LOCATIONS:
Momentum for shooting continues to increase, especially as we see spring blooms start to peek out and realize that it won’t be long before summer like weather and foliage will allow us to shoot our outdoor scenes.
One thing that filmmakers learn is that filmmaking is essentially like solving a series of problems. In theory, once the problems are solved, you begin to have a film in your hands. Currently, we are working on finalizing locations. Taking on a period film (in this case, the Twenties) means that locations need to be chronologically right. It turns out that a few things have changed since 1927! For a film like this, it is crucial to find places that time has forgotten and that, ideally, are located within a reasonable distance of our home base in Greenville.
Potential finds:
The script calls for a mill exterior. You would think that in this part of the country you’d just have to throw a rock from front campus and hit two or three, but actually that isn’t the case. The textile industry has undergone great change in recent years and many mills have closed. Most mills of the right vintage have burned down, been converted into other uses (such as condos), are too derelict to use without a lot of time and expense in repairs, or don’t meet the needs of the script. We have looked at dozens and have narrowed down our possibilities to a few that aren’t too far away. The mill building with the strongest possibilities may have some other issues, though, so we may still be on the hunt for this exterior.
It looks as if we’ve found a wonderful location for our auditorium scenes. There is a school auditorium that was built during the right period and is not too far from Greenville. The gentleman in charge of it is in the process of having the interior renovated to an authentic look, and we will probably be able to use it. This building is fascinating—it still has a metal-lined projection booth that was originally used for projecting old nitrate-based films, which were very flammable. Even though we won’t need the projection booth, we can probably use this building for interiors and exteriors.
We’ve also found a historic home with extensive grounds that will probably serve for some exteriors and interiors. This one took a while to locate, since most of the homes we have found that would work otherwise are located in busy urban areas. Shooting interiors here will save us from having to build these on the sound stage, which will help with time and budget.
One great find is a vintage ball field in North Georgia with spectator stands that look appropriate for the 1920s. The script calls for several ball fields, but this will probably serve as our main one. It needs some work, which we have already begun, and it should give the film a good look.
Still looking:
The script also calls for a vintage railroad trestle. Because of state and federal regulations, getting permission to be on a railroad track is nearly impossible; but the script calls for a lot of action to happen right on the track and trestle. Our best bet is to find a railroad that is privately owned and out of use but still intact. We’re still working on that one and are following some leads.
Another needed location is a mill village, or at least several houses in a row that would look “right.” Mill villages are generally made of up of rows of small square houses that look similar to each other. The houses were originally built by the mills to be rented to the people who worked in the mills. There are many mill villages in the area that have outlived the mills, but the homes have been too updated to use for our film. What we need are mill houses that do NOT have added carports, vinyl or aluminum siding, chainlink fencing, or other modern updates. On the other hand, they can’t look as if they are completely abandoned and falling to pieces. That’s a tall order. And to be picky and follow the script, we need at least one of the houses to have a front porch.
Some of the other spots still being hunted are a downtown “town” area, a building that could serve as a 20′s-era hospital exterior and a water tower.
All in all, the crew has spent many hours in the office and on the road researching the possibilities. George Rogier has driven just about every back road in the upstate of South Carolina and in Western North Carolina while looking for possibilities, and larger groups have gone back to scout his main finds. He thinks he may have driven enough miles to get to Alaska and back by now! We’ve also discovered that Google Maps satellite and street views are our friends and have done a lot of preliminary searching that way.
As the locations are found one by one, the film continues to takes shape—and we look forward to shooting soon.