WHAT IS LOCATION SHOOTING VERSUS A FILMING LOCATION? (In the Entertainment industry.)

Crash set Flight of the Phoenix Namib Desert / Photo Credit: Bruce Bisbey

WHAT IS LOCATION SHOOTING VERSUS A FILMING LOCATION? (In the Entertainment industry.)         

Bruce Bisbey…please follow me at: https://dumbdogproductionsllc.blogspot.com or https://www.facebook.com/DumbDogProductionsLLC/ thank you.

What is location shooting versus a filming location?  

Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior. The filming location may be the same in which the story is set or it may stand in for a different locale.

A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage. In filmmaking, a location is any place where a film crew will be filming actors and recording their dialog. A location where dialog is not recorded may be considered as a second unit photography site. Filmmakers often choose to shoot on location because they believe that greater realism can be achieved in a "real" place; however, location shooting is often motivated by the film's budget. Many films shoot interior scenes on a sound stage and exterior scenes on location.

It is often mistakenly believed that filming "on location" takes place in the actual location in which its story is set, but this is not necessarily the case.

Most films feature a combination of location and studio shoots; often, interior scenes will be shot on a soundstage while exterior scenes will be shot on location. Second unit photography is not generally considered a location shoot.

Before filming, the locations are generally surveyed in pre-production, a process known as location scouting and recce. People often underestimate the importance of location scouting. Finding the right location for a shoot is as imperative to the pre-production as it is to the final product. ... Location is where the overall aesthetic of your video will come from. It's what will set the tone for your video and provide depth in your shots.

A recce/tech scout is an essential part of the preparation and research processes to meet potential contributors, assess locations and research stories. Visiting a location to determine its suitability for shooting, including access to necessary facilities and assessment of any potential lighting or sound issues, and is closely related to location scouting.

Location shooting has several advantages over filming on a studio set. First and foremost, the expense can often be far lower than that of constructing sets in a studio. The illusion of reality can also be stronger; on a set, it is hard to replicate real-world wear and tear, as well as architectural details, and the vastness of a city is difficult to recreate on a backlot. Shooting outside of the home country is sometimes used to bypass union rules, labor regulations, or work stoppages. It can also allow "frozen" currency to be used: the 1968 movie Kelly's Heroes was filmed in Yugoslavia using profits that had been made on movie exhibitions in that country but could not be exported.[citation needed]

Conversely, there are a number of reasons why a production may choose not to shoot on location. Shooting on a set gives the crew a greater control over the environment: a room may be created to the exacting specifications of the story, for example, and there is no need to shut down street traffic when shooting on a backlot. Additionally, a given location may have inconvenient restrictions. The convenience store where Clerks was shot was open during the day, so the crew could only shoot at night; this necessitated the shutters on the windows be closed to hide the fact that it was dark outside.

Location shooting often takes place close to the studio; in Hollywood films, this region is delineated in union agreements and is known as the studio zone. Many location shoots, however, are far from the home studio, sometimes on the other side of the world. In these instances, location shooting can provide significant economic development benefits to the area in which they are shot. Cast and crew heavily rely upon local facilities such as catering, transportation, and accommodations. A film that becomes a blockbuster hit can introduce movie audiences around the world to a visually breathtaking location that they were previously unaware of, as the Lord of the Rings trilogy did for New Zealand. This can boost tourism for years or even decades.

Location shooting usually requires a location manager, and locations are usually chosen by a location scout. Many popular locations, such as New York City in the United States, Toronto in Canada, and the Isle of Man in the United Kingdom, have dedicated film offices to encourage location shooting, and to suggest appropriate locations to film-makers.

In many cases a second unit is dispatched to film on location, with a second unit director and sometimes with stand-in actors. These shots can then be edited into the final film or TV program alongside studio-shot sequences, to give an authentic flavor, without the expense or trouble of a full-scale location shoot. NYPD Blue, for example, was filmed primarily in Los Angeles, but used second unit footage of New York City for color, as well as featuring a small number of episodes filmed on location with the cast.

Following is from Mad Studios (https://madstudios.com/blog/filming-on-location)

Benefits:

Cost savings: Whenever you film on location, you don’t need to worry about building sets. Building and maintaining a series of film sets throughout a production can be costly, to say the least. Being able to show up at a location and start working is a big money saver.

Realism: The level of realism that comes along with filming on location makes it almost always worth it. Real-world wear and tear is hard to replicate, so using a real-world location can sell the setting to an audience much easier in most cases. 

Accuracy: Whenever you’re filming a historical piece that represents a certain place and time then filming in the actual location can greatly increase the accuracy of the film. An example could be filming a movie set in the medieval time period in a castle that is still existing.

While it’s true that there are many benefits to filming on location, there are some challenges as well. You have to decide given your budget and specific film project if filming on location is really worth it for you.

Common Challenges:

The Sun: One of the biggest issues with filming in a real-world location is lighting. When you’re out in the world, you need to pay attention to the sun and time your shots for consistency. Sunlight can be overpowering one moment and then washed out the next. Diffusers can be used to help combat these issues and make using natural light more practical.

Noise Pollution: Something that can be a big problem while filming on location is ambient noise and sound pollution. Lots of different things can cause sound issues like cars, airplanes, factories, ect. The only real way to combat these kinds of issues is to control the area, or have done a good enough job scouting to identify and mitigate these issues.

Logistics: Obviously, filming on location means transporting all your gear and film crew to said location so they can get to work. This usually means getting ground transport and possibly lodging for everyone involved. This cost can vary significantly based on the size and scope of the project. Do your research first and make sure that you have the budget to cover the logistics of using a particular location.

Sources, References & Credits: Google, Wikipedia, Wikihow, WikiBooks, Pinterest, IMDB, Linked In, Indie Wire, Film Making Stuff, Hiive, Film Daily, New York Film Academy, The Balance, Careers Hub, The Numbers, Film Maker, TV Guide Magazine, Blurb, Media Match, Quora, Creative Skill Set, Chron, Investopedia, Variety, No Film School, WGA, BBC, Daily Variety, The Film Agency, Best Sample Resume, How Stuff Works, Career Trend, Producer's Code of Credits, Truity, Production Hub, Producers Guild of America, Film Connection, Variety, Wolf Crow, Get In Media, Production Beast, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, UCAS, Frankenbite, Realty 101, Careers Hub, Screen Play Scripts, Elements of Cinema, Script Doctor, ASCAP, Film Independent, Any Possibility, CTLsites, NYFA, Future Learn, Mad Studios

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Crash set Flight of the Phoenix Namib Desert / Photo Credit: Bruce Bisbey