Location Scouting - Trafalgar Square

Last Saturday we went location scouting around London to see how things looked, how convenient they were, and to assess the possibilities of filming there. The main feature of our trip was Trafalgar Square. Here is my assessment, accompanied by pictures:

Trafalgar Square proved to be a very good location. It has a lot of space in which has endless creative possibilities, and it would work extremely well for our opening two minutes. On the day we went it was slightly damp, which didn't really show it in all its glory, but on film if it is a bad day then we'll simply colour grade it to make it look much better. I think it should be fairly easy to film unnoticed, as there are a lot of people filming there and taking pictures, and I don't think that we'll make much of a difference. We'll just seem like tourists! However this does mean that we wont be able to make use of reflector boards for higher quality lighting, or boom mics for better sound. The camera should be easy to get away with, thanks to our tourist brothers. Just about the entire square is accessible, which makes our creative job easier. There are, of course various rules in place that means we can't swim on the fountains or anything like that, but that's fair enough. We're even allowed to climb on the column! We went on a Saturday, which is a day that tourists may choose to visit, and there weren't too many people around. There were enough to cover up our filming, but not too many so that it was too crowded. Hopefully it'll be like this on the day, so that we can get on



and film without any harassment. Of course, when filming at any place like this, you can never be sure of what it's going to be like on the day. We worked out the scene in detail and even walked the paces of the characters, which was highly useful in gaining a more accurate idea of what was going to happen. An extra bit was even added at the end, which we are very excited about. It involves a short fight scene in a lift that goes from one level of Trafalgar Square to another. We also have had to make minor adjustments to the sequence, such as instead of the man getting shot and falling into the fountain, now only his head falls into the fountain. We framed a few shots, such as when Davidson is coming out of the station underground and Trafalgar Square is established. It turned out that this worked out very well as the underground opened up directly onto the square! Overall this location scout was very successful, and it will play a key part in the success of the filming. I am very glad we went on this trip, as now everything is much clearer.