on fast 5 also shot in the Mojave Desert in california. around 400 vehicles were used in the filming of fast & furious 6 — many of which were pulverised. in one scene involving a tank, as many as 100 vehicles were trashed, although most started life as rust buckets, not new vehicles. a lot of cars are sourced and built in the US, but the UK connection on fast 6 meant that there was a nice cameo role for a fleet of seven classic ford escorts, sourced from classified ads and car enthusiasts. around 80 stunt drivers were involved in the film, including renowned British rally driver Mark Higgins. Some of the film was shot 25 miles outside london at Surrey-based longcross Studios, a former tank factory and test track that has previously been used for blockbuster theatricals including as clash of the titans (2010), War Horse (2011), John carter (2012) and Skyfall (2012). With its strong emphasis on car culture, the fast franchise has been a great brand integration opportunity for companies connected with the automotive sector. the Dodge charger has been a key part of the story since the start. other brands to appear in fast 5 included Honda, VW, Kenwood (car audio), ae Performance (car component design) and fox Racing Shox. the basing of Hollywood productions in the UK leads to some unexpected beneficiaries. one of these is Shropshire-based fabweld Steel Products, which was commissioned to make steel manhole covers for a scene in fast & furious 6. it’s not just British studios, locations and stunt teams that have benefited from fast 6. the villain in this latest installment of the franchise is luke evans, a Welsh actor who got his first movie break in 2010. film london also provided fast 6 with suggestions for crew, which led to a location scout being hired.

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lead times. so we spoke to various agencies such as the police and the traffic management authorities. once they had given their go ahead, we were able to meet up with the key personnel from fast 6 and start arranging for them to film here.” Walker believes Glasgow’s case was helped by the fact that it had previously shut down the centre of Glasgow for World War Z. “i think if you can show previous productions that have gone smoothly it helps in conversations with new clients,” he says. filming took place around Broomielaw, Cadogan street and Wellington street from august 25 to september 16, 2012. Because it was at night, some local newspapers ran stories in which local residents expressed fears that they wouldn’t be able to sleep because of the noise. But Walker says the disruption was minimal. “We made sure everyone knew in advance what was taking place, and we didn’t get much negative feedback. We have a lot of experience now in keeping businesses and the public aware of what is going on.” Glasgow handled the second unit on fast 6. While this meant it didn’t get to host the movie’s stars, it was still an important boost in terms of work generated locally. “the production team brought in some of their own specialist talent,” Walker says, “but it was still an important employment opportunity. it was also welcomed at a political level, because this kind of production creates a positive perception of the city.” While the production’s main requirement

neal moritz

LoCations aVaiLaBLe onLy in LonDon pLay an inteGraL part of our story, anD We’re GratefuL to the City’s peopLe for WeLCominG the proDuCtion” in terms of look was a modern business district with wide roads, Glasgow was also able to offer a useful vacant lot near the heart of the city: “We found a site [on Broomielaw] which could be used as a production base,” he says. it was also big enough for the production team to build a glass and chrome bank front for some of the stunts. it’s too early to say whether fast 6 can do better than fast 5. But there’s certainly a lot of confidence at universal studios that the franchise is gaining momentum. adam fogelson, chairman of universal, believes fast 5 was a game-changer, transforming a pure car culture series into an action franchise that has more in common with the italian Job (1969/2003) and the french Connection (1971). that confidence explains why universal has backed fast & furious 6 with a big budget and already set a 2014 release date for fast & furious 7. and there’s even talk of stories being scripted for movies 8 and 9. if that’s the case, it’s just possible Vin Diesel and his team will be back to rip up more roads across the uK.

•

13/05/13 14:38

F E AT U R E

FEATURE - HERITAGE

THE OLD & THE

BEAUTIFUL THE UK IS FAMOUS FOR ITS CASTLES, STATELY HOMES, CITY MANSIONS, ICONIC CLIFFS, HISTORIC BATTLEFIELDS, ANCIENT MONUMENTS, MEDIEVAL MONASTERIES, VICTORIAN JAILS AND TOWNS THAT TIME FORGOT. AND THEY ALL MAKE GREAT FILM SETS. JOANNA STEPHENS REPORTS “WE HAVE roughly 250 properties we offer as locations,” Harvey Edgington, broadcast and media manager for the National Trust (NT), says. The guardian of the nation’s cultural, historic and environmental treasures has been hosting shoots — “anything from stills to Spielberg” — since 1920, when a silent movie version of Don Giovanni was filmed at Ashridge Estate, and paid for in guineas. But it’s not all manor houses and period costumes, Edgington says: “We also have cellars and industrial areas and workhouses. And then there’s 600 miles of heritage coastline, including the White Cliffs of Dover and the Giant’s Causeway, and 500,000 square acres of land, which makes us the nation’s biggest farmer.” In other words, if you want to bring history to life, the NT is not a bad starting point. “We have around three crews a day out on National Trust land,” Edgington says. Among the NT’s recent clients are the feature films Les Miserables (2012, Ashridge), Anna Karenina (2012, Ham House) and Snow White And The Huntsman (2012, Frensham Ponds), and Stephen Poliakoff’s cinematic TV series Dancing On The Edge (2013, Upton House and Fenton House).

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Edgington says “small and delicate” properties tend not to be suited to the rough and tumble of large film crews, and the humping and bumping that inevitably accompanies big pieces of equipment being manoeuvred into small spaces. Lighting can also be a challenge, he adds, citing Anna Karenina, which was mostly shot indoors by candlelight. This required a hot-work permit, special double-wick, non-drip candles, meticulous floor and candlestick protection, countless fire extinguishers and, because smoke alarms had to be switched off, crew members on fire duty in every room. “The other thing about candles,” Edgington says, “is that for continuity reasons, they have to be snuffed out every time they say ‘cut’ which, if you’ve got a lot of candles, can add two or three hours to the day.” “If you look at what the National Trust has done, working very closely with us as a partner, and the way in which they’ve opened up their historic homes and gardens not just for period dramas — the Pride And Prejudices of this world — but also for Alice In Wonderland (2010), they’ve adapted to successfully accommodate filming,” Adrian Wootton, chief executive of the British Film Commission and Film London, says. “We’ve worked with them and with the historic royal palaces to develop new ways of working so that

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there’s no way a film or television company is in any sense damaging the heritage or preventing the public having access to those national treasures or those wonderful buildings. But we are making them available in a way that just wasn’t done before because we’ve been able to explain the limitations of conservation, lighting etc. to the filmmakers and the filmmakers have worked with us on the solutions. So some of the things that have been done around the country, in the historic stately homes and in London, we’ve managed to be able to turn round and say ‘Yes’, not ‘No’.” When it comes to big productions, the choice of location very often comes down to accessibility rather than aesthetics. “they love anything within striking distance of the M25,” edgington says, referring to London’s orbital motorway. So ashridge in hertfordshire, and Osterley Park and ham house on the western fringes of London are statistically the most popular locations in the Nt’s portfolio. Convenience and accessibility certainly played a part in the casting of Boughton house — otherwise known as the english Versailles — for a key role in Working title’s triple-Oscar-winner Les Miserables. Camilla Stephenson, supervising location manager for the film, worked with Creative england in the search for a house that combined a French architectural style with proximity to London and grounds substantial and secluded enough to host a major production without the need for elaborate trafficcontrol or security measures. Boughton house, the Duke of Buccleuch’s 11,000-acre country estate in Northamptonshire, proved to be the perfect setting. the tudor manor, transformed by its Francophile 17th century owner into a French fantasy set in an english idyll, is not just beautiful, but is also stuffed with exquisite paintings, furniture, porcelain, weapons and textiles, including pieces actually created for French royalty. From Stephenson’s viewpoint, it was the perfect family seat for Les Miserables’ hero Marius, and the ideal setting for his wedding to Cosette. and for a house that, as Stephen Badham, Creative england’s senior production liaison manager, says, was designed to host elegant 17th century soirees rather than boisterous film crews, Boughton played its first featurefilm role superbly. “as always, the production worked closely with conservators and curators to make sure there was as little impact as possible on the fabric of the house,” Badham says. “Unsurprisingly, location-owners can be hesitant about bringing a film crew into their homes — with 300 or so people traipsing around, it’s all too easy for floors to get damaged or 100-year-old wallpaper torn…” Creative england is not only well versed in the risks associated with filming in heritage buildings — and how to avoid them — but it also highlights the rewards that can flow from inviting cameras into your

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Glencoe & dalness This location was most recently used in Sam Mendes’ James Bond blockbuster Skyfall. © National Trust for Scotland

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castle. “a lot of these historic houses are struggling to make ends meet,” Badham says. “a production on the scale of Les Miserables brings in good money in location fees, not to mention the potential tourism benefits if the film turns out to be a hit.” Spending anything up to £30,000 a day on hotels and catering, a major film project also generates muchneeded income for struggling rural economies. “For Creative england, job creation for local people is a vital part of our mission,” Badham says. “But it’s not just a financial thing. it’s a question of morale, too. it raises people’s spirits to see the place where they live on film. So we feel it’s important to help spread the love.” Some 400 miles to the north, Scott McCombie, property manager and senior ranger at the National trust for Scotland’s (NtS) glencoe & Dalness property, is concerned with preserving and promoting a heritage location of a very different sort. McCombie’s patch includes glencoe and glen etive, two iconic Scottish landscapes wreathed in mists and myths, and stained by one of the bloodiest episodes in the history of Britain. On a wild night in February 1692, 38 MacDonalds were slain by their Campbell guests in the Massacre of glencoe. and that’s not the only blood on the heather: robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Kidnapped was based on the notorious appin Murder of 1745, which also took place near glencoe. history and fiction aside, the area’s majestic scenery has drawn numerous productions to this 13,000-acre tranche of untamed mountain and moor, described by McCombie as “the wildest place you can get to in Scotland that’s close to an airport”. it has served as the backdrop for, among others, rob roy (1995), Braveheart (1995), highlander (1986), harry Potter and the Prisoner Of azkaban (2004), Monty Python and the holy grail (1975), numerous commercials and, most recently, Sam Mendes’ James Bond blockbuster Skyfall (2012). Climactic scenes for Skyfall starring Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench were shot on NtS land in glencoe — the location of Bond’s childhood home — glen etive and Dalness Lodge, once owned by the family of Bond’s creator, ian Fleming. it was, says anna Preuss, NtS’ filming manager, a pleasure to work with the Bond crew, who were “absolutely blown away” by the landscape and wildlife that made guest appearances during the shoot. Most of the Skyfall scenes were also shot within a couple of metres of the road, McCombie adds, which resulted in minimum disruption to the area’s unique flora and fauna — always the overriding concern when shooting in a heritage environment. “We’re a Special area of Conservation, a Site of Special Scientific interest, part of the glen etive and glen Fyne golden eagle Special Protection area and within the Ben Nevis and glencoe National Scenic area,” he says. “a long list of conditions comes with each of those designations. For filming, the main ones concern not disturbing specific wildlife habitats, and not putting anything into the ground that you can’t take out. Basically, film companies have to be able to take everything away without leaving a mark.” Despite these restrictions, Preuss says NtS is extremely film-friendly and striving to be ever more so. Other recent big-budget films to have made use of the conservation charity’s property include Captain america: the First avenger (2011), in which Culross in Fife stood in

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/// for a Norwegian town; and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), which included

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aerial shots over the untamed wilderness of the 29,380-hectare Mar Lodge Estate in the Cairngorms National Park. A short hop over the Irish Sea brings you to the only other region of the UK — Northern Ireland — that can arguably give Scotland a run for its money in terms of sheer geological magnificence. The Causeway Coast and Glens region, the 120-mile stretch of coastline that links the cities of Belfast and Derry/Londonderry, offers one natural phenomenon after another: towering cliffs, jagged silhouettes, mile upon mile of golden sand, secret coves, lush green mountains, misty waterfalls... And then, of course, there’s the Giant’s Causeway itself, the World Heritage site consisting of some 40,000 interlocking basalt columns projecting eerily into the Atlantic Ocean. Legend has it that it was the handiwork of the giant Finn McCool, who was attempting to build himself a bridge between Ireland and Scotland. It was partly this other-worldliness that persuaded the makers of HBO’s epic TV series, Game Of Thrones (2011 onwards) — now powering into its fourth season — to opt for the Causeway Coast as the real-life setting for parts of the fantasy world of Westeros. Robert Boake, head of locations for the award-winning series, says the Game Of Thrones’ dense, multilayered plot, with its potent

mix of murder, mysticism and medieval warfare, called for a variety of spectacular settings, from ancient harbours to pagan temples, from castles to caves, from cliffs to beaches. And all these wonders also had to be within a sensible distance of Belfast. The Causeway Coast was the obvious contender. Boake spent weeks scouting the area, “driving down any road, however small, with access to the sea”. Certain spots failed to make the cut on practical grounds: “A production like Game Of Thrones is a big travelling circus, with 150 or so crew, 18 biggish trucks, loads of caravans, large marquees and military-spec trackway that, in some cases, has to go down before we arrive. But the great thing about the Causeway Coast is that, although it’s superb, unspoilt territory, most of it is very accessible.” Another challenge was sourcing a beach on which to film the pivotal scene at the start of the second series in which the seven idols of Westeros are burned. “We knew it was going to be a full-day’s shoot and exceed the tidal cycle, by the time we’d powered up the fires and got all the special effects and crew in place,” Boake says. “So we needed a beach that not only looked amazing but had enough head room so the set wouldn’t get wiped out when the tide came in.”

HERITAGE BUILDINGS AROUND THE UK THAT ARE REGULARLY USED FOR FILMING ENGLAND

BURGHLEY HOUSE, LINCOLNSHIRE Burghley has been featured in many high-profile films in recent years. As one of the largest and grandest houses of the first Elizabethan Age the Tudor manor was built and largely designed by William Cecil, Lord High Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I between 1555, and 1587, and it is for this reason that historic thriller Elizabeth: The Golden Age shot here. Credits: Pride And Prejudice (2005); The Da Vinci Code (2006); Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

HIGHCLERE CASTLE, WEST BERKSHIRE Highclere Castle is one of England’s most beautiful Victorian Castles set in 1,000 acres of spectacular parkland. The Carnarvon family has lived at Highclere since 1679, and the current Castle stands on the site of an earlier house, which in turn was built on the foundations of the medieval palace owned by the Bishops of Winchester for some 800 years. Julian Fellowes had Highclere Castle in mind as he wrote Downton Abbey. Credits: TV series Downton Abbey

MANCHESTER TOWN HALL Regarded as one of the finest interpretations of Gothic revival architecture in the world, the Victorian Grade I-listed building is richly decorated with mosaic floors, murals and statues. Hammerbeam ceilings, vaulted corridors and pointed Gothic windows add to the distinctly medieval atmosphere. Credits: Sherlock Holmes (2009); The Iron Lady (2011)

(2010 onwards)

CHARLESTOWN HARBOUR, CORNWALL The home port of Square Sail’s fleet of tall ships, the unspoilt, Grade II listed harbour retains much of its Georgian character. The village is part of a World Heritage site. Particles of mica in the surrounding sea give it a distinctive turquoiseblue colour. Credits: Saving Private Ryan (1998); Ladies In Lavender (2004); Alice In Wonderland (2010); Mariah Mundi And The Midas Box (2013)

HATFIELD HOUSE, HERTFORDSHIRE This unrivalled example of Jacobean architecture is set in a 1,000-acre estate. Features include a private chapel, a grand hall with minstrel gallery, a library, a long hall with a black-and-white marble floor and magnificent staterooms. Credits: Shakespeare In Love (1998); Batman Begins (2005); Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007); Hot Fuzz (2007); Sherlock Holmes (2009)

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KENWOOD HOUSE, LONDON Even though it’s in north London, Kenwood House looks like a stately home in a country setting. Which means that film crews based in the capital use it regularly. Situated next to one of the most popular open spaces in the capital, Hampstead Heath, the house is famous for its picnic concerts held during the summer. The neoclassical mansion and its estate of 112 acres were given to the nation in 1928 by the first Earl of Iveagh — Edward Cecil Guinness, who was the head of the Guinness brewing family. Credits: Mansfield Park (1999); Notting Hill (1999); Venus (2006)

LACOCK, WILTSHIRE National Trust-run Lacock village was built on the wealth generated by the wool trade. It has over 200 listed buildings, including a medieval abbey, a tithe barn, 15th century pubs, and houses built in various styles from wood, golden Cotswold stone and brick. Credits: Harry Potter (The Philosopher’s Stone, 2001, and Chamber Of Secrets, 2002); Pride And Prejudice (2005); TV series Cranford (2007)

MARBLE HILL HOUSE, LONDON Marble Hill House is a Palladian villa set in over 60 acres of riverside parkland. It is the last complete survivor of the elegant villas and gardens which bordered the River Thames between Richmond and Hampton Court in the 18th century. Marble Hill was built for Henrietta Howard, mistress of King George II when he was Prince of Wales. The house and gardens were intended as an Arcadian retreat from crowded 18th-century London. Its grand interiors have been restored and recreated and include a collection of early Georgian paintings.

YORK MINSTER, YORKSHIRE A stunning example of medieval Gothic architecture, York Minster’s highlights include beautifully preserved external stonework, magnificent stained glass — including the famous Rose Window, dating from around 1500 — breathtaking interiors and elaborate tombs. Credits: Elizabeth (1998); The Da Vinci Code (2006); TV series Crusoe (2008)

Credits: Nanny McPhee Returns (2010)

MENTMORE TOWERS, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE Mentmore Towers is a 19th century English country house in the village of Mentmore in Buckinghamshire. The house was designed by Joseph Paxton and his son-in-law, George Henry Stokes in the 19th century revival of late 16th/ early 17th century Elizabethan and Jacobean styles called Jacobethan, for the banker and collector of fine art, Baron Mayer de Rothschild as a country home, display case for his collection of fine art and as an assertion of status. Credits: Batman Begins (2005)

WEST WYCOMBE PARK, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE Madonna’s debut as a director for W.E. was shot at West Wycombe Park. The film tells the story of King Edward VIII and his love for Wallis Simpson. West Wycombe Park is a country house near the village of West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, built between 1740 and 1800. It was conceived as a pleasure palace for the 18th-century libertine and dilettante Sir Francis Dashwood, 2nd Baronet. The house is a long rectangle with four façades that are columned and pedimented. Credits: Labyrinth (1986); W.E. (2011); X-Men: First Class (2011)

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Castell CoCh, south glamorgan Completed in 1891, this magical castle is set in woodland just five miles outside Cardiff. a romantic fantasy conceived by the eccentric genius William Burges for the Marquis of Bute, the castle features a working portcullis and drawbridge, a dry moat, a cobbled courtyard and sumptuous interiors. Credits: The Scarlet Pimpernel

SCOTLAND

Craigievar Castle, aberdeen and grampian Surrounded by landscaped parkland, this fairytale castle is a fine example of Scottish Baronial architecture. Presided over by a great tower, completed in 1626, Craigievar’s USPs include original plaster ceilings, Jacobean woodwork and a Scottish glen garden. Credits: The

in recent years, St Donat’s has hosted several productions, including tV series Merlin (2008 onwards) and Doctor Who (2005 onwards), Mr Nice (2010), ironclad (2011), and most recently, the BBC/Starz historical fantasy tV series Da Vinci’s Demons (2013), which recounts the ‘untold’ story of Leonardo da Vinci’s turbulent youth in renaissance Florence. Welsh-speaking location/studio manager gareth Skelding is a St Donat’s fan: “it offers a lot of different looks and periods — rose gardens, beaches, a church, a harry Potteresque dining hall — you can go to St Donat’s and shoot four different locations in one day. it’s also well placed for transport, Welsh crews are great and atlantic College is incredibly welcoming and film-friendly. i’m always going to them with weird requests.” One of Skelding’s big asks was to bring giraffes and zebras into the dining hall for an episode of Da Vinci’s Demons. another concerned the Vampires Of Venice episode of Doctor Who, when he asked atlantic College whether they would mind if he blew up their castle. “they didn’t flinch,” he reports. “they knew it would all be simulated and very safe, and that we would leave everything in better condition than we found it. When you’re working around heritage buildings, you just don’t take any chances.”

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the solution came in the form of Downhill Strand, on a rocky outcrop above which stands Mussenden temple, a classical folly built in 1785 as a summer library. the resultant scene, Boake says, has wow factor in spades. “But if you give the visual-effects guys something superb to start with, it makes their job of making magic easier,” he says. Magic, fairytale and fantasy are clearly something of a Celtic speciality — and the Welsh are no exception. the ancient country of Wales has more than its fair share of heritage buildings and landscapes, from coal mines to cathedrals. But if Wales has one clear USP, it is military architecture: concentric, square, moated, crenellated, restored, ruined, 10th century Norman, 18th century gothic revival — with over 400 of them, the Welsh are, in short, kings of the castle. St Donat’s Castle, which stands guard over the Bristol Channel, is a classic example. the medieval building with its landscaped tudor gardens — now home to UWC atlantic College — was owned for 440 years by the Stradling family. From the mid-18th century, it passed through a succession of owners, including the US newspaper magnate William randolph hearst. guests to St Donat’s have included Sir Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, Clark gable and george Bernard Shaw, who is quoted as saying: “this is what god would have built if he had had the money.”

preston mill, edinburgh and the lothians hidden away in rural east Linton is the architectural oddity Preston Mill, with its conical roof and red pantiled buildings. east Lothian’s last working mill is said to have been designed in the Dutch style to appease a former laird’s wife, who was homesick for her native holland. Credits: This September (2010)

Last Of The Blond Bombshells (2000)

the royal burgh of Culross, angus & fife the picturesque royal Burgh on the north shore of the Firth of Forth is a complete community preserved in a 16th and 17th century time warp. highlights include the Palace — a merchant’s house that dates from 1597 and is noted for its painted walls and ceilings. Credits: The Little Vampire

(1982); TV series The Worst Witch (1998); and Da Vinci’s Demons (2013)

gWili steam railWay, south Wales this restored 3.5-mile stretch of standard-gauge preserved railway runs from Bronwydd along a section of the former Carmarthen to aberystwyth railway. Originally opened in 1860, the heritage railway was closed for passenger traffic in 1965. Credits: The Edge Of Love (2008); Heidi (2005); Carrie’s War (2004)

tredegar house, south Wales Set in a 90-acre park, tredegar house is one of the most significant late 17th century houses in the UK. the earliest surviving parts of the restoration gem date back to the early 1500s. Features include staterooms, a great hall, the gilt room, intriguing servants’ quarters and a landscaped lake. Credits: TV series Sherlock (2010-), Upstairs Downstairs (2010-), Doctor Who (2005-) and Torchwood (2006-)

Crom Castle, Co fermanagh Set in rolling parkland fringing an archipelago of wooded islands, Crom has been the seat of the earls of erne for 350 years. it enjoys an unrivalled location in the heart of Northern ireland’s lake district. Credits: TV series Blandings (2013) Crumlin road gaol, belfast the only remaining Victorian-era prison in Northern ireland dates back to 1845. Until 1901, executions were carried out in public view at the gaol, which finally closed its doors in 1996. the Crumlin road Courthouse, now derelict, stands opposite the gaol. the two buildings are connected by a tunnel, which was used to transport prisoners. Credits: Breakfast On Pluto (2005); Starred Up (2014)

(2000); TV series The 39 Steps (2008); Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

WALES

tretoWer Court, poWys For over 900 years, tretower Court has been altered, adjusted and adapted by a succession of rich and influential owners. Magnificent 15th century timberwork still survives, along with later Classical-style windows dating from the 1630s. a 15th century garden has also been recreated. Credits: Restoration (1995); The Libertine

Culzean Castle, ayrshire and arran Culzean Castle can date its history back to a medieval tower house built in the 1400s. today, its dramatic cliff-top setting, robert adam architecture, 242-ha grounds encompassing lush woodland, landscape gardens and rugged coastline, make it one of Scotland’s foremost historic attractions. Credits: The Wicker Man (1973) Kintail and West affriC One of the last areas of wilderness in Scotland, this rugged, remote estate in the West highlands offers some of the most dramatic scenery in the country. Features include the Five Sisters mountains, Britain’s second highest waterfall and the National Nature reserve glen affric, said to be the most beautiful of all Scotland’s glens. Credits: Sky TV commercial; Walking Through History With Tony Robinson (working title)

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(2004); TV series Sarah-Jane Adventures (2007-2011)

NORTHERN IRELAND Caerphilly Castle, Caerphilly Begun in 1268, this immense castle is one of the great medieval fortresses of Western europe and, in the UK, second only to Windsor Castle in size. Famous for its leaning tower and great hall, it is remarkable for its formidable defences, including the large-scale use of water and concentric rings of stone. Credits: Restoration (1995); TV series Young Dracula (2006); Doctor Who (2005); and Merlin (2008)

ballyWalter parK, Co doWn this imposing stately home, still privately owned by the Mulholland family, was transformed from an original georgian house into a Victorian italianate palazzo by architect Sir Charles Lanyon. Features include a conservatory, billiard room and extensive pleasure grounds. Credits: Divorcing Jack (1998); Christopher And His Kind (2011); Hitler On Trial (2012); The Wipers Times (2013)

dunluCe Castle, Co antrim this dramatic ruined castle, parts of which date back to the 14th century, is located on a headland off the North antrim coast. it is wreathed in ghostly legends. in 1639, the kitchen collapsed into the sea during a banquet, taking most of the servants with it. their ghostly screams can still be heard on stormy nights as they plunge forever to their doom. Credits: Your Highness (2011)

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Focusing on the detail, so you can make the bigger picture

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LIFE ON LOCATION

THE WIPERS TIMES TELLS THE STORY OF THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL PIONEER CORPS WHO SET UP A SATIRICAL NEWSPAPER WHILE POSTED IN THE BELGIAN CITY OF YPRES DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR — AND FOR BELGIUM, READ NORTHERN IRELAND. JULIAN NEWBY MET PRODUCER DAVID PARFITT

LIFE ON LOCATION - THE WIPERS TIMES

WE HAPPY FEW THE STORY of The Wipers Times has been on the mind of the film’s writer, Ian Hislop, for some 10 years. Himself the editor of a satirical newspaper, the UK’s bi-weekly Private Eye, Hislop had already told the story in a documentary for BBC Radio 4, but he was keen to see it on the screen. He and co-writer Nick Newman originally approached Oscar-winning producer of Shakespeare In Love (1998), David Parfitt, around five years ago. “I said, ‘Well … mud, trenches, I’m not really interested actually …’ and they went away. I was not very encouraging,” Parfitt says. “But luckily they came back to me last year and said: ‘Well you’ve done Parade’s End (2012) now, so what was all that about mud and trenches not being very interesting?’” The five-part television drama adapted from Ford Madox Ford’s WWI tetralogy (see Location UK 2012) had whetted Parfitt’s appetite and he was ready for more. The Wipers Times follows the story of Fred Roberts — or Captain Roberts — a British mining engineer who had been working the diamond mines in South Africa before returning to Britain at the start of the First World War to volunteer. He joined the Royal Pioneer Corps and was soon on his way to Ypres. While there he and his fellow servicemen discovered a printing press and decided to start a newspaper. The Wipers Times was published regularly from 1915 until just after the end of the war. “They used various presses in various places, the publication changing its title as the army moved from place to place — and it’s a brilliant read even now. You can buy the collected editions and it really is fantastically funny and very modern actually,” says Parfitt, who is also chair of Film London. “The frontline troops would move up to the front, say, for a few days, a week, or maybe slightly longer and then move back for a couple of weeks to clean up, get themselves back in shape, and get ready for the next onslaught. And the Pioneer Corps would move along behind troops or sometimes

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BEN CHAPLIN AS CAPTAIN ROBERTS IN THE WIPERS TIMES.

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life on location - THE WipErs TimEs

DAvID PARfITT (left) on the set of the Wipers times

/// in front, digging or repairing trenches and

eventually becoming part of the fight as it all got a little more desperate.” in their down time, they would put the paper together. “And it was all old-fashioned metal typesetting, on beautiful printing presses.” While some in the High Command saw it as something of a seditious publication — the satire often targeted at them — it was decided to allow the The Wipers Times to continue. “The smarter among them said ‘No, this is actually great for morale, allowing the troops to take a pop at us.’” so the natural place to shoot a film about Belgium, is Belgium. “We’re always very keen to get out and about [to film] and obviously i had experience with parade’s End of digging a trench complex which we did in Belgium,” parfitt says. “The other thing that we did there was we found a large chateau and we were able to use all sorts of different parts of the building

THE WAR AT WIPERS tHe fiRSt British soldiers to arrive in Ypres were the men of the iV corps under General Rawlinson, on october 14, 1914. they made contact with french troops of 87th territorial Division who were already there. the task was to defend the town and to block the route for the German army through Ypres to the ports on the french and Belgian coast. Most records suggest that the local people of Ypres carried on with their lives very much as usual. Soldiers in the British army quickly turned the french name of Ypres into a much easier word to pronounce. they called it “Wipers”. the British army remained in Wipers for four years from october 1914 to the end of the war in november 1918.

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david parfitt

i sAiD, ‘WELL … muD, TrENCHEs, i’m NOT rEALLY iNTErEsTED ACTuALLY …’ AND THEY WENT AWAY. i WAs NOT vErY ENCOurAGiNG” as grand rooms for the High Command, and as parts of trench complexes in the undercrofts and cellars of the house. so the idea of basing ourselves in a big house and using hopefully local locations to dig trenches was pretty fresh in my mind.” so parfitt and his team checked out Belgium once again. “And then we talked to Northern ireland screen (Nis) and they said, ‘Well you’re looking to do this in February which is a very good time for us because Game Of Thrones isn’t in town and we have lots of crew, so can we convince you to come here?’ And we were very convinced. We managed to find two major locations that dealt with pretty much everything we needed. We found an old disused linen mill about half an hour outside Belfast at Ballyclare. it’s a very large factory complex with cobbled streets and parts of it are collapsing, so that offered us the bombed-out areas. And because of the state of the place we could do pretty much anything we wanted there.” The other main location was a stately home in Ballywalter park, a nearby country estate. “That gave us things like the posh interiors for London hotels, space for the High Command, and again cellars to represent the spaces under the battlements of Ypres where they were based. so we did the whole thing between those two places,” parfitt says, with the exception of one-time centre of the British press, Fleet street,

which was shot in the Northern ireland capital Belfast. Trenches were dug on the estate’s grounds in ploughed fields which, during February, were not yet in use. “We were out by march. We just had to fill the trenches in at the end so they could plant their crops.” Assistance was given to the project by Nis which offers production funding in the form of a recoupable loan, intended to assist in the completion of budgets on productions which are almost fully financed, at least to 65%. The Wipers Times is commissioned and part-funded by BBC2 and is also being distributed theatrically, for which further funding came from Goldcrest Films and Content media. Nis also helped with crew and other aspects of the production. “We offer all productions which choose to film in Northern ireland a free information service to assist with all aspects of filming here,” moyra Lock, head of marketing at Nis, says. “This includes help with budgeting, securing studio facilities and suggesting other build space, as well as help with crewing up by hosting crew calls on our website.” Nis also gave a lot of local support in terms of just being around and helping us to contact people,” parfitt says. “And they gave us a location manager for a couple of days when we were doing the recce. The crew we worked with there was fantastic. We ended up crewing entirely locally.” The Wipers Times is directed by Andy de Emmony. Ben Chaplin stars as Captain roberts. michael palin plays General mitford, a supporter of the paper who recognises its worth to morale, with Ben Daniels playing his deputy, LieutenantColonel Howfield. The role of Winston Churchill is played by paul Kennedy.

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SPO N S O R S AND SUP P ORTERS BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE (BFI) 21 Stephen Street London W1T 1LN +44 (0)20 7255 1444 www.bfi.org.uk DEPARTMENT FOR CULTURE, MEDIA & SPORT (DCMS) 100 Parliament Street London SW1A 2BQ +44 (0)20 7211 6000 enquiries@culture.gov.uk www.culture.gov.uk UK TRADE & INVESTMENT (UKTI) 1 Victoria Street London SW1H 0ET +44 (0)20 7215 5000 www.ukti.gov.uk BRITISH FILM COMMISSION SPONSORS FRAMESTORE 19-23 Wells Street London W1T 3PQ +44 (0)20 7344 8000 www.framestore.com HARBOTTLE & LEWIS Hanover House 14 Hanover Square London W1S 1HP +44 (0)20 7667 5000 www.harbottle.com PINEWOOD STUDIOS GROUP Pinewood Studios Pinewood Road Iver Heath Bucks SLO 0NH +44 (0)1753 659200 sales@pinewoodgroup.com www.pinewoodgroup.com SAFFERY CHAMPNESS Lion House Red Lion Street London WC1R 4GB +44 (0)20 7841 4000 info@saffery.com www.saffery.com WALT DISNEY 3 Queen Caroline Street London W6 9PE +44 (0)20 8222 1000 www.disney.co.uk WARNER BROS ENTERTAINMENT UK LTD 98 Theobald’s Road London WC1X 8WB +44 (0)20 7984 5400 www.warnerbros.co.uk DOUBLE NEGATIVE VISUAL EFFECTS 160 Great Portland Street London W1W 5QA +44 (0)20 7268 5000 info@dneg.com www.dneg.com MPC 127 Wardour Street London W1F 0NL +44 (0)20 7434 3100 mailbox@moving-picture.com www.moving-picture.com

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WORKING TITLE FILMS 26 Aybrook Street London W1U 4AN +44 (0)20 7307 3000 www.workingtitlefilms.com

FEDERATION OF ENTERTAINMENT UNIONS (FEU) +44 (0)7914 397243 info@feutraining.org www.feutraining.org

ELSTREE STUDIOS Shenley Road Borehamwood Hertfordshire WD6 1JG +44 (0)20 8953 1600 info@elstreestudios.co.uk www.elstreestudios.co.uk

FILM LONDON Suite 6.10 The Tea Building 56 Shoreditch High Street London E1 6JJ +44 (0)20 7613 7676 info@filmlondon.org.uk www.filmlondon.org.uk

BRITISH FILM COMMISSION NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD CHAIR OF THE BRITISH FILM COMMISSION ADVISORY BOARD: IAIN SMITH British Film Commission Suite 6.10 56 The Tea Building Shoreditch High Street London E1 6JJ +44 (0)20 7613 7675 enquiries@britishfilmcommission.org.uk www.britishfilmcommission.org.uk BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE (BFI) 21 Stephen Street London W1T 1LN +44 (0)20 7255 1444 www.bfi.org.uk BRITISH SCREEN ADVISORY COUNCIL (BSAC) 73 Berwick Street London W1F 8TE +44 (0)20 7287 1111 www.bsac.uk.com CREATIVE ENGLAND 1st Floor College House 32-36 College Green Bristol BS1 5SP +44 (0)20 8324 2311 production@creativeengland.co.uk www.creativeengland.co.uk CREATIVE SCOTLAND Waverley Gate 2-4 Waterloo Place Edinburgh EH1 3EG +44 (0)845 603 6000 enquiries@creativescotland.com www.creativescotland.com CREATIVE SKILLSET Focus Point 21 Caledonian Road London N1 9GB +44 (0)20 7713 9800 info@creativeskillset.org www.creativeskillset.org

FRAMESTORE 19-23 Wells Street London W1T 3PQ +44 (0)20 7344 8000 www.framestore.com HARBOTTLE & LEWIS Hanover House 14 Hanover Square London W1S 1HP +44 (0)20 7667 5000 www.harbottle.com MAYOR OF LONDON Greater London Authority City Hall The Queen’s Walk London SE1 2AA +44 (0)20 7983 4000 www.london.gov.uk NORTHERN IRELAND SCREEN 3rd Floor Alfred House 21 Alfred Street Belfast BT2 8ED Northern Ireland +44 (0)28 9023 2444 info@northernirelandscreen.co.uk www.northernirelandscreen.co.uk PINEWOOD STUDIOS GROUP Pinewood Studios Pinewood Road Iver Heath Bucks SLO 0NH +44 (0)1753 659200 sales@pinewoodgroup.com www.pinewoodgroup.com PRODUCERS’ ASSOCIATION OF CINEMA & TELEVISION (PACT) 3rd Floor Fitzrovia House 153-157 Cleveland Street London W1T 6QW +44 (0)20 7380 8230 www.pact.co.uk

DIRECTORS UK 3rd & 4th Floor 8-10 Dryden Street London WC2E 9NA +44 (0)20 7240 0009 info@directors.uk.com www.directors.uk.com

PRODUCTION GUILD OF GREAT BRITAIN Room 329 Main Admin Building Pinewood Studios Pinewood Road Iver Heath Bucks SLO 0NH +44 (0)1753 651767 PG@ProductionGuild.com www.productionguild.com

DOUBLE NEGATIVE VISUAL EFFECTS 160 Great Portland Street London W1W 5QA +44 (0)20 7268 5000 info@dneg.com www.dneg.com

SAFFERY CHAMPNESS Lion House Red Lion Street London WC1R 4GB +44 (0)20 7841 4000 info@saffery.com www.saffery.com

UK SCREEN ASSOCIATION 47 Beak Street London W1F 9SE +44 (0)20 7734 6060 angela@ukscreenassociation.co.uk www.ukscreenassociation.co.uk UK TRADE & INVESTMENT (UKTI) 1 Victoria Street London SW1H 0ET +44 (0)20 7215 5000 www.ukti.gov.uk

SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS

BRITISH FILM COMMISSION FUNDERS

WARNER BROS ENTERTAINMENT UK LTD 98 Theobald’s Road London WC1X 8WB +44 (0)20 7984 5400 www.warnerbros.co.uk WELSH GOVERNMENT ASSEMBLY Cathays Park Cardiff CF10 3NQ +44 (0)1443 845500 wag-en@mailuk.custhelp.com www.wales.gov.uk UK FILMING AGENCIES CREATIVE ENGLAND 1st Floor College House 32-36 College Green Bristol BS1 5SP +44 (0)20 8324 2311 production@creativeengland.co.uk www.creativeengland.co.uk FILM LONDON Suite 6.10 The Tea Building 56 Shoreditch High Street London E1 6JJ +44 (0)20 7613 7676 info@filmlondon.org.uk www.filmlondon.org.uk NORTHERN FILM AND MEDIA BALTIC Centre South Shore Road Gateshead NE8 3BA +44 (0)191 440 4940 info@northernmedia.org www.northernmedia.org NORTHERN IRELAND SCREEN 3rd Floor Alfred House 21 Alfred Street BelfastBT2 8ED Northern Ireland +44 (0)28 9023 2444 info@northernirelandscreen.co.uk www.northernirelandscreen.co.uk CREATIVE SCOTLAND Waverley Gate 2-4 Waterloo Place Edinburgh EH1 3EG +44 (0)845 603 6000 enquiries@creativescotland.com www.creativescotland.com FILM AGENCY FOR WALES Suite 7, 33-35 West Bute St Cardiff CF10 5LH +44 (0)29 2046 7480 enquiries@filmagencywales.com www.filmagencywales.com WALES SCREEN COMMISSION Welsh Government Creative Sector 1st Floor North QED Treforest Ind. Est Pontypridd CF37 5YR +44 (0)300 061 5634 enquiry@walesscreencommission.co.uk www.walesscreencommission.com

14/05/13 14:58

LONDON FILMING PARTNERSHIP CLUB MEMBERS - GOLD MEMBER

SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS/ADVERTISERS INDEX

THE DORCHESTER COLLECTION The Dorchester Park Lane London W1K 1QA 45 Park Lane London, W1K 1PN +44 (0)20 7319 7166 www.thedorchester.com ELSTREE STUDIOS Shenley Road Borehamwood Hertfordshire WD6 1JG +44 (0)20 8953 1600 info@elstreestudios.co.uk www.elstreestudios.co.uk THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF INNER TEMPLE Crown Office Row London EC4Y 7HL +44 (0)20 7797 8250 www.innertemple.org.uk

THE LONDON LEGACY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION Level 10 1 Stratford Place Montfichet Road London E20 1EJ +44 (0)20 3288 1800 info@londonlegacy.co.uk www.londonlegacy.co.uk THE NATIONAL TRUST Central Office Heelis Kemble Drive Swindon SN2 2NA +44 (0)1793 817400 enquiries@nationaltrust.org.uk www.nationaltrust.org.uk NVIZIBLE 8/9 Carlisle Street London W1D 3BP +44 (0)20 3167 3860 studio@nvizible.com www.nvizible.com

THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF MIDDLE TEMPLE The Treasury Office Ashley Building Middle Temple Lane London EC4Y 9BT +44 (0)20 7427 4800 members@middletemple.org.uk www.middletemple.org.uk

ONSIGHT Shepperton Studios (camera rental & edit rental) Studios Road Middlesex TW17 OQD 14-15 Berners Street (Lab & Post) London W1T 3LJ +44 (0)20 7637 0888 hello@onsight.co.Uk www.onsight.co.uk

LIVETTS LAUNCHES Eagle Wharf 53 Lafone Street London SE1 2LX +44 (0)20 7378 1211 info@livetts.co.uk www.livettslaunches.co.uk

SALT FILM The Old Bra Factory 18a Acton Lane London NW10 8ts +44 (0)20 7637 7885 info@saltfilm.com www.saltfilm.com

UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND Freemason’s Hall 60 Great Queen Street London WC2B 5AZ +44 (0)20 7831 9811 www.ugle.org.uk UNIVERSITY OF LONDON Senate House Malet Street London WC1E 7HU +44 (0)20 7862 8000 www.london.ac.uk LONDON FILMING PARTNERSHIP CLUB MEMBERS - SILVER MEMBER CENTROID3D Shepperton Studios Studios Road Middlesex TW17 0QD +44 (0)1932 592 812 Phil@centroid3d.com www.centroid3d.com KUDOS FILM & TV 12-14 Amwell Street London EC1R 1UQ +44 (0)20 7812 3270 info@kudosfilmandtv.com www.kudosproductions.co.uk THE LANGHAM LONDON 1C Portland Palce Westminster London W1B 1JA +44 (0)20 7636 1000 MY FIRST JOB IN FILM www.myfirstjobinfilm.co.uk

PINEWOOD STUDIOS GROUP Pinewood Studios Pinewood Road Iver Heath Bucks SLO 0NH +44 (0)1753 659200 sales@pinewoodgroup.com www.pinewoodgroup.com ROYAL MUSEUMS GREENWICH National Maritime Museum Greenwich London SE10 9NF +44 (0)20 8858 4422 www.rmg.co.uk SOMERSET HOUSE Somerset House London WC2R 1LA +44 (0)20 7845 4600 info@somersethouse.org.uk www.somersethouse.org.uk WEMBLEY CITY ESTATES Estate Management 3rd Floor, York House Empire Way Wembley HA9 0PA +44 (0)20 7478 9390 www.wembley.co.uk WIMBLEDON STUDIOS 1 Deer Park Road London SW19 3TL +44 (0)20 3468 9800 info@wimbledonstudios.com www.wimbledonstudios.com

ADVERTIS E RS IN D EX 3 MILLS STUDIOS BENTWATERS PARKS BRITISH FILM COMMISSION CENTROID MOTION CAPTURE CREATIVE SKILLSET DORCHESTER HOTEL ELSTREE FILM STUDIOS FILM LONDON FLYING PICTURES FREEMASONS’ HALL GLASGOW FILM OFFICE HARBOTTLE AND LEWIS KENT FILM OFFICE LOCATION WORKS MOVING PICTURE COMPANY NORTHERN IRELAND SCREEN PINEWOOD STUDIOS GROUP SAFFREY CHAMPNESS THE BOTTLE YARD THE THIRD FLOOR LONDON INC VIRGIN ATLANTIC WALES SCREEN COMMISSION WARNER BROS. STUDIOS LEAVESDEN

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44 41 INSIDE FRONT COVER 16 22 INSIDE BACK COVER 3 5 48 54 50 10 48 41 16 OUTSIDE BACK COVER 42 60 44 18 10 24 1

14/05/13 14:59

ICONIC HOTELS IN ICONIC PLACES

LIVE thE

SUITE LIFE

TIMELESS ELEGANCE. LUXURIOUS LIVING. SUMPTUOUS FABRICS. SPECTACULAR VIEWS. EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE. A NEW LOOK UNVEILED. THE DORCHESTER AND PARK SUITES. THE DORCHESTER.

LONDON

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+44 20 7629 8888

DORCHESTERCOLLECTION.COm

14/05/13 09:59 13/05/2013 15:41

NORTHERN IRELAND: THE POTENTIAL IS BREATHTAKING

“A cinematic texture was essential … all hail Northern Ireland, the new New Zealand”

Ian nathan, EmpIrE magazInE

“Rural, mist-shrouded spots that have seen Belfast and its surrounding area become a favoured location”



Stunning locations from beautiful coastlines to idyllic villages; mountains, glens and loughs



Urban landscapes and bustling cities with a diverse mix of architectural styles



Titanic Studios in Belfast with a total of 106,000 sq ft of space



The Linen Mill studios, 77,000 sq ft in a 32-acre rural setting



A professional and flexible crew base



Cost benefits and production funding



Tax breaks now available across feature film and high-end television drama

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ShortlISt

www.northernirelandscreen.co.uk

13/05/13 15:21

The British Film Commission is supported by

www.britishfilmcommission.org.uk Twitter: @FilmInUK_BFC

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13/05/13 12:22