Our day began at 9:15, when we boarded the train to London Waterloo. Unfortunately Lee Davidson was unable to attend the shoot due to prior commitments, so on the train we made some last minute adjustments to the scene, so it became a scene with just Philip and myself. On the train on the way up we ran through the schedule with our cast and crew, detailing where we were to go in London and what we were going to film. The basic plan was to film a meeting on Parliament Hill between Philip and myself, and then film an action sequence in Highgate Cemetery. If we had time we planned to go to Camden Market to film some inserts there. It was due to rain, but we thought that that would just add to the atmosphere of the film, especially in the cemetery. The only problem we foresaw was the camera getting wet, but we had an umbrella at the ready.
At 10:00 we arrived at Waterloo station, and at first were slightly confused concerning the underground map, however eventually we found our way onto the Northern line to Belsize Park station, which was the closest to Hampstead Heath. If all went to plan we wouldn't have to take another train to the cemetery, as our shoot would carry us across the heath. However, we got slightly lost on the heath. The paths from the station to the heath were confusing, and when we got to the heath we weren't sure where the Parliament Hill part was, as the rain obscured our view considerably. We filmed a shot of James walking across a field that looked moderately desolated which could be used to intercut, and then carried on searching. The group morale sank at this time due to the heavy rainfall and the lack of productivity.
It was about 12:30 or so that we finally located Parliament Hill, but to our severe disappointment the view was terrible due to the rain. The camera couldn't even pick up a few of the famous landmarks that you could only just see with the naked eye through the rain. We filmed a few shots of Philip and myself sitting on a bench, and talking, but we were behind schedule because of the rain. It had become a bigger problem than anticipated. After these shots we decided it was essential to bring the morale up, so we took a detour to Camden Town for a KFC bargain bucket.
Around 13:00 we arrived at Camden Town KFC, being able to find our way off the heath significantly faster than finding our way on. KFC was crowded and we were forced to sit on uncomfortable stools, but the group morale was raised and the vegetarian James proclaimed: 'That was the best KFC I've ever had!' We decided to put our filming at Highgate Cemetery on hold indefinitely, as we decided that would be almost as miserable as filming on the heath, so instead we resolved to filming a few shots around Camden Town. We filmed a couple of shots of me running, and then found the infamous Cyberdog shop, where we filmed a couple of shots of Zubin walking around. After filming a number of shots here we had a discussion as to where to go next, and we decided that, seeming as the rain had stopped, it would be alright to film at Highgate Cemetery.
After much confusion on trains and buses, we arrived at Highgate Cemetery at approximately 15:45, where we were greeted by the most delightful old gatekeeper with much enthusiasm. After a ten minute lecture on the history and heritage of the site, we moved into the cemetery and pulled out Zubin's spray painted BB gun to film some action sequences. This became a race against the clock, as the Cemetery closed at 17:00 and all visitors had to head for the gate at 16:45. We had around 45 minutes to film as many action shots as possible, forcing us to be as efficient as possible. Fortunately, it seemed to be the most productive 45 minutes of filming we'd ever done, probably because of the time restrictions. We filmed a number of shots of people shooting guns, pointing guns, chasing, fighting, looking at gravestones, posing, pausing for breath and more! Although it would have been nice to have had longer to create a rounded scene, this was not possible, so we made the most with what time we had.
At 17:00 we headed home, after a gruelling day of filming. We didn't do everything which we would have liked to get done, but this was mainly due to the bad weather getting us lost, obscuring shots and lowering group morale. Without the weather we would have had a far more productive day, but unfortunately it was out of our control. This day was one of the few days which we were able to film an action sequence in Highgate Cemetery as it was an inset day, so no one would be around. The lack of productivity was largely out of our control, but we still got a fair number of shots that will be highly useful in the final cut of the trailer, even if they weren't exactly what we were hoping for when we began.
