Sherlock Locationing (15) Chasing Taxis in Soho (Part 1d) Spotting the extras
What I have been noticing with the restaurant sequences, having had to look at these scenes at frame by frame level to spot things, and then had a case of total immersion in A Study in Pink for the past few weeks in Media Studies, is a few things other people might spot.
One thing is all the activity going on out of the window behind Sherlock and John.
I know they shot it over night on a Friday/Saturday as explained by the ladies in Brindista, but there seems a definite progression of the hours going by shown by different camera shots.
In the long shots in the restaurant it all seems fairly dark outside and quiet with not much going on in the street. There is also that really odd sort of purplish lighting which Series One was so known for - we also see it aimed at the buildings at the end of Baker Street a few times and at the National Antiquities Museum in The Blind Banker.
That purple light effect is caused by this BTW ... I spotted some lighting techs putting this gel over a big lamp at the end of Gower Street when I was there watching filming. No guesses about what that is going to be used for in Series Three!
Back to time of day watching and the close-ups in the restaurant (this is a shot via John, and the window, out at the taxi) and it seems dawn has broken, it is getting lighter and it's busier out there.
Which is definitely not the case when we get the close-up of the (Oxford number plated, but London registered,) taxi with the camera outside - dark and purple and quiet again ...
There is also something to notice even when our two heroes go running after the taxi ...
This chap is not Benedict - it's the nice stunt man with the wig and the scarily mobile legs. He is called James, and he and I had an amusing email exchange when I asked him something pertaining to finding a tricky location.
This chap is not Martin either, I'm not sure who he is for this series (I believe there was a nice young man called Marcus for series 2). The back of his rather tight wig is what always gives him away. Martin has a bit of a longer, fluffier hair-line at the back.
Martin Freeman is an incredibly bouncy actor, and I am talking about the way he lands on his feet when he vaults the car. Go back to that bit and have a look and see if you can see what I mean!
Here we have a nice dark, quiet Broadwick Street, with the "loads if people" the restaurant ladied told me they had brought aws extras to populate it. Here we also see the special guest performance by... Benedict's iPhone earbud cord. See if you can spot it appearing below the edge of his jacket.
Note I say Ben's and not Sherlock's, as we all know he 'prefers to text'. I had also thought that was a radio mic wire making an appearance for a moment, but those are black and usually look like this and have an attachment clip. Other models of this sort of radio mic have a port to allow wearer to have an earpiece which allows two-way communication, as seen in use in West Smithfield in Series Two.
Now off we go, up onto the roof ...