Location - Derelict Building / Rooftop

S

secret_filmmaker

Hi there, I'm a new member of this forum!

I'm a UK filmmaker looking to shoot a music video and am in need of a tall derelict building with a rooftop that I can shoot on, somewhere in the (preferably south) UK.

How do you guys go about finding your locations, do you have any suggestions for how I should go about looking for this location, or do you have any suggestions with regards to buildings you may have used or seen used before?

Any help will be greatly appreciated, I'm looking forward to exploring this forum more, it looks really great haha

Thanks
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
This simplest way is to drive/walk around the area that you want to film in and look at buildings. Make a list of locations that would work for your shoot and contact the owner/representative of each one, starting with the most desirable and working your way down the list, until you get to someone that says yes. I find that asking permission to film at a location works better in person. Dress professionally and act like you have done this before. Most property owners/managers will require you to have insurance and sign a hold harmless agreement at minimum. Alternately, you could go full guerrilla and find an abandoned location and just go for it. I do not recommend the guerrilla route for a number of reasons. First, if you get caught, you and everyone else can be arrested, your video can be seized as evidence, and you can get a bad reputation. I always say that, if you want to be a professional, you have to act like one.

That's just my opinion, do as you please.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Lucky Hardwood said:
This simplest way is to drive/walk around the area that you want to film in and look at buildings. Make a list of locations that would work for your shoot and contact the owner/representative of each one, starting with the most desirable and working your way down the list, until you get to someone that says yes. I find that asking permission to film at a location works better in person. Dress professionally and act like you have done this before. Most property owners/managers will require you to have insurance and sign a hold harmless agreement at minimum. Alternately, you could go full guerrilla and find an abandoned location and just go for it. I do not recommend the guerrilla route for a number of reasons. First, if you get caught, you and everyone else can be arrested, your video can be seized as evidence, and you can get a bad reputation. I always say that, if you want to be a professional, you have to act like one.

That's just my opinion, do as you please.
Click to expand...

This with two additions:

1. If you're young, especially a teenager, get someone else a bit older to ask for you. Nobody is going to trust a group of strange high school kids alone on their roof.

2. This is from experience, an attractive female has a lot better chance of getting you a yes haha. Might be wrong, but for some people that's how the world works.

Keep insurance in mind, some places will want it. The more mom-and-pop a place is, the easier it is to get for free. National hotels and such have already have a policy in place in regards to what it costs to shoot at their location but the mom-and-pop owner who has never thought about it might cut you a deal or even offer it free.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Good points about the attractive female and older person for teenagers. Sometimes, being young can work in your favor though. When I was a teenager there wasn't much I couldn't get just by asking. Admittedly, that was a couple of decades ago, but I found people were happy to help a confident young person accomplish their goals.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Am I the only one who pictures this when they hear 'guerrilla filmmaking?'

cartoon-gorilla-with-camera1.jpg
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I had a rooftop scene in my movie. I looked all over LA. Everyone wanted a fortune to shoot on the roof and pay a security guard to be there as well. (Big Surprise huh!) One of our crew people donated their rooftop. In my experience asking people involved in the project if they have access to a location is a good start. I know that is SUPER obvious but sometimes we forget to ask everyone remotely related to the project.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top