There has been quite a flurry of filming activity on the streets of Oxford recently and I’ve photographed some of it. The scorching temperatures have slowed down the amount of photography I’ve been doing lately but I braved the heat when a certain crew rolled into town to film the next instalments of Oxford’s best loved detective. No spoilers.
[Tech info]: Rolleiflex 2.8F, Fuji 400H (expired), Fuji Frontier scans.
Behind the scenes during a day of filming in the grounds of Brasenose College, Oxford for Endeavour series 5, episode 5. Stepping in for Directorial duties for the day was Rob Quinn who directed the previous episode.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Eastman Double X motion picture film, developed in Kodak D76. Pakon scans.
Here are some portraits I made at a WWII re-enactment event at Mapledurham recently. The weather was overcast which was perfect for the colour palette and colour negative film I was using. After much deliberation on which gear to take I settled on two 6×6 medium format cameras – Rolleiflex 2.8F and Pentacon Six TL – because I mostly wanted to concentrate on portraits and I like the balance of the 6×6 format. Shots from the Pentacon will follow.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, Fuji Pro 400H film (expired).
Behind the scenes during filming of Endeavour 4 FILM 3 from August 2016. I thought it might be interesting to dig out some pictures from my archive that I haven’t posted yet – there are a lot of them! The first two shots are from Christchurch meadow from a shot that didn’t make the final edit where the First AD was standing in as a groundsman for an over the shoulder POV shot. Next it was a location move to Headington cemetery and was a race against the setting sun and the fading light level. Looking at these pictures almost two years later is interesting for me as some of the crew came back to work on Endeavour series 5 and others didn’t. Two years on the pictures still hold up for me. Photographic memories. More to come.
[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Fuji Reala 100 (expired), Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes during filming of Endeavour series 5, episode 4 in Oxford, August 2017. This set of pictures shows a scene outside the Free School on Holywell Street (which is actually the Holywell Music Room) where Endeavour and Joan Thursday have a conversation in the Black Jag but this scene didn’t make the final edit. After that there was a location move to the Botanic Gardens for a picnic scene which was meant to take place on a sunny summers day but it was now approaching the evening and the sky clouded over -this is where a huge light was brought in to act as the sun.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Eastman Double X motion picture film developed in Kodak HC110. Pakon scans.
It’s been a while since I posted any pictures of post finals exam celebrations (aka trashing) so here are some shots from a couple of weeks ago. This was the day that I noticed the photographer that supplies pictures to the Daily Fail and other so-called newspapers so that they can attach them to an article that tries to put Oxford University students in a negative light. It’s been the same old thing for the past 5 or 6 years. It must have been a slow news day at the Daily Fail offices.
[Tech info:] Nikon F90X, 24/2.8, Fuji Superia 200 film, developed and scanned by FilmDev.co.uk
Behind the scenes photography from filming of Endeavour series FILM 2 in Oxford. This scene involved a house that had been cleverly dressed by the Art department to look like it had been burnt out by a fire bomb. The scene involving the arsonists was filmed at night on this same day. No actual damage was done to the house, it’s all smoke and mirrors. Afterwards there was a location move to Fred Thursday’s house where a scene took place in the front garden. This was June and with longer days it didn’t dark until quite late which made for a long and busy day.
[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Fuji Reala 100 film, Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes during filming of Endeavour series 5 FILM 5 in Oxford. It was a sunny Sunday morning when special branch arrived at Brasenose College to take the college porter for a ride. The final scenes from this Endeavour FILM were filmed first thing in the morning and then the rest of the day was spent filming various scenes within the college grounds.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Fuji Superia 200 film, Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes photography from a busy day of filming Endeavour 5 FILM 6 on Turl Street in Oxford. This was a fun day of filming with lots going on. As I look back through these pictures I notice at least one shot that was filmed which didn’t make it to the final edit – where Fred Thursday crosses the street and the Jamaican gangsters drive past in their car. The Art department did an excellent job of transforming the Oxfam Bookshop into a pet shop but you don’t really get to see much of the detail on screen in the final edit.
[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Ilford HP5 film, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5.30. Pakon scans.
This set of pictures is a bit of a mixture and although they are all from the same roll of film, there are shots from two different episodes of Endeavour. While the cast and crew were in Oxford to film the final episode of series five they also filmed some pick up shots for the first episode. I guess you only really know how well scenes properly fit together when you’re in the editing suite and any gaps need to be filled which is probably where reshoots come in.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Kodak Portra 800, Pakon scans.
This set of pictures are from a recent lunch break photo walk where I managed to finish a whole roll during the hour. I’ve been using quite a bit of Eastman Double X motion picture film recently because I bought a bottle of D96 developer and I didn’t want it to go off without much use. So far I have been very pleased with the results especially in controlling contrast.
[Tech info:] Yashica Electro 35, Eastman Double X film, developed in D96, Pakon scans.
The Endeavour crew came to the Oxford Union to film some scenes from FILM 4 of the fifth series and these behind the scenes pictures are from a scene that involved a flour bomb being thrown. The pictures pick up from after the first take where the flour bomb missed the intended target so quite a bit of clean up was required before the second take – this is where the props guys sprung into action. The last handful of shots are from a different day when I visited the Cowley CID interior set and finished off the same roll of film. I really like the use of daylight balanced HMI lighting because it enabled me to use daylight film without any filters.
[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Kodak Portra 400, Pakon scans.
