Peter Rabbit film simulates UK light in Australia
Will Gluck’s movie adaptation of Peter Rabbit had to be innovative in simulating the light conditions of England’s Lake District, while filming on location in Sydney.
By Nick Goundry 19 Mar 2018
Will Gluck’s movie adaptation of Peter Rabbit had to be inventive in simulating the light conditions of England’s Lake District, while filming on location in Sydney.
The movie tells the story of Peter Rabbit, originally created by British author Beatrix Potter for her much-loved book that was first published in 1902.
Sydney was chosen as the primary filming location as the city is home to Animal Logic, the company that produced the movie's advanced animation.
An expansive set of the Lake District story world was built in Sydney’s Centennial Park, a relatively straightforward location to use, given that it was originally designed with European sensibilities.
However, while Sydney was practical as a location, the city came with a lighting issue.
“One of the biggest challenges the filmmakers faced during filming was dealing with the Australian sunlight,” says Matt Carroll, of Create NSW, in comments to KFTV.
“As we all know, temperatures and sunlight vary dramatically between the UK and Australia, so once the filmmakers had set up the exterior location in the park, they then had to make the light as realistic as possible to recreate Beatrix Potter’s original Lake District setting.
“To do this, the filmmakers set about creating the biggest scrim (a type of theatrical screen) ever erected in Australia, which consisted of four 21-metre poles and a 30-metre by 30-metre diffusion scrim to cover the three-acre set.
“Once up, this was controlled by winches by the chief rigger and supported by eight to 12 riggers in maintaining the sails, moving it as required as the sun moved throughout the day and bringing it down at the end of every day.
“As well as diffusing the harsh sunlight, another benefit of the scrim was that it also went a considerable way in allowing filming to continue in the rain, which combined to make a huge difference to the shoot.”
Sydney is one of Australia’s main production hubs. Fox Studios Australia is based in the city and has recently hosted Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror prequel Alien: Covenant, as well as the action fantasy sequel Pacific Rim Uprising.
The Made in NSW film fund offers a regional production incentive that is available to international producers on top of federal filming support.
Image: Sony Entertainment
Sydney was chosen as the primary filming location as the city is home to Animal Logic, the company that produced the movie's advanced animation.
An expansive set of the Lake District story world was built in Sydney’s Centennial Park, a relatively straightforward location to use, given that it was originally designed with European sensibilities.
However, while Sydney was practical as a location, the city came with a lighting issue.
“One of the biggest challenges the filmmakers faced during filming was dealing with the Australian sunlight,” says Matt Carroll, of Create NSW, in comments to KFTV.
“As we all know, temperatures and sunlight vary dramatically between the UK and Australia, so once the filmmakers had set up the exterior location in the park, they then had to make the light as realistic as possible to recreate Beatrix Potter’s original Lake District setting.
“To do this, the filmmakers set about creating the biggest scrim (a type of theatrical screen) ever erected in Australia, which consisted of four 21-metre poles and a 30-metre by 30-metre diffusion scrim to cover the three-acre set.
“Once up, this was controlled by winches by the chief rigger and supported by eight to 12 riggers in maintaining the sails, moving it as required as the sun moved throughout the day and bringing it down at the end of every day.
“As well as diffusing the harsh sunlight, another benefit of the scrim was that it also went a considerable way in allowing filming to continue in the rain, which combined to make a huge difference to the shoot.”
Sydney is one of Australia’s main production hubs. Fox Studios Australia is based in the city and has recently hosted Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror prequel Alien: Covenant, as well as the action fantasy sequel Pacific Rim Uprising.
The Made in NSW film fund offers a regional production incentive that is available to international producers on top of federal filming support.
Image: Sony Entertainment
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