UK Your showreel, interesting locations?

[stuartpb]

Over the next couple of months I'm going to be spending some time working on my showreel. I've got some commercial work I can use but I've been pretty pro-active in making use of areas around me I'd like to feature in my showreel. One of these is an 18th century stately home. It's owned by our local council and I approached them to gain permission to operate there, for the purposes of gaining footage and images for the showreel. I was given permission so I'll be heading out there when the natural lighting and weather is favourable. It's unpaid work, but hopefully I'll get some great footage!

So have any of you guys made use of local spots for your showreels? I'd love to hear about great locations, even more so in the UK.

 

[Blacksails]

Unfortunately, most local and national areas of prettyfullness are run by either the National Trust or English Heritage. I have flown at trust sites before when it was easy to get permission in 2013, but now it's a lot more hassle.
English Heritage charge a minimum of £500 + VAT for ANY drone flight at their properties, + staffing costs. If it's stone henge, this goes up to £1250 + VAT. I know this as I spoke to them recently, just wanting to shoot some showreel.
Seems unfair as hobbyists turn up and fly whenever they like with rarely any consequences, as can be seen on YouTube. Permission holders who have gone out of their way to prove they are competent and safe get charged ridiculous amounts.


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[stuartpb]

You've saved me some time there!! There is a local castle here called Conisbrough Castle. It's said to be a source of inspiration for the Ivanhoe story. It's English Heritage owned and I was going to be contacting them with a view to getting some footage. If the rate is the same as that you've been given I will be giving it a miss! I agree it does seem unfair, especially when we're contacting the landowner and trying do things the right way instead of just rocking up and chancing it.

One thing I found that could have worked in my favour with my local council for the stately home is the fact that I said I would be more than happy to share the footage I get with them. I don't mind scratching their backs if they let me get some footage there for my showreel. Just waiting for a decent morning or evening to get it done now.

 

[Blacksails]

You've saved me some time there!! There is a local castle here called Conisbrough Castle. It's said to be a source of inspiration for the Ivanhoe story. It's English Heritage owned and I was going to be contacting them with a view to getting some footage. If the rate is the same as that you've been given I will be giving it a miss! I agree it does seem unfair, especially when we're contacting the landowner and trying do things the right way instead of just rocking up and chancing it.

One thing I found that could have worked in my favour with my local council for the stately home is the fact that I said I would be more than happy to share the footage I get with them. I don't mind scratching their backs if they let me get some footage there for my showreel. Just waiting for a decent morning or evening to get it done now.

That's exactly what I did with EH. Offered them some of the footage to sweeten the deal, but nope. They want to charge for use of the land.

Weirdly, Conisbrough was one of the locations I was looking at!


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[NickU]

EH have their own inhouse photo dept and they do lidar & aerial surveys of sites for historical research so already have a fair amount of aerial photos and that means they aren't really interested in shots or footage unfortunately.

They've also been cut adrift from statutory funding by the government, so budgets are squeezed and they have to raise all their own money these days, rather than get a juicy government grant. It's not particularly that they're being grasping wanting to charge (unlike the NT, who EH had to fund at one time btw), just that they need funds to help them survive.

 

[stuartpb]

EH have their own inhouse photo dept and they do lidar & aerial surveys of sites for historical research so already have a fair amount of aerial photos and that means they aren't really interested in shots or footage unfortunately.

They've also been cut adrift from statutory funding by the government, so budgets are squeezed and they have to raise all their own money these days, rather than get a juicy government grant. It's not particularly that they're being grasping wanting to charge (unlike the NT, who EH had to fund at one time btw), just that they need funds to help them survive.

I can understand that. I know funding is becoming a real issue for the organisations that manage our national parks and heritage sites.

I've been talking to the Peak District National Park Authority last week and they are asking for fees for filming or using their land for sUAV ops. I don't know the sort of cost I'll be looking at but I'm half expecting it to price me out as they've said there is a fee for the use of the land and then staffing costs as I'd most likely be shadowed by a member of their staff. If it ends up pricing me out, I'll be gutted because I'd love to showcase the area in my work. I walk there regularly and really do enjoy the area. I'm hoping the cost isn't going to be prohibitive for me. I do have an alternative though, I can find a landowner in the Peaks who may be happy to let me operate off their land. I've been made aware of the sensitivities I must respect by the park authority which was really helpful of them.

 

[NickU]

I think all the NGOs are getting desperate for cash these days now that Government benificence has dried up.

A number are a bit more wised up through having had tv and films shot on location too - they think they know what they can try and extract, but trouble is they have no sense of proportion - one size fits all, and it's Holywood size when it comes to plundering your wallet Doesn't cut the other way though - a friend used to get some decent stills commisions from the PDNPA years back, but stopped accepting work from them once they started offering/paying him peanuts .

Cultivating the neighbouring owners as best you can is the way to go .