Location is a Character

This may well come off as one of my more obvious blog posts, but I think it's something that's really important for everyone to remember as we all start gearing up to make our films; location should always act as a character. A silent, unflinching, omnipresent character, but a character nonetheless.

Surprisingly enough - as I'm just now finding out - you don't get a whole lot of interesting results when you Google "film locations as characters." But pick any great movie or cinematic TV show and boom: there it is. Let's take, for instance, Mad Max Fury Road. The barren, deserted landscape practically breathes. It not only presents itself as an obstacle to the characters, it comes to life. The movie was filmed in Namibia (unlike the first three which were shot in Australia) and the desert sands and dunes are literally blown out of proportion in order to bring the movie to life. It gives the movie a distinct tone more so than any other element of the film; while the (sparse) dialogue and set design are unique, it would be nothing without the location itself.

Let's take another example: True Detective. The only thing that the first and second season even remotely have in common is how they treat their locations. In the first season, director Cary Fukunaga both played with expectations and met them in his use of the creepy bayous and run-down areas of Louisiana (fun side note, here's a link to a tour you can take that has 13 locations from the show). It also had this boat that looks like it's floating on land, but that's more of a cool shot than anything else. They used the locations to really bump up the level of creepiness that oozes throughout the season, and at a certain point, you start to feel like it's its own entity.

Same goes for season 2. No matter what your opinion of it may be (it sucked) they still use location as a major indicator of what's happening and what matters. I'm pretty sure that the aerial shots of freeways and various roads take up more screentime than Rachel McAdam's character. It, too, sets the tone: instead of the slow burn, Southern feel of season one, we now know that we're in a world where everything is constantly moving forward, with little hope of ever coming to a halt. It's a bit more inconsistent than the previous season, but the point still comes across.

No Country for Old Men, Lost in Translation, Cool Hand Luke, Drive, any movie that prominently features the city of New York: all of these treat their locations as a character (to see where I got all of those ideas from, here's a list on letterboxd I found that more or less sums up what I've been talking about). Locations can add tone, texture, and feeling to a film, and if you use them right, you'll be that much better for having done it.

A camera that makes you be original

Philipp Schmidt, a photographer and designer, has recently released prototype designs of a camera that forces the photographer to take original photos.

This is only a prototype, currently 3D printed with a controller inside, but the concept remains the same. The camera searches the web for photos taken within a 35 meter radius, and displays the number found with a counter on the back of the camera. If the counter displays a number too high the camera will prevent you from taking a photo. When too many photos have been taken the viewfinder will display a red "X" indicating that it will not allow you to take a picture.

The camera was designed primarily to "help the photographer avoid contributing to the ever-growing mountain of duplicate images available online." This would pose problems for tourists who often seek popular places to take photographs while on vacation. 

Schmidt has failed to mention the benefits of choosing this camera over a more standard DSLR design, currently there only appear to be restricting negatives. It is possible that more information will be available closer to release when more designs have been prototyped but currently I am struggling to see the benefits of shooting with this camera over another. 

Film Racing Grand Prix

As we mentioned in class one day there are racing to get films done in 24 hours given props, prompts, themes, etcetera. A year ago I was watching short films on YouTube and came across one that I really liked. This one was done in 100 hours though.

"Gone Goodbye" by Keith Rivers Films, LLC is a really clever and powerful piece. If I had been told that from start to finish this was done in 100 hours I would not believe it, despite knowing that Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin was written in an absurdly short amount of time as well.

Considering the prop was a balloon and the theme was privacy, the story was just about the best possible. It was out of the box, deep and intelligently written. From the point of view of a balloon narrating a message tied to it, there are numerous metaphors that make you want to BURST out laughing.

The aerial cinematography was stunning, full of gorgeous images. One of the other main strengths was the location. Location, location, location. It fit the privacy theme and it was on a beautiful lake which I've seen other shorts done, there's something magic about that location.

I would go as far as saying it's a masterpiece. This is one of the things I hope everyone would check out because you can learn a lot from it, no matter how much experience you have.

Location Scouting

For those of you scouting for locations, it occurred to me that one of the best resources would be a local realtor. True, you do not want to rent a location, however they know all the available spaces for rent or for sale and they can give you the contact information to get a permit. They also know each other well and some specialize in residential, or business or industrial etc. So take some time to explore that option. I suggest you do a face to face as opposed to simply give them a call.

You can also search the rental listings yourself. Here is one of many resources: LINK

Another resource would be constructors, since they usually have houses or locales in different states of completion. My landlord, Bruno Schickel is such case. Check his website. He is a really great and helpful guy. You can tell him that you are my student. I know he has various houses in construction and other types of places as well. Here is his SITE

He has built or renovated homes, offices, clinics, restaurants, you name it.

Storyboarding and storytelling

Time to really dig in and read the section on storyboarding on our class ebook:
Directing the Story; Professional Storytelling and Storyboarding Techniques, by Francis Glebas.

Check out Chapter 4 page 90 for some useful tips. Remember no one expects a masterpiece of art, but rather a clear simple depiction of your key shots. If you cannot visualize them you can't shoot them!

It is from the storyboard/script combination that you will have a successful and useful breakdown so you can have a smooth shoot, so make an effort to put your visual ideas on paper.

As I believe I mentioned, you can also "colllage" your storyboard using clip-art, cutouts from magazines, comic books etc. I like to use grpahic novels sometimes because they have such great angles and scene depictions that really give you a sense of athmosphere, character and place.

This is from DMZ by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli