credits 

Kingdom
Set in the fictional picture postcard town of Market Shipborough, the bulk of filming occurred in and around Swaffham in Norfolk. The beauty of the Norfolk landscape lured the production company to set the drama in the county and Norfolk Tourism is reaping the promotional benefits through their PR and marketing activities with Screen East’s assistance. Screen East also facilitated a meeting with the Producer of Kingdom, Norfolk County Council and Norfolk Tourism to secure funding for aerial footage of Norfolk.

Batman Begins and The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight, the sequel to the action hit movie Batman Begins, once again returned to Cardington Hangar 2 in Bedfordshire. Cardington was sourced directly from Screen East’s location library in 2004 for Batman Begins. The enormous, disused airship hangar provided Warner Bros. with opportunities to extend their sound stage sets by constructing the building framework of the Trump Tower where scenes for the pivotal confrontation between Batman (Bale) and the Joker (Ledger) were shot.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Screen East was pleased to facilitate filming in Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, assisting the production with locations and facilities throughout. Hatfield House in Hertfordshire was transformed by filmmakers into Mary Queen of Scots’ Private Quarters at Chartley Hall and Sir Francis Walsingham’s London house. Cambridgeshire provided the production with the opportunity to set the story against extraordinary backdrops. St John’s College was used as exteriors for Whitehall Palace and the River Cam doubled for the River Thames where Elizabeth, her ladies and Walsingham travel on the Queen’s barge. Ely Cathedral was the chosen location for the filming of key scenes in which Elizabeth confronts the Spanish Ambassador with the Spanish plot. Producers drafted in local extras of all ages for big set pieces in Elizabeth’s court giving Cambridgeshire residents the opportunity of appearing in the film amongst Hollywood’s elite.

Ely Cathedral won the award for the Best Filming Location at the Creative East Awards in 2008 thanks to the Cathedral’s starring role in the film. With Screen East’s assistance and support, a regional charity premiere for Elizabeth: The Golden Age was held at Ely Cinema.

Dean Spanley
Dean Spanley was backed by the £2.25m Screen East Content Investment Fund, an award of funding from the European Regional Development Fund Objective 2 Programme administered by GO East, Government Office for the East of England. The fund was successfully launched at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival with internationally celebrated director Michael Winterbottom and producer Andrew Eaton.

As well as investing £250,000 in the production of Dean Spanley, Screen East Locations assisted the production by hosting a series of area familiarisation events to help the production team find the ideal locations within the region. They also helped source local crew and identify facilities companies. The team were then on hand throughout the shoot to support the filming.

Dean Spanley has had a significant impact in the region by creating five full time jobs and spending of £950,000 through sourcing local crew and facilities. The film has been well received by a global audience and it is anticipated this film will help attract visitors to the region for many years to come. As stated by Time Out London: ‘Small film, big delight'.

Stardust
Paramount Picture’s fantasy adventure Stardust approached Screen East looking for a bustling street to become the magical land of ‘Stormhold’. Elm Hill in Norwich was selected as the perfect location with its beautiful timber-framed buildings and old-fashioned cobbles. The production wanted to make aesthetic alterations to a number of the buildings, all of which are Grade Listed. Screen East therefore set up an on-site meeting with the production and a number of representatives from Norwich City Council, highways and the police in order to work out the practicalities and logistics of the filming.

Two weeks preparation work was required for the production to paint almost all of the buildings on the street. The local authoritys and residents were exceptionally helpful and pulled out all the stops in order to make a night-shoot on this small street possible involving over 300 extras. Everyone who participated in the making of Stardust had a great experience and the filming provided a valuable boost to the local economy.

Stardust's location manager, Emma Pill said, “It [Elm Hill] is a magical street, providing the production with the exact requirements for the script... the residents and businesses of Elm Hill were very helpful and a joy to work with. Again Screen East was there to assist us in all aspects of the production during the preparation and the shoot, which as always is greatly appreciated.”

Flyboys
Flyboys, a WWI drama starring James Franco, was based at Elstree Studios. Screen East Locations worked closely with the Location team, assisting with their location requirements. Screen East organised an onsite meeting with Council, Police and Highways representatives regarding the filming of a particular tricky scene at one of Screen East’s locations in Essex, Copped Hall. The scene involved the use of smoke and pyrotechnics along with WWI planes flying overhead, which were sourced from Duxford Imperial War Museum in Cambridgeshire. With the M25 in view of the location it was paramount that all the necessary authorities were happy with the filming arrangements.

Children of Men
Screen East was delighted to welcome the sci-fi thriller, Children of Men to the East of England in 2005. The feature selected a variety of locations in the region including the Ashridge Estate, a National Trust owned 4000-acre expanse of historic parkland that offers dense forest and stunning panoramic views over rolling hills. This scenic landscape was transformed by the production to create a gruesome funeral pyre of prosthetic cattle. This location was sourced directly from the Screen East location library.

A privately owned Farm in Hertfordshire was also ulitised by the production and became a perfect hideout location for the 'Fishers' gang that feature in the film. Another location in Hertfordshire, Bushey Campus, hosted an impressive shoot-out sequence that featured 300 extras and involved lots of gunfire and pyrotechnics.

Location Manager, Nick Fulton, said: "Children of Men was a huge challenge for the Location Team as we needed a vast selection of controllable sites. These ranged from quiet country roads to bullet riddled inner city streets. As ever, Screen East and the other associated agencies proved to be a fantastic resource and support. They gave us a window on to a region that has an eclectic and varied selection of locations, suitable for world-class feature film production."