image and mood feeling, then I can tell them the season they're
after, and how to get the crew in. For instance, where the
runway is for the plane and where they can stay, which might
be on boats or ships," says Roberts. "Sometimes they'll be
factoring in things like chauffeurs, stopping traffic and police
fees to their budget, as if they're filming in London. So I have to
change their mindset to think about things like getting a ship
in and the crew onboard efficiently because it'll be your unit
base."
Filming on the glaciers can also vary depending on the place.
"In Iceland, for example, with the glaciers close to the coastline,
it's a steeper track up the mountains to the edge of the glacier,
which can be tricky in wintertime. So we choose inland glaciers
for that season," says Thor Kjartansson/LMGI, a SLM with
leading Scandinavia-based outfit Truenorth, that supported
the Mission: Impossible shoots in Norway. "Some glaciers are
flatter than others, or have more mountain rain and views of
the ocean or lagoons. Then there's varying elements like ice
caves, glacier tongues and frozen glacier lagoons.
"For some of the projects we've worked on [including The
Midnight Sky with George Clooney], we've had to split the
glaciers into sections, meaning this part is accessible for main
unit, this is for second unit and this is for a small VFX unit.
"On The Tomorrow War film, we also had to transport equipment
to and from set in the dark (early morning and at night) because
of the limited light in October/November during the day."
Palmer insists the ideal is for scouting to take place a year
before the shoot so the location should look similar, but few
productions have that luxury of time.
Go local
Location managers also advise productions to rely on locals.
"They know where to shoot, what's needed and potential
dangers," says Cassata.
Elli Cassata/LMGI
