Snooker Table / Venue needed for a film

[paul jones]

Hello.

My name is Paul and I am a third year film student at York St John University. I have written and am currently trying to produce a short film for my final year and I am desperately trying to source a location with a snooker table or alternatively we are thinking of buying our own table second-hand (as cheaply as possible) and getting a fitter to set it up in a location.

I wondered if anyone could give some advice on potential places to film that they know of - So far I have tried Riley's, World Snooker, South West Snooker Academy, various stately homes near York, etc. I've even tried to get hold of Damian Hirst and various pro snooker players. All to no avail.

In the script the setting is supposed to be something like the crucible theatre, but empty - Except for the snooker table of course. Obviously this is not possible, but it is crucial that the table is in a room by itself (ie. not a snooker hall) and has plenty of room around it for the actors and of course all the camera equipment.

If anyone has any advice or knows of anyone that might be able to help, I would love to hear from you. I can email a copy of the treatment giving more details to anyone who wants it. I would imagine this is the first fiction film about snooker and my crew and I are all dedicated, hard-working young filmmakers.

Yours in desperation!

Paul Jones

[jarcher]

Hi, I know it's a long shot... but couldn't you get somewhere with tables and cover everything in blue fabric... would have suggested green screening, but wouldn't want you to lose the bed cloth in your shoot lol. Would take a bit more work on your part... and in the editing, but if it is for uni, I think they would be more impressed that you could composite a blue screened shot of the table etc onto a normal room and background

Not sure what editing system you are using for this, but if you had access to Apple Shake and Final Cut, this should be reasonably easy to do. Though I would also recommend the use of 3D software, such as Cinema 4D to mockup the camera angels and map them to the video, so you can try to get camera movement more consistent between the shots.

The reason I suggest this, is getting a table moved, then setup, then covered, then potentially moved back and covered again could be quite costly. A few draps, crucial lighting on the fabric to hide shadows etc and some tricky editing... will save you a small fortune, and potentially get you a far higher grade.

Hope this helps

[snookerpoolman]

Hi Paul,

At our Club in Chesterfield we have a seperate match room with one table in. The room is fairly large I'm close to the management of the club as I sell cues and cases etc. and have played there for 20 odd years... If you email me to cueist@genie.co.uk I'll have a word and see if they can accomodate you. I'll need to know how long you'd need the room for. It's very rarely used during the weekday daytimes, but is in use most evenings and sometimes at the weekend.

Hope this helps,

Cheers, Dave, Snookerpoolman

[philip in china]

Is Sichuan too far?