Managing Film Recces for our Property Owners

Recces

Before a production will select a site for filming, a number of ‘recces’ are undertaken. These site visits will generally follow in a traditional order. First, the Location Manager will visit to establish the nature of the site, to extensively photograph any areas that might be of interest, and to assess its viability from a logistical standpoint.

Then, if the photos are well received, they will bring the Art Department (those in charge of designing everything that you see on screen) to begin planning sets, measuring rooms, and to draw intricate and detailed plans of every potential set.

The next stage is for the Director to visit, who will have the final say on whether it is appropriate for the vision they have in mind for the project.

Once these recces have been undertaken, the ‘Tech Recce’ will be planned. This will involve bringing a number of departments to site (they can vary in size from 10 people to over 50) in one go, to assess their needs for the prep/shoot/strike period. This allows the lighting, construction, props, locations, art dept, production and unit departments to work out a plan for how they will complete their jobs when on location and order any materials and machinery they will need. A tech recce will also run through the plan for the filming days, with the director and DOP (director of photography) planning out shots and timings. A tech recce can take up to 3 hours if there are lots of areas of use.

Once the tech recce has been done, generally everything can be lined up ready to begin the occupation.

As you can see, planning a shoot can be very time consuming, which is why we take care of all recces and planning on behalf of our property partners’ locations.