Shooting films in a cupboard
The actual production of our upcoming short film My Personal Duty took place during three hectic days at the Imperial War Museum in London. While the films story features scenes both in the First World War’s trenches and in a modern teen bedroom, our shoot was limited to locations within the museum. In other words we had to transform teaching rooms to bed rooms as well as turn them back in time.
For a scene where Arthur, a 1918 soldier, writes in his diary from a trench, we found a rather unconventional setting to solve our problem. The Imperial War Museum has a brilliant conference room. Within that, however, is an even greater cupboard! Emptying that space created a very dark setting — perfect for Arthurs shady trench. We got him a table with an old lantern, candlesticks, a diary and *poof*! The cupboard was transformed and was suddenly a hundred years old.
The bedroom of Ben, a young man in our present time, posed a similar challenge. One of the meeting rooms at the Imperial War Museum looks a bit like a home (although a very wealthy one), but we still had to put in quite a lot of work to make it look convincing. Eventually it was a mixture of office supplies and private posters, post cards and DVD’s that did the trick. We succeded in turning the formal meeting room into a very informal and cosy setting.
As I’m writing this, we’re doing the very last bit of editing. The ’Make Film, Make History’ project has most of all been a lesson in creativity. Anything if possible — even without a budget (like us) — with great ideas and nice cupboards.
Check out the film ‘My Personal Duty’ here:
