In Waterfoot, behind the fish in chip shop facing Cordey's, is a decrepit house with boarded up windows, fire damage and all its copper and wiring nearly completely scavenged (cool for if we decide to go for 'survivors' in story'). Adjacent to this location is a useful route onto the river that runs through town. Even better news is that this route leads to where the river stems and appears akin to a dried out river basin which I personally think gives a strong ''wasteland'' ambience, especially if we incorporate a grey scale filter when we film. If we follow the river down a few yards there is an old mill/factory that has been left abandoned and as a result is now beset with weeds and overgrown foliage; a perfect component for the 'Chernobyl' aura and the feeling of desertion, death and even hopelessness. In addition to this, the area is quiet and riddled with run down metalwork and material, both common in post apocalyptic settings. The most ideal factor for using this location is its proximity to school meaning we film either straight after school or during lessons when it is still bright weather, as opposed to having to trek to a location and run the risk of it going dark early as it tends to do in the autumn.
The second location is in Bacup. The area we're interested in is run down, beset with environmental damage and overwhelmed with free growing plantlife, and definitely evokes an ambience of neglect and dissipation. Unfortunately, one of the buildings is now being demolished by the government and so obviously we can't use it. However, on the bright side, we have been given permission to shoot on an equally decrepit site that is very close by. A road leads adjacent to the location and little activity goes on around it, therefore meaning it will be relatively quiet, easily accessible and good to shoot inside. If the camera angle is set up in a specific way inside the perimeter of one of the buildings, we can make it look like a barren, ''scorched earth'' setting.
Our next location is a burnt out and disused mill in Whitworth nearby Healey Dell (which we will also use) and opposite a motor garage. The actual destitute mill is also surrounded by a useful material 'dump' dotted with shattered walls and heaps of abandoned miscellaneous items littered about the perimeter. The windows of the building are mostly boarded up and an assortment of plant life riddles the exterior, some even bursts into the inside through fissures in the ceiling and walls. The rusted and dilapidated corrugated steel roofing is partially torn down, leaving a grotesquely shaped hole from which a deluge of murky light meets equally murky pools of rainwater and debris. The far corners of the mill are shrouded in gloom, and in the mid-ground what was once probably a loading bay for trucks and HGV's is now an unsettlingly dark abyss all of which evoke fear and venture. Ruptures in the walls reveal rusted piping that connects to filthy machinery, some of which have collapsed into metal corpses on the ground, whilst areas of erosion echo occasionally as rain drops trickle down the jagged sides and disturb murky puddles. The place is silent too, which is probably the most appealing aspect of the building; overall it fits perfectly with our ideal image of a place to shoot.
In addition to this, we found a long abandoned facility near Spotland in Rochdale which is vast enough to cover an array of shots appearing to be in different locations. The main building in the epicentre of the area was once an asbestos manufacturing plant until recently when it created alternatives to asbestos up until it became defunct (the place has already been emptied of any volatile or potentially dangerous material so we're safe to be shooting in this location). Traversing through the centre of the area, and continuing on towards a dark wooded area (which we may also use), is a land subsidence containing a shallow river. There is a point where the river dries out below a bridge and looks desolate and evokes a sense of struggling to survive. The bridge can also act as a vantage point from which we can do some high angled shots.
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