Making forty-five minutes of film for Orpheus and with the standard budget for a studio production was no mean feat: between September 2010 and February 2011 the film crew and often members of the cast spent many freezing evenings and weekends using its ingenuity across the lovelier areas of London.
Location Shoots
Brick Lane
For our first shoot we were looking for locations demonstrating both urban decay and also the lively street-art scene of London. This took us to Brick Lane and its surrounding area where we found crumbling houses, scaffolding around buildings destined for demolition and recent street art.
The photograph shows the crew using a slider to track across Eine's just completed enormous ANTIANTIANTI painting.
All of this footage was useful for conveying Orpheus' journey into the underworld.
For our first shoot we were looking for locations demonstrating both urban decay and also the lively street-art scene of London. This took us to Brick Lane and its surrounding area where we found crumbling houses, scaffolding around buildings destined for demolition and recent street art.
The photograph shows the crew using a slider to track across Eine's just completed enormous ANTIANTIANTI painting.
All of this footage was useful for conveying Orpheus' journey into the underworld.
Trellick Tower
After lengthy negotiation with Kensington Film Unit we were given permission to film in Trellick Tower, the famous brutalist block of flats that has escaped its reputation for drugs and violence to have become somewhat of a cultural icon.
The lengthy corridors offered a backbone for the filmed material, giving the impression of Orpheus' journey through the underworld via a series of rooms, reminiscent of the hotel scene in Blood of a Poet, Cocteau's first Orpheus film.
After lengthy negotiation with Kensington Film Unit we were given permission to film in Trellick Tower, the famous brutalist block of flats that has escaped its reputation for drugs and violence to have become somewhat of a cultural icon.
The lengthy corridors offered a backbone for the filmed material, giving the impression of Orpheus' journey through the underworld via a series of rooms, reminiscent of the hotel scene in Blood of a Poet, Cocteau's first Orpheus film.
The impressive views of London worked well for tracking shots of Orpheus looking dejectedly over his world and life, while the battered lifts and brilliantly unusual windows of the lift lobby allowed for a whole range of other atmospheric shots of despair and frustration.
Kensal Green: Gasworks
While the sun was setting we took tracking shots across the tops of the gastowers and along fences with wasteland behind as material for the journey through the underworld.
While the sun was setting we took tracking shots across the tops of the gastowers and along fences with wasteland behind as material for the journey through the underworld.
Kensal Green: Cemetery
The bitterly cold weather made filming all but impossible on this day-long shoot when the rest of the school was on holiday (even the equipment stopped working properly), but gave excellent effects of crunching ice and frosty breaths for a sinister graveyard scene.
With its impressive Victorian statuary the graveyard was well-suited for exploring the play's idea of beauty and art arising out of death and desolation. After panning and tracking shots of a number of statues, filming focused on a bench scene full of resonances of encounters in espionage films.
The bitterly cold weather made filming all but impossible on this day-long shoot when the rest of the school was on holiday (even the equipment stopped working properly), but gave excellent effects of crunching ice and frosty breaths for a sinister graveyard scene.
With its impressive Victorian statuary the graveyard was well-suited for exploring the play's idea of beauty and art arising out of death and desolation. After panning and tracking shots of a number of statues, filming focused on a bench scene full of resonances of encounters in espionage films.
Leeke Street Graffiti Tunnel, Waterloo
As a location designated legally for street art, Leeke Street provided the ideal place for discovering graffiti to film as part of the journey into the underworld, as well for us to spray our own stencilled images of characters on to the walls. We also filmed most of the cast here as figures disappearing in the underworld: with actors creating postures of despair, we either lost focus on the character as they turned to the camera or we filmed the character's action and then the empty location to create a multi-plate sequence in editing to give the illusion of the character disappearing.
As a location designated legally for street art, Leeke Street provided the ideal place for discovering graffiti to film as part of the journey into the underworld, as well for us to spray our own stencilled images of characters on to the walls. We also filmed most of the cast here as figures disappearing in the underworld: with actors creating postures of despair, we either lost focus on the character as they turned to the camera or we filmed the character's action and then the empty location to create a multi-plate sequence in editing to give the illusion of the character disappearing.
The Heygate Estate
The now almost entirely vacant Heygate Estate provided the perfect location for filming urban decay, whether tracking actors walking across its concrete walkways, advancing towards the camera down lengthy open-air corridors or wandering through the refuse-strewn abandoned communal garden areas.
The now almost entirely vacant Heygate Estate provided the perfect location for filming urban decay, whether tracking actors walking across its concrete walkways, advancing towards the camera down lengthy open-air corridors or wandering through the refuse-strewn abandoned communal garden areas.
Barnes Common
Barnes Common was employed to give the impression of Orpheus escaping from the industrial decay into an open, fresh space. As the play reveals that this is no more than an illusion, we found ourselves having to bury a concrete slab beneath the surface for Orpheus to find as he digs the soil. From wider-angled shots using the slider to track across the common and establish the openness, we moved on to tighter close-ups for the digging.
Barnes Common was employed to give the impression of Orpheus escaping from the industrial decay into an open, fresh space. As the play reveals that this is no more than an illusion, we found ourselves having to bury a concrete slab beneath the surface for Orpheus to find as he digs the soil. From wider-angled shots using the slider to track across the common and establish the openness, we moved on to tighter close-ups for the digging.
Hammersmith Bridge
Using the area under the bridge on the south side of the river we constructed a set to represent the hovel occupied by one of the film characters. The set was intended to represent ruined fragments of British culture and was built from various components such as material from past plays, cardboard boxes and plastic sheeting, and was filled with a huge number of objects symbolising aspects of culture. As the scene contained key dialogue three cameras were used, two directed at each actor, and one over-head to provide linking and scene-setting shots. Sound recorded later in the same location was used in the live performance to give the scene depth.
The chase section at the start of the sequence was recorded on the north side of the river near Riverside Studios, using a combination of POV and forward- and rear-facing shots of the two characters.
Below are some screenshots from the filming beneath the bridge.
Using the area under the bridge on the south side of the river we constructed a set to represent the hovel occupied by one of the film characters. The set was intended to represent ruined fragments of British culture and was built from various components such as material from past plays, cardboard boxes and plastic sheeting, and was filled with a huge number of objects symbolising aspects of culture. As the scene contained key dialogue three cameras were used, two directed at each actor, and one over-head to provide linking and scene-setting shots. Sound recorded later in the same location was used in the live performance to give the scene depth.
The chase section at the start of the sequence was recorded on the north side of the river near Riverside Studios, using a combination of POV and forward- and rear-facing shots of the two characters.
Below are some screenshots from the filming beneath the bridge.
North Woolwich
Filming for the car journey in the first act took us to the industrial areas of North Woolwich and the Blackheath Tunnel - and attracted the attention of anti-terrorism police, who were soon pacified and very helpful in recommending suitably grim locations.
Filming for the car journey in the first act took us to the industrial areas of North Woolwich and the Blackheath Tunnel - and attracted the attention of anti-terrorism police, who were soon pacified and very helpful in recommending suitably grim locations.
Studio Sessions
The Party from Hell
A key scene in the play featured a surreal and nightmarish party during which our Orpheus character was confronted by his subconscious anxieties. To create an enclosed an unrecognisable space for the party we draped dust sheets and curtains from and over the lighting rig. (This was important too for the practical reason that the scene would culminate in Orpheus being spattered with paint.) We lit the scene with garish oranges and pinks to create contrast with the black and white used for most of the play. Actors were either made up using black and white facepaint or given face masks to enhance the ghoulish grotesque feeling of the scene.
A key scene in the play featured a surreal and nightmarish party during which our Orpheus character was confronted by his subconscious anxieties. To create an enclosed an unrecognisable space for the party we draped dust sheets and curtains from and over the lighting rig. (This was important too for the practical reason that the scene would culminate in Orpheus being spattered with paint.) We lit the scene with garish oranges and pinks to create contrast with the black and white used for most of the play. Actors were either made up using black and white facepaint or given face masks to enhance the ghoulish grotesque feeling of the scene.
The Artist's Studio
To create an artist's studio we again used dust sheets and curtains to form an enclosed space in the drama studio, lighting the scene from lamps placed behind the sheets.
A student designed a series of near-identical but flawed statues which became the focus of the scene, the slider being used to slowly and steadily track along a row of them.
To create an artist's studio we again used dust sheets and curtains to form an enclosed space in the drama studio, lighting the scene from lamps placed behind the sheets.
A student designed a series of near-identical but flawed statues which became the focus of the scene, the slider being used to slowly and steadily track along a row of them.
Shadows and Torture
To disguise recognisable features of the drama studio and create an industrial feeling we lined the walls with sheets of metal from an old fencing-salle floor.
We positioned the two lamps in relation to the actor in order to create distorted shadow images such as is seen here.
To disguise recognisable features of the drama studio and create an industrial feeling we lined the walls with sheets of metal from an old fencing-salle floor.
We positioned the two lamps in relation to the actor in order to create distorted shadow images such as is seen here.
Tattoos
The opening sequence of the play was to tell the traditional story of Orpheus through tattoos by a combination of the actor moving and tracking around his torso.
This proved to be one of the most challenging sections to film; it was vital that the light not bounce off the temporary tattoos to reveal their slightly plasticky sheen (and therefore fakeness) and the complexity of achieving a single shot made this all the more difficult.
The opening sequence of the play was to tell the traditional story of Orpheus through tattoos by a combination of the actor moving and tracking around his torso.
This proved to be one of the most challenging sections to film; it was vital that the light not bounce off the temporary tattoos to reveal their slightly plasticky sheen (and therefore fakeness) and the complexity of achieving a single shot made this all the more difficult.