The Importance of a Location Scout
Why do we need a day to scout?
On modestly budgeted projects and/or when fast turnaround times for deliverables are required, it can be easy to think that it's a waste of time and investment to budget a location scout into pre-production.
In my experience, this may be the wrong decision..saving pennies to waste dollars.
Here are a few reasons why engaging a location scout before a film shoot pays off.
Scheduling
The amount of time a couple of hours of scouting can save on the shoot day can be significant. Every hour spent on a shoot day can cost you more than an entire location-scout day. It follows that if you waste one hour of the shoot day because you have not scouted the location, you've lost more money than you would have had you invested in the scout day.
Notice how I used the word investing...that's because on a shoot day you can avoid problems and obstacles that can snowball quickly if you think of the scout day as an investment.
Accouting for Load In
This may seem like a no-brainer for some locations, but for others there is a separate address, security team, insurance policy, freight elevator and size limitation for the loading dock/area.
It's incredibly helpful if you can have figured this out during a scout. It can save a large chunk of time that you often need while setting up at the start of the shoot day.
Meet & Greet
Very often this is a time for you to meet the people involved in filming if this is your first time collaborating.
It's always great to get to know the people you're going to work with face to face and to spend just a few minutes together getting to know the spaces and people you are filming and creating with.
Lighting, Sound & Set Design
There are so many natural factors and obstacles while filming in a room or location. It's great to know the path of the sun in relation to what time you are shooting in order to have the proper tools to light the room appropriately. It's also helpful to know where your power sources are for the lighting fixtures you'll be bringing in.
There can also be many sound obstacles whether that be traffic, construction or a cleaning team - these can be a real headache if you haven't planned for ways to avoid these or work within their constraints, especially while filming talking-head interviews.
Lastly, understanding the dimensions of the space and the configuration of the furniture in the room is key so you can organize the space in order to properly set up all the film equipment needed for a successful shoot and maintain the beautiful frames you envisioned. It's great to have a "holding" room for the overflow of equipment as well as a "video village" area for all the key players to watch what is being recorded on a monitor.