Last Length: Lido Short Film Pre-production Board

A producer's pre-production board for a short film set at a seaside lido in November: locations, casting, the look, props and the week's to-dos.

Updated

This board belongs to the producer of Last Length, a short film about a lifeguard and a teenage swimmer on the morning after a seaside lido closes for good. It stayed open through prep as the one place where the director, DP, designer and locations manager could all see the same plan. The look comes first because every other decision depends on it. The photo grid puts a hero shot of the empty lido at the top with a strip of details underneath: low winter sun on the water, worn tile, wet concrete at the pool edge and the grey sea past the wall. Every picture was chosen in the same cold morning light so the grid reads as one place. Beside it are the palette taken from those frames and a short note on the light rule, the most practical thing on the board. Exteriors shoot between seven and half past nine, while the sun is low and the water is warmer than the air, because that is when the steam shows. The film reference is saved as a link, with a line on what to borrow from it and what to leave alone. A room tone recording and a clip of moving water give the editor something to cut against early. Locations to scout keeps the shortlist in a table with contacts and status. The recce notes sit next to the pictures they describe, including the flaking cubicle doors the designer is told to leave alone, and a nested set of alternates holds the places that didn't make the cut but could still serve as a wet-weather backup or a poster location. Casting puts the type references next to a plain brief for each role and a table showing where each search stands. With a child lead and cold water, the practical details belong right beside the faces: the licence, the chaperone, how long anyone can stay in. Props and wardrobe pairs a second palette with the objects that carry the story, from the reference for the lifeguard's wooden high chair to the chained gate in the opening scene, plus a checklist of what is still to find, so the art department can see what has been sourced and what still has to be built. This week holds the to-dos, the tech recce sheet and the treatment that went to the council with the location agreement. If you're building your own short film pre-production board, the useful habit is to keep each decision next to the picture that prompted it and to update the board as the week changes. Photos by Louis PHDC, Engin Akyurt, Matteo Basile, Vladimír Sládek, Jan van der Wolf, joao Guerreiro, David McElwee, Kindel Media, Ahmed ؜, Sergei Gussev, Joshuan Barboza, Katerina and Judy Cheung on Pexels. Sound: "Indoor swimming pool hall" by stephan (Public domain) on Wikimedia Commons.
Silhouetted figures walk along a misty beach promenade with vintage lamps and red planters in Viana do Castelo, Portugal.

Lido, first light

  • Pool teal — #4a9a98
  • Steam — #dde2df
  • Wet concrete — #7c7f7b
  • Low sun — #e8b872
  • Rust rail — #9a4b2e
  • Cubicle blue — #6f8fb0
A vibrant, empty kiosk by the ocean with a view of Pacasmayo Pier in Peru, captured on a bright day.
Rusty railings lead into the ocean waves on a sandy beach, capturing a serene coastal atmosphere.

Locations — shortlist

  • Location
  • Use
  • Contact
  • Status
  • Marram Bay Lido
  • Main, Sc. 1–9
  • Dev Rao, council
  • Recce'd 31 Oct
  • Hensley Road Baths
  • Wet-weather backup
  • Claire, leisure trust
  • Call Mon 2 Nov
  • Promenade shelter
  • Sc. 1, Len's walk in
  • Council highways
  • Permit filed
  • Lido kiosk
  • Base, green room
  • Marram Bay café
  • Agreed, £120/day
  • North gate car park
  • Unit base, genny
  • Council parking
  • Need 6 bays
Tile under water
Tile under water
Sea past the wall
Sea past the wall

Shot on the 31 Oct recce, didn't make the board. Hensley Road is wet-weather backup only: indoor, warm, no steam. Gull Point tidal pool is beautiful but the sea is in every take. Keep both for the poster shoot.

Marram Bay lido
Marram Bay lido
Cubicle doors
Cubicle doors

Recce notes — Marram Bay

Walked it Sat 31 Oct with Tomás.
- 50m pool, shut to the public since 1 Nov, ours 17–20 Nov
- Council want £450/day and their own lifeguard on deck
- Cubicles flaking: keep it, Mei touches up two doors only
- Kiosk has 2 x 13A; genny by the north gate for the HMIs
- Drain-down starts 21 Nov; Sc. 9 (drained) is Thu 26
Backup: Hensley Road Baths, wet weather only.

The light rule

Exteriors shoot 07:00–09:30 only. Sun is low over the east end from 07:10, so we face west and the steam backlights. Water 11°C, air 6–8°C in mid-Nov: that's where the steam comes from, and it's gone by 09:45.
- Tilt down: water and concrete, as little sky as we can
- One warm colour per frame: Len's jacket or the towels
- From Deep End: skin against tile and municipal paint
- Not from Deep End: the 70s grade

Prom walk, Sc. 1
Prom walk, Sc. 1
Deep End (film)

▶ Surface ripple — titles (plays on the board above)

♪ Room tone — lido 7am — 1:04 · 0 BPM · M4A (plays on the board above)

Includes a nested board (open it from the canvas above)

Casting — where we are

  • Role
  • Age
  • So far
  • Next
  • Len
  • 65–75
  • 6 self-tapes, 2 strong
  • Recalls Thu 5 Nov
  • Jess
  • 13–15
  • 3 swimmers via club coach
  • Swim test Sat 7 Nov, 10:30
  • The regulars
  • 50–80
  • Dawn Dippers, 12 keen
  • Meet Sun 8 Nov, 07:30
  • Len's water double
  • 60+
  • Dev, council lifeguard?
  • Ask on recce

Len + Jess — wardrobe

  • Lifeguard red — #b4382c
  • Faded navy — #2f3b52
  • Towel yellow — #ddb04a
  • Cap white — #ece9e1
  • Fleece grey — #85888a

This week — to-dos

[ ] Sign Marram Bay location agreement
[x] Treatment v4 to council with the agreement
[x] Len recalls Thu 5 Nov, room booked
[ ] Chase child licence (sent 26 Oct)
[ ] Cold-water insurance: two quotes
[ ] Hold genny + 2 x HMI for 17–20 Nov
[x] Recce stills to Priya and Sam

Treatment v4 — for council

Logline

The morning after the town lido shuts for good, the lifeguard who has sat in its high chair for thirty-one years lets a fourteen-year-old swim one last length.

Story

Len comes in anyway. The gates are chained and the council van is due at ten. Out of habit he chalks the water temperature on the board: 9°C.

Jess climbs the fence at seven. She has swum here before school since she was eight and she is not ready to stop. He tells her to go home. She gets in.

He could pull her out. He climbs

Chained gate, Sc. 1
Chained gate, Sc. 1

Props notes

Mei dresses, I source.
- Len's chair: the pool's own is new aluminium. Kofi builds the old wooden one from the 1987 photo in the kiosk
- Brass whistle on a cord lanyard, worn
- Temp chalkboard, hand-lettered: 11, 10, 9 across the days
- Wind-up stopwatch; Len times every length
- Our own chain and padlock on the main gate (Sc. 1)
- One lane rope with floats missing (Sc. 6)
Len's red jacket is the only red in frame.

Deep end ladder
Deep end ladder

Casting brief

Len, 65–75: a cold-water swimmer who can act, not an actor who can swim. Three 4-min takes a morning in 11°C water. Weathered, dry, kind without smiling.
Jess, 13–15: county-level club swimmer. Child licence sent to the council 26 Oct (21 days out). Chaperone every day, in the water by 07:20, at school by 11.
The regulars: Marram Bay Dawn Dippers, 8–10 as featured SAs. Lena meets them Sun 8 Nov.

The regulars
The regulars

▶ Wet-weather cover (plays on the board above)

Lane ropes
Lane ropes

Still to find

[ ] Wooden lifeguard high chair (Kofi building)
[x] Wind-up stopwatch that actually runs
[x] Brass whistle, cord lanyard
[ ] A-frame chalkboard for the water temp
[ ] Red lifeguard jacket, faded, x2
[ ] Lane rope with floats missing
[x] Jess's white swim caps x3, matching