Filming Diary Full Day 3: Oxford City and Christ Church's Dead Man's Walk

Oxford City Centre, 12:30PM-14:00PM

The weather predictions for the Sunday 26th had been rough, but we we decided to brave the elements anyway. After organizing friends (Emma and Fintan) to help us shoot, we planned to meet at 12:30 at the Carfax Tower in the centre of town. We had planned to film the first scene of the video, the "break up" between Hamlet and Ophelia, with Fintan acting as the man Hamlet leaves her for. Unfortunately, Fintan was a no-show, but we didn't want to waste the day. After some confused discussions and a few unthrilling shots in the Covered Market, we headed outside into the torrential rain to film a puddle sequence, as well a few shots under the famous Bridge of Sighs, both of which turned out rather well. Subsequently, the three of us moved to Turl Street and St. Michael's to re-film some footage that had previously been shot without a tripod and turned out wobbly. Some camera-friendly students naturally felt inclined to participate, but we managed to shoot some useful footage. By now it was 14:00, leading us to scavenge for food. Turns out we didn't have any money, so we all shared a bag of cookies for £1. After "lunch" we moved on to our second major location, Christ Church's Dead Man's Walk.

Christ Church's Dead Man's Walk, 14:20-16:00
The grounds officially belong to the college, but pretty much anyone can access the Walk by the river. It was here that we decided to film Ophelia's death scene, the river was had flooded the banks and the sun provided perfect light. However, the ground was saturated with water, making it muddy, posing the issue of ruining the white dress. There had been debate as to how we were to film the death scene, as it would be difficult to actually film in water. The bank was quite steep, so it was decided that we would film on the sediment of an old dock. My white dress (costume) had been only partially ruined, so we kept going. Although 'good', the shot didn't feel right, so we concluded to film again in a different location. Further along the path, a gate blockage had been set up with ripped 'crime scene' tape. Along this bank, the lighting was perfect, so we decided to trespass for a few minutes. I attempted to lie down on the quite steep bank, The ditch on the other side of the path had filled up with perfectly clear water, reflecting the light of the sun beautifully. A dark, ominous cloud was approaching so we had to film fairly quickly. About 10 minutes later, the storm hit. Wind and rain hit with extreme ferocity, the rain turning to hail that ripped new holes in my tights. The camera was still screwed on to the tripod, which tipped over in the wind, but not before capturing a long video of the rain and Emma's battle to control the umbrella.