Its all about the location baby! Whether it be the best seats at a concert or play, out to dinner or watching fireworks, buying a house, in a theatre or making a movie, location matters. If there is one job (other than screenwriter) I would actually consider would be as a location manager, and now the person who served as such for Hallam Foe is teaching a class on this subject. According to the Edinburgh Film Focus site, someone named Hugh Gourlay is teaching a class on April 11 that "will guide us through the whole process of managing film location. He'll talk about the script and the relationship between location manager and production team; how to scout/search and negotiate locations; managing the shoot; health, safety and legals; and answer the tricky question of which is better for your film - location or studio? Hugh will refer to real examples and there will be a case study session on two very different productions: 'Hallam Foe' and 'Nanny McPhee'. A unique chance to hear from a master craftsman how it should be done."
Drats~ I sooo would LOVE to go to this! I have no idea how detailed a case study and what new information on the locales used for Hallam Foe (or Mister Foe) will be detailed but when you're a fan like me, it surely would be fascinating to hear more on how they chose certain buildings in Edinburgh for example for some Hallam's breathtaking escapades through the city. I would also love to hear more about how closely the location manager and David and the team worked. I also wonder about all the various permits you have to deal with, fire codes, safety codes, dealing with gawking fans like me lol, and all the logistics involved in organizing some of these things.
If there is one thing I so love about David Mackenzie's work is his eye and his shot selection which are usually just gorgeous all the way around, and I would love to hear more on his thought process and the working relationship he and his location manager have.Recently Colin Kennedy addressed how important locations are when beginning a film in a recent entry on his I Love Luci blog when he noted "I remember David quoting Wong Kar-wai as saying that he likes to find a location and then a story. David followed somewhat similar principals on Hallam Foe. I have to admit I am not entirely following their lead but I am trying to apply my story to some locations that I have always wanted use, so my approach is not totally dissimilar." Just as he did detailing some of the process used for the various locations on the getyourpeople blog, I genuinely admire he is putting all these steps out there for his own film, even posting his early scouting photos up on Fickr which I appreciated soo much!
Speaking of Flickr which is one of my most favorite websites in the world right now lol, I read quite a bit about locations in movies, and like so so so many people anymore I stay and watch the end credits of films to see where they were filmed, and locations used. The fantastic thing about Flickr is that so many others are able to travel and go and document what they've seen on some of the location shoots, and then generously post them up (almost ten pages of various groups here) so everyone can see them. I think this is just great and I applaud these people. I even stumbled over a few who have been lucky enough to go to Edinburgh and actually took pics out side a pub that was used for the HF movie too!
Now you can look on various other websites of course to see where they filmed stuff. Scottish Screen of course has a wealth of information completely worth checking out. I have used the Scotland the Movie site for a couple years although the updates are sadly lacking and always late in coming if at all alas and it has zero on Hallam Foe. The Edinburgh Film site has a pretty good resource I think, and actually lists various sites used for the movies filmed in that beautiful city-much better organized, detailed, and frankly more accessible and easier to navigate than the GlasgowFilm site which requires you to register (which I haven't done) just to see photos of the locations-but then conversely Glasgow film site has a SIMPLY WONDERFUL video archive on the various films that the other site doesn't have lol so I guess they balance each other out. Ex. the Hallam Foe blurb on the Edinburgh site says "Filmed in Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders at various locations including Glen House, Caledonian Hotel, City Art Centre, Cockburn Street."
The desire to go and actually SEE in PERSON where these movies you love were filmed is surely nothing new, and certainly (as mentioned by Sigma head Gillian Berrie last year too) the result of tourists like me flocking to come see these locations in the UK should will and does have a huge economic impact. Hence the recent campaigns by the Visit Britain/Visit Scotland sites to encourage this, not to mention the recent spate and plethora of new movie tours being offered surely is a sign that people love to see these sites and will pay good hard earned money to do so-everyone benefits, seems like a no brainer to me to promote this. Example: The DaVinci Code anyone? How many thousands upon thousands of people flocked to Rosslyn Chapel recently since the release of the Dan Brown book and film? BBC said the chapel raked in £500,000 last year,not exactly chump change is it? And oh yeah lets think..whats that magical fellows name...HARRY POTTER??? Has Scotland/England seen any of the millions of Potterheads lurking about at Edinburgh castle or Alnwick Castle (BBC "Harry Potter films led to a 120% rise in visitors to Northumberland's Alnwick Castle, and had brought about £9m worth of tourism to the region 0_0) or bless Platform 9/34 at Kings Cross station in London maybe (full disclosure : I went there AND IT WAS FABULOUS FUN FUN FUN and zomg the cringe worthy fun once I hit Scotland will be ten times worse/better wheee!) Bond of course is huge as is, Narnia and of course the fair lady and truly wonderful Jane Austen. you betcha I soo badly want to go on a JA tour, and I even have a photo of some of the films as my ever changing wallpaper, although today its of Hever castle due to my current The Tudors infatuation (more hysterically funny to me is the fact that series is filmed in IRELAND lol but I digress) and boy oh boy a more detailed Glenbogle tour (featuring even the smallest contribution of any sort from Sigmas own and the most wonderful Alastair Mackenzie) would go over like crazy mad I predict esp for crazed American Monarch of the Glen fans. You can visit the estate/castle on your own of course, and I've read this site but its not a tour I think nor officially sanctioned, anyway if huge tour exists Ive not heard of it yet,or maybe do like an anniversary one off or something but I'm just rambling at this point so I'll stop. Now, if only they will offer a Hallam Foe/Sigma tour I'd be all set ;)
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