Whether you’re buying your first home or just picking a table in your local cafe, location matters.
No one wants to be woken up at 5am on a Sunday morning by the sound of a passing freight train… and sitting near the bathrooms whilst you eat is a no-no. You get the picture.
Setting is important for a number of reasons.
We think this is true for video production too. It’s not always about finding the most beautiful backdrop (this could be distracting in a staff training video, for example) but instead about making the location work for a number of different reasons.
Here are a few things that we consider:
Sound
Whilst it might make sense to film in your head office for a brand video, how will background noise be picked up on film?
- Is there a hum of electric lighting?
- Will people be chatting or taking phone calls?
- Or worse, is there construction work within earshot?
Space
You’ll always need more space than you think. Setting aside a meeting room for an interview big enough for two people might not suffice.
Bear in mind that you’ll need to fit in at least one camera person and potentially an audio and lighting crew as well.
Reshoots
Heading out to film on location instead of on set could be more efficient and affordable. Dressing a set to create the right tone is a skill, and you might not have the time or budget to get someone in to do that for you.
But bear in mind the travel, time and logistics of getting back to that specific location if you need to do any reshoots.
Working outdoors
This can be particularly tricky in the UK because the weather is so unpredictable. Obviously, shooting in summer would be ideal but even then you might get rained off.
Always allow more time that you think you’ll need (i.e. days for reshoots) and budget for this if you’ll need to pay for actors and crew members to be there too. Also, how will you get access to power sockets? Will you need to pay for this service and can you afford it?
Working indoors
Company set-ups don’t need to be boring. Look at this video series we did with TC Young Solicitors.
Anyone from the Glasgow area will know instantly that this office is based just off George Square, informing the viewer that the company is local whilst providing an attractive backdrop to an otherwise standard set-up.
Timing
Sometimes only one specific location will do, like this showroom tour we did for SC Designs.
We scheduled the shoot outside of their regular opening hours to make sure we could get all the shots we needed as efficiently as possible. Remember this if you’re planning to film in a public place.
- Will it be busy with people?
- How will that impact the quality of footage captured on the day?
- Will it slow things down?
The problem with multiple locations
If you’re working between a few different spaces within the same building that’s fine, but spending the day travelling between places can cost time and money. You’ll have to factor in daylight too if you’re shooting outside.
Want to know more? Call us on 0141 363 2432 to chat
