Scouting locations is like house hunting. There’s the thrill of opening the door not knowing what to expect. Occasionally we are wowed or utterly underwhelmed. Usually, it’s more or less within range of what we expected given the budget.
Of course, scouting for a creative video production like an explainer video or something even more fun like a Super Bowl Commercial takes more time and energy, but usually there’s the budget for it. For several of Picturelab’s larger productions, we have scouted and rented entire office buildings in Oakland and Santa Clara, Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles, or an entire loft building in the Los Angeles Arts District. We spent several weeks researching, scouting and negotiating with these locations.
For simpler projects like a customer testimonial or other SME videos, we’re often limited in the type of locations from which we can choose. In such situations, it’s important to be cognizant of several key factors that can make a significant difference in the production, and ultimately, the final product and bottom line.
Audio
Nothing affects the flow of a production like a location with bad audio. Especially on projects with impacted schedules, we need to make sure there are as few interruptions as possible. We can usually control the lighting and other visual elements, but we can’t always control the siren going off or the guy who decided to mow his lawn on shoot day.
Often on smaller budgets like testimonials, we don’t have the option to choose the location, but if we’re at an office, and we have the choice between the employee lounge with high foot traffic or the conference room, it’s often preferable to choose the latter.
Backgrounds
When it comes to backgrounds, we love depth. As long as audio checks out, we prefer a large room, a window or a hallway with plenty of depth behind the subject.
If all we have to work with is a conference room or an office, we look for, and often arrange, an interesting background. Company branding, plants or artwork often work well.
In some cases when have neither depth or an interesting background we bring drapes or other ways to make the background more interesting or at least, not distracting.
Logistics
During the location scout, we also factor in the time it would take to unload, transport and park our vehicles. We won’t have any issues at a suburban sound stage like Pacific Lights in Sunnyvale, CA, but it would definitely affect the day’s schedule if we’re shooting a video at an office in downtown San Francisco.
Also, what options are there for meals? If it’s an outdoor shoot, are there restrooms nearby? Again, a lot of these questions are easily answered on bigger productions, but become more of a factor during the location scout on smaller video productions.
Overall, scouting locations is one of our favorite pre-production activities. And a very important one. If done incorrectly, it may negatively affect the overall production and cost a lot of money.
Picturelab is a full-service video production company based in the Mountain View, CA, with an office in Irvine, CA. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you on your next video production.