Aurelia Thomas, the location manager of one of the most well-known movies of all time - Harry Potter, came to our school this week and gave us a talk about her location scouting experience. The location manager mentioned that she needed to go to a lot of locations and took many images before choosing one that best fits the film and meets what the director asked for. When I heard that she spent 2 months to scout locations for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I was very surprised that location scouting actually requires such a great amount of time. I was also shocked that the high cost of the locations. Moreover, when choosing the best location, a lot of details need to be considered, such as cost, logistics convenience and weather conditions. Once the best location is found, the location scout crew would also need to find a backup location just in case of any unexpected situations. This reminded me of what happened during the Westerns units. My group had to find another location immediately because the auditorium (the original location) was occupied. If we had found a backup location in advance, we wouldn't be in such a rush. Another thing that Aurelia Thomas mentioned is that one scene may actually be filmed in several different locations, but the audience wouldn't be able to tell because different camera angles were applied.
We spent the other half of the class watching the film Across the Universe and when watching, I often wonder whether the scene was filmed in a studio set or live location. In the "Come Together" scene of Across the Universe, Jojo, the guitar player, walks on the street. From what I observed, I think that this scene is filmed in an actual location, since there are so many shops on the street and also graffiti painted on the walls. It would simply be impossible for the film crew to build such a huge but detailed set as it would cost way too much and take too much time. There were also buildings in this scene, so it is definitely filmed in an actual location. In fact, I have done some research and the scene is actually filmed on streets in Manhattan and there is an actual cafe named "Cafe Huh?", the place where Jojo finds his work in the film.
After Aurelia Thomas' talk, I understood that it is definitely not an easy task to produce films professionally - even location scouting takes a lot of time and effort. Her talk made me appreciate films even more.
We spent the other half of the class watching the film Across the Universe and when watching, I often wonder whether the scene was filmed in a studio set or live location. In the "Come Together" scene of Across the Universe, Jojo, the guitar player, walks on the street. From what I observed, I think that this scene is filmed in an actual location, since there are so many shops on the street and also graffiti painted on the walls. It would simply be impossible for the film crew to build such a huge but detailed set as it would cost way too much and take too much time. There were also buildings in this scene, so it is definitely filmed in an actual location. In fact, I have done some research and the scene is actually filmed on streets in Manhattan and there is an actual cafe named "Cafe Huh?", the place where Jojo finds his work in the film.
After Aurelia Thomas' talk, I understood that it is definitely not an easy task to produce films professionally - even location scouting takes a lot of time and effort. Her talk made me appreciate films even more.
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