TECHNES Encyclopedia Database

It is difficult to distinguish what relates to adaptive preferences, the manifestation of giving up in the face of the failure to find the ideal site, from what comes out of the surprises provided by scouting a region. The difficulty in finding a dream site can be compensated by the discovery of unexpected places which nevertheless correspond to the project of the film. The choice of a shooting location is the product of the encounter between a filmmaker’s imagination and the real places discovered. This can also sometimes lead to changes being made to the filmmaker’s initial intentions.

To examine a decor is to evaluate its aesthetic features, but also its sociological, economic and legal features. The site’s position, the space available, its below-ceiling height, the existence of usable backdrops and the circulation it makes possible all outline the possible later interventions in the decor and the mise en scène possibilities. An ideal shooting location should facilitate an entire range of actions and provide the space, plasticity and robustness needed to make the (sometimes acrobatic) work of the actors possible, but also that of the production designer and the director of photography, along with providing room to set up the (at times voluminous) shooting equipment.

Finding the right decor is thus not just a matter of conveying a filmmaker’s more or less clear ambitions with respect to his or her narrative and aesthetic intentions. Choosing shooting locations is also a matter of submitting to multiple constraints which limit what is possible. There is a broad range of qualities which a location must bring together in order to match not only the filmmaker’s aesthetic ambitions but also the many technical and economic requirements of the various professions working on a film.

Conclusion

Scouting and selecting shooting locations is an activity of evaluating qualities. The location serves as a base to be taken up as a work material and work space by all those contributing to creating the film image. A location only truly becomes a film decor and space for the mise en scène after a whole series of activities whose importance depends also on the decor’s initial qualities. These activities are those of the site management crew, which controls access to the location; the decoration crew, which adds built elements to the location and paints and furnishes them; the lighting crew, which lights the location; the sound crew, which seeks to control the sound environment; those in charge of the extras, who bring these actors into the space; and the special effects crews, who create foggy or flashy ambiences or who, after the film shoot, will work on the images of the decor in order to clean it up (removing anachronistic elements), round it out (extending the decor) or metamorphose it.