Recci's

A cottage on the Headland

I hadn't seen the beach there before.

1st February
A gang of us drove out on a recci grand tour, we started on the Hartlepool headland looking for Victorian property’s for the autopsy reconstruction and large walls as a boundary to a convicts exercise yard, I expected us to find more interesting buildings than we did and we quickly moved on to Dalton Piercy in search of a cowboy ghost town for The Book Keeper, Although we later found out that the group had disbanded the buildings were never visible from the road anyway. We then set off down the A19 to Middlesbrough via The American Diner where we eat and got contact details as Kyle wanted to use it for the café in the sci-fi scene
We got into Middlesbrough and headed for St. Hildas, looking for more Victorian walls and buildings.

I'd hoped for more Victoriana by the riverside

  There were a couple of walls that maybe usable at a push but the location was not ideal and a shoot there could attract unwanted attention from residents. From here we drove up the road to Linthorpe to look at the old art college building at Burlam road and the Victorian school just down the road in ‘the village’, as I thought that a Victorian School yard may be a good place to create a convicts exercise yard. Both buildings had been extensively refurbished with the likes of UPVC double glazing and so were not suitable.So we headed up to Kirk Levington to a stretch of ground I know up there called the Black Plantation to recci for the Book Keepers horror scene.

Walk to Black Plantation

The Black Plantation Woods

 The ground was quite wet once we reached the field where the wooded area is accessed and so only Kyle and I ventured into the woods. It is a great location and out of the way so you can make as much noise as you like.During a conversation with Mike I mentioned that I wished to get a shot of the small window by the smoking area outside CCAD as it had a look of a cell window. Mike informed me that the window in question had indeed been a cell and the steel cell doors were still there in the female toilets.

CCAD Cell Window

We called into the building next door and after having the toilet checked for occupants by an obliging student, we went in. The doors are there but are not mounted in any frame apart from a swinging door shot the area wasn’t a suitable location for the cell.

I started to think that there must be a prison museum somewhere and performed a search for one. Bingo, Ripon museums manage three museums in the town a Victorian Police and Prison Museum, a Victorian Courthouse Museum and a Victorian Workhouse Museum coincidentally they opened for their summer season that weekend. On the Saturday morning Kyle and myself took a jolly out to Ripon and visited all three museums (and the Cathedral). Both the prison cells and the courthouse were perfect locations. 

The courthouse has lots of signs which will need removing or covering. the dummys can be removed

 

The jury retires to reach a verdict.

The girl that we spoke to said that they had had filming in there before as Heartbeat used to use it as a location, which left me feeling quite positive that something could be worked with them. It was a productive day.

The Police and Prison Museum

The cell corridor looks fantastic

And so do the cells.

The end shots of the Book Keeper sci-fi will take place here.

Kyle had been knocked back by the American Diner to use as a location and so fancied the space pod building of the Hughe Battery Café instead, he also wanted to use the sunken area that was the magazine for his Sci-fi scene. Diane at the Battery was very obliging, as she is, and agreed to let us shoot there. On our way back into college I parked in the Vue Cinema/Pizza hut car park to show Kyle and Richard the rear of train station wall that backs onto their carpark, it had occurred to me that the Victorians built virtually all our railway infrastructure and that a good place to look for a large Victorian walls was at railway stations. It would limit shot angles, but ticks the boxes for what I am looking for. We called into college to collect my bag and whilst I was walking back to the Vue cinema to enquire about permission I noticed a parking ticket on my car. I didn’t equire regarding permission and drove home fuming, I decided that after being reminded of the wall defenses at the battery earlier and that although their walls were not as high as I wished for, that the steel defences more than made up for it if not that really they are the wrong way round. And so I contacted Di at the battery regarding a new recci to view their picknick area.

Heugh Battery Space pod cafe.

The entrance to the old magazine with steel door.

Inside the old Magazine

Kyle discusses shots with Richard.

I sent mail to James at Ripon Museums and tried calling a number of times, he was proving difficult to get to speak to and I was beginning to think that using the museums as locations wasn’t going to happen. Then James called me taking me by surprise. He wanted to know more about the project but I basicly got a yes and I arranged to meet him outside the courthouse that Saturday morning. Whilst he showed reservations regarding the more

commercial secondary side to the project,once I put his mind to rest  James was lovely to talk to and eager to help. He offered us the use of their costume and showed me what they had. We could film any weekday from 08:00 to 13:00. This is great news.

Ripon Museums Costume dept.

Steel defences to keep the tramps in at the workhouse in Ripon

Kyle, Tim and I called over to the Battery to view and survey the area for te gallows shots. It was as I remembered but with more guns. These will need disguising as they cannot be moved. We will be able to film there during opening hours as we will not affect museum visiting. Diane agreed to let us film at weekends if necessary.