Looking for a Morgue

​This is another retrospective look the search for filming locations. It concerns finding a place for a scene that is supposed to take place in a pathology lab where autopsies are conducted. In my imagination, it was starkly lit, had several stainless steel tables, and equipment that was genuine. But my phone calls to locate such a facility that would let us film were fruitless. So, we started looking at places that were not actually morgues, but which might be suitable with tweaking.
 
One of the facilities Angel and I went to was a rather strange one. It is a company that prepares dead bodies for shipment. There were a couple of sloped tables with buckets below and hoses to them. Bodies would be put there and drained of their fluids and then double-bagged, hermetically sealed, and placed in containers for shipping. The place was poorly lit, with scarred and dirty flooring, and the equipment was not at all right. Angel proposed that we pay to paint the floors, rent the right equipment, and do our best to make it work. I was not game for spending the money and time for a location that I didn’t think could be made to work.
 
Sometimes you have to give up your preconceived notions and revamp the scene, especially if it is not one integral to the plot. The pathology lab was such an example. Although it would have added great production value to have a real pathology lab, the amount of time being devoted to the search was out of kilter with the short length and importance of the scene. I decided that I would change the scene to be one which takes place in a hallway outside of the lab.