In the film and television industry, a location scout is commonly referred to as a recce (reconnaissance). A recce is the evaluation and selection of spaces prior to a video production.
The recce as part of pre-production is a critical risk management tool and a foundational component of your brand’s narrative strategy.
For our clients, whether we are producing a documentary, a corporate brand film, or promotional content, the location dictates the parameters of what is physically and creatively possible.
This guide outlines our recce process, the rationale behind it, and exactly what we require from your team. We have designed our approach to be quick and efficient, ensuring we capture the necessary data without disrupting your daily operations.
We conduct a recce to achieve two primary objectives: operational speed and narrative coherence.
Efficiency & Speed
Time is the most expensive variable on a film set. Every minute spent troubleshooting power access, moving heavy furniture, or waiting for a noisy delivery truck to pass is a minute stolen from capturing high-quality footage.
A thorough recce removes friction. By mapping the environment beforehand, our crew arrives on shoot day with a precise blueprint. We know exactly where the cameras will be placed, which camera lenses to use, where the lights will stand, and which logistical hurdles to bypass. This preparation allows us to execute the production schedule with precision, minimising the footprint and disruption to your workplace.
Story
In video production, the environment is a character. The physical space surrounding your subjects silently communicates your brand’s values, culture, and authority to the viewer. This is known as environmental psychology.
Authority and Transparency: A subject filmed in a bright, open-plan office conveys transparency and modernity.
Focus and Expertise: A subject filmed against a darker, textured background with a shallow depth of field (a blurred background) communicates intense focus and premium expertise.
Authenticity: Capturing subjects in their genuine working environments, complete with the raw textures of a factory floor or a busy clinic, anchors the narrative in reality, shielding the brand from accusations of ‘impact washing’ or staging.
Scouting allows us to identify the specific angles within your premises that will broadcast the correct psychological signals to your target audience.
We recognise that our clients are exceptionally busy. Traditional location scouting can be invasive, involving multiple crew members walking through your offices for hours. To counter this, we employ a ‘Lean Scout’ protocol.
This protocol is divided into two distinct tiers: Virtual and In-Person. In many instances, particularly when filming on your own premises, a Virtual Scout provides the vast majority of the required data, demanding less than ten minutes of your time.
The Virtual Recce allows you to securely share the visual and spatial data of your premises using nothing more than a smartphone.
How to conduct a Virtual Walkthrough:
Select the Right Time: Walk through the space at the approximate time of day we intend to film. This allows us to assess the natural sunlight entering the room.
Use Video, Not Just Stills: Begin at the entrance of the room. Press record on your smartphone and slowly pan across the entire space in a smooth, 360-degree motion.
Demonstrate Depth: Walk slowly from one end of the room to the other while recording. This helps us understand the physical dimensions and spatial depth, which is critical for camera placement and lens selection.
Note: You do not need to narrate the video or worry about production value. We simply need a raw, honest look at the physical geometry of the space.
For complex shoots, multi-camera setups, or environments with high foot traffic, our team will conduct an in-person technical recce. We require only a few minutes of a site manager’s time for access; thereafter, we work autonomously.
During the in-person recce, we evaluate:
Light and Composition: We assess the natural light in the room and identify the most flattering, brand-aligned camera angles. We check window placements to ensure subjects will not be blinded or heavily backlit mid-interview.
Spaces: We determine exactly where the camera, the subject, and our lighting fixtures will be placed. This allows us to utilise the physical depth of the room and ensure the background looks deliberate and authentic, rather than accidental.
Acoustics: We listen for the low-level noise that smartphone videos often filter out automatically, such as a humming refrigerator or the specific echo from a glass-walled office. This tells us exactly which microphones to pack to guarantee clean audio without needing heavy soundproofing gear.
To provide clarity on how we assess a space, the following matrix outlines the variables we analyse during a recce, whether virtual or physical.
| Evaluation Metric | The Ideal Scenario | Risks | Solutions |
| Acoustic Profile | Carpeted floors, soft furnishings, isolated from road noise. | Heavy HVAC hum, active construction, single-pane glass facing traffic. | Turning off HVAC during takes; use of acoustic blankets; use of directional microphones. |
| Spatial Depth | 3-4 metres of space behind the subject. | Subject forced to sit directly against a wall. | Change of location or reposition subject to shoot diagonally across the room to manufacture visual depth. |
| Lighting Control | Rooms with blackout blinds or controllable LED fixtures. | Mixed colour temperatures (e.g., warm office bulbs mixing with cool daylight). | Turn off all office lighting and illuminate the scene entirely with our cinema fixtures. |
| Logistics & Access | Ground floor access, dedicated parking for crew vehicles. | 4th-floor access with no elevator; strict parking restrictions. | Allocate an extra 60 minutes for ‘load-in’ and ‘load-out’; We’ll utilise lightweight equipment kits. |
When filming corporate videos or brand documentaries in active workplaces, certain friction points frequently arise. Being aware of these allows you to prepare your team and environment effectively.
“Tidy Room” Fallacy: It is absolutely necessary to tidy the location before we arrive, please remove discarded coffee cups, overflowing bins, and loose, irrelevant paperwork. However, avoid making the space look perfect and sterile. If you sanitise the room entirely, removing all books, industry-specific tools, and natural operational elements, the video will look clinical and lifeless. We prefer ‘curated authenticity’. Leave the elements that give the room its character.
Fixed Branding: A large pop-up banner or a glaring digital screen positioned directly behind an interview subject is highly distracting. Modern corporate filmmaking relies on subtlety. We prefer to capture your branding through natural integration (e.g., a logo on a mug, uniform, or frosted glass) rather than a forced, corporate backdrop.
Interruptions: If we are filming in a glass-walled office or a busy corridor, colleagues will naturally stop, stare, or wave. This ruins takes and wastes time. We strongly recommend sending an internal email informing staff of the filming schedule and requesting that they ignore the cameras and carry on with their day.
To ensure we can execute the plan developed during the location scout, we ask our clients to verify the following points 24 hours before our arrival:
Permissions: Confirm that any necessary permissions from building management, landlords, or local councils have been secured.
Temperature Control: Often we request that air conditioning be turned off for audio purposes, ensure the room is adequately cooled/heated prior to our arrival.
Data Security: Remove highly sensitive data (whiteboards with financial projections, passwords on sticky notes, proprietary blueprints) from the background of the filming area.
Key Contacts: Ensure the crew has the direct phone number of a site manager, facilities contact, or security guard who can assist with alarms, circuit breakers, or locked doors.
Pre-production is where the success of a video is guaranteed. A thorough recce does more than guarantee operational speed and narrative story.
It allows us to curate the precise visual look required for your brand and verify if proposed shots are physically realistic within your architecture. Most importantly, it allows us to problem-solve logistical hurdles before the clock starts and explicitly plan which lenses, lighting fixtures, and audio gear we need to pack. By eliminating guesswork, we step onto your premises not as a disruption, but as a streamlined unit ready to capture the highest quality representation of your work.
Whether you have a specific office in mind or need us to evaluate several operational environments for your brand, our team manages the logistical heavy lifting. We ensure that when the cameras roll, your team is focused entirely on the message, not the mechanics of the shoot.
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