Due to a trip being planned by work at last minute time, I had to jump into filming a portion much sooner than expected. As part of the film I wanted to include a section about sourcing fresh produce, which would include a trip to Billingsgate Fish Market and possibly Smithfields Meat Market in London. After check the website of Billinsgate they require permission to film there, here is what the website says:
Filming and photography at Billingsgate
Billingsgate and the City of London have strict rules concerning photography or filming for any purpose, commercial and non-commercial.
Non-commercial photography and filming
Visitors wishing to take photographs at the Market and students undertaking photographic project work must complete an application form. To receive an application form for non-commercial photography, or if you need further information, please contact a member of the team by email at billingsgatemarket@cityoflondon.gov.uk or T 020 7987 1118.
There are some conditions that we ask you to note, these are listed below:
any permission is granted entirely at the applicant’s own risk
photographs are not to be published or used for any commercial purpose
any instructions given by an authorised Officer of the City of London must be complied with and whilst at Billingsgate an authorised permission slip must be produced if asked for
the use of tripods is not permitted and the applicant must not impede the running of the Market
a Merchant’s permission must be obtained before photographing that Merchant’s products
After emailing the film liaison for the market, Mick Bagnall I received a phone call from him telling me that a large crew were already filming in the market on the day we planned to travel so I was unfortunately not allowed to film. Rescheduling the visit wasn't an option for the chefs so I decided to try and go covert and use my phone to film the required shots.
After arriving at the market and filming on my phone for a while nobody seemed to mind and I ended up with most of the shots I had planned on getting. Unfortunately the bitrate and audio for my phone isn't fantastic but it does shoot in 1080p so there will at least be room for a little cleaning up. Dynamic range didn't prove much of an issue either as it was all indoors in the early hours of the morning and very evenly lit.
In hindsight I think I might have got away with filming using my DSLR anyway but I think not risking being thrown out was work it as I got the footage I needed in the end. We were also able to do some filming in Smithfields which should add a little variety to the segment.
