Principal photography: Difference between revisions

The amount of time taken to complete principal photography on an episode of ''Doctor Who'' has varied greatly over time, but it has generally taken longer to complete each episode over the years.

In the [[Verity Lambert]] era, most episodes were completely taped in a few hours, largely because they were photographed sequentially as theatrical plays with minimal editing.  As the editing of videotape became more affordable, ''Doctor Who'' was filmed out of sequence, and thus more time could be spent filming each scene.  Location filming also became increasingly common.  From the advent of significant location filming in the waning half of [[William Hartnell]]'s involvement with the program,  principal photography was split between "studio days' and "location days".  This meant that the total time needed to complete most episodes naturally increased for that reason alone.   

''[[The Masque of Mandragora]]'' — or, to put it another way, [[Season 15]] — brought with it a significant, lasting change to the progress of principal photography.  The idea of ''always'' recording on Fridays and Saturdays was abandoned in favour of a sliding schedule of two studio days one week being followed by three the next.  This not only added a fifth day of studio recording, but also allowed for a whole month to be used, rather than excluding Sundays.  , a fifth day of studio recording was added to the production schedule.  Thus, many stories would have a two-day week of studio recording followed by a three-day week.  Location filming would usually be done for 3 days sometime prior to the studio recording.  In the case of ''Mandragora'', this location filming occurred two weeks prior the start of studio recording, which meant that the total time elapsed for principal photography was five weeks.<ref>[http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/4m.html Shannon Sullivan's guide] to ''The Masque of Mandragora''</ref>    This schedule was retained for the rest of the original series, although stories with fewer episodes, such as ''[[Survival]]'' were completed in less time.

The [[Doctor Who (1996)|TV movie]] starring [[Paul McGann]] was the first "modern" production of ''Doctor Who''.  Filmed as a movie, it had a long and complicated shoot which lasted 9 weeks.<ref>[http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/bbb.html Shannon Sullivan's guide] to the TV movie</ref>  As a one-off production, it did not establish any particular patterns which were later replicated by later productions or continue any legacies from the past.  It undoubtedly established the record, however, for the longest principal photography of any single ''Doctor Who'' story.  However, depending on one's views of what constitutes a "story", it would be bested by later, multi-episode arcs of the next incarnation of the program.

An episode of ''Doctor Who'' during the [[Russell T Davies]] era of the program typically had a long principal photography schedule that had greater commonality with the TV movie than the original series.  However, it is difficult for those not on the production to speak intelligently about what the actual schedule was, since individual episodes were almost invariably described to the press as "behind schedule".  Nevertheless, "[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]" was likely fairly close to meeting its schedule, and it took about 2 months of almost around-the-clock principal photography.  Principal phtography was achieved in the RTD era through the use of recording blocks, typically comprised of three to four episodes, with photography from one episode sometimes overlapping with that of another.  In the case of the [[Cyberman]] arc from [[Season 2]], for instance, action from all four episodes was filmed jointly over the course of about three months, although material from ''[[Rise of the Cybermen]]/[[The Age of Steel]]'' generally took up the first six weeks, while ''[[Army of Ghosts]]/[[Doomsday]]'' was mostly recorded in the latter six weeks.<ref>[http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/2006lm.html Shannon Sullivan's guide] to ''Army of Ghosts/Doomsday''</ref>  At the other end of the scale, an episode like ''[[Fear Her]]'', with limited sets and location work, had only about 3 weeks of principal photography.<ref>[http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/2006k.html Shannon Sullivan's guide] to ''Fear Her''</ref>

Despite the general inability for non-crew members to ascertain the exact nature of the principal photography schedule on the 2005 series of ''Doctor Who'', a key difference between the original series and the modern one is obvious.  Whereas "classic" ''Doctor Who'' was filmed at a leisurely, weekly pace, the Russell T Davies era was characterised by long, gruelling production blocks in which work was completed every day for weeks on end.

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[[Category:Terminology]]