The Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) is the largest organization of Location Managers and Location Scouts in the motion picture, television, commercial and print production industries. Their membership plays a vital role in the creativ
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1359265
46 • LMGI COMPASS | Spring 2021 It was decided to spend the money for 3D scanning* of the areas I had identified. Because we were looking at this so far ahead of time and MGM's strict legal liability rules for contracting service providers, especially drone operators, it was a clunky process. Luckily, we found local contractors who normally specialize in civil engineering type work and managed to squeak onto the locations as part of the scouting process which didn't require production insurance. My first day was spent supervising the contractors moving a set of sticks with a LiDAR head around the two potential gravel pit locations within the mountains. The greater the detail needed determines the amount of setup points within the area. The more points of capture, the slower the scan at each point. LiDAR worked well for the smaller sites with more "noise" such as rocks, trees, and hills. Smaller Potential Build Site: Terrestrial LiDAR The next day, I met the drone company at the larger location option which was much more open and bare. Photogrammetry by drone for this site was advised vs. LiDAR. They flew over the private land in a pre-programmed grid pattern which took several hours, batteries, and numerous memory cards. I sat with the contractors as the robot did all the work flying the grid to snap HD photos at programmed, high-frequency intervals. It would even fly itself home for battery and memory card replacement. This took several hours longer than I had expected. Pack a lunch! Once they received the large data files from the sites that were LiDAR scanned, and the thousands of photos shot by the drone, the art department could anchor their set concept drawings to each of the physical location options to show not only the dimensions of the area but topographic detail down to every undulation, rock, existing vegetation, and body of water. When a set-build site is the purpose of getting photogrammetry and/or LiDAR work done, it is helpful to know how to send a contractor what area you want scanned by sourcing a .KML file*. This shows the precise size of the general area to be scanned. To get a .KML, you will need to use Google Earth. There's YouTube videos on how to do that. It's very quick and easy and it will help speed up the quoting process substantially. After construction started building the huge industrial set, there were changes to the personnel above the line. The locations I had scouted so hard for all went away—as did the movie—to Europe! Dozens of telephone poles had to be removed and the site reclaimed. What a crazy industry we work in! The Direwolves** Are in Alberta! If you've never shot with wolves before, it's not as much fun as it sounds! Several years ago, while working on a dog food commercial with wolves, I asked the animal trainer to reposition his trailer so the crew had room to get by on a tight mountain ridge. He was so furious, he dented the door of my rental truck Largest proposed build site, photogrammetry via drone, Stoney Nakoda First Nation, Canada