Could someone explain to me why it costs money to change locations?

[actival]

Hi there, I'm a complete newb - never shot a movie or anything - so forgive me if this is a stupid question. I was reading an article on filmmaking for beginners and this part stuck out to me

" Every time you move from one location to the next the cost rockets. Hence the typically low-to-no budget shoots in a single location movie like Paranormal Activity. If you desperately need a second location look out for the two-for-one, i.e. the front of a house can pose as one location and the rear garden as a completely different one "

I don't really understand this. Why does the cost rocket when you move to a new location? I could understand if you were shooting a really elaborate, high budget film with tons of special effects and huge sets and all that. But for an independent film, why would that be a huge cost?

For example, if you set up a scene in the front yard of a house, shot it, and then moved to the backyard for the next scene, that would somehow cost more money than just staying in the front yard for both scenes? I understand that equipment has to be moved to the new location, but aside from paying for gas to drive to the new location, I can't figure out how it would cause costs to rocket

thanks in advance!

 

[harmonica44]

In my experience so far it's actually more difficult to stay in the same location for a whole movie, cause a lot of location owners, don't want you shooting for very long, so it's cheaper to keep moving.

Paranormal Activity also shot all it's scenes in one take, and with the shaky cam it would be easier to hide the mic and the crew, so I think that movie was much more difficult than most indie films to make cause of it's chosen stylistic limitations, or I could be wrong?

 

[Alcove Audio]

Ignore Harmonica - after over three years he has yet to complete even one short film.

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Indie and low budget mean a lot of different things. Technically, an Independent Film is a project made outside of (independent of) the traditional studio system. So you can have a budget of $100 million and still be an indie film.

Whether you have a budget of $100 or the aforementioned $100 million changing locations will cost you something. You quoted "Every time you move from one location to the next the cost rockets." You asked:

if you set up a scene in the front yard of a house, shot it, and then moved to the backyard for the next scene, that would somehow cost more money than just staying in the front yard for both scenes?

The property (the house) is one location. Moving from the front to the back yard is not changing locations; you haven't had to transport everyone to a new place, you have not broken down the video village, the talent and crew still have the same craft/hang-out area. If you go from shooting in the front yard of a house in the morning and then travel cross town to shoot in the backyard of another house in the afternoon, that is changing locations.

Why does changing locations cost so much? Start with the equation TIME = MONEY. Imagine moving all of your mega-budget principle actors around. Each one, plus his/her entourage, must be moved to the new location. All of the gear must be moved to the new location. The entire crew has to break down everything, move it, and set it up all over again - all at union wages. All of the craft services (food, sanitation, security, first aid, etc.) also have to be moved - also at union wages. Now add in all of the extras, supporting cast, support staff, etc; they all have to be moved as well. During the move not an second of film has been shot at, what, $100k per hour? $250k per hour? More?

This is why great location scouts make such a good living. The location scouts for the film "Forrest Gump" definitely earned their money. A very large part of the film was shot in one county of Georgia. The Gump house (which site of which was very carefully chosen) was only a few miles away from Jenny's farm and the location used for the Viet Nam scenes; and the marina for Forrest's boat and the park bench were also (relatively) nearby. So for a large portion of production they did not have to move "home base" for several months


How does this apply to you as a low/no/mini/micro-budget filmmaker? Even if you don't have money there is a "cost" to changing locations. When you change locations your entire cast and crew is uprooted; it has cost you time. It has cost you momentum. Maybe it will cost you an unpaid actor or crew member who doesn't have or want to spend the gas money.

 

[Mannie Bothans]

Paranormal Activity also shot all it's scenes in one take, and with the shaky cam it would be easier to hide the mic and the crew, so I think that movie was much more difficult than most indie films to make cause of it's chosen stylistic limitations, or I could be wrong?

Methinks H44 is referring to The Blair Witch Project.

Time is money when you are paying cast and crew. It takes time to setup lights, set dec, camera, etc. And paying for permits in multiple jurisdictions ain't cheap, either.

 

[rayw]

Depends upon how much cast, crew, & cr@p you gotta move from the front of the house to the back of the house to inside the living room, to the kitchen, to the hallway, to the bedroom, then back out to the garage, then out on the street.

If it's just you as director and cameraman with a camcorder or small-rig DSLR + a sound guy with a mic on a boom + an actor or two then it's no big whup.

But if you have a whole big crew with lights and tracks and cords all over the place then it gets to be a big hassle.

And if you wanna unload all this cr@p out of a truck in the morning then reload it in the next morning to drive ten miles away to the next location, then unload it all again + expecting your cast & crew to show up on time, all at the same time, then it gets to be a scheduling hassle = expense.

 

[ItDonnedOnMe]

Time is money when you are paying cast and crew.

And when you're not paying cast and crew, time is all you've got - so you can't afford to waste it. Costs have dropped dramatically on the technology side, but so far no one's figured out how to increase the number of hours in the day. So, unless you can make a film without people, learning to maximize the time you can get from them is probably one of the most important things you can do as an independent filmmaker.

 

[directorik]

Hi there, I'm a complete newb - never shot a movie or anything - so forgive me if this is a stupid question.

An excellent question. I’ll elaborate a bit:

On a low budget production we are limited to shooting days, (for
example we have 18 days) and shooting hours (typically 12 hour
days). A standard production will have upwards of 50 people on
the crew and more than 100 shooting days. And a budget for
overtime. they shoot a page or two a day - we shoot 5 to 7. With
a much smaller crew.

It takes 90 minutes from the time the director says “cut” on the
last take until the truck is moving - what we call “tail lights”. And
a little longer (typically 2 hours) from the time the truck parks at
the new location until the director says “action” in the first take
- 2 and a half hours not counting travel time. If we make a move
during the day and travel time is a short 30 minutes that’s 3 hours
the cast and crew are being paid but not shooting. It’s difficult
getting 5 to 7 pages shot on a 12 hour day - it’s crazy getting that
in a 8 and a half (don’t forget a 30 minute lunch)

Alcove said it; time is money. That loss of time needs to be made
up somehow. So for every company move the producer needs to
find half a day of shooting. Move twice and that adds a day. For a
low budget production with the budget for 18 days another day
isn’t possible. “Rockets” may be an overstatement, but it’s expensive
to move a film crew in time spent. Not in gas for vehicles.

If the production moves at the end of the day it still takes 90 minutes
to pack trucks and move them - and that still must happen during
the 12 hour work day. Overtime is something low budget producers
cannot afford and usually do not budget. When we say "tail lights at
12" that means at the 12 hour mark cast and crew are in their personal
vehicles heading home. Not getting in the production truck heading
to the next location.