Film Location - everything you need to know - low budget filmmaking ep 4

 

Film Location - everything you need to know - low budget filmmaking ep 4

You may watch the video tutorial I posted on my Youtube channel below

1- How to decide what location you need? this depends mainly on the genre of your movie, but since we're talking about low budget filmmaking, you will just have to do with what you have, which means that we're going back to the golden rule I always talk about "think of what you have before even writing the movie", or you can be creative and squeeze your location to get the most of it, we'll see how at the end of this video.. To get inspired about the kind of locations you need for your movie watch movies of the same genre and pay attention to the location, better if you could find the 'behind the scenes footage" cause that's where you could see the location as it is before the color correction and color grading.. also the filming angles and lighting change how everything looks on screen. 2-Where to find good locations? since we're talking low budget, you possibly will not look for anything that costs money, so the choices are limited, you start by your own house like eveyone else does, or your friends.. if you can't find what you're looking for then try to see if there are any film schools near you, or just regular universities and school, they might have a film club or something similar, you can contact them and if they like the idea of your movie they would mostly agree to grant you access to their facility.. Some local associations or even small business wouldn't mind helping you either, you can tell them that you would mention their name in the credits and it might help their business, don't come up as someone desperate for help, come up as someone who has something to offer. Navigate through google maps, you might be surprised about great locations that nobody or only few people know about, abandoned housed or even big factories.. Or if you have some money then, think about renting a place.. in this case you have to be professional and have the owner sign the location agreement before doing anything, so that each one of you knows their rights clearly 3-Location scouting. Simply means going to check out the location beforehand. Why? to make sure that everything is alright and you will not have any troubles while you are filming. Things to check during the scouting: the power source, to plug your equipement, charge your camera or phone.. you will have people with you, so they will need to use the bathroom if you're taking too long, or maybe a room to change their clothes, check if that's available too. But most importantly the lighting and sounds Do the scouting at the same time you are planning to film one day before, if you will film in the morning, then do the scouting in the morning, and so on, so that you know exactly where the sun is, if there's enough light coming in through the windows, how is it, and what can you do to improve it, unless you are planning to use your own lighting system.. which I doubt.. and doing it one day before means that you're mostly will have the same conditions, unless you live in a place where weather changes daily, then you're screwed.. you will also check if there will be any sounds at the time of filming, the location could be near a train station or any busy place, so you need to figure out when is it as quiet as possible..

lighting and sound are very very important, I had to learn it the hard way. 4- Maximize your location Get the most of your location by filming in all the different corners you have, along with changing the decoration and colors and everything, to sell the illusion that you filmed in different places.. Be creative, if you need an office for example, you don't have to film in a real one, get a desk, a chair, and few office items and you're good to go..