Location Scout

So there was I, with a rough idea of what events would take place in the story, and where the characters would be/go through. One thing we learn in film production is “never put all your hopes in one option”. For our projects, we also had to have backup locations and more than one available spot for our reels to take place. For almost three weeks I wanted to go out and start shooting random places, back alleys, empty streets, parking lots, my friends’ apartments, everything I could. I was feeling desperate for not shooting anything yet.

Finally I sat down and wrote down what I really needed. My key locations would be an apartment, where the story begins, and a back alley where it all ends. Features to look for in the apartment would be a decent view so I could place spaceships outside the windows, ease of access at any time of day or night and freedom to move practical lights around for good looking footage.

For the back alley I wanted it to have a clear sky above, without any large buildings nearby, no electric wires too (I’ll have enough trouble with tracking, no need to add extra roto to the mix) and some sort of trash bins around to provide cover for the characters in their desperate escape.

A couple weeks back, May had a morning class on a Saturday (right after Halloween) so I decided to wake up early as well and explore a couple blocks around, armed with my bike and camera. During this expedition I found a really nice spot between Haro // Robson and Thurlow // Burrard, which is also good because it’s really close to Nicko’s place, which (if he allows) can be used as headquarters for (minimal) crew and gear. I actually got the idea to head there because I remember seeing an empty parking lot from his window the last time I went there.

The second spot was much closer to home, some sort of loading bay/parking lot for restaurants and clubs between Thurlow // Bute and Davie // Pendrell, which caught my eye on the way back. My hands were almost freezing, but I still shot some tests aside from all the pictures. While I was at this alley, a really happy, drunk and tired dude was walking down the street and saw me taking pictures of (apparently) random stuff. He came in closer and insisted that I took a picture of him as well. It was a very unexpected situation which still makes me laugh just remembering.

Between these two, I like the first one better, specially because it doesn’t have any drunk people wandering around. Just kidding, it’s because it’s not the back of any commercial buildings and it doesn’t have any trees nearby. Trees were also a red flag, much like the electric wires.

From there, I went on a quest for the interior environments. My apartment would be a good option, of course (who doesn’t want to shoot at home?), and I called a friend who lives in the same building, a couple floors up, so I could also try his apartment that has a much wider view than mine.

The apartment felt way too rich for a couple of students, and the view was way too good to wreck with spaceships, so I ended up going downstairs to my place and shooting my second option there, which turned out pretty good. I also did some test plates which will eventually show up here, on future posts.

After this very productive shoot I was also able to define clearly the time of day I wanted to shoot: 7am, because of the natural light, which is bright enough to make the picture look good, always really soft and cold, things that also help me achieving the final look for the film. Forgot to mention: all the pictures in this post are color corrected with a test grade that should look like the final result. One thing that gives me a lot of freedom to play with is how bright the reds turn out, even though almost everything else has a strong blue tint.

Some days later, I added a garage scene, which made me go downstairs and explore the different levels of this garage (it’s way bigger than I ever imagined). Since I’ll be shooting on Sunday mornings, won’t have trouble with cars and lots of movement.