Film Locations Glossary
Footprint
What is a footprint?
Also called location footprint.
A footprint is the total physical area a production occupies at a location, counting the set, the equipment, the trucks, base camp, and parking.
Permits, agreements, and neighbor relations are all negotiated against it, and it is almost always larger than a director's description of the scene suggests. Shrinking the footprint is often what makes a difficult location approvable.
Example
The director describes two actors on a doorstep. The footprint is the doorstep plus a camera and lighting package, twelve unit vehicles, a base camp two streets away, and 60 crew cars. The permit is assessed on the second version.
Figures are illustrative, chosen to show the mechanics rather than to quote market rates.
Where you'll see it
Represented honestly on the site plan, and the number that neighbor and authority negotiations turn on.
Common mistake
Describing the scene to an authority instead of the operation. Permits are assessed on trucks, base camp, and parking, and a footprint that understates them gets contradicted on the day.
Related questions
- What counts in a production's footprint?
- The set, equipment, unit vehicles, base camp, holding, and crew parking. Everything the production occupies, not just what the camera sees.
- How do you make a difficult location approvable?
- Shrink the footprint: stage vehicles offsite, move base camp, reduce the truck line, and shuttle crew in rather than parking them locally.