Studio vs On-Location - Pros & Cons

(okay, let's clarify some more)

Can you shoot in a warehouse? Yes, of course you can, just like you can shoot on a DSLR. It's all about what compromises you're willing to make. But just like there are huge differences between a DSLR and an Arri Alexa, also there are huge differences between a proper studio and a warehouse.
 
ok, so... concrete, a/c, bathroom, kitchen, and hight.

hmm.... yeah no wonder studios charge what they do.

a long time ago i exchanged emails with a fellow by the name of Mark Thomas. he made this, with Dave Macomber:

Duality

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I AGREE


they shot the whole thing in a large 'blue-screen' studio.

the email exchange i had with him was my first exposure to film/video production on a personal level.

never knew what became of them (crew of two).
 
Some studios are indeed warehouses and they still manage to get work at very low prices. All they have to sell is space. It should take $200,000 to $600,000 to turn a warehouse into a real soundstage and this explains the rates.
 
I did a half-dozen features and nearly 80 episodes of a single camera 35mm series in an un-improved Pan-Am Clipper hangar in San Francisco. All the Matrix pictures were done on mostly unimproved stages - save for the freeway sets, which were mostly backlot elements built on Alameda - so it can be done.

Having good power - like they do on de-commissioned bases - is key.

Still, we had to bring in air handlers and temporarily fly our grids and truss up everything - like the 250' 270 degree skypan-backlit translight we rigged for one Disney feature.

Point is, any warehouse or other open-span space is very likely going to be an improvement on the wildly uncontrollable situations you'll find shooting on location. I love stage days.
 
Batutta said:
In defense of shooting on location there is a realism you get on location that can't be totally faked, I don't care how well it's done. [...] Also, because the actors weren't on a sterile greenscreen stage, their performances felt less staged because they were really there standing on a real set.
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Very very very true. I think people are getting too comfortable shooting in a sound stage with everything green or blue. Actors when faced with this (I've been told) often over-act in compensation for the lack of anything to work off of, or under-act with the knowledge they may be over-acting.

I would be willing to slug it out and make things that much more real just to get the actor more into the scene. It's either for ease of actor or ease of crew, and the actor is the one in front of the camera.

Jim Brennan said:
Like everything else, there is never one "right" answer. There is only the answer that is best for you under your circumstances.

Personally, after shooting countless location gigs, I would LOVE the luxury and control of a studio.
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I'm like you, but perhaps it's a case of the 'grass is always greener on the other side'?
 
Jon Starr said:
I'm like you, but perhaps it's a case of the 'grass is always greener on the other side'?
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Maybe. Or maybe I'm just tired of airplanes circling in "remote" locations, or block parties thrown while shooting "small-town, night scenes" :violin:
 
I'm working on a short film I want to shoot in December, most of it taking place in an office as a conversation between two people. We really hope to build a set on my school's sound stage (if its available). It would be so beneficial to us to be able to it, but I never realized how many objects there are that actually make it feel like a person's office: obviously the desk, chairs, maybe a file cabinet, but also pictures, a messy pile of papers, wall color, blinds (since one wall will be glass), etc.

Both have their benefits and drawbacks. It really depends on what's best for you and your production.
 
I have only been fortunate to shot in a real studio (Grace and Wild, in suburban Detroit) twice and I have shot on a nearby SFX stage a few more times. It made life so much easier. I would do it again, every chance I got, if i could.

As a comprise, I also had the occasion to shoot a low budget feature in an abandoned hospital once, and while it was not as nice as shooting in a studio, because of the variety of locations within the hospital, we were able to shoot almost the entire movie there, with only one company move to a woods location. While most of the film takes place in the hospital, were also able to dress different parts of the place to look like several different locations, including the heroes' headquarters, a night club, a hotel room, ect. It was very nice to be able have a large place like that to set up in for a month. It is the setting up and breaking down after constant company moves that beat the sh*t out of you. We went back to the hospital a few months latter for two weeks and set up a green screen stage and shot an experimental action short, also using parts of hospital, redressed. Finding locations that can serve as many different possible locations is gonna to be part of my MO from now on, if at all possible. With the current commercial real estate bust, finding large, muiti-use locations might be easier than has been.

Of course, that still wouldn't beat shooting in a studio, if you have all the resources for that.
 
David G. Smith said:
As a comprise, I also had the occasion to shoot a low budget feature in an abandoned hospital once, and while it was not as nice as shooting in a studio, because of the variety of locations within the hospital, we were able to shoot almost the entire movie there, with only one company move to a woods location. While most of the film takes place in the hospital, were also able to dress different parts of the place to look like several different locations, including the heroes' headquarters, a night club, a hotel room, ect. It was very nice to be able have a large place like that to set up in for a month. It is the setting up and breaking down after constant company moves that beat the sh*t out of you. We went back to the hospital a few months latter for two weeks and set up a green screen stage and shot an experimental action short, also using parts of hospital, redressed. Finding locations that can serve as many different possible locations is gonna to be part of my MO from now on, if at all possible. With the current commercial real estate bust, finding large, muiti-use locations might be easier than has been.
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that's a great story, Dave. it would be great to find something that large AND abandoned. did you (prod. co.) have to pay someone to be able to shoot there?
 
Fahad said:
that's a great story, Dave. it would be great to find something that large AND abandoned. did you (prod. co.) have to pay someone to be able to shoot there?
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I don't think that they did pay a location fee for using the hospital. I think it was some kind of a friend of a friend who knew someone in the Virginia Film office who know somebody's friend kind of deal. The owners of the place where trying to develop the land to build condos and were stuck in Zoning reconsideration hell. So they wanted to also market the place as a filming location, so I think we got in there with the "First on your resume" kind of pitch. When we left, a large production company was moving in to shoot parts of some ABC primetime drama, so it did work out for the owners. When we went back latter, we heard that two or three other films had shot there, and we got the place again, for free, as a thank you.

I learned a lot from the producer/director, sometimes all it takes is just asking.
 
Warehouse for me!

Warehouse for me!

Barry_Green said:
Well, a warehouse does not a studio make...

Okay, let me rephrase that -- seems like everyone thinks that a warehouse is a great thing to make a studio out of, and usually it's a pretty lousy thing to make a studio out of. Because a warehouse is almost invariably located in the absolute noisiest part of town (the industrial area) so there'll be airplanes overhead and train tracks nearby, and freeway noise. Now, if you're talking about a warehouse out in the boonies somewhere, that's much more appealing...

What do you want in a studio? Lots of clean power, lots of clear-span space, and lots of soundproofing. And silent air conditioning. None of those are likely to be found in a warehouse.

Warehouses usually have some level of dirty power, a rattly swamp cooler, and all sorts of crossbeams and poles to prop the roof up. And they'll have noisy rattly roll-up doors. A proper studio would have something like the good old "elephant doors", eighteen inches thick of concrete riding on tracks and big enough to let an elephant in. And a loading dock. And clean three-phase power.

Air conditioning depends on the area you're in, I guess, but unless you're in Toronto or Wisconsin or some cold place, you're gonna want air, and you want that air to be quiet. A studio air conditioning system will be built with massive ducts and tons of baffling so that the cold air just gently falls from the ducts, rather than whistling through and rattling and whatnot.

As for soundproofing -- mass is key for blocking low bass frequencies. Most any warehouse will wipe out high frequencies, but the low frequencies (airplane and truck rumbling) will pass right through. You need mass. A foot of concrete will help. And then you need sound baffling, so it doesn't become a great big echo chamber. So a good studio wall would be a foot of concrete, with an acoustic panel or sound dampening material over it, so the mass of the concrete stops most external sound from entering, and the acoustic panels soak up the reflected echo.

Finally, you want some size. 6,000 s.f. is about the minimum reasonable size for a commercials stage, and 18,000 s.f. is a standard size for a film or television stage, with some going up to about 25,000 s.f. And that size needs to be clear-span, with no pillars supporting the roof, it has to be open/accessible space if you want to do it right. And it should be high, 25' isn't that great, 30+ feet is better. And a catwalk up there would be great, a catwalk and a grid.
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Thanks Barry,

I see your points but many of them don't apply in this case. My location is not noisy at all. No freeways, airplanes, or machine noise what so ever (boonies).
Columns are spaced extremely far apart which is perfect for what I need. And based on the shoot taking place in the late fall AC won't be needed. I guess it comes down to being smart. Power is not a concern for us. I have 2 great electricians and access to clean silent running power generators when and if ever needed. Being in construction really cuts down on a lot of headaches that would normally kill the average guys production. Sound proofing to reduce echo will be the biggest task. But based on the set design we can diffuse much of the echo using proven studio design techniques. As for a cat walk I didn't remember seeing 1 that spanned the area that I was looking to build up. But I agree that would be great. :happy: I've thought about most of the points you made before ever venturing into the warehouse idea. I guess what it all comes down to is what it is your shooting and figuring out before hand what you can and can't get away with. And in my case anyway you slice it I will make out better going the warehouse route.
 
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Well, hey -- if the particular areas of concern I brought up aren't something you need to worry about for this shoot, then yes it sounds like an excellent option!
 
Barry_Green said:
Well, hey -- if the particular areas of concern I brought up aren't something you need to worry about for this shoot, then yes it sounds like an excellent option!
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Hey Barry,

Don't get me wrong. Your comments definitely made me feel like I was stepping into the right direction with picking my location. The fact that I made my decision on the site based on some of the same logic you referenced makes me feel even more confident that I'm making the right decision:thumbsup:

Thanks
 
That's the way it should be, so I think you're gonna be just fine. There is no "one case fits all" situation; if what you need can be served by that warehouse and you get it for nearly free, man... that's awesome! Best of luck on your project and we hope to see footage here when you can share it!
 
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