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
But would I have been approved for the extra time & budget to go the extra mile for Reality Capture* efforts for that budget level at that early stage? Probably not. Will I go out and invest time and money into specific equipment to 3D scan areas? Not yet. There are vendors who've already made this their business either specifically for film or not. Yes, getting the quotes, contracts and NDAs all done is a pain especially in early pre-pro when there's no POs yet, but we've got enough to do already and everyone wants options yesterday. I don't think there's enough patience to wait for reality capture assets at that stage unless we're at blockbuster budget levels. I think my addition of the 360-Degree Camera* to my kit this year is a logical and affordable step forward. Creating INT & EXT virtual walkthroughs like Google Streetview combined with drone and terrestrial stills and video will satisfy early scouting requirements. I was thinking back last night about how "check the gate" actually required a physical task and how I used to have to stamp "call pushed," write in "1/2 hour," and hand-deliver paper copies of the call sheet to the actors at their hotel rooms every night when I started in the AD department. Unless you constantly work on sci-fi or big action films, the latest & greatest tech is going to keep taking leaps without you. I spoke to a friend who had some large projects restricted from coming to Alberta to film our amazingly picturesque highways due to COVID recently. So, he drove the roads with a 360-degree camera on the roof of a vehicle. Those massive digital files will be used in some of the biggest film & commercial projects in 2021. In some ways, for the sake of nostalgia, I hope that those shots don't work and it's decided that using a camera car is best after all. But, because I think film technology is inevitably advancing (and cool), I hope I get a call to drive around with a camera on my roof soon! So until global economic shutdowns and mass quarantines start to become a cyclical thing and Epic Games, ILM and all the other studios start to build volume stages in every city, let's keep calm and scout on! www.filmlocationscout.ca *VFX Tech Terms 360-Degree Camera uses 'flat' sensors, but back-to- back fisheye lenses, each capturing a 180-degree angle of view. The camera merges these two hemispherical images to produce a 360-degree spherical view of everything around you. Small, lightweight and affordable, they create video and stills used as virtual reality content in suitable browsers or apps, but can also be edited into regular 'flat' videos where you can point the camera where you like or follow any subject—AFTER you've captured the video. Asset is a 3D model created by digitally capturing the geometry, surface texture and color of a real physical object through laser scanning or photogrammetry that can then be manipulated in a virtual environment. "Location managers have a unique opportunity to revolutionize the work they do, and create new opportunities for themselves, like building their own resource of digital location assets generated from 3D scanning LiDAR data that they have embraced." –Brent Walmsley, LiDAR contractor Mike Johansen on Lake Louise, Alberta Creating virtual scouts for Production