Dive deeper into this episode with exclusive sketches, production designs, and fun facts delivered directly from the Outlander crew.
Fergus
“In this episode, we had to show Fergus’ hand being chopped off. The desire was not to shy away from showing it quite graphically, but put it right in the middle of frame. The audience should experience and share the unexpected shock of the sudden brutal act.
Obviously we can’t actually chop off a hand, and the feeling was a prosthetic arm would not respond believably so close to camera to the moment of being chopped through. So it was achieved and put together as a visual effect. The action of how we would stage it and indeed effective camera angles was rehearsed in advance so we could move quickly on the day’s filming on location.
We first shot the actor reacting to the chop, with his real arm in position as a reference for lighting and framing, and to give us an arm we could alter—but with no blade. We then had him move his arm to safety and repeated the moment, chopping into a green painted cast of his arm and hand. The green arm gave us a clean profile of the forearm where severed, for reference to how we would alter the real arm, and a safe target for the actual chop with a blade.
We then combined parts of both shots into one, to create the final composite. Adding blood as well as a little dying movement to the severed hand. For the rest of the scene, the actor did wear a prosthetic arm (with his real arm cleverly hidden), though visual effects were again used to add and enhance the blood pouring from the severed stump.”
–Richard Briscoe, VFX Supervisor
Jamie’s Cave
“Having looked at many locations for Jamie’s cave, it became apparent that we were not going to find a suitable cave that was accessible for the crew, provided enough space to film the scenes we required, and was safe to be filming in. We decide to build the entrance to Jamie’s cave by an overhanging rock face in woodland by Midhope Castle (Lallybroch) and the interior was built in the studio.”
-Hugh Gourlay, Supervising Location Manager
1940s Boston
“This episode featured the first time we see Boston added to the end of the street of our Glasgow location, for the exterior of Claire and Frank’s Boston home.” –Richard Briscoe, VFX Supervisor
Havard Medical School Lecture Theatre
“The Lecture Theatre was filmed in the old Anatomy Lecture Theatre of the former Edinburgh Veterinary School. Amongst other things, this location is now home to an award-winning gin distillery in the former dog kennels, and still has the old dog cages.”
-Hugh Gourlay, Supervising Location Manager
Matthew B. Roberts
“When we prep the episodes (we shoot in two episodes blocks), because of our schedule (12 days per episode = a 24 day block) we have to find location where what we call: make a day. The above is the (Boston ha ha) view as Claire walks baby Brianna through the park. Just above from this spot in Glasgow University where we were shooting the INT. Scenes of Ep 301 and 302.”
–Matthew B. Roberts, Executive Producer/Writer
“Baby Bree (Lucy Maxwell) stole the show. Lucy was brilliant on almost every take. Smiled in action. Filmed in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow.”
–Matthew B. Roberts, Executive Producer/Writer
