In the beginning of Episode 2, "All New Together," the Vicar and Marjory Frobisher gaze down at the manor house from the end of the short drive. From there, the manor is just a spot on the horizon.
When my wife and I arrived at the entry to Cricket St. Thomas, we thought of stopping and looking around the Old Lodge next to the gate. But we really wanted to see the manor house first, and also try to find the church. Now that we knew where the Old Lodge was, we could return to it later. So we headed on down the long, winding, one-lane drive.
Time flew past as we walked around the manor, taking photographs, and reminiscing. We also spent a fair amount of time inside the old church. By then we were getting tired, and decided to head back up the drive to see the Old Lodge. Even if the interiors were filmed in a studio back in London, we were really looking forward to seeing the outside of Audrey's residence-in-exile.
As we neared the entryway, with the gates still open, we stopped and I took a few photographs of the Old Lodge from the back. It was a pastoral place, and better maintained than in the days Audrey and Brabinger lived there off her slim savings.
But it looked different somehow, and when we pulled up in front, it struck me that this couldn't possibly be the Old Lodge. At least, not unless it had been significantly remodeled. So I got back in the car and we consulted a crude map I had found online.
Sure enough, this wasn't the Old Lodge: that lay in the opposite direction, along the narrow, winding one-lane road we had entered along. To visit the Old Lodge, we would have had to turn around, and head back, and drive well past the manor to find it. The drive each way would probably amount to thirty minutes, plus the time we spent there. Given our predilection for exploration, we figured the trip to the Old Lodge would take up at least an hour. Then we'd need to hit the road again. But we were already tired, and jet lagged after our long flight from San Diego to Heathrow the previous day. (Actually, I think we lost a day in the process). And after our nightmare journey from Heathrow to our first hotel the previous night, when our GPS refused to work properly, we were still a little iffy about driving along English roads. So reluctantly, we decided to leave the Old Lodge for a return journey to Cricket St. Thomas. After all, we have to leave something new to discover, if we want a reason to return, right?
Assuming the Old Lodge still stands, it's not situated with a view of the front of the manor house, but well behind. (At least, according to the map I found). So it can't have the view that Marjory and the Vicar had. Nor can Audrey look out her back porch through her binoculars and see the the front of the manor.
I wonder how they filmed that scene at the beginning of the episode, with Marjory and the Vicar standing outside the Old Lodge. I can only assume the production team must have placed a large green screen behind the actors when they filmed at Cricket St. Thomas. Then, back at the studio, that the special effects people used a process called Color Separation Overlay, or CSO, to insert a view of the manor house onto the green screen. This process was regularly used back then on such TV shows as Doctor Who, and is still used today in making TV shows and feature films. Blue or Green Screen technology was used in making Star Wars, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies, and even, I believe, in the western Appaloosa. But it's odd to think that the Special Effects department played such a role in making a sitcom.
But then, that's the magic of television.
Dragon Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment