Location Scouting for Video and Photography in St. Louis
A successful video or photography production often begins long before the cameras arrive. One of the most important pre-production decisions is selecting the right location—and determining whether that location will actually work once a professional production crew, lighting equipment, sound gear, talent, vehicles, and production schedules are involved.
At St Louis Location Scout, we approach location scouting from the perspective of experienced photographers, videographers and producers. A location cannot simply look good. It also has to function.
For corporate video productions, commercial photography, interviews, advertising campaigns, documentary projects, architectural photography, drone productions and branded content, professional location scouting can eliminate logistical surprises while helping the creative team get more production value from every shooting day.
What Does a Professional Location Scout Do?
Professional location scouting involves considerably more than finding an attractive building, office, street, park or landscape.
A location scout evaluates how effectively a potential site can support the creative, technical and logistical requirements of a production.
That includes considering:
- Visual appearance and camera angles
- Available natural light
- Sun direction and time of day
- Interior lighting conditions
- Electrical power
- Ambient sound and potential noise problems
- Loading and equipment access
- Parking
- Crew staging areas
- Talent holding areas
- Restrooms and support facilities
- Property permissions
- Drone operating considerations
- Nearby construction or traffic
- Security requirements
- Weather alternatives
- Accessibility
- Production scheduling
- Background control
- Space for cameras, lighting and sound equipment
A beautiful location that creates serious production problems may ultimately be more expensive than a visually simpler location that works efficiently.
That is why experienced location scouting should be considered part of production planning rather than simply location searching.
Location Scouting Begins With the Creative Concept
Before evaluating locations, we first consider what the finished photography or video is supposed to communicate.
A corporate interview requires something very different from an industrial video, lifestyle photography campaign or cinematic drone sequence.
For example, an executive interview may require a quiet space with enough depth behind the subject to create an attractive background. A manufacturing video may require safe access to production areas while allowing cameras and lighting equipment to remain clear of operations.
A commercial advertising shoot may place much greater importance on architectural design, color, textures, furniture, landscaping and available sunlight.
Understanding the final objective allows St Louis Location Scout to evaluate locations from both a creative and production standpoint.
Scouting Corporate Offices and Business Locations
Many corporate productions take place within the client’s own facilities.
That can be very effective because the surroundings help communicate the organization’s identity, culture and operations.
However, corporate buildings frequently present production challenges.
Conference rooms may appear ideal but have reflective tables, glass walls, fluorescent lighting and noisy HVAC systems. Executive offices may look attractive but offer very little space for camera placement.
Large windows can create significant differences between interior and exterior exposure.
An experienced scout can identify these conditions before production day and determine what equipment or modifications may be required.
Sometimes simply moving an interview ten feet—or selecting another room entirely—can dramatically improve the final image.
Finding the Right Background for Video Interviews
Interview backgrounds deserve particular attention because the audience may look at them for several minutes.
A strong interview location should support the speaker without competing for attention.
Useful environmental elements might include:
- Architectural details
- Office environments
- Branded signage
- Manufacturing activity
- Bookshelves
- Laboratory equipment
- Medical environments
- Windows with controlled exterior views
- Industrial environments
- Carefully placed practical lighting
- Company products
Background depth is especially valuable.
Whenever possible, we prefer to place interview subjects away from walls. This creates visual separation and allows professional lighting and depth of field to produce a more polished image.
Our scouting process looks for those opportunities before the production crew begins unloading equipment.
Evaluating Sound Is Just as Important as Evaluating the Picture
Photography scouts can concentrate primarily on visual considerations. Video productions must also evaluate sound.
A location that looks excellent can become unusable for interviews because of persistent noise.
Potential problems include:
- HVAC systems
- Elevators
- Refrigerators
- Machinery
- Traffic
- Aircraft
- Construction
- Public address systems
- Nearby conversations
- Server rooms
- Echo and reverberation
- Exterior landscaping equipment
Some sound issues can be controlled. Others cannot.
Recognizing these problems during the scout allows the production team to change rooms, adjust schedules or prepare appropriate audio equipment before the shoot.
Understanding Natural Light
Light changes continuously throughout the day.
A building photographed beautifully at 9:00 a.m. may be heavily backlit at 3:00 p.m.
When scouting exterior locations, we consider the orientation of the building and how sunlight will affect important camera positions.
For interior productions, windows can be equally important. Sometimes natural window light is an asset. In other situations, it must be controlled with professional lighting, diffusion, shades or neutral-density materials.
For larger productions, knowing where the sun will be during specific portions of the shooting schedule can improve both efficiency and image quality.
Exterior Location Scouting in St. Louis
St. Louis provides an unusually broad range of visual environments for commercial productions.
The metropolitan area offers urban architecture, historic neighborhoods, modern corporate campuses, industrial districts, riverfront environments, parks, residential neighborhoods, agricultural areas and contemporary commercial developments.
Within a relatively short distance, a production can move from a dense downtown environment to suburban office campuses, manufacturing facilities or rural landscapes.
That variety provides creative opportunities, but every location introduces different logistical considerations.
Road access, parking, pedestrian traffic, private property boundaries and local restrictions should all be considered during pre-production.
Architectural Photography and Video Location Planning
Architectural productions benefit significantly from advance scouting.
Exterior photography is heavily influenced by the position of the sun, surrounding buildings, landscaping and traffic.
During a scout, we can evaluate:
- Hero camera positions
- Wide establishing views
- Architectural detail opportunities
- Reflections in glass
- Obstructions
- Nearby power lines
- Landscaping
- Vehicle traffic
- Pedestrian traffic
- Drone possibilities
- Sunrise and sunset opportunities
For larger facilities and commercial properties, scouting can also help determine whether ground photography, traditional drone photography or FPV drone footage will provide the strongest visual presentation.
Industrial and Manufacturing Location Scouting
Industrial productions require particularly careful planning.
A manufacturing facility may offer excellent visual material while simultaneously presenting safety and logistical challenges.
Production teams may need to coordinate with plant managers and safety personnel regarding:
- Personal protective equipment
- Restricted areas
- Production schedules
- Machinery operation
- Forklift traffic
- Camera placement
- Electrical requirements
- Employee participation
- Drone operations
- Confidential processes
Understanding these restrictions ahead of time allows a crew to operate efficiently without interfering with the client’s normal operations.
Location Scouting for Healthcare and Medical Productions
Hospitals, clinics and healthcare facilities present another specialized production environment.
Privacy, patient activity, restricted spaces and sound control may influence where and when production can take place.
Scouting allows us to determine which locations can provide an appropriate healthcare environment while maintaining control over backgrounds, lighting and production activity.
This can be particularly important for physician interviews, recruitment videos, medical training content and healthcare marketing photography.
Scouting Locations for Photography
Commercial photographers approach locations slightly differently than video crews.
Photography frequently requires greater flexibility in positioning lights, reflectors, backgrounds and subjects.
Depending upon the assignment, a photographer may need space for:
- Large softboxes
- Reflectors
- Background equipment
- Multiple subjects
- Product arrangements
- Styling stations
- Tethered computer systems
- Client viewing areas
When scouting for commercial photography, we evaluate not only the intended camera position but also the working space surrounding the camera.
Headshots and Environmental Business Portraits
Environmental portraits can add context and personality to executive and corporate photography.
Rather than photographing everyone against the same studio background, executives may be photographed within offices, corporate architecture, manufacturing facilities or other environments relevant to their work.
A scout can identify several potential portrait locations within the same building before production begins.
This is particularly useful when creating a library of images for websites, annual reports, public relations, recruiting campaigns and social media.
Location Scouting for B-Roll
B-roll is one of the most valuable components of business video production.
Interviews explain the story. B-roll helps show it.
During location scouting, we look for opportunities to capture supporting visuals such as:
- Employees working
- Customer interactions
- Products
- Manufacturing
- Office activity
- Building exteriors
- Architectural details
- Technology
- Equipment
- Meetings
- Environmental portraits
- Drone establishing shots
Planning these sequences in advance allows the production crew to capture more material in less time.
Location Scouting and Drone Operations
Drone photography and video introduce another set of considerations.
A good ground-level location does not automatically make a good aerial location.
Professional drone planning should consider airspace, surrounding structures, obstacles, people, vehicle traffic, launch and landing areas, visual line of sight and the specific operational requirements of the project.
Our licensed drone services can be incorporated into the scouting and production process rather than treated as an unrelated service.
This allows ground cameras and aerial cameras to work together creatively.
FPV Drone Location Scouting
Specialized FPV drones create entirely different possibilities for video production.
FPV aircraft can travel through spaces that would be difficult or impossible to capture with traditional cameras.
Depending upon the environment and safety requirements, an FPV sequence might travel:
- Through a building
- Down hallways
- Through manufacturing spaces
- Around equipment
- Between rooms
- Across warehouses
- Through event spaces
Indoor FPV filming is especially useful because it can create a continuous visual tour of a facility.
However, these flights require advance planning.
A scout needs to evaluate potential flight paths, obstacles, people, lighting changes and safe launch and recovery locations.
Thermal Imaging, Orthomosaics and LiDAR
Location scouting can also support more technical forms of aerial imaging.
St Louis Location Scout can incorporate specialized drone services including infrared thermal imaging, orthomosaic mapping and LiDAR applications.
These services may be useful for commercial properties, construction, facilities management, engineering, inspections and documentation.
Thermal imaging can reveal temperature differences that may warrant further investigation.
Orthomosaic imaging can produce highly detailed overhead representations created from numerous overlapping aerial photographs.
LiDAR provides another method of gathering detailed spatial information for specialized mapping and documentation applications.
These services demonstrate how modern image acquisition has expanded well beyond conventional photography and video.
Location Scouting Can Reduce Production Costs
Location scouting represents a relatively small portion of most professional production budgets, yet it can significantly reduce wasted production time.
Consider what happens when a full crew arrives and discovers:
- There is nowhere to park.
- The loading dock is unavailable.
- An interview room is too noisy.
- The intended room has insufficient electrical capacity.
- Construction is occurring next door.
- The desired camera position is inaccessible.
- A building exterior is completely backlit.
- Security will not permit access.
- A drone operation is impractical.
- The production area is smaller than anticipated.
These problems are much easier to solve before production day.
For that reason, professional scouting should be considered a form of production risk management.
Technical Location Scouting
Larger productions sometimes require a second, more technical scout after the initial creative location has been approved.
The director, producer, director of photography, photographer, sound technician or other production specialists may participate.
During a technical scout, the production team can establish:
- Camera positions
- Lens requirements
- Lighting placement
- Electrical requirements
- Audio strategy
- Equipment staging
- Crew access
- Talent movement
- Drone launch positions
- Production sequence
This preparation can substantially improve efficiency once the actual shooting day begins.
Creating a Location Reference Library
Still photographs and short video clips are extremely useful during the scouting process.
Our scouts can document potential locations and provide visual references that allow clients, producers and creative directors to compare options without repeatedly visiting each site.
Reference images might include:
- Wide location views
- Possible camera angles
- Architectural details
- Interview backgrounds
- Available light
- Parking
- Loading areas
- Equipment staging areas
- Exterior surroundings
- Drone perspectives
This information allows production decisions to be made before expensive crew and equipment resources are committed.
Scouting With Post-Production in Mind
Experienced production professionals also think about editing while scouting.
For example, a location may provide natural opportunities for visual transitions between scenes.
A hallway can connect departments. An exterior drone shot can establish a building before moving into an interior interview. Detail photography can provide transitions between larger scenes.
A good location scout is therefore thinking not only about individual images but about how those images may ultimately work together in the finished production.
Repurposing Location Content Across Multiple Media Platforms
Modern marketing campaigns rarely use photography or video for only one purpose.
One production day may generate content for:
- Corporate websites
- Social media
- YouTube
- Recruiting
- Public relations
- Sales presentations
- Advertising
- Internal communications
- Training
- Digital displays
- Trade shows
Location scouting can help identify additional imagery that may not be required for the primary assignment but can significantly expand the client’s media library.
Capturing a few additional photographs, vertical video sequences, environmental portraits or aerial establishing shots can dramatically increase the long-term value of a production.
Experienced St. Louis Production Professionals
St Louis Location Scout brings the perspective of experienced photographers, videographers, producers and production crew members to the location scouting process.
We understand what happens after the scout because we also work behind the camera.
That production experience allows us to recognize potential opportunities and potential problems before the shooting day begins.
As a full-service professional commercial photography and video production company, St Louis Location Scout has the equipment, technical resources and creative crew experience required for successful image acquisition.
Our production capabilities include full-service studio and location photography and video, editing, post-production and licensed professional drone services.
We can customize productions for a wide range of media requirements and help clients repurpose photography and video assets to gain additional value and marketing traction across multiple platforms.
We are experienced with the many file formats, media workflows and professional software applications required by modern production environments, and we incorporate the latest Artificial Intelligence technologies where they can improve media production, organization, editing and creative workflows.
Our private studio provides professional lighting and visual environments suitable for interviews, executive communications, product photography, headshots and smaller productions. The studio also provides enough working room to incorporate furniture, products, props and other elements needed to build an appropriate set.
We support productions from beginning to end—from location scouting and pre-production planning to creating a private interview environment, supplying professional camera and sound operators, providing lighting and production equipment, capturing b-roll and completing post-production.
Our specialized aerial capabilities include licensed drone cinematography, indoor FPV drone operations, infrared thermal imaging, orthomosaic mapping and LiDAR-related services.
St Louis Location Scout — Production Experience Since 1982
As part of a full-service photography and video production corporation operating since 1982, St Louis Location Scout has worked with businesses, corporations, marketing departments, advertising firms, creative agencies and organizations throughout the St. Louis region.
That experience matters when scouting locations.
We understand that the best location is not simply the one that looks impressive in a photograph.
It is the location that supports the story, works for the camera, accommodates the crew, controls unnecessary production complications and ultimately helps create stronger images.
Whether your next production requires a corporate office, industrial environment, architectural location, medical facility, outdoor setting, interview space, drone location or something completely unique, St Louis Location Scout can help identify, evaluate and prepare the right environment for a successful photography or video production.
Better location planning leads to better production—and better production leads to stronger visual communication.
Mike Haller
4501 Mattis Road
St. Louis, MO 63128
stlouislocations@gmail.com
Cell 314-913-5626