Shooting In UK

_Rok_

_Rok_

Just got back from two weeks of shooting VFX plates in the UK.

What a beautiful country (as seen mostly from the back seat of a car). My hotel was build in the 1700's! Great production and a fantastic cast/crew with a real sense of camaraderie. They gave me an embarrassingly-generous send off. Aside from the food poisoning, I loved every minute. I'll certainly be heading back there for an extended vacation.


- Thomas.
 
Was the hotel haunted?
smiley_ghost.gif


Sounds cool, travellin' about for plates. :)
 
_Rok_ said:
What a beautiful country (as seen mostly from the back seat of a car).
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The UK is tiny relative to the US, I read somewhere that the whole of the UK would fit inside Texas two and a half times! Despite this small size, the scenery is extremely varied between different regions/countries in the UK. Which region/s were you working in?

_Rok_ said:
My hotel was build in the 1700's!
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One of the things which I found surprising from my extended trips to the US was how the lack of history eventually got to me. C18th hotels are not at all uncommon in the UK and not even particularly old! There are many C17th Pubs, Inns and non-chain hotels around the country and it's not difficult to find C15th - C17th buildings in many UK towns, pre C14th buildings are pretty rare though. Some particularly historical towns/cities are packed with C14th-C18th buildings; York, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Chester, Bath, Exeter, Oxford, Durham, to name just a few. A rather amusing example is New College Oxford, named to differentiate it from older colleges in Oxford Uni but "new" is certainly relative in this case because it was founded in 1379!

If you're serious about having a vacation in the UK, let me know. I'll ask a few questions to determine your particular interests and make some suggestions.

G
 
AudioPostExpert said:
One of the things which I found surprising from my extended trips to the US was how the lack of history eventually got to me.
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It can be amusing sometimes. Back in the late 80s I was in North Carolina shooting photos for a book about a Marine Corps air base. During a weekend off, a friend & I paid a visit to a local tourist spot. It was a house owned by the person who gave the local county its name, built in colonial times. But as we went round on the guided tour, it slowly became apparent that everything in the house was from somewhere else - bought and brought in to give an idea of what the house might have looked like back then.

It then turned out that the house itself had been destroyed & rebuilt - more than once, I think. At the end of the tour, the guide pointed to a wall and proudly told us that the bottom three courses of brick dated back to the 19th Century. "Please feel free to take a look," she said. And people did! And photographed them!

As I was then living in an entirely unremarkable terraced house in London - one of hundreds of thousands like it - that dated from the time of those bricks, I declined. I now live in a house in Normandy that dates from somewhere between the time that Columbus was making landfall and Henry VIII coming to the throne. And again, it's nothing special around here.
 
I hopped over the pond to shoot plates for a movie called PAN. We shot at the Cardington Airship Sheds to accommodate some super-masssive sets. My hotel was in Bedford which apparently isn't known for it's attractions, but I loved it.

Thanks UK. I'm in love.
 
Am I the only one that thought this thread was going to be about some breaking news story of an assault rifle rampage ?

Maybe that's just an american thing
 
NickClapper said:
I bet you went to Northern Ireland...
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My guess as well.

AudioPostExpert said:
...........

One of the things which I found surprising from my extended trips to the US was how the lack of history eventually got to me. .......................
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I recognize this. I went to California last year and it's all 'brand new' in Orange County.
Even Old Towne Orange isn't really old... (Although that's pretty :) )

My hometown is celebrating 400 years of independence from the town next to us this year.
 
_Rok_ said:
I hopped over the pond to shoot plates for a movie called PAN. We shot at the Cardington Airship Sheds to accommodate some super-masssive sets. My hotel was in Bedford which apparently isn't known for it's attractions, but I loved it.
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You're joking, I come from Bedford, I lived about 3 miles from Cardington until I was 19 and my parents and brother still live there. The most well known C18th hotel in Bedford is The Swan Hotel. Shame I didn't know beforehand, I could have recommended a few places in/near Bedford worth seeing.

You have been informed correctly though, Bedford is particularly unremarkable, both in terms of scenery/geology and history, there are literally hundreds of towns just in England (let alone the whole UK) more worthy of a visit. If you loved Bedford, you'll be completely blown away by some of the really beautiful/historic towns!

BTW, I hope you didn't have any trouble with the weather at the Cardington Hangers?

G
 
Ah, thought you'd be there for GoT...

Bedford is a really random place to stay, but I guess that's because there are really only a handful of 'tourist towns' in our (relatively small) country.

Cool to work on Pan though. I think Joe Wright is great.
 
Ah yes, the Swan. ;)

When shooting at Cardington, Bedford made for a short & easy commute. The crew was housed elsewhere when working at Leavesden.

For as little spare time I had, I really loved Bedford. But then again, I'm the guy who cheered when he found the Bedford Corn Exchange.
 
The mixture of nerves and excitement as I walked on to the stage at the Bedford Corn Exchange for the first time is still etched in my memory and had a profound influence on the course of my life, it's almost impossible to believe that was 35 years ago!

The reason I asked about the weather is that the Cardington hangers are so vast that under the right atmospheric conditions clouds form inside and it can actually start raining (well, a fine drizzle)!

G
 
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