Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Making a scene in London

26/02/2015

American film director Catherine Hardwicke provided a vibrant ending to the first day of BVE 2015, enthusing about the challenges and rewards of filming her latest project, Miss You Already, in London and the UK. Screenwriter, production designer and director Hardwicke is perhaps best known for indie film Thirteen and the hugely successful teen vampire hit Twilight, and was an advisor at last year's Sundance Film Festival.

It was while at the festival that the film's star, Drew Barrymore, gave the green lights and just nine weeks later work began. Barrymore was between projects, explained Hardwicke, so the short filming time provided the perfect window of opportunity. Production would also take place during autumn in the UK and, as the film covers a large timeframe, meant Hardwicke and her team could make it look like every season .

Miss You Already also stars Toni Collette, Paddy Considine and Dominic Cooper and despite falling under the genre of romantic comedy, sees one character fall ill and undergo chemotherapy. During her BVE presentation Hardwicke also mentioned filming a funeral so - possible spoiler alert - the film also involves a death.

Hardwicke's presentation at BVE was far from morbid though, as she shared an extensive library of pre-shoot and on-set photos with the audience, along with lookbooks and diagrams which helped inspire and consolidate her vision for the film. These lookbooks also proved an inspiration to Barrymore, as Hardwicke commented: I made lookboooks of what the movie will look like, and emailed them to Drew, hoping she'd say yes. Suddenly she seems to be interested in the movie, so I get on the plane, and head to London! The first thing after stepping off the plane was massive research . The film required numerous different locations, so at first Hardwicke considered a studio facility like Pinewood, before deciding it wasn't quite right for her project. The drawback of filming in a lot of different locations in London though, said Hardwicke was a ton of traffic meaning every scene would take time . She was then directed to the perfect location, Bricket Wood, she told the audience at BVE, before asking anyone know where that is because I don't! Bricket Wood lies south of St Albans, in Hertfordshire, and in the area Hardwicke found a number of spaces all ideal for the film, which allowed for economic and efficient filming.

The photos of a manor house and landscaped gardens did look like an ideal filming location, though the other images shown to the BVE audience were only given life through Hardwicke's vision for the film: We found an old bank training centre and made it into a chemo ward ; an area in the bowels of the building was utilised as an oil rig office passageways became hospital corridors and a soulless disused space on the ground floor was transformed into a traditional Yorkshire b and b, complete with roaring fire.

Despite its traffic, London was still embraced as a filming location, and Hardwicke looked at lots of houses in which to film before deciding to do something different : lets have one of our characters live in a houseboat! Hardwicke's slideshow of images seeing depict her exploration of the capital, and she didn't hide her enthusiasm at her discoveries - Little Venice was revealed to her when looking at houseboats, and then conveniently right next to the boat there was an old church .we had a wedding and a funeral there. And right next door a really modern building.

Hardwicke trained as an architect before becoming a production designer: the architecture in London was super inspiring to me she said, it gave me a lot of energy. So inspired by her time in the city was she, that we wrote a show about architecture and sold it! So I'll be coming back here! When scouting locations for Miss You Already, Hardwicke didn't only look at the spaces, but got involved with them too. One thing I always do when I go location scouting as a director - I make everyone in my crew stand in and act out the scenes. This was evident from the photos she shared in a birthing unit at a hospital: When I went to a hospital, to find out about NHS hospitals she explained, I tried to get everybody to show me how you give birth. We did a whole hands-on birthing idea, with an expert there with us. Her UK filming experience also took her north of London to Suffolk, and even further north to Ilkley moors, in West Yorkshire.

This movie is very intimate she said of her upcoming project, and the energy invested in experiencing the film locations no doubt helped in the creation of this intimacy, along with handheld camera work, allowing the audience to breath with the actors to be in the moment with actors.

It is evident from Hardwicke's delivery and photographic evidence that London and the UK provided a bounty of filming locations, but how was her experience working with UK talent? She praises Barrymore's co-stars, Brits Considine and Cooper, though said of English work ethic: We work 12 hour days in America and go into overtime. That does not happen here. You guys like your time off! Even without first-class facilities like Pinewood, the value of the UK as a production hub is huge and its talent super creative . From a London college allowing her free reign to film, to a community gardening project granting her complete access, Hardwicke seemed enamoured by her visit, and summed up: Everyone kicked ass here for the ten working hours!
LINK: http://www.tvbeurope.com/making-scene-london/...
See more stories from tvb

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program

Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program Brie Clayton July 3, 2026 0 Comments Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...

04/07/2026

iZotope Joins Boris FX

iZotope Joins Boris FX Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026 0 Comments iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

03/07/2026

VSL reveal Synchron Brass (muted)

New bundle & three Single Packs Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...

03/07/2026

London Symphony Orchestra upgrade LSO St Luke's

Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...

03/07/2026

Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV

Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV 3 July, 2026 Media releases National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...

03/07/2026

2023

1 February 2023 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...

03/07/2026

Broadcast Solutions Acquires BFE

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/07/2026

AdClarity Expands CTV Offering to 20 Countries

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/07/2026

Mountain West Conference Launches SVOD Service With New Revenue Model

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/07/2026

Death Star

Death Star Andy Marken July 2, 2026 0 Comments Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...

03/07/2026

Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's Next

Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...

03/07/2026

July 01, 2026

Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...

03/07/2026

July 02, 2026

Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...

02/07/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Abby Finke, University of Dayton

Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD In the live-sports...

02/07/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 22: Winnipeg Jets Kyle Balharry - Going to Work in the Great White North

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

02/07/2026

BLAST Reports $133 Million in 2025 Revenue, Opens New York Headquarters

BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...

02/07/2026

Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration with SimplyLive Integration

Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...

02/07/2026

Czech Fire Rescue Service Deploys LiveU Video Transmission for Emergency Operations

The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...

02/07/2026

Gravity Media USA Appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development

Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...

02/07/2026

TwelveLabs Raises $100 Million in Series B Funding

TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...

02/07/2026

Pro Padel League Announces Broadcast Partnership With USA Sports for 2026 Season

The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...

02/07/2026

LiveLike Powers Eight FIFA World Cup 2026 Fan Engagement Activations Across Five Continents

LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...

02/07/2026

InfoComm 2026: Cobalt Digitals blueCORE Wins Futures Best of Show Award

Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...

02/07/2026

Synamedia Appoints Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as CEO

Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...

02/07/2026

Esports World Cup 2026 Announces Expanded Sony Partnership for Paris Event

The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...

02/07/2026

Zee Entertainment Secures Exclusive Bundesliga Rights in India for Five Years

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...

02/07/2026

All Hands on Deck: NBCU Comes Together to Produce Ultra-Complex Sail4th 250 Broadcast on July 4

An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...

02/07/2026

Release Rundown: What to Watch in July, From Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass to Murder 101

Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...

02/07/2026

The Crow Hill Company introduce Brackish Pads

Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...

02/07/2026

Steinberg SpectraLayers 13 now available

A new era in unmixing and spectral editing The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...

02/07/2026

Sine Machine from Melatonin

Aims to simplify additive synthesis Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...

02/07/2026

iZotope acquired by Boris FX

Products to remain fully active & supported Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...

02/07/2026

GearExpo UK 2026

What you missed! Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...

02/07/2026

Imagine Communications Acquired by Lumine Group

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/07/2026

Rise AV APAC Brings Mentoring Conversation to InfoComm As...

Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...

02/07/2026

Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out

Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out Brie Clayton July 2, 2026 0 Comments Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...

02/07/2026

Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, media and communications infrastructure

Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...

02/07/2026

Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversary Celebration of the Declaration of Independence

Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...

02/07/2026

Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE

Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...

02/07/2026

LiveMode builds agile content ingest with Cinegy

Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...

02/07/2026

Synamedia Appoints Dr Tzvi Gerstl CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/07/2026

Cobalt Digitals blueCORE Wins Futures Best of Show Award...

Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...

02/07/2026

Synamedia Appoints Dr Tzvi Gerstl as CEO as Company Enter...

Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...

02/07/2026

Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiatives

Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...

02/07/2026

Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Documentary Development

Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...