Tracing the footsteps of Frettin': Visiting the backdrops from Lee Price's independent movie
- joshanthonyharris
- Sep 20
- 4 min read
Lee Price is an independent film maker from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, whose work often reflects the raw, unfiltered view of life in the Midlands. Having graduated from the Bournemouth & Poole Film & Television department, he has since worked on children's television and subsequently produced 4 of his own movies. His storytelling is marked by an unpolished authenticity weaving humour, grit and vulnerability into narratives of the everyday lives.
Frettin' is Lee's 2017 comedy movie telling the story of two social outcasts who help each other survive off grid, while they come to turn with their ghosts. From this Lee won Midlands Movies Best Director in 2017 for Frettin' and Neville Rumble. He also picked up two awards for Frettin at the Midlands Movies Awards for Best Music and Production Design, which was impressive on a £500 budget.
Using everyday locations in film
Doing my hobby, I get to explore some of the amazing locations that have played backdrop to blockbuster films and highly streamed TV shows. However, when it comes to these films & TV shows with a tighter budget, its amazing to see how these everyday market town streets are used.
Whilst exploring these locations with Lee, I got to ask him a few questions about the locations and hear about how he utilised them.
Q: What was the response from the locals whilst filming? Were people curious, supportive or a bit unsure?
A: It was great getting a live response from the people on the street watching whilst we filmed. Being able to see that live response of people enjoying it and people being intrigued added to the atmosphere already playing out.
Q: How important is it to use locations close to home when on a low budget film? Or do you pick one area and film multiple scenes there?
A:
Q: How easy was it to get access to some of the locations? Did you get help from any local businesses?
A: With Simply Bathrooms, whilst I was working for the local radio station I was a copyright writer for the jingles. And at one point I wrote a jingle for the owner [of Simply Bathrooms] and that is how I got the connection to that place. And when it came to filming the owner shut the store for a weekend morning and let us film what we needed.
We then got to talking about a location for his upcoming film, but with how it fit into what we were talking about it seemed perfect to include.
Q: So when you were using this location, did you write the scene for the location or did you chose the location to fit the scene?
A:
Exploring the filming locations from Frettin
We spent a sunny August Saturday exploring the locations from the film around Hinckley and Nuneaton. Whilst I will talk through some of them today, I will be saving half of them for tomorrow.
Coventry canal & fields
Location - Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal next to pipe bridge
What 3 Words - pays.walks.fine
The canal path along the Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal, was used several times throughout the film. With the main characters base set up in a field next to the canal bridge, they spend a lot of time walking the canal path and through the fields.
Nuneaton canal rail bridge
Location - Coventry Canal Kevin's Bridge
What 3 Words - flood.clear.driver
In a scene where Tim gets beaten up by a group of guys next to the canal, they find him underneath the railway bridge. It makes great use of the nature in the area as well as the industrial brutality that has filled these areas.
Nuneaton High Street
Location - Queens Road, Market Place & Coventry Street
What 3 Words - post.point.caged
What better place to set some of the scenes than the market streets of Nuneaton. These streets have told many stories through the centuries and provide the perfect bustling life of everyday people that added to the film.
Riversley Park
Location - Riversley Park bandstand
What 3 Words - lodge.option.acted
Jake & Tim decide to spy on Claire & Meathead at one point in the film, and what more of a classic location in the area than Riversley Park. If you know Nuneaton, you know Riversley park, and having spent many summers of my childhood in Nuneaton I know this park well.
Hinckley High Street
Location - 58 Castle Street
What 3 Words - loafer.intricate.grants
Yet again, Lee wanted to again use the everyday life of the Midlands towns to add an extra backdrop atmosphere. They shot here on a weekend morning which made a perfect area to film the scenes in the shops.
Nuneaton Co-op
Location - Co-op on Kem Street, Attleborough
What 3 Words - serves.pull.horses
This scene was filmed almost a decade ago, so the shop has changed its look since then. But the general design around the ATM has remained fairly similar. It was good to see how even on a low budget they quickly moved from an area out of the way, and straight onto the high street.
And that is the end for my post today. Tomorrow I'm going to look into how a low budget film producer takes a scene from the script, to a storyboard and finally onto the screen. I will also be sharing some more of the locations from the film. But for now, make sure to check out Frettin' on Amazon Prime!
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