From the course: Location Scouting for Video and Photo Projects

Identifying staging

From the course: Location Scouting for Video and Photo Projects

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Identifying staging

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- On productions, I feel like where everyone and everything is going to be placed safely is often overlooked. This is something you can identify on a location scout. So when you're looking at a location, you should first look, where is gear going to be staged? You want it to be staged somewhere where it's safe and that the crew doesn't have to worry about watching it. Now, if you're going to have to stage it somewhere where it's going to be out in the open, you're going to have to hire someone that's going to be in charge of watching your gear. Also, where is wardrobe and makeup going to go? You need to be able to have a place for them to work efficiently and out of the way so they don't have to keep relocating during your shots. If you're going to be outside, you need to make sure your makeup artist is ready to be mobile when they need to. Also, if gear is going to be staged outside, you often need to make sure it's somewhere where it's covered. They also need to be able to have places to be able to build their gear, and you need to make a plan for that. Where are you going to put craft services? No one ever thinks about that. But I think it's important to be able to have snacks and water and things like that for your crew to be able to recharge during the day. Along with the snacks and recharging, you also need to know where people are going to be able to eat lunch. Your crew has been standing all day. If there's not something provided by the facility, you should be prepared to put up tables and make your own places for people to sit down and eat. If your work is client work, you also need a place to put your clients. They need a place that's a little more comfortable where they can sit and view the screens in the shot that you're doing, but they're not right in the middle of your set. Personally, I like to put my clients, if I can, next to craft services. This way the more comfortable they are, the more smoother our shoot's going to go. Knowing all this stuff ahead of time is only going to make your shoot smoother. I cannot tell you how many times I get to a shoot and they're like, "Where do I go?" And now I can say, "Hey, you're staged right over there," and I'm already one step ahead.

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