---
title: 'Location Scouting Tips from Rocket Jump the Show'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=2JaOu3zrlxc'
video_id: '2JaOu3zrlxc'
date: 2026-09-09
duration_sec: 385
channel: 'RocketJump Film School'
---

# Location Scouting Tips from Rocket Jump the Show

> Source: [Location Scouting Tips from Rocket Jump the Show](https://youtube.com/watch?v=2JaOu3zrlxc)

## Summary

In this video, Ben Waller and John Salmon, creators of Rocket Jump the Show, share their professional insights on conducting effective location scouts for film production. They emphasize the importance of thorough preparation, clear communication with departments, and considering factors like time of day and sound to avoid costly mistakes on set.

### Key Points

- **Start with a Location Scout** [00:16] — Before spending money on cameras, lighting, and crew, go to the location and assess it. This saves resources and helps plan the shoot.
- **Creative Team Should Scout with Stand-ins** [00:28] — The creative team should take a DSLR and snap photos with stand-ins to visualize shots. This helps the art department know exactly what to decorate, focusing effort on what will appear in frame.
- **Only Decorate What's in Frame** [01:05] — Miscommunication can lead to decorating parts of a room that never appear on camera, wasting time and money. Clear communication ensures effort is spent on visible areas.
- **Use Sub-Locations Creatively** [01:29] — Within a larger stage, different areas can serve multiple purposes. For example, a hallway was reversed to double as a lab escape, and different angles of the same room provided different settings.
- **Layer-Cage the Day** [02:09] — While shooting one set, have crew work ahead on the next set. This keeps the production moving without waiting for lighting or setup, crucial for complex shoots.
- **Take Time to Find the Shot** [02:48] — When scouting, if you're not seeing the shot, wander off alone to think. With many people around, it's hard to have creative breakthroughs.
- **Come with a Shot List** [03:18] — Prepare a shot list before the scout. This gives you a baseline to compare against, allowing you to adapt creatively while knowing what you need.
- **Consider What's Behind the Subject** [03:44] — In vlogs like Freddy's Vlog, the shot list focuses on what's behind the subject, as the subject's face covers part of the frame. Scout locations with this in mind.
- **Time of Day Matters** [04:10] — Scout at the same time you plan to shoot to understand lighting conditions. This helps plan for magic hour and informs the crew's schedule.
- **Plan to Avoid Nightmares** [04:39] — Changing plans on the day causes chaos for the production team. Stick to a pre-planned order to keep everyone on track.
- **Scout Early to Avoid Happy Accidents** [04:54] — Scouting earlier reduces reliance on luck. For example, an open fence on location provided a dynamic shot, but planning ahead would have secured it intentionally.
- **Checklist: Don't Forget Sound** [05:21] — Sound is often overlooked. Check for nearby freeways or flight paths that could interfere with dialogue, especially for intimate scenes.

### Conclusion

Effective location scouting is a critical pre-production step that saves time, money, and stress. By preparing thoroughly, communicating clearly, and considering all elements including sound and time of day, filmmakers can set themselves up for success.

## Transcript

My name is Ben Waller. I'm creator and executive producer of Rocket Jump the Show and the director of Freddy's Vlog. And my name is John Salmon, and I was a cinematographer on six of the eight episodes of Rocket Jump the Show, including Freddy's Vlog.
So a few things to look out for when you start on a location scout. You generally want to go out and take a look before you start spending money on cameras and lighting and hiring a big crew. In a perfect world, you have enough time. the way a location scout should go
is, like, you get there, you talk to basically just who's shooting there, but then the creative should peel off and talk about how they're going to shoot it with stand-ins or having AD stand-in, whatever it is, take a DSLR and snap a few pics, because our department loves that.
Like, you literally take it with stand-ins, you can say, I'm looking right here, and then they know I can put a sign there, I can build this out, like, this is what my background is. If you really want a strong visual thing, your scout, the more specific you can be on a scout, the less just, like, yeah, that'll work,
the better, honestly. Yeah, all that matters is what, in the frame. So if our department thinks that they have to decorate this entire room, but you account for what's actually going to show up in the art and costume and production design, if all the people know
exactly what they have to decorate, they can put more effort and time and money into the parts that are going to show up. If you know you're not going to look somewhere, and our department just because of the miscommunication dresses an entire part of the room that you're never
going to look at, well that's just wasting your hard-working crew. There were a lot of sub-locations within a larger stage that we used out in Burbank. the main building of these stages. And there's the judges chambers here, which is the bedroom for Freddie's log.
And then the judges hallway for the courtroom, which is Freddie ascension And then there prison The prison hallway we reversed and doubled as a lab escape And even similar pieces within the same room
just different angles, which is something we discovered on our scalp, was that we needed a shot of someone framed by a window. And the left side of the room had that, and then the right side of the room had exactly what we needed
for the Mad Scientist Laboratory. Right. And so we found, even on the scalp, we could use the same room for multiple purposes. We move into this lab set, and the key here, and this is why this is such a brain game, is while I'm shooting the prison set, I'm getting my people to work ahead on the lab set
and then work ahead on the office kind of set. You're sort of layer-caging it throughout the day so that you're never waiting for something to be lit or get ready. That's been a great example, now that I think about it, of a day where a scout was so important to the AD
and having an amazing AD was so important. And Andrew Spieler, I have to give him credit. Like, I don't know how anyone could handle just what a spaghetti knock that day was. You know, like, the crew is moving over here, and then this crew is prepping that.
And, like, all these things are sort of always in motion. Moving on, guys. Moving on, guys. Moving over to floating beds. That's the thing that increases when you have more people. You need to give more answers. And if you don't have those, it just becomes frustrating.
Yeah. On another shoot on Truck Flipper, when we went to go scout a graveyard, there was a time when I was just like, I'm not seeing this visually yet. and I wandered off to go find a shot. Because it was just like, when there's like 12 people standing there staring at you,
it can be really hard to be like, Eureka! I got it! You know, you kind of need to kind of go into your own head and find something really special. And eventually we did I was super happy with it I a fan personally of like you should have shot listed before you go to your location scout and have an idea of how you want to capture it because then you kind of come in with your gun loaded and you can look at it and be like no wait actually
like, that beautiful tree is really awesome. What if we framed it this way instead? But you've already kind of digested the scene once and you know what you're looking for and that's the worst kind of location scout is you show up and you're just like, well, this is good. I think this will work.
Yeah. But, like, what you want to be doing is being like, no, like, the left side of the frame is that tree and the right side of the frame is like that stone because we know that we have four people standing here. You know what I mean? Yeah, we had an interesting time on Freddy's vlog because our shot list is essentially
a list of things that are behind Freddy. Right. And so we had to look at each location. Okay, not, you know, what is the best shot here? What is the best thing that will cover the other 40% of frame that Freddy isn't covering
with his face? Right. I remember for me, time of day was a huge thing. I think it was like 4 o'clock when we were looking at all those different locations in the park or something like that. And so I can see the sun is, like, about to hit the hill over there at, like, 430. And that means we're going to have a really long magic hour.
And I can warn Andrew, like, this is when we want to plan to do this shot and this is when we should be setting up. And I think they're also, like, outside of light alone, it's really important in terms of orienting the crew as to what you're going to be doing. Because you just, on a larger production like this where you have a support team, you can't
just show up and be like, actually, let's do it that way. Like, literally that gives the whole production team nightmares. Because they have to reset their whole thing and that's how you lose a lot of time. If you come in and you say we're going in this exact order, they're going to be fine. They'll plan for it.
When you plan out really effectively by going to the location ahead of time at the time you going to be shooting you set yourself up for a little bit more success because you know exactly the boundaries in which you can play rather than sort of finding those boundaries on the day Yeah
I would have done location scouts way earlier. There was a lot of happy accidents specifically on Freddy's log. There's a location where he's running into the Oregon labs to finally destroy them, and there just happened to be a fence on the location that was open, so you get sort of the dynamic
action of them crossing a threshold to go into the labs to destroy everyone. and it's just like, we lucked out a lot. And I think you can avoid having to luck out by planning ahead earlier.
Often on location scouts, I wish that we literally followed a checklist of like, these are the things that we should make sure we discuss. One of the most overlooked ones, honestly, because sound doesn't come on every scout, is sound. Yeah. Like, are we going to be next to a big freeway in the middle of the day?
You know, are we in a, literally, this is a serious thing that like big producers look at, are we in a flight path? Like, are we going to be dealing with, like, eight planes in a row every day? And is this the kind of scene that can survive that, or is it an intimate romantic scene where people are whispering, you know?
So, yeah, we're talking about Freddy's vlog, episode four of Rocket Jump the Show, on Hulu right now. You can go watch it. Yeah, check it out. If you have any questions at all, please come and ask us in the forums,
and we'll go about answering as quickly as we can. You know, we want to help you guys make good films, too. Thank you.