Location Scout + Location Manager R. Richard Hobbs
American / Independent Directors
“The best directors in independent film, from cult favorites to the great masters working outside the studio system: John Waters, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Altman, Jim Jarmusch, Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, and Alison Anders.”
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# update 6/7/2008 / general cleanup / added map / original timestamp February 24, 2006 at 12:40 pm
The jury is (and may always be) out on the best solutions for digital file archiving and backup. What follows are some thoughts about same and some solutions I have been exposed to:
Pogue’s Pages
TechCrunch
ONLINE STORAGE: 80+ File Hosting and Sharing Sites
“From sending one document to backing up an entire business, data storage is the key to everything nowadays. Due to popular demand, we’ve put together a list of more than 80 of the leading file hosting services, many of which are completely free.” (…read the rest…)
Mashable!
Here’s the scenario- as a location scout, I deal with A LOT of photos- individually they are not unusually large files, but between scouting jobs and photos that people send me of their property, I look at and have to deal with organizing a heapo’ pictures on just about a daily basis! Not only that, in the location scouting biz, information is money so there have to be ways to access this visual information quickly(as well as the contact info and notes about each- but more on that later…).
The first place any photos go when I aquire them is a remote 160 GB Firewire (or IEEE 1394) hard drive pretty much dedicated to archiving location photos, shortly after which, especially if the photos were made for an in-progress location scouting job, they get uploaded to my Locamundo account for immediate use in an online location album and archived for permanent reference.
Call me paranoid 
but what if:
I have many of my files backed up locally on yet another local harddrive partition, but all these files on the same machine take up a lot of hardrive space. The cost is not such a problem in and of itself, harddrives get cheaper every day; however, all these files lying around in partitions on the same local harddrive(s) do nothing to help speed along more mundane tasks such as searching for files, whether they be related to location scouting scouting or not and really increase the time it takes for my anti-virus program to do its daily scan of my system. I defragment my hardrives regularly to help keep them speedy and healthy and lots of files make that go much slower as well.
Purchasing additional removable drives might be the way to go.
In “the real world”, the fact is, once my files are uploaded and keyworded on Locamundo, I may not ever need to touch them again, or if I do it is likely to be a long time before I do, but the fact remains that I cant just delete them.
Enter online storage solutions.
Right now I am trying out MediaMax Streamload. Streamload is the name of a Windows program ditributed by MediaMax which runs locally(on my computer) as a service and provides a secure network link to my private file storage account on MediaMax’s server. At this writing, MediaMax provides a free 25GB account, upgradable to provide more storage space. Then next upgrade level is 100GB for $4.95 per month, which is very affordable and which I might move up to as soon as I figure out why Streamload is hanging when I try to access the local folders where my files are located. I like the online solutions, they do backups on their end as well.
But…like I said, I gotta lotta files, it could be a matter of organizing them differently so the Streamload application doesnt cease to respond. Compared to local drives, an internet connection, from dialup all the way up to heavy-duty broadband connections are pretty lightweight. You can cram just so much info in a data pipe at time. It’s always something…
Update: After opening a free Media Max account and downloading and running the Streamload Beta, when I used it to find my files to upload, the program hung and had to be forced closed. Kinda defeated the purpose of using proprietary software whose stated purpose was to facilitate uploading large numbers of files simply and quickly. When I needed to do a restart my entire system hung. I rebooted to safe mode and to try and uninstall Streamload that way but its uninstaller would not work in safe mode. I had noticed that Streamload was running as a Windows Service so I disabled it there, rebooted normally and uninstalled Streamload. Summarily, it didnt seem to play well with my system, your mileage may vary.
Hmm, maybe there are some Bittorrent solutions out there? In addition to bittorrents typically taking a LONG time (this is my experience- again, your mileage may vary), they rely on a pool of people sharing a file to pass the pieces to each other and the Bittorrent app takes up recources while it is working- I dont wanna share my files with others and sometime I have to have a lot of programs open on my computer that I need to be running full steam- I sure dont need bog-downs and crashes trying to make a deadline! Still, gotta look into that a little more
CD’s/DVD’s you say? Been there, done that. Takes forever, ties up computer resources and the media (the cd’s/ dvd’s) data deteriorates over time. I have two crates of cd’s that I have used to back up files over the years and everytime I put one in the cd drive, if it is more than a year or two old, there is a good chance it is unreadable- corrupted. I have cd’s going on ten years old, I probably have a lot of files I may never again have access to. File recovery is VERY time consuming or VERY expensive. Remember Zip Disks and floppies? What a laugh!
IDE, Firewire and USB Harddrives have become very affordable so, as I mentioned above, this is a road I have followed as recently as the past year or so. Traditional IDE hardrives of very good quality can be bought very cheaply and the prices seem to continue to drop. Cases and USB/Firewire interfaces amke these drives removable and portable. These drives are fast. May be time to buy some new hardware.
I welcome feedback about all this so, for now, I am going to leave comments open for this post, something I rarely do, as I just dont have time (you see me trying to buy just a little time doing backups here don’cha?) to put into housecleaning blog spam. Akismet, do your thing! We’ll see how it goes…
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These are my del.icio.us links for April 6th:
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Update 3/26/08 - This is a general cleanup of an article I originally posted timestamped December 04, 2006 @ 09:07. At the time I wrote the original post, geotagged map solutions which could include photos were really just starting to come of their own (from what I could find myself and / or was able to wrap my head around at the time …
I am normally approaching investigation of new technologies from a point of view as a location scout or location manager with regard to how same might be applied usefully toward doing a better job as a location scout or location manager, more efficiently.
That said, it has become pretty easy as of late to build a simple, general purpose location map, i.e. placemarks of all the locations to be used in a production - with the address / other contact info / thumbnail(s) of the location(s) included), on a Google Map:
Still, every shoot is different, with different problems for the location department to solve and the solutions below are still very much alive at this writing, so scroll on thru on check em out… -RH
…via WheresSpot Blog…via New York Times. (requires free registration)
NY Times: Pictures, With Map and Pushpin Included | By IAN AUSTEN | Published: November 2, 2006
“KATHLEEN BENNETT recently bought a device that keeps track of her location with help from the satellites of the Global Positioning System. But unlike many other people in Seattle, Ms. Bennett is not, by her own description, “an outdoor person” and will not be using it to find her way through the wilderness.”
“Geotagging, sometimes referred to as Geocoding, is the process of adding geographical identification metadata to various media such as websites, RSS feeds, or images and is a form of geospatial metadata.” …read the rest…
…which, broadly speaking, is the practice of embedding geographic data in media of one type or another (i.e. “geotag” a …blog post …photo).
There are MANY uses for geotagging, i.e creating a waypoint in a map or perhaps embedding data in a photo to let that photo be associated with a waypoint on a map… then posting that photo online and linking it and the embedded geographic data to a map, showing just where in the world the shutter was pressed.
There are file formats (i.e. GeoRSS, GPX and KML) that “speak” in geographic terms. Much of this type of data is intended to be primarily machine readable, altho, ultimately, the end purpose is usually toward output which is “human readable”, or comprehensible and presumably, of some use to a person.
Geotagging and online mapping are parts of a field coming to be known as neogeography, or “new geography”.
“Tracking news, views, and conversations in 11,860* towns and neighborhoods” * …and counting…
From Outside.in’s FAQ:
“Q: What is outside.in?
A: Outside.in is the best way to discover the people, places and conversations in your community. Enter your city, neighborhood, or zip code in the field below the map (on the home page), and start exploring your community. We’ve designed outside.in to be the best resource online for:
Keeping up with news and opinions in your neighborhood Finding out the inside scoop on local places or events: schools, new real estate developments, playgrounds, bars Meeting interesting new neighbors, and sharing your local knowledge with them
Here are ways to geotag blog posts so that Outside.in can index them. Note: - you need to register your blog with Outside.in as it may be appropriate for inclusion on outside.in.
Map Examples:
The first map below utilizes geotagging, Google Maps and Flickr. It is a Widget published by Mapsack.
Next is another Mapsack mashup - it does not integrate the photos from Flickr, however, it does display a nice hybrid map and location of my office location in NJ <- ...this is a link to a Google Map...
note: the map above uses an iframe tag … in case you were curious what that might be…
This my Frappr Map (or “friend” map) - you can see an example of it embedded in a blog post here. It is interactive - you can add yourself to it- be my guest.
Finally, below is a map created using GeoPress, a WordPress plugin, which shows where I am located in Clifton, NJ.
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updated 3/26/08 | original timestamp: December 04, 2006 @ 09:07
Lonely Planet: the world’s best guidebooks, travel advice and information | About Lonely Planet
“Want to take a glimpse inside the Lonely Planet universe? Well, you’ve come to the right place. About Us will take you on a journey, from the early years of stapling at the kitchen table right through to what’s happening now.”
Lonely Planet’s “About” page is a pretty comprehensive sitemap of sorts of its website.
Lonely Planet, now owned by BBC, had a very homegrown beginning, according to its Company History page:
“Where it all began…
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket, and a sense of adventure.
That’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime. They met on a park bench in Regent’s Park and married a year later. For their honeymoon, they decided to attempt what few people thought possible – crossing Europe and Asia overland, all the way to Australia. It took them several months and all the money they could earn, beg or borrow, but they made it. And at the end of it all, they were flat broke… and couldn’t have been happier.
It was too amazing an experience to keep to themselves.” …read the rest…
Lonely Planet is well-known travel portal featuring a vast assortment of travel facts, articles, photos, travelogues, and many other features, many of them interactive and involving members of the site and the travel community at-large.
There is a wealth of information about locations and destinations worldwide.
The site also features a selection of RSS Feeds for a number of different areas of interest to its readership on a number of travel-related subjects.
Lonely Planet Podcasts
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Update 7/2/2008 | A short clip from MoonCake, a short film by Marty Stanos, is available on Youtube (below). Marty is obviously very busy these days shopping and showing the film.
The Lot “is a wrap”.
Sometimes talent and inspiration shines as this video on thelot.com does.
The short film, shot in film noir-ish black and white, is titled Moon Cake and was directed and produced by University of Michigan film student Marty Stano. The film is set to a catchy obscure pop song the title and band I have not yet been able to place other than a comment for the film that alludes to a bootleg record called Rabbit’s Moon, all of which adds to the intrigue.
The film was produced for less than $500 and it’s like a train wreck- I cant look away! I delight in replaying the video over and over! It’s this grungy avant-gard wonderful five minute, forty-five second bit of film wack and it’s just lots of fun to watch.
The Lot is a new tv joint by reality tv kingpin Mark Burnett and producer-director Steven Speilberg (who needs no introduction) whereby filmmakers submit films online for consideration for a $1 mil development deal prize with Dreamworks.
The Lot has been all the chatter recently over on the Wheresspot Board, wherein a number of participants have submitted film projects to The Lot.
Update 3/1: Music mystery solved :-)- The song is It Came in the Night by Andy Arthurs/A Raincoat from around circa 1976. This page pretty much tells it all. Also, see a reference to the music used in this video here.
Update 3/5: Up to now proving ignorance of certain aspects of film school curriculum, it has come to my attention that the music used in Moon Cake is the same score used in one release of director Kenneth Anger’s classic avant-gard short film, Rabbit’s Moon.
Anecdote: There have been several releases of Rabbit’s Moon, the most recent release, on The Films of Kenneth Anger, Volume One, in fact uses a number of ’50’s doo-wop titles as the score for Rabbit’s Moon.
I know all these things now because the intrigue compelled me to order the The Films of Kenneth Anger, Volume One DVD online to check out Rabbit’s Moon!
The Japanese folklore of the Rabbit In The Moon, (the view from Earth of the surface of the Moon is different in the far east than that visible in the western hemisphere and to many resembles a rabbit- part of the celebration of this lore is having children put out rice cakes for the rabbit;-) is present in many areas of film and music around the world including a house music trio from Tampa, FL named Rabbit In The Moon.
There are certainly similarities in the style of cinematography used in Marty Stano’s Moon Cake and Kenneth Anger’s Rabbit’s Moon, in fact, now having more background about both films I daresay Moon Cake draws a heavy influence from Rabbit’s Moon, but dont feel the results have been presented in a way that could be construed as plagiarist or improper. Instead, I might suggest that Moon Cake pays tribute to Rabbit’s Moon in a very flattering way.
Now, all of a sudden I’m a film reviewer- and here I thought I was just a location scout
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Time Magazine has announced its Person of the Year and it is YOU! | via JM3
Time’s Person of the Year: You | In 2006, the World Wide Web became a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter | By LEV GROSSMAN | Posted Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2006
“The “Great Man” theory of history is usually attributed to the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who wrote that “the history of the world is but the biography of great men.” He believed that it is the few, the powerful and the famous who shape our collective destiny as a species. That theory took a serious beating this year.”
Wishing all a safe, prosperous and enjoyable 2007!
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I recently worked on finding a location for a very interesting art/marketing project in New York City for Lexus.
Jane Stuart of HomeworkPeople and I worked with World Financial Center (NYC) for Inform Ventures, LLC (Los Angeles) to provide a location for the installation, which was created by nARCHITECTS (NYC).
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DigiNewYork, a spinoff of Lee Rickler’s DigiLondon, a GoogleEarth / GoogleMaps / Wikipedia mashup, is now live and online.
Both tourists and professional location scouts should be able to find uses for DigiNewYork and it’s big fun to browse thru aerial views of New York’s (and the world’s) most famous places and read bits about each of them, mostly excerpted from Wikipedia.
The New York visitor resource.
Once a small 44 acre island in Sag Harbor Cove … know by the Shelter Island Indians who lived there and Hogannock Island. Now connected to Noyac and North Haven by Long Beach Road
Visit DigiNewYork for more information on this location.
Source: DigiNewYork |
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the waterfront area of Westchester County, New York along the Long Island Sound was the site of a growing collection of recreational developments, including hotels,…
Visit DigiNewYork for more information on this location.
Source: DigiNewYork |
Situated west of the Central Park Carousel with the Ballfields Café to the north, Heckscher Ballfields was named after August Heckscher who was appointed as Parks Commissioner in 1967 and served a…
Visit DigiNewYork for more information on this location.
Source: DigiNewYork |
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Shoot Online | Meet The Commish | Filming Incentive Program Takes Hold In Connecticut | By Robert Goldrich
“July 21, 2006 — Heidi Hamilton became Connecticut’s Film Division Director last December, after having worked under the previous director. She brings to her position a broad-based background in law and filmmaking.”
CT Film | Connecticut Digital Media & Motion Picture Tax Credit
“What happens when you combine majestic shorelines, quiet meadows, old world architecture, bucolic town greens, mill town grunge, skilled crew base and 30% tax credits?”
CT Film | Welcome Message from Film Division Director Heidi Hamilton
“…In the closing days of the 2006 session, the General Assembly established tax credits for the production of digital media and motion pictures in Connecticut and renamed the division the Digital Media and Motion Picture Division (effective October 1, 2006). In an effort to encourage increased economic activity in the state and job growth, the legislation calls for a tax credit equal to 30% for qualified digital media and motion picture production, preproduction, postproduction and distribution expenses incurred in the state that exceed $50,000. The production tax credit is among the most aggressive programs in the country and will be administered by the Film Division. On our website you will find detailed information including a pre-application and instructions. Check frequently for updated program information.”
Connecticut In-State Production Tax Incentive info links:
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CBC News | Arts | Biggest Photo Story
“A team of photographers vying to create the world’s largest photo has successfully created a giant image of a former marine base in California this week.”
“Since the 1930s, CBC News services have kept Canadians at home and abroad informed about their communities, their country and the world.”
Fascinating! They took a piece of fabric eight stories tall and 30+ yards wide an coated it with photo-sensitive emulsion.
THEN they turned the hangar inside which the “film” was suspended into a pinhole camera (camera obscura).
Once they exposed it then they had to go about chemically developing the image.
“A” for effort!
Thanks to Jeff Rankin-Lowe on PNN for this.
CBC | Arts News
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MOFTB: Scouting Tag Program Discontinued
“May 23, 2006- Effective June 30, 2006, the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting will no longer issue production scouting tags and all existing scouting tags will expire. Due to the success of the “Made in NY” tax incentive program, the City has accomplished its goal of attracting increased production business and employment for New Yorkers who work in the entertainment industry. In an effort to balance the needs of production and the communities in which they work, the MOFTB will no longer issue scouting tags. Easing the impact of parking upon neighborhoods will serve to keep locations film friendly, and allow the City to attract even more employment for our local entertainment professionals. The MOFTB will continue to issue tags to essential production vehicles with the shooting permit.”
Cinematical | NYC Cuts Film Industry Perk | Posted Jun 13th 2006 8:01PM by Christopher Campbell | Filed under: Newsstand
“Just when the city of New York is enjoying a surge in film production, hopefully cutting down on movies set in NYC but shot in Canada, a new decision is pissing off a lot of people in the movie business.”
“The Reeler | Tag, You’re Out: NYC Location Scouts’ Parking Perks Revoked | June 13, 2006
“AM New York’s Chuck Bennett today has the “latest” on the troubles affecting New York’s location scouts, whose liberal, city-sanctioned parking privileges will expire June 30–never to return. The news is kind of old–the Mayor’s Office for Film, Theater and Broadcasting made the announcement May 23–but in case you wanted to hear location scouts bitching on the record, here you go:”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060614/ap_en_mo/film_scout_parking_2 (dead link) | By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer Tue Jun 13, 8:11 PM ET
“NEW YORK - Film scouts trolling New York City for its picturesque stoops and street corners won’t be free to park wherever they want now that officials are halting a special parking-permit program.”
I was interviewed by phone today (but evidently, not quoted by name) by Sara Kugler from WABC-Radio in New York City. Here is some of what we discussed and points I tried to make:
Looks like we location scouts might be losing our location scouting tag priveleges come July.
“And what exactly is a location scouting tag privelege?”, you say?
Well… upon completing a New York City filming permit application at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcast (MOFTB), requesting scouting tag(s) and approval of MOFTB, location scout(s), (for the duration of time allotted on the permit) have considerable leeway and freedom to park anywhere in the five boros in order to see locations with potential for use in their production.
This is indeed a gift in a city the size and density of New York. Public parking is scarce at best and fraught with not only arcane parking restrictions, but sometimes those arcane parking restrictions are obscured further by the fact that the parking signs that contain those arcane parking restrictiction are, in fact, often absent, whether it be by theft/vandalism, perhaps having been in a spot where an auto accident occurred… there are a lot of reasons a parking sign could be missing in a town the size of NYC.
The location scouting tag basically gives you the privelege to park wherever you can (with the intention of performing your duties as a location scout), provided you dont place human life in jeopardy (i.e. obvious no-no’s like parking in front of a firehouse driveway, or in an ambulance exitway) and be immune to the city’s ubiquitous “Brownies” (NYPD Traffic Enforcement) and the quite pricy parking citations they are employed to hand out (the last parking ticket I got some years back cost something like $85). If you receive a ticket, you turn it in with your scouting tag- it goes away.
Doctors and foreign diplomats, as well as some members of the press (this could be an incomplete list) are eligible for many of these same priveleges.
Alas, reports of abuses as well as the fact (per the excerpted article above) that the city has achieved its filming incentive goals combined with the undebatable fact that parking in New York is scarce in the first place may spell the end to scouting tag priveleges for NYC location scouts.
I had a scouting tag once; I was working on a feature film, 9A several years go. The shooting schedule was tight, we were facing significant challenges regarding fulfilling locations required by the script, including scouting for night shots (at night) in what most would consider “less than desirable” parts of town; the scouting tag helped. A lot.
Another argument for continuing the scouting tag privelege in NYC:
New York is a world-class city. Some of the world’s most famous films (including tv shows, commercials, videos and photgraphs) have been made in NYC.
As a location scout, one of the reasons you live in the NYC area is to have an opportunity to work on projects of this caliber.
It is not unreal to assume that you could, in fact, find yourself driving around NYC (showing locations) in the same car together with an Oscar-winning director or acclaimed director of photography, a producer you just read about in a tabloid and a bazillion-dollar net-worth executive producer or financier, with the power between them to give the nod or say no to bringing $100 million or more in jobs or business to the city. (This is “economic development”. It’s good for cities. Production is good at that. And production doesnt pollute the air and water.) Anyway, I am sure you can see the motivation to let these people feel special and get their jobs done quickly and easily.
In contrast, the film industry has changed a lot in the past few years, nowadays, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of smaller budget films in production in New York each year, thanks to the advent of the internet and digital imaging, which have effectively taken content distribution out of the hands of a few big-money players and put it into the hands of anyone with a passion to tell a story and can afford a camera, a crew, talent and their locations. Individually, these types of productions dont always spend that much, but as the sum of the parts, this group represents a sizable chunk of change in New York’s annual production income. It is this group that will be most affected by the scouting tag change, as they will have to figure into their budgets that their scouts will either have to pay for parking or for parking tickets. New York is already a fairly expensive town just to exist in, period; discontinuing the location scouting tag privelege could be one of many ways that production might have an incentive to go elsewhere. This is what is known as “runaway production”
It’s a couple of more weeks till the scouting tag priveleges are scheduled to go away. It’s been good.
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Note: The following is a draft of “Securing A Great Location”, published in Moviemaker Magazine’s 2005 Beginner’s Guide To Making Movies
MovieMaker Magazine | Securing a Great Location | By © R. Richard Hobbs 2004
Chances are, before too much time goes by, you, as a film maker, will be forced to reckon with venturing out of the cozy, controllable confines of a studio/soundstage and into that great wild beyond known as a location.
If you are a director, your job, (among a plethora of other tasks, of course!), is to think of creative ways to bring a story to life visually.
If, like me, you are a part of the locations department (location scout and/or location manager), your job is to help the creative team toward this end, and while hopefully thinking equally as creatively and presenting actual real-world location possibilities, at the same time you are obligated to pay quite a bit more attention to the practicality, logistics and nuts and bolts of actually pulling the shot off at the location(s) you might suggest and following up on same.
Depending on your budget and/or method of working, even though your title may be Director, Assistant Director, Production Manager or even Executive Producer, you may be required to deal with some of the issues yourself that by rights are normally the Locations Department’s; in any case a little “cross-training ” and insight into what some of the other crew does cant be any less than a good thing!
All this said, my story will attempt to offer some useful information toward securing the perfect location from the locations department’s point of view.
As mentioned before, (the aesthetics aspects notwithstanding), there are a number of practical aspects to consider when choosing a location. What follows is by no means complete, but here are a few items in no special order:
Does the location you are considering work from all technical & logistical points of view? Some questions to ask yourself:
Where will I put all those trucks and people?
Is there room for (if not normally legal, then permitted) parking? It is imperative that you or someone from your crew scout the area adjacent to the set beforehand to make sure there is room and to be sure that room is not in front of a hydrant, fire department or bus stop, etc.
If parking is “tight “ (in high demand) you need to be sure that parking will in fact exist when your crew arrives! Having a permit to park there is one thing, actually “owning” the parking space(s) is another! (As we all know possession is 99% of the law;-)
In New York City (where I work) there are specialists called Parking Coordinators or Coneheads (for the orange cones they put out). Hire them.
You need to be sure you can meet the electrical requirements of your shoot. Be sure there is sufficient house power or you can get your genny truck close enough, and be sure you have sufficient electrical cable in any case!
Is there holding? (a comfortable place to “hold” people while they are not on set) If you are using SAG actors, a requirement is that they have a separate, private area for changing clothes. Be sure there is air conditioning or heat if the weather requires it!
Does the location work logistically?
Be careful with scheduling! If you are shooting a scene on one side of town in the morning and it takes an hour to drive to the second set, another hour to set up and then an hour of shooting, you are probably already into meal penalties. Try to find locations close to each other when scheduling scenes to be shot/ talent on call on the same day.
Is there room to work?
The most gorgeous room in the world is useless is there is not enough room to get the camera/dolly/lights/actors in there for the angles needed to make the shot.
What if it rains?
Do you have a “Plan B” in your pocket? Be careful with weather and cancellations of locations, talent and equipment. It can get expensive.
Is there light there?
Is there the correct lighting for the mood you are trying to achieve (or can you make it?) A location can look significantly different on a cloudy day from the day you scouted it and there was daylight streaming thru the branches casting patterns on the ground!
Are you absolutely sure you have permission to be there?
Does the owner understand that it won’t just be someone with a camcorder stopping by for a few moments? We become so used to our own world that it sometimes ceases to occur to us that people outside the film industry most often have (or have any reason to have an) inkling about what is actually involved in making a film. You need to be straightforward and accurate about all those trucks, equipment and people that will be showing up for 12-14 hours.
You should have also prepared in advance a synopsis of the story and the specific scene(s) you are shooting and explain this in detail to the owner. Sure, we love our story, but everybody has their own views and what seems perfectly normal to us may seem controversial or blatantly offensive to someone else (for no apparent reason to us) yet it is they that will have to live with being associated with the film. This is a very large, diverse, very politically correct world we live in today!
You should always use a property release form and get it signed by the location owner. A property release, in a nutshell, is written permission for you to depict a property to the public on film. Without it, you may leave yourself open to claims of invasion of privacy or other damages. Just do a Google for “property release”, there are standard forms around you can use.
You should always find out beforehand if there are any local or municipal permits or fees required where you are filming and comply fully with those requirements. A local film office, the city clerk or police department for a given municipality should be able to tell you what, if any filming permit requirements may exist.
Q: What could suck worse than finding out you don’t have time or money for a permit? A: Getting your production shut down in mid-shoot because you don’t have a permit.
There a few other general suggestions I might offer that may help you in your quest for the perfect location:
Never underestimate the power of a film office!
Local film offices are some of the most underutilized FREE resources available to film makers. A film commission can get you “in” places you could never touch on your own. They have the credibility of being associated with government plus can be an advocate for your project! They can be a godsend if you are filming outside your home turf- They most often have listings of local crew and location ideas for you. They know the local customs and any permit requirements that may exist! Be nice to film offices!
If you want to find out if there is a film office in your area try here first: www.afci.org
Leave time for permitting/getting permissions
I can’t begin to tell how many great locations have been aborted (or lost!) because there was insufficient time allowed to get permission or secure permits. This malady seems to especially afflict film makers just starting out for some reason (?).
Q: Hey, can you get me and my crane on a rooftop in NYC to shoot tonite?
A: Sorry, ain’t gonna happen, bubba.
If time is tight one option may be to use a location agency. These are people/companies (often scouts or location managers) that have an archive of existing pictures of locations that have often been previously used (or scouted and not used for one reason or another) Sometimes time can be saved this way, but don’t expect miracles- permissions must still be obtained and fees negotiated on your behalf.
Do you have insurance?
I personally won’t go on a shoot or book locations for a production without insurance. You should have a minimum $1,000,000 (standard now actually seems to be $2,000,000) commercial liability policy that allows for additional insurance of third parties. If you are using payroll and have employees then you should have workmen’s comp. Some locations require proof of this.
Use the right tool for the job!
You wouldn’t use a screwdriver to drive in a nail (or maybe you would ! Anyway, hire a location scout/manager! We are there for u!
Adios, good luck and p.s. please invite me to the Oscar Party!
RH | GeoURL | NAC | Plazes | Dipity | outside.in | Mapufacture | Post Map
RICH’S QUICK GUIDE TO POSTING PICTURES TO A WEBSITE
also here: http://rrhobbs.com/postingyourpics.html
It’s good to know how to post pictures to a website- whether you are an artist or you have some other tangible object or property you need to illustrate. A lot of people go about this task using email, but there are a few reasons this IS NOT a always a good idea. Consider this: You have a dozen pictures (of anything) that you need to have someone see. Depending on the resolution of the pictures, you could spend HOURS emailing these pictures.
AND
1.) If you get ONE letter or number or other character in the recipient(s) email address wrong YOU GOTTA START OVER
2.) If your ISP limits the message size (my isp limits each email msg size to 2mb) and you go over YOU GOTTA START OVER
3.) If you need for someone (else) to see the pics later on then YOU HAVE TO SEND THEM AGAIN
4.)If you forgot to cc: someone YOU HAVE TO SEND THEM AGAIN
5.) If you left out a picture you have to figure out which one it was and email everybody again.
Doesn’t it make a lot of sense to only have to go thru these hassles once?
FIRST THINGS FIRST- WEB BASICS
A basic understanding of how the www works is needed. For instance, what happens when you look at a web page is that your computer (browser/client) sends a command over an electronic network (the web) to another computer(server) asking it to let you look at some files. (The computers have to understand each other but that’s a story for another day) The spot on the network AND on the other computer where the files are stored is known as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). The spot that you are “calling” from is known as your IP address (Internet Protocol address). Provided everything goes well, you are sent the content that you requested and you will see a web page(text and/or pictures, etc.) That’s all the web is: FILES ON COMPUTERS! Proper software and hardware on your end makes VIEWING these files possible.
So the next question is: “How do I become the computer (server) on the “other end“?
Answer: Unless you are a REAL techie (in which case you would not need to be reading this) you have no business running a web server. BUT there ARE plenty of techies in this world, and there are many servers, AND there are many servers you can USE to display your info to the world. In most cases servers are Unix operating system computers with a direct, very fast connection to the web. Some are free to use, some you pay for.
Next question: “So how do I get my files to a server?”
Answer: Several ways, to start.
Since you are probably new to this you may want to try one of the many “free web space” services available. Several popular ones are: Geocities ( Geocities ), Tripod ( www.tripod.com ), I’m not going to go into detail about using these services, if you go their site(s) plenty of info is available. One way or another the files you wish to display are UPLOADED to the server (More about this later)
NOTE: The reason these services are free is because you almost always have to display some advertising on your web pages for them. Often you can pay a fee and forego this duty.
ANOTHER NOTE: You probably use an ISP (Internet Service Provider) to “get on the web”, like AOL, Earthlink, Concentric, RCN using a DIAL UP CONNECTION or maybe you have a DSL or ISDN or CABLE MODEM connection, or maybe you are affiliated with a learning institute or have a a job with a company that is “wired” and they provide you with access to the web. Anyway the point is, if you have an ISP that you pay for you often get web space to use as part of the service.
You can also get your own DOMAIN. This has a certain amount of appeal because you it’s YOUR domain, and its often easier for people to identify you, which can be a huge boon, especially if you are in business. (i.e. www.rrhobbs.com is MUCH easier to remember than www.tripod.com/rrhobbs or www.geocities.com/broadway/6247/ (these are real url’s however they have not been updated for some time) Getting your own domain involves checking availabilty of whatever domain name “dotcom, net, org” you have in mind, (i.e. rrhobbs.com), and registering the domain with the INTERNIC. The INTERNIC is: “US Department of Commerce regulated organization provides public information regarding Internet domain-name registration services.” See the INTERNIC site for all the details ( www.internic.net )
Once you have your own DOMAIN alas, you still need a HOST (a server to use). Often your present ISP offers WEB HOSTING SERVICES, and there are many companies who do nothing but web hosting. www.ispcheck.com is a good starting point for finding a web hosting service. Your web host can assist you in registering your domain, too.
GETTING YOUR FILES ONLINE- REALLY
If you get your own domain and web host, most likely the way you will be getting your files on the server is to FTP (FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL) them to the server. Your webhost will most likely have plenty of details about this (the parameters,settings and password needed by your FTP PROGRAM (your webhost will probably have some suggestions, a couple I know of are WSFTP ( www.ipswitch.com ) and Cute FTP ( www.cuteftp.com ). There are Mac OS ftp programs (clients) at www.macosarchives.com .
A user friendly way to present your pictures is to use THUMBNAILS. A program I use is Thumbnailer . It will not only create thumbnails, it will automatically generate web pages, saving a LOT of time and headaches.
NOTE:Unfortunately, (at this writing) Thumbnailer is available for Windows only. I’ve heard that Extensis Portfolio is a good thumbnailer for Mac OS. I don’t know whether it will generate web pages on the fly or not tho. You can also make thumbnails in Photoshop.
This is not, nor is it intended to be, a be-all / end-all for web publishing. In that vein, please don’t email me with questions about any of this unless I specifically requested you do so. Use your ingenuity and search for more info about stuff you dont understand or would like to know more about on the web. There’s A BUNCH of stuff! Good luck!
Legal Mumbo-Jumbo: The reader uses information obtained via this document at his/her own risk. The author is in no way responsible for damges incurred in any way from use of any information contained in this document.
RH | GeoURL | NAC | Plazes | Dipity | outside.in | Mapufacture | Post Map
# updated 6/7/2008 - some clean up / added map
Slashdot | Pearl Jam Releases Video Under Creative Commons | Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday May 20, @11:58PM from the popular-to-be-free dept. | Music | minitrue writes:
“Pearl Jam released their first music video in quite a while under a Creative Commons license allowing anyone to “legally copy, distribute and share the clip” for noncommercial purposes. Creative Commons thinks this may be the first video produced by a major label ever to be CC-licensed. So although the file is only available as a free download via Google Video through May 24, fans can continue sharing it online themselves in perpetuity.”
15 years ago I would never have have believed you if you told me this would be a headline in 2006.
Telecommunications and networking are truly turning the world on its ear. Those of us working in communications fields would do well to keep our eyes and ears open for events such as this, as well as advances/changes in technologies in general. -RH
Slashdot
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“Founded in 1982, Real to Reel is the largest, most complete location agency in the world representing private properties throughout the Los Angeles area to the entertainment industry.”
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2005 Risks In Global Filmmaking Map:
“Every filmmaker, from major studios to independent producers, experiences some element of risk while filming in foreign countries. That is why, each year, Aon/Albert G Ruben, the largest entertainment insurance broker in the world, comprehensively measures and maps the risks filmmakers face across the globe.The 2005 Risks in Global Filmmaking Map measures crime, corruption, kidnap and ransom, disease and medical care risks, and references terrorism and political risks.”
Update: 7/4/2008 Aon 2005 Risks In Global Filmmaking Map doesn’t seem to be available any longer
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filmmaking.net | internet filmmaker’s faq : Location Scout:
Location Scout | By Benjamin Craig , filmmaking.net
“A location scout is a person that reads the script for a film and goes about finding appropriate locations for shooting. Scouting locations may be a simple as doing local reconnaissance or be as complex as tripping all over the world in the search for the perfect location. Budget will of course dictate how much work a location scout will do.”
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Welcome to Production Point Global Network
“Production Point combines a network of the world’s leading service providers with realtime production information and interactive software to create the ultimate preproduction resource for the internation filmmaker”
Locamundo: First Stop for Location Research
“118 professionals in 44 countries have joined knowledge, expertise and locations to form the biggest reliable location network in the world. No hassle : it’s time-saving and inspiring. Ask us. It’s in here !”
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