Though this was a long shot, I had seriously considered shooting in a real abandoned hospital, as the maternity building for my local hospital had been out of use since 2006. Unfortunately, there are a number of reasons that would prevent me from doing this: the interior of the building is in terrible condition - which would be perfect, really - but it does not look safe. I found this blog online with pictures taken by people that have been inside the building since it went off limits here. I also feel as though the council would not allow me to film in this location, and the risk assessment would not cover all the potential hazards that building has to offer. Even so, it was a nice thought; perhaps when I have more of a budget and could realistically get permission.
The scene opens with Rick having a conversation with a hallucination of Shane as he lies in a private hospital room. I would like to focus on realism as a part of my directorial style and so a believable hospital room is vital to build this realistic atmosphere. Luckily, I am fortunate that my sister works for a nursing agency with a medical training room with an en suite toilet that would fit perfectly for this scene.
Here are some photos of the room I will be filming in:
I've been given permission to move the tables, chairs and other equipment away from shot, and there is plenty of room for any equipment we will be using for filming, although it may be a tight squeeze to fit any lighting equipment in there as well. That said, there will be wall sockets available for me to actually use proper lighting equipment.
I will also have access to the en suite toilet, which has a mirror - something that is important to the development of this scene. As it is such a compact room, I will also have to carefully consider where I place the lighting and camera equipment as there will be little room to move. I will also need to ensure that I do not get any of this equipment in shot via the mirror as this would be compromise the realism aspect and the continuity of the scene.
This location is also a convenient distance from Dartford Train Station, and so any acting talent arriving from London should be able to find it quickly and easily.
After Rick wakes up, he makes his way out the hospital room and travels through various corridors before escaping to the outside world. Since I could not shoot this in the training room, I needed another location to film these scenes.
My first thought was to reach out to the Maidstone Studios as their corridors and stairs would suit the hospital setting. However, I ran into issues with scheduling, and health and safety, as I needed to shoot on a weekend and I could not film without the lights off or strike a match. Therefore I had to look elsewhere.
I looked into using two local schools and a college building around my area, but I ran into the same issue with regards to scheduling, and health and safety. It was not until I was crewing for another student's work that I found the location I would end up using to shoot the corridor and stairwell scenes.
The location is an apartment block in Maidstone, and I would have access to a corridor and stairs, as well as a lift door which I also needed. The corridor was narrower than I would have liked and had a carpet floor, so it was not exactly what I would have liked, however I did not have much choice after my issues with trying to get permission for the other potential locations. I also could not turn the lights off so I would need to utilise this in the edit to try to make it fit with a post-apocalyptic aesthetic.
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