As humans, we are always used to getting disappointments in our daily day to day activities, right? It doesn’t get any worse than when you are a photographer and suddenly your camera malfunctions or the batteries run out of charge or when you just reached the site and suddenly realize that you had forgotten the SD card. All these are things usually happens to both photographers and videographers. That is why they need to always prepare their everything before showing up to any event.

Aside from the equipment, looking for a perfect location where the event takes place is also very important. This is not an easy task since you need to research, and you may need to visit the actual site as well. Anyway, for film location agencies, below are some tips that can help when searching for locations.

  • Know the script

This is a very important point that shouldn’t be taken any lightly. You need to pick a site that will match the setting of the story line. In most cases, this should actually be the first thing you should be looking at.

When you are out looking for locations, of course you will have a lot of options to choose from including some historic sites, natural areas and waterfront settings among other things. Either way, it is still important to pick a location that will be in line with the story you have.

This is why it is always important to look at the script first and see what it demands before you could actually pick a location to go with it. Always see the location as a raw material to that story you want to produce.

  • Timing

Have you ever been in a fix and when you ask your friend for some help from your friend you get hit with the “you could have said earlier” text? Or when you were supposed to go somewhere during the morning hours but then you go in the afternoon and get rained on? Well, it is all about timing.

Even when scouting for a suitable site, you need to know that the locations too can change. Make sure you do a prior check on a particular day and the specific time of the shooting as these factors can interfere with the suitability of the place you had already picked.

Depending on the time of the day, the day itself or the season, you might experience a number of variations including the traffic, noise, and visitors if the site also serves as a recreation or entertainment spots.

  • Lighting

If you have a camcorder, you need to first test the lighting of the room by recording a small video just for a few seconds as this is one of the things that can enhance the quality of an image.

If you have been doing this for a while, then you may have noticed that inside the ballrooms, churches, restaurants or even auditoriums usually have low amounts of light therefore can account for poor lighting.

To sort out this issue, you can look for the curtains or even window blinds that can allow in some light when opened or simply just ask for permission if you can replace the light bulbs with some of your own to get a great lighting for your photos or video shooting. See this link to know more on how lighting can impact your shots.

  • Check the weather and follow the sun

Of course, you can’t go shooting during a rainy day, right? And as you might have already known, lighting always have some impact on the quality of the photo or video.

Just as you might experience some difficulties with indoor lighting, outdoor lighting also has its own challenges. When looking for a better location, you need to find out whether the area has full shade, full sun or a partial sun.

Different intensities of the sunlight can have different effects on your shots hence you need to pick a place that has a good external lighting that will be suitable for your shots using your experience as a photographer.

  •  Look out for power supplies

If you decided that you will be going for an outdoor location for the shoots, then this is a very important point to take note of. In fact, you need to evaluate and check your power options regardless of the location.

In as much as outdoor locations are usually far away from the power sources, some indoor sites might also experience a few AC challenges too. You need to check on your options just in case something happens.

Conclusion

It is always a good thing to prepare early and avoid last minute rush. This will give you more time to think about everything you are supposed to pack. A you might forget about important things when you go for the last-minute rush and all this will lead to the disappointments we were talking about earlier. Make sure you also do your research when scouting for film locations to end up with a better site.

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