Daily shooting diary - Day 13. UNIVERSITIES: DIFFERENT LOOKS

Before filming began, Giuseppe and I visited several University campuses in Barcelona. When a Spaniard thinks of a University, one thinks of lush lawns, cement buildings, long corridors, back packs zooming by strapped to people coming and going at all hours of the day, a little traffic, and mostly, a full cafeteria.

When an Italian thinks of a University, he thinks of a gothic cloister where all the students are in uniform.  We soon realized we weren’t on the same page about this location scouting, when he was fascinated by the Pedralbes monastery.

As a cinematographer, no building or university plaza in Barcelona was going to remind  him of a university. In the end we settled on a modern building that was appealing to the eye, and very filmable: The communications campus of the UPF in Poble Nou. Getting permits to film there also proved to be quite effortless. So that’s where we filmed LLUÍS not going to college.

We took advantage of all the students walking around to make it seem like we were there during exams. Gerard Valdivia came along to help out with anything that we might need, and Andrea made his debut in front of the camera without the safety net of a clapper board, or lifting his pinky when calling out the scene.

Right next to the campus there’s a park perfect for LLUÍS’ trip, with its wide open spaces, and we love our wide open spaces.

We finished early and had the rest of the day off, which coincided with a production free weekend where we’d be taking some studio shots of the technical team shot by Israel.

Cenzo Álvarez De Haro - Translated and adapted by: Norman Giovanni Zelaya