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ST. TRINIAN'S MARCH THROUGH LONDON
In August 2019 I organised and carried out a photographic recreation of the 1966 St Trinian's Train Robbery film at Gotherington in Gloucestershire, which was later featured in two national magazines.
Shortly afterwards, I thought it would be a great idea to shoot in London and visit the locations with the girls to perform our take on the modern day movies. This project took 13 months to plan and was postponed on three occasions, then finally on Sunday 13th September the girls marched on to the quiet London streets!
It was great fun to organise and photograph, my team of 17 were absolutely superb in helping on the run up and on the day itself. Due to covid-19 restrictions, it was sensible to stay away from public transport, so it was necessary to walk inbetween each venue.
The girls are a combination of friends and actresses, some of whom have appeared on stage and screen. Each character had their own identity and it was important to keep the theme in line with the films that came out in 2008 and 2010 respectively. The St Trinians outfits were sourced online over the summer to individually fit each model. The pinafore dresses, tights, stockings, shoes, shirts, jumpers, hair extensions and St Trinian's badges were sourced from Asos, Ebay, Matalan, Next, Fancy dress shops and Accessorize. The hockey sticks were kindly donated by Tewkesbury School. The whole project cost just under £1000.
The locations used were, Trafalgar Square, 10 Downing Street (actually 10 Adam Street), Millennium Bridge, London Eye and The Globe Theatre.
It was great fun, everyone involved had a laugh and it brightened the spirits of those around us who wandered past as we were shooting.
We ensured that everyone was sensible with the current pandemic rules. The shoot wouldn't have taken place if it wasn't safe for my team.
Shortly afterwards, I thought it would be a great idea to shoot in London and visit the locations with the girls to perform our take on the modern day movies. This project took 13 months to plan and was postponed on three occasions, then finally on Sunday 13th September the girls marched on to the quiet London streets!
It was great fun to organise and photograph, my team of 17 were absolutely superb in helping on the run up and on the day itself. Due to covid-19 restrictions, it was sensible to stay away from public transport, so it was necessary to walk inbetween each venue.
The girls are a combination of friends and actresses, some of whom have appeared on stage and screen. Each character had their own identity and it was important to keep the theme in line with the films that came out in 2008 and 2010 respectively. The St Trinians outfits were sourced online over the summer to individually fit each model. The pinafore dresses, tights, stockings, shoes, shirts, jumpers, hair extensions and St Trinian's badges were sourced from Asos, Ebay, Matalan, Next, Fancy dress shops and Accessorize. The hockey sticks were kindly donated by Tewkesbury School. The whole project cost just under £1000.
The locations used were, Trafalgar Square, 10 Downing Street (actually 10 Adam Street), Millennium Bridge, London Eye and The Globe Theatre.
It was great fun, everyone involved had a laugh and it brightened the spirits of those around us who wandered past as we were shooting.
We ensured that everyone was sensible with the current pandemic rules. The shoot wouldn't have taken place if it wasn't safe for my team.
THE CAST
In order of appearance: Moa, Lara, Charley, Becca, Serena, Michelle, Izzy, Claire, Jess, Katie, Lucy, Rosie and Zoë.
Trafalgar Square
A filming sequence of St. Trinians took place in Trafalgar Square in 2007 featuring Lily Cole, Tamsin Egerton, Paloma Faith, Talula Riley and Gemma Arterton. Inspiration was taken from their images at this location and an attempt to recreate the scene was made by the team.
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10 Downing Street
We went a little off piste and visited Number 10 Downing Street - or rather 'Number 10 Adam Street' near Charing Cross.
The frontage of 10 Adam Street is almost a spitting image to the Prime Ministers residence in Whitehall, so the girls posed in front of the door to give the impression that they were taking over the Country! All we needed was Boris to come out and say hello! |
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The Globe Theatre
Filming took place at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in 2009 on the bank of the River Thames for the second St Trinian's movie, entitled 'The Legend of Fritton's Gold', featuring David Tennant, Colin Firth, Rupert Everett and the same girls as the first movie.
The team ventured down to the front of the building to enable me to capture some striking shots with the Theatre providing the backdrop. One of the challenges I faced at this location was the passing public as we began to draw attention to ourselves. The girls did extremely well to stay composed as we recreated some of the walking scenes from the film. |
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Millennium Bridge
The Millennium bridge featured briefly in the St. Trinian's film with a short clip depicting a group of energetic school girls running across the Thames.
Luckily it wasn't too busy on the bridge which enabled us to achieve our goal. |
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London Eye
En route back to our vehicles, we briefly stopped at the London Eye to capture the girls walking towards the camera with the wheel looming over them, it created a powerful scene as they strutted their stuff.
This wound up our shoot for the day in London, it was a fantastic time and the team were on form. I got the impression that everyone is looking forward to working with eachother again in the future. |
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Behind the Scenes
As with every shoot, there are always opportunities for sillyness and group photos. Here are a small selection from behind the scenes. As you can tell from the photographs, everyone had a good time.
Thank you to Elliott Russell who filmed the photoshoot, and thank you to Dave, Alex, Judy and Mike for their assistance on the day carrying bags, cameras, coats and assisting where necessary with the public. |
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