Location Recces: Purpose

A location recce is a visit to a place before filming to check and assess it. You go there in person, look around and decide whether it will work. A producer may visit several possible locations.

What a recce is for

The main purpose is to:

• Check access – can the crew, cast and equipment get in?
• See what is there – what the place really looks and sounds like, not how it seemed on paper.
• Identify the best positions – where to put the camera, lights and sound kit, and which angles will work.
• Assess environmental considerations – things around the location that could affect filming.

For example, a college team planning a short drama in an empty shop might recce three units. Two are too dark inside, but one has big windows, a wide back door for camera cases, and a side yard for sound kit away from the street.

Why it saves money

Recces help avoid expensive problems. Filming can cost a lot each day once you pay for crew, performers, travel and equipment, so a wasted shoot day is costly. Finding a problem on a recce costs nothing; finding it after the crew has arrived can mean losing a day.

A recce can also show that a location will not work at the time of filming. Seasonal changes, weather or new obstructions can get in the way. A beach that was empty at a spring recce could be packed with holidaymakers in August, and the nearby car park might be full every Saturday because of a weekly market. Roadworks or a new fence can block a view that was clear a few months earlier.

Small scale or large scale

Recces can be small scale, such as one student checking their garage before filming a bike-repair tutorial, or large scale, such as a team spending a day at a country park, testing the camera in different light and timing the walk from the car park to the lake.

A recce is not the risk assessment itself; it is the visit where the producer gathers information.