During filming of the Tribe Series III, for every week of filming there were approximately 2 or 3 days of Location Shooting, and so it is an important part involving many aspects of the production shooting schedule.
The interior scenes are mostly filmed at Cloud 9 Studios. The entire mall interior is a permanent structure – additionally there are often hut interiors, office or other temporary room interiors built & rebuilt for several scenes. Those that have been lucky enough to visit the studios will also remember the sewer set complete with bridge, water, exit/escape hatch and cobwebs.
The Studio carpark is often used as a separate location – this is created into the rear exterior of the mall/’Centre City Plaza’, also shown is the exterior of the Local Mall with fires burning outside.
In the following picture you are able to see the Train at the Railyards in a stand-off with Lex, Ryan, Zoot and Ebony from Series I.
The Tribe is shot at locations in the Wellington region only. Over the time of filming, Series I, II and III has been shot at many different locations, for example the roof top of the Duxton Hotel, Mall carparks, ex-Army Base, ex-Naval Base, railyards, railway stations, the seaside and hills at Breaker Bay, Hutt Riverside, Regional Parks, various Lower Hutt and Wellington streets, Gas plants, Metal Yards, and a Farm (where the tree house of Pride and Eagle is located – see below).
There is a special set created in Whitemans Valley (a rural area of the Hutt Valley), and is a complete village consisting mainly of building exteriors. Exterior features include the farmhouse and farm garden, bar/casino, derelict streets and street corners, shops, hall, designer graffiti (especially designed and created by graffiti artists) – seen here is Lex at the Whitemans Valley set from Series II.
When filming at outside locations, the ultimate dictator is the weather. The Cloud 9 Production team receive the weather reports in advance so as to plan filming around the unpredictable nature of the weather. Often at the last minute, filming for location days gets swapped around with a studio day due to bad weather. The Directors, Cast, Camera Crew, Wardrobe, and Make-up, are all on standby with wet weather alternate work plans for the day.
You can see a beautiful day here at the beach with action shots from Series III
Caterers are on set at location providing morning and afternoon teas and lunches, which again can often be unpredictable with numbers constantly changing. On any one day there can be up to 80 extras required for crowded scenes, and they all need to be fed.
Cast eating lunch by the pool at the Cloud 9 Studio, also known as the Horton Bailey Hotel pool.
School bus/Classroom – while on location, the cast (because most are school age) still need to be tutored. There is a special bus taken to site where the cast (just like they would at the studio) go to between scenes and do their schoolwork. They are usually in full costume including hair and makeup. They study either by correspondence (a special school providing all material by books and tapes) or their home schools send the work to them, But there are 2 teachers there to also teach them the curriculum in addition to the work sent.
Here you can see Ari and Jennyfer in the studio classroom doing their schoolwork with the help of their teacher/tutor.