FLM 215 - Location Department

My role on this production was location manager/scout, my job was to find the location for the shoot mainly. I had to also find out, where the nearest hospital, forestation was, as well as figure out the parking for the actors plus the crew. 

As I am only a student, to properly understand the role I could be taking on, it seemed a good move to talk to someone experienced in the same area in the film industry (that as well as it being a learning outcome).

I searched the web for Location Scouts/Managers, and to be honest it didn't seem like there we're many, I thought this could of been because there are more websites that show locations and numbers with could bee easier than paying someone to do it, as well as (landscape wise) there aunt many diverse landscapes in Dubai which don't include sand. After searching the web I found 3 different people in the location department; with that was scouting or managing. I emailed William Lazar, he was a location manager in Dubai for 11 years before he left because he found Dubai limiting.

I Asked him a few questions regarding how her worked in Dubai, I asked him what it meant to be a location manager in Dubai he answered ' If you have the right eye for locations, if you can see a video being shot in a location whilst walking around in it/driving past it, seeing in the the back of an advert/film, then I feel its easy out here, the only problem is when producers/directors came to me and ask where is the best place to shoot in the desert, which my response would be what do you want to shoot; I have a large folder full off pictures of different parts of the desert in Fujairah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi. There are many problems with shooting in the desert, I would advise never to push shooting out there. other wise I think there are a wide range of locations that can tailor to different needs out here' This response and act of sharing knowledge really helped me think about if 'in the future' I was interested in going down that path, the way (further on in the interview) Mr. Lazar described his days 'I would sit in my office and wait for emails from 'mostly young producers who wanted to shoot adverts'. This was slightly annoying because the I liked discovering new places/seeing great landscapes ect, but after talking to a professional at my ideal job, I'm almost put off the idea now.

During my conversation with Mr Lazar I was browsing a website online for locations that people could rent out and film in Dubai, I understand what Mr Lazar meant with the lack of diversity in Dubai, all the locations I looked at were way to modern looking for the location I was trying to find, if you were trying to fit something modern of even futuristic, yes, film in Dubai, anything pre 2000's nope, its almost Impossible. After driving to several possible locations, we asked the rest of our crew if they had any ideas/knew of any places that could be used. We eventually found a couple of decent places that were easy for parking, services, and setting.