Frame x Frame: Shooting on Location

Photos by Joshen Reborn

In my film making journey, I am constantly learning new things about the production phases, especially with pre-production. Pre-production is the most important phase because it involves planning everything about a project, from casting talent to story boarding the scenes for a script. The most challenging part of planning my short films, so far, have been finding locations to shoot the various scenes my story needs.

In my earlier productions, I would always shoot in places that I had access to (a friend's apartment, my house or outdoors) because it was easy. For the past couple of short films I've produced, I took the same approach in finding locations and shooting on the fly (some people call it guerilla filmmaking). For the latest short I'm working on, I experienced being my own location scout and asking permission to shoot in different locations, with no success. For example, for my short, I needed a bar for a scene I'm working on and I reached out to different bars, only to receive one response where the bar asked for a production insurance fee, which was way above my budget. I try to keep my production as no cost to low cost as possible, but I realize now that some money needs to be thrown into the production pot in order to make a project work.

The main scene for my short is an apartment setting, which I didn't know how I was going to secure it. I searched for locations online for a long time, until I finally found a place that was suitable for my needs. I had to pay for the space, which I made sure to get my money's worth while shooting. I achieved the looks for the scenes, even though it wasn't what I envisioned in my head, but I made it work. As I get to meet new people, I will keep in mind for my future shorts that locations are important to lock in early so the production phase doesn't take too long. All of these experiences are helping me become a better filmmaker, which I appreciate with each short I put under my belt.

-Video Vix[o]n

Production Vlog "D" - #VideoDictionary

-Video Vix[o]n

Production Vlog "C" - #VideoDictionary

The third prod vlog for the latest installment to the #VideoDictionary series.





A long time coming, but worth the wait. Shout outs to Imperial Moving And Storage as well as Sticky's Finger Joint for the support. Can't wait for the next one. 


-Video Vix[o]n

Production Vlog "B" - #VideoDictionary

The second prod vlog for the second installment to the #VideoDictionary series.



It was cool seeing the footage in reverse. I can't wait to produce the next one.

-Video Vix[o]n

Production Vlog "A" - #VideoDictionary

In an attempt to jump start my creativity, I started a new short film series called #VideoDictionary. All the details will be in the production vlog below.



*Sidenote: The premise of the short film was based off the NBC show "Awake," which, ironically, starts with the letter "A." 

Stay tuned to my blog to see the upcoming production vlogs as this series continues.

-Video Vix[o]n