Low-budget filmmaking tip #197
If the owner of your location declares a limitation, find a way to obey that limitation. If it wasn’t important to them, they wouldn’t have said anything. This isn’t a game to see what you can get away with on their hospitality, or how you can skirt their rules. Follow the spirit and the letter of their requests.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #194
Review the location before showing up ready to shoot. The fewer surprises the better.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #187
If you’re shooting after dark, find out who can see your set. A neighbor who doesn’t care about a day shoot might object strongly to a 1k light shining in the kids’ bedroom window.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #173
Look at the shadows! If your scene takes place in an outdoor location, near a high wall or hedge or fence, pay attention to the direction of shadows. You may discover that the “really cool” North/South hedge setpiece casts your entire set in shadow after 1pm.
Smaller variations in light and shadow aren’t usually as critical a problem — unless viewers are really picky, or the shadows are really different, they won’t notice different shadow-lengths.
But if your entire set gets covered in shadow every day at 1pm, then you’ve got to account for that when shooting.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #158
Leave the location cleaner than when you arrived, and be gracious and grateful to your host. Even if you paid. Even if they were jerks.
Although I should stress that all of our hosts were very gracious to us.
Except that one guy, but he wasn’t the actual owner, and once he and the owner had a chat, he properly cooled his jets.
Just more proof that you need to engage the owner.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #111
If you’re shooting at a natural location, such as a beach or a forest, when you’re all done, pass out trash bags and everybody wander around picking up trash and making it prettier. Not just your production’s stuff, but spread out. Make your group the Entropy Decreasing Group.
No, it won’t help the movie, but it’s a good thing to do.
We once actually acquired a location for a really tricky shoot after the owner saw how diligently we cleaned up another location where he was being an extra. He told me he never would have offered if he hadn’t seen us scrub the entire set down — after each take! (it was a tricky setup, because each take messed the set dressing up a lot and it had to be especially crisp and perfect at the beginning of each shot)
Low-budget filmmaking tip #105
Find out before you go how far a hike it is out to the location. Make sure everybody knows — you don’t want to lose an hour hiking at the wrong part of the day.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #81
Make sure your location has running water, sinks, toilets, garbage service, and toilet paper. If it doesn’t, you need to supply this yourself.
And, alas, I’ve dropped this ball before, much to my chagrin.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #75
Dress your set. Walls have pictures, tables have things on them, shelves are sometimes in disarray. If you want to dress a lab, take some pictures in a real lab. If you want a carnie’s office, go visit a circus and buy someone coffee in exchange for an interview and a couple reference pictures. Make it real.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #71
Your location owner might have to lock their doors after a certain time, but if you ask nice, they might let you run an extension cord or two out through a little hole. Then, you can leave ‘em coiled up after you’re done and come by in the morning and pick all your cords back up.
Thanks for this tip, Ryan! It’s worked GREAT every time we’ve used it!