Pre-Production: The recce

On Thursday, Dylan, Casey and I went to Brighton and surrounding areas to recce some locations that we thought we would use from the book. Dylan was snapping stills with the 7D and I was taking a few pics on my phone just for records sake.

First, we went to Ashdown Forest. This is the actual location in the book where Michael is buried in the first scene. We struggled to find the actual way into the forest but it is beautiful and massive. It's definitely a location we would like to use. However, we discussed ideas for posters involving a forest/ the burial spot and realised we could shoot the publicity shots in a forest nearer home. It was a beautiful day, which didn't bode well for great atmospheric shots but it made it very enjoyable for ourselves.





We then sought out the CID HQ which overlooks an asda. We found it and it was true to the book. I really liked that location. It was a bizarre industrial estate and really cut off which is something that Roy dislikes about the place in the books. It's a very plain building and not that pretty, but why would a police building need to be pretty? Function before form.



This is my sneaky snap through the trees. We were wary of taking photos of a police building and lo and behold as soon as we ventured out of the trees and Dylan took some pics, we were badge flashed by a CID man. Yup! We had to explain our presence. And he left us but it didn't feel right to stick around after that!

The next stop was Patcham to check out the church that the wedding is meant to take place in.



It's an ugly church and did not suit the nature of the bride nor our visions of it. We later recce'd Leeds church near Maidstone which is much nicer. However, since then it has occurred to me that it wouldn't make sense to take the shoot out of Brighton for one location and there are LOADS of churches in Brighton. It would also be better if our actual locations are recognizable as brighton locations for our audience. If we used Leeds church it could potentially be a) recognized as a Kent church or b) recognized to not be a church of Brighton.

I found this index of Brighton churches: http://www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/Brighton/BrightonChurches.htm

Patcham is at the top, being an Anglican church so I have ruled out any that aren't Anglican. and these have stood out:

http://www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/Brighton/BrightonCollegeChapel2004.htm

http://www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/Brighton/BrightonWoodvale2004.htm

http://www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/Hove/HoveStAndrew2005.htm

http://www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/Hangleton/BrightonStHelen2004.htm

http://www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/Preston/BrightonHollingdeanStMatthias2004.htm

During our recce we also went for a wander around the sea front. I took a few snaps of general brighton-ness. Nearer the sea, there was much more visible fog and I look forward to seeing how Dylan's photos turn out.

















This day really made me realise we can make this exactly how we want. We don't have to use the exact locations of the book and we can do what we like with our interiors.
It would have been good to get a better idea of our tone while out there but it was so sunny, it really wasn't feeling that Dead Simple and this is something that will come about through Dylan's editing. Can't wait to see the results!