Old Nick’s Alley by Sam Barker

Sam Barker was commissioned to create an immersive short film to be displayed on two 14mx3m LED screens at Hyde Park Festival – effectively a tunnel. Inspired by late nights in Soho, Sam decided to craft a nighttime alleyway scene, resulting in the creation of “Old Nick’s Alley”.

Initially the plan was to location scout and shoot real street scenes but due to the tight turn around and that the type of streets we wanted to shoot on are typically quite narrow and they wouldn’t allow the perspective of LHS & RHS as though you were actually on the street we therefore decided to build virtual streets where we could control the geometry of photography and then edit this together with the live action filmed on Malcolm Ryan’s pre-lit green screen.

This story features various characters interacting with one another as they make their way through the alley.

Sam worked collaboratively with Little Shadow and DOP Lorenzo Levrini to create the film whilst developing a soundscape to further enhance the immersive experience.

Here is a left-hand side (slide 1) and right-hand side (slide 2) POV as you walk through Old Nick’s Alley.