Showing posts with label production stills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label production stills. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Production Still Photographs Exposed

For the third time during Series 11 production, some revealing materials were "leaked".

It would be accurate to call only the first instance a deliberate leak. An entire Episode 1 clip was uploaded to Tapatalk and eventually made its way to YouTube, Twitter and other forms of public media along with two photos involving the thirteenth Doctor seeming to construct her new sonic screwdriver. I've described the materials on this blog post.

The second instance involved a merchandiser called Calender Club, who posted images of a Series 11 Doctor Who Calendar by Danilo. Those images were also distributed further on social media. The images consisted of character portraits of the Doctor and her companions, with a larger photo of Yasmin Khan. The images were removed from the website and the DMCA removed the images from tweets so it would seem Calendar Club must have posted the images too early. Danilo has now released some of the images and is offering the calendars for presale. Calendar Club has now re-released the images. 

The third instance is the result of the way a production stills photographer posted his portfolio online. One thumbnail from each of the categories in photographer Ben Blackall's Doctor Who Series 11 portfolio were visible when accessed via the mobile version of his website. The thumbnails have since been removed from public view, but two more thumbnails were revealed during the process of reprogramming his website. The photos are not in their final form with the background drape and actor's marks visible and color grading for alien worlds missing.

Blackall's portfolio was accessed by a curious fan who learned of the photographer's involvement via a photo credit in Doctor Who Magazine #528, which published Blackall's photo of the thirteenth Doctor standing on a rocky outcrop in what looks like a landscape from the filming in Granada Province in Spain. This photo appeared in Blackall's portfolio with the TARDIS photoshopped into the foreground on the right side.

Two of Blackall's thumbnails featured two photos the brand new interior of the Thirteenth Doctor's TARDIS!  Your best bet in finding the photos would be to search "new tardis" on Facebook, which doesn't seem to be subject to the same corporate copyright pressure as Twitter. It is likely the other photos can be found on Facebook as well. The http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk website has the photos in one of its posts under a spoiler tag.

The first photo shows the Doctor in the blue-shirt version of her costume inside the TARDIS, showing the entrance. This still is probably from late in Episode 1. Rather than the TARDIS doors opening directly into the console room, the entrance is three-dimensional with the two interior police box walls flanking the door visible from the inside. Only the wall of the police box facing the interior is missing, except the edges and the top with the "POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX" sign. So the TARDIS has a police box vestibule of sorts. This would explain why it was unnecessary to have a flat photo of the interior just inside the prop door during location filming.

The interior wall near the door is beige with circles within large hexagons. The circles each have two concave-curved tri-"spokes", one overlapping the other. It is not a regular pattern, however, with some of the hexagonal units seeming to merge in places and intertwine in a somewhat organic fashion. This design is also three-dimensional with an alcove leading to the police box portion with and opening with angled edges formed by the hexagons.

Another photo showed more of the TARDIS interior from the outside through the doors. The doors open inward. Four director's chairs face the opening to the TARDIS console set with the names, "JODIE", "MANDIP", "BRAD" and "TOSIN". Black curtains conceal some of the undressed set exterior. Though the door, crew can be seen working on the interior. The hexagonal motif continues on the floor and light red walls with blue and purple hexagons. Some of the hexagons in the floor light up to a warm white. The rotor platform consists of two concentric circles forming steps going up. The step-rings are rimmed in black with white Gallifreyan symbols. I don't think the rotor was visible through the doors because of the camera angle, some of the crew standing in the way or because the set was unfinished.

Another Episode 1 publicity shot shows the Doctor in the Twelfth Doctor's costume in front of the the large cranes at HTC Crane in Sheffield lit up at night. It is labeled from a November 21 album.

I can place only some of the photos in episodes or filming blocks.

One character photo of a young, asian woman in a tan shirt and black trousers from the episode in the finale block which involves hostages. Part of this finale block episode was filmed in the Tredegar area. I've previously blogged about it.

Another photo is a still from Block 3 filming in Sheffield on February 13 at the tram bridge. It is essentially this scene from a different angle. Tanya Fear is the guest star in this photo.
There are two photos of a young, red-haired man. One of the photos is a character shot in side view of him pregnant! Yes, a Doctor Who episode with a pregnant man! The character photo shows the man in an olive green jacket with many round black and sliver patches, blown, baggy knickers, brown tights, tan socks and hiking boots. The second photo is a still of the same man smiling while looking down at an infant swaddled in a gray quilted blanket in his arms. He appears to be in a hospital setting in a white t-shirt with one of the black/silver patches and a blue hospital gown.

There are three recognizable guest stars in the photos: Julie Hesmondhalgh, Mark Addy and Claudia Jessie. I cannot place any of them in any specific episodes.

Julie Hesmondhalgh is pictured in a production still in what looks like a vast storage facility. Her hair is short and blonde. She is wearing black-rimmed glasses and a grey shiny blouse and grey blazer of the types I would describe as futuristic. She is looking very businesslike holding a white tablet.

Mark Addy's character is dressed in tan and brown rugged clothing with a jacket, chaps, boots and lots of straps. He is holding a rectangular, hand-held instrument. He is pictured in two stills walking in a rocky setting (probably filmed in a quarry) with Graham, the Doctor, Yasmin and Ryan. The Doctor holds a translucent, white, irregularly-shaped object. There appear to be the ruins of a crashed flying vehicle in one of the photos somewhat resembling turbo engines.

Claudia Jessie is pictured in a character portrait wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt, black trousers and an open purple vest with three grey strips, vertical on the shoulders and horizontal at waist and hip.

Three of the photos show the Doctor in her costume with the burgundy shirt she wears in Episode 3. I think the Doctor wears this shirt for more than one episode. One photo is a character portrait of the Doctor walking. The second shows the Doctor with her companions at night surrounded by mounds of scrap metal. This is possibly from Episode 7 filming at HTC Crane in Sheffield. (There was definitely some Episode 1 filming at this location with the thirteenth Doctor in the twelfth Doctor's costume with her three companions plus Graham's wife, Mary played by Sharon D. Clarke.) The third photo is from the same episode as the second photo. It is a still of the Doctor, her companions and an unknown dark-haired actress dressed in a white, sleeveless futuristic outfit with trousers. All five people look down a white, circular corridor with astonished expressions on their faces. There is a damaged panel with dangling wires just behind the Doctor.

Some photos I can't place:

A still of the Doctor in a blue shirt with the companions in costumes I can't find in any other stills or video. They all look astonished as they peer down from a metal railing. In the background is a white wall with a large, circular doorway. Behind them on the wall through the doorway is a circular object with an unfamiliar (yet strangely somewhat familiar) red and black geometric design. It's possible this is a placeholder graphic for something which will be added to the photo later. I am unsure.

A still from an album titled "Dr Who Rumble" showing two men, one in a red tank top and another in a chef's uniform with raised fists about to engage each other. Graham can be spotted in the background.

Last, but not least, is a photo of Graham from an unknown episode. Graham is in a dark hallway lit by wall lamps. He his holding a copper-colored spherical object approximately a half meter in diameter which somewhat resembles the hovering security cameras in Silence in the Library, only more utilitarian and not quite so Art Deco.

That's it for the photo descriptions. A tantalizing glimpse into Series 11.


Friday, July 13, 2018

New Series 11 Information and Photos from Entertainment Weekly Magazine

Photo by Simon Ridgeway

Photo by Sophie Mutevelian


This next photo is from South Africa filming. Note the photo credit given to the South African photographer, Coco Van Oppens.


Photo by Giles Keyte

Note each of the production stills are by a different photographer, which suggests that a unique stills photographer was employed for each filming block, which would mean they are not from the same episodes. The change of costume for the companions would suggest this as well.


Series 11 Information from the Issue

The thirteenth Doctor's costume has some "hidden attributes" yet to be revealed which will "delight longtime Whovians".

Chris Chibnall said casting Jodie Whittaker "was the easiest decision I made in my whole career" because "She was just so compelling."

Graham is a "regular bloke from London who's ended up living in the north of England and gets taken away on this journey," according to Bradley Walsh. "It's like Jodie is Captain Kirk and we're the rest of the guys on the bridge. I'm like, Lieutenant Uhura."

Jodie Whittaker said the TARDIS rejected the Doctor, kicking her out at the the of Twice Upon a Time.

Whittaker was interviewed by the magazine five months into filming, sometime in March, so likely during the third filming block.

After a set visit during the filming of a scene, the thirteenth Doctor is described as "excitable and ebullient" and Mandip Gill describes her as having "a similar energy to Matt Smith's Doctor. Very high energy."

Jodie Whittaker herself describes her Doctor as "hopeful and fizzing with wonder." "This Doctor goes in all sorts of directions but essentially, I think the big theme is hope." "There are no rules, and it's liberating. But it's equally terrifying."