Interiors: Stage or real locations?

L

Lynos

Well-known member
Hi guys

What is your experience, if any, in shooting interiors on stages instead of real locations? I'm currently working on a project and trying to figure out what's the most practical and useful way to shoot about 20 interior scenes at five different interiors.
I know it will cost more (budget is very low, approx. 3,000-4,000 dollars) but it can save a lot of time in finding the locations, dressing them, and moving from one to the other (I'm aiming at a very fast shoot).

I'm in Toronto, so if anyone worked on stages here, I would love to hear from you.

Also, a very important question for me: does a stage also provide props and set design facilities or do you need to bring everything with you?

I will appreciate any input in the matter. Thanks.
 
With your budget, you are very likely limited to practical (real, working) locations. If you have access to someone skilled at carpentry, you might bash together a purpose-built set or a portion of same, but the number of sets you indicated would be difficult to construct convincingly within your budget.

Practical locations without wild walls or grid to work from make each set-up a little more difficult, but most can be made to work with good planning, storyboards, blocking and / or shot lists.

Real Hollywood studios do offer production design, but most of the 2nd market facilities have little in-house resources or turn-key situations. Take Universal Studios Orlando as an example. We recently conducted a facilities tour there for three upcoming projects and found that there was surprisingly little onsite support infrastructure (mill, paint, lighting, grip, props, post-production et-cetera) compared to the West Coast studio of the same name.

I don't know the Toronto market first-hand, but a few phone calls regarding "support services" should answer your question better than this forum.

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Sets are expensive to do right. I wouldn't even consider that if you can find something else, especially with today's mobile technology.
 
By mobile technology you mean more mobile equipment? That is true, but it doesn't change the fact that every time you move to another set during a day's shoot you lose plenty of momentum.

I'm aware that a stage for my budget is a long shot. Still, it is very tempting to find a way to shoot everything at once in the same place. I have seen studios here in TO that charge 1,000$ a day and ones which charge half of that. I was just curious to see if anyone in the indie/low budget world actually utilizes sets or if it's just a perk reserved for well-financed features and commercials.

Thank you for your responses.
 
I know O2 for TimeFest was shot on a spaceship set around LA, and to my knowledge they talked their was into it for nothing or at the very least way below normal cost.

It's always worth trying to find a deal, but knowing people and being able to schmooze well go a long way.
 
Of course there are opportunities to stumble into situations where there is a standing set. Something that is there for another purpose, but for some reason still built-out. On the narrative TV shows I've done, we would leave some of the most utilized sets standing all season and even during hiatus if we left the season at the top of the ratings.

However, most studios keep their stages clean and empty between productions. But, you might just get lucky if you make a lot of phone calls.

e
 
I guess I'd agree that it makes sense if you didn't have to factor in set construction, but that's my concern with price. Even if the set is close to what you want but needs some amount of work done, like if it's been stripped down at all, you may end up costing more time than dealing with a practical location. Of course, if you just need a couple of locations, have materials available and can hurry through it so you aren't taking more than a few days it could well be worth it. But I'm pretty sure that's not the situation you're asking for.
 
Lynos said:
Also, a very important question for me: does a stage also provide props and set design facilities or do you need to bring everything with you?

I will appreciate any input in the matter. Thanks.
Click to expand...

In San Diego, some of the stages for rent have some 'set' stuff... but for the most part, all they provide is the space, and lights. You have to provide everything else. And for those that do have some sets and props, there are additional fees for those as well.

I haven't looked at it in a while, but I recall that for the rental of a 'studio', I could rent a house for a month. With some rental furniture, I'd have what I needed. Of course there is the matter of credit these days, cleaning deposits... but who knows... it still could be cheaper...
 
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