Oxford is a ready-made film set that works for whatever century or decade is needed. It seems to me that film crews show up in the fall, after the tourists season is mostly over and before the school term has started. It will continue, mostly between terms, until June, when the next tourist season starts. You can tell a production shoot is happening when you see signs at various main intersections in town that say things like NDVR BASE or NDVR LOC. Translation: Endeavor Base (for all the trucks) and Endeavor Location (where the filming is taking place).
Yesterday I happened across an Endeavor shoot (the prequel to Inspector Morse) at Brasenose Lane. The scene being filmed was that of a man falling out of a upper floor window onto a car top during an explosion. The adage "Measure twice, cut once" is greatly expanded when it comes to filming with pyrotechnics. They rehearsed at least 10 time before they activated the explosion that blew out the windows of the car. I tried to film the explosion but at that point the crew asked all bystanders to stand quite far away and then we couldn't see much of what what happening around the scene. Even so, it was fun to watch anyway. I was reminded that when we watch a movie or a television show, the final product we see is just the tiniest tip of the iceberg. There is so much work and so many hours that go into a few seconds of of finished film.
Brasenose Lane. This is the old car that the stunt man falls onto. Whatever they used for the explosion is in the red canister behind the car.
The dummy on top of the car is where the stunt man lands after the explosion.
The explosion happened and the stunt man fell from a second floor window onto the car.
You can see the windows are now blown out of the car.
They had one chance to get the explosion right since cars of this vintage are not so easy to find.
The next scene was going to be the police arriving (circa 1960). I left at that point. I think there will be more to come.
Movies filmed in Oxford:
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