Have you ever heard the advice for first time filmmakers to contain your film to one location?

This week I want to talk about how we put this advice to shame, and the power of picking the right locations for your film:

• How we went about scouting locations for Wild Boys
• How to go bargain hunting for locations
• How the right location can save you thousands

With limited money, being smart about your locations can make or break your film. Scouting locations early, helps develop a story you can actually shoot. A lot of first time directors choose to shoot in one location to avoid complexity. Once you understand how we used locations in Wild Boys, you’ll know how to expand the world of your film.

Let’s roll.

How we location scouted for Wild Boys

Filming in Springville, CA was always the backbone of how we were going to pull off Wild Boys. My collaborator, Vincent Catalina, grew up there and had lots of people who were eager to help us make the movie.

Open doors and friendly faces are a godsend for a small indie film like ours.

We knew we couldn’t afford to pay LA prices for locations, and had to be creative with how we scouted for locations. We made several trips to Springville and the mountains above, and each trip served its own purpose.

• Trip 1: Possibilities - During the writing phase we went up to look for inspiration and see what was possible to achieve. Before going up, I’d be asking Vincent “Do you think we can find this kind of location?” and he’d give his best guesstimate. After going up together we both had a clearer picture of what we could achieve.
• Trip 2: Specificity - Our first trip was about seeing what was possible, but our second trip was about getting specific. We had a draft of the script and could start connecting scenes with real locations. This helped us tailor scenes to the places where we were planning to shoot.
• Trip 3: Availability - One of the biggest dangers of location scouting is falling love with a location you can’t get. On our third trip we started nailing down which locations would actually let us shoot there. For example, we discovered that a lot of the forest locations we liked were on National Forest land. Getting a permit to shoot there was both difficult and expensive. Because of that we had to pivot and find locations on private property where we could get permission from the owner to film.

Location scouts are great, and helpful to every part of the writing and pre-production phase. Whenever I’m scouting I like to take lots of pictures, notes and imagine how and where the scene will play out in the space. This helps me when I’m putting together a shot list later.

One very important thing to keep in mind when scouting, is not just what the place looks like, but also how it sounds. Find the perfect location for a tender dialogue scene, but it’s right next to a construction site? You’re going to have problems on the day.

The final thing to think about when on a scout is logistics. You have to put on your producer’s hat and consider how you’re going to get there, parking, bathrooms, basecamp location etc. If you have to hike for an hour before you start shooting, you’ll lose a lot of precious daylight.

Which brings me to my next point about location scouting -

How we managed to shoot in 20 different locations over 10 days

Here’s a universal filmmaking truth for you: company moves (changing location in the middle of a day) take forever! For small indies with already compressed schedule, they can mean you don’t make your days.

That’s why we went looking for what I call bargain locations. A place that can provide a variety of locations, without the need to put the entire crew in cars and move the operation somewhere new in the middle of the day.

It all starts with a great basecamp.

Thinking of locations in terms of basecamps, rather than individual locations is helpful when you’re scouting. What kills momentum and takes up a lot of time on film sets isn’t necessarily walking a few minutes to a new spot, but uprooting your whole basecamp.

A great example is how we found almost all the forest locations from Wild Boys within a 20 minute walk from our basecamp. What this meant is we were able to get a wide variety of scenes shot in a small area, always within easy access of a fresh battery, a make-up fix or a bathroom.

We followed this philosophy for the entire film. We only ventured outside our three main basecamps for special locations like Dome Rock or the cave.

When you have this mindset all the way from location scouting, you open up possibilities that many filmmakers fail to discover.

How the right location can save you loads of $$$$

I’m a big fan of shooting outdoors. When you find the right location, and shoot at the optimal time of day, you get tons of production value for free.

With good location scouting, that’s also true for interior locations.

When you find a location that already looks the way you want it to, you can save serious money on your production budget. When I first visited the Hamburger Stand in Springville I knew we had to shoot there. We didn’t have to change a thing, and the place looks fantastic for our story.

If we had to recreate something like that somewhere else, it would have taken up a big part of our budget.

The same goes for Kate’s house, our biggest interior location. Through generous family members we were able to shoot there for free, and with minimal work on our part we were able to turn it into Kate’s home.

A frugal filmmaker knows the value of a great location is not only in the cost savings of the location itself, but all the ancillary costs. If you give your art department a location that’s 80-90% there, they can do a lot with a little to get you the final touches you need.

Remember this on your next scout. Look for a location that can elevate your production design and cinematography, simply by being the way it is.

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