Pre-Production Unit | No Man's Land - A Witcher Series | Planning the Opening Sequence Shoot

Shoot Planning 

Whilst carrying out my storyboarding work and researching more into the Polish culture that roots itself deep within the lore of The Witcher, I began mapping out potential locations nearby that I could use to shoot sequences for the titles that I am planning to produce. I came up with 3 major locations for this particular project.

• Tilgate Park, Crawley 

This park is a large area approximately 2 miles from where I live, it offers a diverse amount of different terrain including forests, woodlands, a lake, ponds and abstract architecture. Given that nature is a key aspect of the world of The Witcher, I thought that it would be useful to comprise the large majority of the footage used in my sequence from external, rural and barren looking areas. Some would argue that working with such a grey, bleak aesthetic is boring, however I found making that appealing part of the challenge of this title sequence and project as a whole. 

• Suburban Residential Area, Crawley (Broadfield)

The suburban areas around where I live offer a slightly more gritty aesthetic than the park, to be clear my goal with this location isn't to incorporate modern houses and buildings into the piece given that they aren't era-specific, however there are several areas around Crawley suburbia that offer a unique or interesting looking perspective on nature. There's also a large amount of running water in the form of a stream towards the back of my house, this could help emphasise the sense of movement when it comes to the post-production work in Adobe After Effects. 

• Upper Swell, Gloucestershire, England

Going much further out, I found the town of Upper Swell in eastern-gloucestershire. The town is known for it's thatched roofing and centuries-old architecture, which are elements that are heavily featured throughout all existing versions of the source material. Including overgrown stonework, seemingly consumed by nature itself.

I currently plan to shoot the sequence over the course of this week. Today being Monday, tomorrow I have my progress presentation to the class and Simon as another form of gaining feedback mid-way through each of our projects. The reason I want to get this shot ASAP is because I am aware of the amount of time the post-production process could take given the undertaking of the workload. Shooting will take place on Thursday Nov 15th and Saturday Nov 17th. 

On Thursday I aim to spend the day shooting in both Tilgate Park and the local suburban areas. During this process I'll be referring back to my storyboarding frequently in order to ensure I fulfil the look and feel of each shot. Shooting will take place at first light as I want to be able to incorporate the sunrise into the opening sequence itself. I also believe this will aid in portraying the cold, desolate aesthetic that 'The Witcher' world (set in Poland) is known for. 

Then on Saturday this weekend, I currently plan on travelling to Gloucestershire and will spend the morning/afternoon shooting the remainder of the opening sequence in Upper Swell. I will be capturing this footage on my own Panasonic Lumix FZ330, which is capable of shooting at 4K/30fps, an HBO accepted standard. 

I look forward to being able to execute on my vision, and the first step in that process is to shoot the necessary footage. Roll on this week!