As you surely know, humans don’t live in a vacuum. All the curious stories about the things that happen to us, happen somewhere: in an old squeaking elevator while riding up to the 5th floor, on a steep trail during the 2-day hike to the mountain peak, or just in the cozy backyard of the best friend’s house. That’s the thing about stories – they need a place to unfold. So, whether you are an established filmmaker or a rookie just planning your first indie short, you will face the same challenge: finding a perfect location (or multiple ones) for your film. Where to start and what to watch out for? Below, you will find some useful tips and a couple of the latest AI tools for location scouting. Going on a location scout (or a “recce”) for the first time might strongly remind you of the casting process. At least, writer and director Rubidium Wu sees it that way. In his MZed course “The Indie Film Blueprint” he dedicates the entire module to this stage of film pre-production and shares his personal insight and approach. We will list some of the most essential ones in this article, but feel free to watch the whole course here. The locations are more or less characters in your film as well. Rubidium Wu, a quote from his course Rubidium Wu. Image source: MZed What types of locations should we consider? In the industry, when we talk about “filming on location”, it usually...
Published By: CineD - Friday, 6 October, 2023