LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!

2/25/2016

Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung - (Wong Kar Wai) In Mood for Love

Acquiring the Perfect Location for your film

The rich sets in any Wong Kar Wai film speaks volumes about the importance of location as a defining factor in any production. The locations in your film make the difference between a good film and an excellent film. It amplifies the mood, reveals intimate details about your characters and imbues believability into the world you have created. However, locations can provide one of the biggest headaches in the production process and not without cause, it is a pricey and taxing affair. Here are a few pointers getting around it as a low budget filmmaker.

Research

Budgets are tricky but, do not be defined by them. Most locations are considered successful if they can serve as 2 - 3 different sets. So get creative! Ditch using a number of locations, instead, research on premises’ that can achieve this.

Airbnb

Your pocket and mind will thank you. I also recently started using Airbnb as an alternative source to hiring a location scout. It is a quick and inexpensive way to find a location.

Conduct a Tech Scout

Organize a technical scout with your Cinematographer and Production Sound Mixer. They will efficiently address/anticipate any problems that will arise on set and adequately advise you on solving them. It is no use finding a perfect location only to battle with footage that is completely unusable.

The Mise en Scene

Lastly, it is imperative that you dress your locations according to the feel of your film. According to mise en scene principles, all locations hold meaning. Simply put, characters exist and interact in spaces that directly affect them. Dressing each of your scenes according to the atmosphere your story, will attribute your production with powerful visual cues no dialogue could ever be capable of achieving.