Behind the scenes during filming of Endeavour series 5 FILM 5 in Oxford. It was a sunny Sunday morning when special branch arrived at Brasenose College to take the college porter for a ride. The final scenes from this Endeavour FILM were filmed first thing in the morning and then the rest of the day was spent filming various scenes within the college grounds.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Fuji Superia 200 film, Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes photography from a busy day of filming Endeavour 5 FILM 6 on Turl Street in Oxford. This was a fun day of filming with lots going on. As I look back through these pictures I notice at least one shot that was filmed which didn’t make it to the final edit – where Fred Thursday crosses the street and the Jamaican gangsters drive past in their car. The Art department did an excellent job of transforming the Oxfam Bookshop into a pet shop but you don’t really get to see much of the detail on screen in the final edit.
[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Ilford HP5 film, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5.30. Pakon scans.
This set of pictures is a bit of a mixture and although they are all from the same roll of film, there are shots from two different episodes of Endeavour. While the cast and crew were in Oxford to film the final episode of series five they also filmed some pick up shots for the first episode. I guess you only really know how well scenes properly fit together when you’re in the editing suite and any gaps need to be filled which is probably where reshoots come in.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Kodak Portra 800, Pakon scans.
This set of pictures are from a recent lunch break photo walk where I managed to finish a whole roll during the hour. I’ve been using quite a bit of Eastman Double X motion picture film recently because I bought a bottle of D96 developer and I didn’t want it to go off without much use. So far I have been very pleased with the results especially in controlling contrast.
[Tech info:] Yashica Electro 35, Eastman Double X film, developed in D96, Pakon scans.
The Endeavour crew came to the Oxford Union to film some scenes from FILM 4 of the fifth series and these behind the scenes pictures are from a scene that involved a flour bomb being thrown. The pictures pick up from after the first take where the flour bomb missed the intended target so quite a bit of clean up was required before the second take – this is where the props guys sprung into action. The last handful of shots are from a different day when I visited the Cowley CID interior set and finished off the same roll of film. I really like the use of daylight balanced HMI lighting because it enabled me to use daylight film without any filters.
[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Kodak Portra 400, Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes photography during filming of Endeavour 5 | FILM 6 in Oxford, October 2017. The first few shots are from the scene outside the pet shop towards the end of the day when the light level was rapidly dropping. Although there was a stunt team on hand the actors did their own stunts in this scene. The following morning it was a bright and sunny start on Christ Church meadow where the harsh sunlight made it tricky to move around without casting a shadow into shot.
It’s hard to believe this was almost 7 months ago. Lots more pictures still to come from Endeavour 5.
[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Ilford HP5 film developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5.30. Pakon scans.
For a while now I’ve been meaning to use my Bronica SQA but either the weather or other things kept conspiring against me. Last week I finally managed to do it and here’s a set of pictures from the roll I shot during my lunch break photo walk. The shots of the drainpipe and the painted house number sign were made using a +1 close-up filter that I wanted to test and the last three shots were made with a red filter – the Radcliffe Camera shot had a polarising filter as well.
[Tech info:] Bronica SQA, 80/2.8, Ilford Delta 100 developed in Tetenal Ultrafin T-Plus.
Behind the scenes photography during the filming of Endeavour series 5, FILM 6 in Oxford. This was a busy day of filming for the crew with the bulk of the time spent on the drive-by shooting outside the pet shop on Turl Street (the Oxfam bookshop on any other day). The first set up was outside Joan’s flat – you can see leaves on the ground as this was the end of October and Autumn was on the turn. More shots to come from this day of filming.
[Tech info:] Hexar AF, Ilford FP4 film developed in Kodak HC110 1+31. Pakon scans.
Glenn Close visited the Oxford Union for a Q&A event and here are some of the pictures I made to document what was a fascinating, funny and quite moving talk. The video from the event isn’t on the Oxford Union YouTube page yet but hopefully soon. I highly recommend it. My go to film for Oxford Union events is usually Ilford HP5 but on this occasion I decided to give Delta 400 a try and I do like the results. It feels like there is slightly less grain and a tad more shadow detail than HP5 but I need to do a more controlled comparison to really tell. In any case I’m very pleased with these results.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford Delta 400 @ ISO 1600, developed in Ilford DDX 1+4. Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes photography during filming of Endeavour series 5 FILM 4 on Holywell Street in Oxford. The scenes filmed here were cut short in the final edit which was a bit of a shame but it’s often the way when you’re working to a set running time. Back when Inspector Morse was being filmed it was here outside the Holywell Music Room that I first encountered the crew, they were setting up a dolly track for an establishing shot as I recall. I’ve got the pictures in my archive somewhere, on slide film as that’s what I was mostly using back then.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 40/1.4 Nokton, Agfa APX 100 (expired) developed in Tetenal Ultrafin developer. Pakon scans.
Sunday morning in Oxford’s University Parks, what a perfect place to film a punting scene for the tv show Endeavour. If only the sun would co-operate. After a very overcast start the sun did peek through the clouds just long enough to light everything up. I have some colour shots that will follow in a future blog post.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 50/1.5 Voigtlander Nokton, Eastman Double X film developed in D76 1+1. Pakon scans.
In this instalment of behind the scenes Endeavour photography you get a look at scenes that were filmed outside and inside the Oxford Union debating chamber. These shots are all from the same roll and the last frame was at the unit base on the last day of filming a couple of weeks later. I’ve photographed quite a lot of events at the Oxford Union so I’m familiar with the interior of the debating chamber and I really enjoyed seeing it completely transformed with lighting and haze lingering in the air. The scene outside where the flour bomb was thrown took a lot of planning and rehearsing. The shots below were with a stunt woman. One of my favourite b&w films to use is Ilford HP5 but to mix things up a bit I decided to use Kodak Tri-X for these shots.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F Zeiss Planar, Kodak Tri-X film @ ISO 800, developed in Kodak HC-110 1+31.
