How do you shoot in Vancouver when...?

My plan wasn't to keep taking turns in between the both rooms in the interrogation room. I was going to shoot one room entirely, and then the other room entirely. I wasn't going to keep taking turns between rooms during shooting.

So it still is two set ups, from what I had in mind. What I meant was, that it's difficult finding two rooms that are together, so I would have to travel to another location, which means that that traveling will take more shoot time, and would likely have to rescheduled for a different day. I mean the traveling to the second room would take a chunk of shoot time out of the budget.

What if I wrote it so the detectives are discussing the case outside of the police station? Like instead of showing the interrogation, the cop can talk about with his wife when he comes home? The person being interrogated is the main character, so she looses some face time though, as will others, if scenes are told through third person perspective.

I wrote a chase scene in the same script, so that instead of seeing it, you just hear the whole thing happen through the police radios, and a third person main character is listening to the whole chase through a radio scanner. The downside being, that the characters in the chase are more main, and they loose face time. Plays are written like this though, cause they can't afford changing sets, so is is acceptable for a movie to do it for audiences?
 
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Ok so you don't have them watching behind glass - you have them watching on a TV from a surveillance camera in the interrogation room. Now you could use any two rooms in whatever location you have available.

Damn, that's real good advice. I'll be stealing that idea at some point.

Some great advice from the folks (ItDonnedOnMe, wheatgrinder, et al) here.
 
Okay thanks, that's a good idea. I will use only one location per scene then. So when calling or emailing people in Vancouver, what are some good ideas to persuade them to use their locations? I have done this three times so far, and only got one yes and two nos. I would like to turn more no's into yes's so any ideas on how to negotiate with business owners of their buildings? Especially since I'm not speaking to them in person?

Thanks.
 
Okay thanks, that's a good idea. I will use only one location per scene then. So when calling or emailing people in Vancouver, what are some good ideas to persuade them to use their locations? I have done this three times so far, and only got one yes and two nos. I would like to turn more no's into yes's so any ideas on how to negotiate with business owners of their buildings? Especially since I'm not speaking to them in person?

I started a thread on this topic a few weeks back, it's here:

http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=48736&highlight=locations
 
Okay thanks that helps. Another problem is is that actors will not shoot in certain areas of Vancouver at night. I can't blame them. In my script, there is a scene where the two main characters are chased into a park and have to fight escape from the villains, who want them dead. I chose a park because it's easy to shoot in a park and not be caught. Well maybe not so much in Vancouver were there are more cops around. So more cops and security around is a problem. But maybe it might be cheaper to rent the park at night for permission.

The more main problem though is that actors will be afraid to shoot in the park at night of much bigger city where higher crimes are of concern. I went to the park in Vancouver at night and it's huge, and actually kind of scary really.

Where I live the smaller parks are actually not near as scary, and actors will feel much more comfortable shooting at them compared to a bigger Vancouver park with more possible crime I assume.
 
..........I have done this three times so far, and only got one yes and two nos. I would like to turn more no's into yes's so any ideas on how to negotiate with business owners of their buildings? Especially since I'm not speaking to them in person?

Thanks.

You want more yesses?
Then ask more people.
You will get more no's as a bonus.

It's the reality of 'selling' that there are always people who say no.
Don't take it personal.
Every no is a step closer to yes.

Always be clear and transparant about your plans when you ask permission.
When someone says 'no' ask whether thet know an alternative location. You might be surprised how many people want to help you even when they say 'no'. Just dare to ask.
 
The more main problem though is that actors will be afraid to shoot in the park at night of much bigger city where higher crimes are of concern. I went to the park in Vancouver at night and it's huge, and actually kind of scary really.

Are these actors from the city, or from outside? I don't really know how bad crime is in Vancouver (my impression has always been that it's very low in BC in general), but my experience has been that people who live outside of big cities often have a significantly distorted view of what parts of the city are 'bad' or 'dangerous', and to what extent. It may be that you just need to find actors who are from Vancouver and more familiar with the areas you want to shoot in.
 
Since I have never been to Canada, other than crossing into it for a short "I was here" photo, I can't comment on what you have available for location shoots as far as office/police station/ business type sets.
Down here we have been building new schools at a prodigious rate. This leaves a lot of mothballed school buildings available since most of them are in too good of shape to demolish. A school generally has rooms that can double for many type of environments. The local school board is usually the last word on what they can be used for. Some of them are now being used as senior centers, Head Start programs or other activities. You might look into unused government buildings and industrial rental space. Sometimes you can get a location for enough to cover the owner's monthly overhead on an unrented property. The old phrase "think outside of the box" comes to mind.
 
Thanks. I will look into something like that. The schools where I live look too much like schools, to the point where it would be noticeably fake but in Vancouver perhaps they are different.

I want to shoot their but I will need a truck. The shoot I tried doing a few weeks ago was disastrous cause I couldn't bring enough equipment with me on the trains and buses.

It's just the money for constant travel is an issue. I will raise funds as much as I can from my end. Steak dinner fundraisers or whatever I can do. It would really help if a lot of actors would be willing to do a 30 day in a row shoot, as well as a crew, and location owners, but unfortunately no one I've talked to their so far, wants to do that. They all want to work weekends only.

It's an 18 hour drive to Vancouver with the equipment, so if I leave friday night, I won't get their till late Saturday if I do not stop, without sleeping. But by then I am too tired to direct and have to be back on work Monday morning. Still trying to figure this one out.

Are their any filmmaking books on how to work around this particular issue of travel vs. time needed?
 
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