Location | elliegillingham

ELLIE GILLINGHAM

AS MEDIA STUDIES BLOG

LOCATION RESEARCH

Nature Reserve in Hamworthy:

We wanted to find an underground/abandoned location or any outside location that seemed deserted to create a eerie atmosphere so we researched abandoned places near us on a site called urban explorer. We decided to look at an underground fuel storage bunker near Hamworthy pier because it is local and seemed easy to get to, However when we got there there was a big metal gate with a fence around the entire area because it's a nature reserve. We literally walked around the entire lake to try and find a way in so we could find the entrance to this bunker and then at some point in our journey we thought it would be a really good idea to walk through a big field of gorse to try and get to this barbed wire fence for some reason. i think we were going to try and get over the fence but i'm glad we didn't make it that far because one of us would have died. We actually did find a hole in the big metal fence on the second time round and we somehow managed to climb through and get in. Unfortunately we couldn't get to the bunker, but the reserve was really pretty so there's that. We will definitely be going to somewhere easier to get to next time so i don't have to climb over an ant hill and nearly die every three seconds. Also we decided that we want to do our filming in the morning (in winter) because the lighting was better and it seemed more atmospheric.

Holton Heath cordite factory part 1:

We managed to get permission to visit the abandoned Cordite factory in Holton heath but we are going back again as we didn't get to go everywhere we wanted and we need to get a combination for a padlock to get to access to some more buildings. We first found the location on urban explorer and then later realised that i know the people who own it and somehow managed to get permission. We really liked this place as a location for our film because it looks so old and derelict. There were loads of smashed windows and buildings that would be perfect for a horror film. hopefully next time we will be able to get access to some of the larger buildings and the entrances behind the fence because we unable to find a suitable place for our film that was already open.

Holton Heath Cordite factory part 2:

We went back to the Cordite factory today and this time we had the key to the main building. The place definitely had a spooky vibe to it, which would make it perfect for our film. The peeling wallpaper and bare rooms would work really well with some of our shots. It was really fun to look around because the place was massive and there was a lot of interesting artifacts.

For the opening scene we have decided to use my sister's bedroom in my house because it suits what we planned for the beginning part of the film. For the rest of the film we researched lots of different locations near us that would be suitable and easy to get to.