If you’re not familiar with the concept of “scouting” for locations, what that generally entails on feature films is the Locations Manager searches out places to shoot the movie. Even if the character in a movie is driving one mile to go to work, the house he is leaving could be in New Orleans in real life and the office could be in Vancouver.
The locations manager looks for all of the best places for the scenes to be shot in. The Location Manager’s decision is based on a number of factors including budget of production, price of location, distance from other locations, how the location works with the scenes that need to be shot, aesthetic preference, ambient noise in the area and on a number of other details that I choose not to get into here.
It might just be you scouting the location, but I think it can be a good idea to bring, at bare minimum, the director.
More crew that would be ideal to attend the scout: the Cinematographer (Director or Photography or “DP), sound department, script supervisor and lighting department.
Sometimes I check out a location first, and then schedule the pre-production crew meeting at the location so that that also allows the departments to see what they have to work with. Sometimes we even go through the director’s shots at the pre-production meeting. This won’t take that long for a short film and will give everyone the chance to foresee any problems that they might run into shooting in that space.
While we’re on the subject of space, remember that your going to need to fit at least 3 people in the space in addition to the actors (DP, Director, Boom) and a ton of equipment so more spacious the interiors are better for getting the exact shots the director wants, and everyone is just happier and able to focus on their job more when they have more room to move around, instead of worrying who they are going to step on if they take a step back.
