page_title: Skins (British TV series)
section_title: Filming
hierarchical_section_title: Skins (British TV series) / Production / Filming
caption_attribution_description: Filming of Skins at the Bristol harbourside
context_page_description: Skins is a British teen comedy-drama television series that follows the lives of a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of sixth form. Its controversial story-lines have explored issues like dysfunctional families, mental illness, adolescent sexuality, gender, substance abuse, death, and bullying.
  Each episode generally focuses on a particular character or subset of characters and the struggles they face in their lives, with the episodes named after the featured characters. The show was created by father-and-son television writers Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain for Company Pictures, and premiered on E4 on 25 January 2007. Skins went on to be a critical success as well as a ratings winner.
  Over its initial six-year run, Skins proved to be atypical of ongoing drama series in that it replaced its primary cast every two years. Plans for a film spin-off were first discussed in 2009, but ultimately did not come to fruition. Instead, a specially-commissioned seventh and final series of the show was broadcast in 2013, featuring some of the cast from its 2007–2010 run.
context_section_description: The show is filmed almost entirely in Bristol; scenes at Roundview College were shot at Henbury School for series four, having formerly been set at the John Cabot Academy and SGS WISE Campus. and multiple scenes are located around College Green. Special locations for individual episodes have included the Gower Peninsula, Sharpness Docks, the University of Exeter and New York City. The series was shot entirely in High Definition, using Sony HDW-750P cameras for the first two series, and Sony HDW-F900R thereafter, both supplied by Panavision. It was edited by BBC Studios and Post Production in Bristol, using Autodesk Lustre and Autodesk Smoke.
  "The trip to Russia" episode was actually shot in Lithuania, near the capital Vilnius. This episode was shot in co-operation with Lithuanian Film Studios and professional Lithuanian actors.
  It was announced in April 2008 that all of the original cast (except Kaya Scodelario and Lisa Backwell) would be replaced for series 3. Elsley said: "There are risks associated with dumping a cast, but we just did it. There was some disquiet at the channel, but then they told us just to go with it." Speaking at Broadcast's television drama conference, he also confirmed the show would stick to its pattern of introducing college-age characters, moving them on in the next series, then letting them go. "The first year is about getting to know the kids, and the second gives us the advantage of being able to explore their psyches a little more," said Elsley. Brittain said that the new cast would be quite different from the original characters, although people may still spot some similarities. Open auditions for the second generation of cast members were held in Bristol, which attracted 1,500 16- to 18-year-olds, followed by a further two days of auditions in London.
caption: Filming scene from "Pandora" at the Bristol Harbour
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