5 important aspects when choosing filming locations

In the audiovisual world, it’s undeniable that in both video and photography, the location we choose will play a fundamental role in our pieces and in what we want to convey with them. In the pre-production phase of any project, you should consider the following aspects to choose the ideal location for your productions:

Indoor or outdoor locations?

This is the first aspect you should consider in any production; where does the action in your script take place? What do you want to express in that sequence? Is it feasible? An outdoor location is always chosen for its own environmental conditions at a narrative level, which are often irreplaceable by sets or props, or are not comparable. And an indoor location is mostly chosen when there’s a need to have control and uniformity over the environment at all times, or in productions that combine reality and VFX, such as Chroma sets.

Permits and availability

Depending on the duration of the production or photo session we’re going to carry out, we’ll need a location that has more or less available booking time, and that requires the least number of permits possible or, failing that, are easier to obtain so as not to prolong the pre-production phase too much, and even in some cases, the production itself. We can encounter this problem especially in public or shared-use spaces.

Light and weather conditions

When we choose an outdoor location, most of the time we do it wanting to take advantage of its own lighting conditions, obviously controlling them minimally, or because we know we want to create a completely new lighting based on the few conditions it can offer us. On the other hand, when we choose an indoor location, we do it knowing that the lighting will be totally designed and controlled by us. Sometimes, even in productions with few technical requirements, some sets already offer pre-installed lighting that can save us a lot of time and money.

Supplies and logistics

Any production, regardless of its size, will need access to basic supplies for the human team and technical equipment, and sometimes the ease of access to them is decisive when choosing the location. For example, does your location have access to electricity and water? Although there are alternatives or external solutions to these “problems”, this will mean an additional cost that perhaps our production cannot afford. At a logistical level, for example, we often also need to have support spaces for the location itself, such as dressing rooms for the models in our photo shoot, production rooms for the technical team, kitchen…

Sound

In case your production is video or you’re looking for film locations, sound will be one of the most important aspects for you. No sequence, no matter how well recorded, can be considered good if it’s not accompanied by perfect sound. In outdoor locations, it’s an absolute handicap, sound control must be done meticulously. In the case of an indoor location, the sound is much more controlled and, in the case of sets, you can even find soundproofed rooms or rooms with acoustic panels.

Now that you know the basic aspects when choosing filming locations and how a set can solve most of them, we invite you to visit our photography and video studios in Madrid and Barcelona where you can carry out all kinds of projects.