For my writing exercise I wrote about a man sitting at a campfire, staring into the flames, waiting for his girlfriend to return from collecting some wood until he hears a scream. When I was writing this I was picturing a specific place in my head, Harcourt Oak Forest where I went camping the week before. I didn’t have the time to travel and take pictures or record audio although I have found some photos that I took there from a while ago as well as this one below in which I sourced from the web.
Aesthetically, the Harcourt oak forest would be a fantastic place to film. Its a very visually pleasing place with lots of trees due to it originally being an oak plantation. As well as thick forest there is a big clearing in which people camp and where the light from the sun is able to reach the ground. It would be a good setting for a horror/thriller like my writing exercise. There are lots of interesting locations scattered around the area which would be great in a film. For instance there is a quarry, swamp (shown below), mountain, tracks through the forest etc. The story could be tailored to exhibit these beautiful locations resulting in a more visually pleasing narrative.
Practically it might sometimes be difficult to get the light I would need for some shots. Although if I was prepared with battery-powered lights, this would not be a problem. Furthermore, I could use fire itself to light some scenes. It’s generally a pretty quiet area so there would be no issue with people getting in the way. The forest itself is not too far from the town of Harcourt itself so if we need anything ie. batteries, food etc. it wouldn’t be an issue.
