By department · Locations
Something leaves the location every night and it cannot be copied.
Exposed negative is the only version of the day that exists. Until it reaches the lab there is no backup, no second card, nothing on a drive somewhere else.
That changes three ordinary parts of your job.
What changes
Three things.
The lab run
Negative has to get to the lab, daily, securely, by a route somebody owns. Distance from the lab is a genuine constraint on which locations are viable and on how late the unit can shoot. Factor it when you are recceing, not when you are wrapping.
Storage on site
Stock and exposed cans need somewhere cool, dry, dark and secure, and a unit base with nowhere suitable is a problem you want to know about in advance. Ask the question on the recce.
More light, or a faster stock
Film generally needs more light than a modern digital body, so the electrical package can be larger and the power requirement higher. On a location with limited supply that is a genie decision and a neighbour conversation, and it is driven by a stock choice made in development.
And one that helps
Weather cover matters more, but the unit is calmer.
A day lost to weather is more expensive to repeat, so cover options are worth more than usual. Against that, a film unit does fewer, longer-prepared takes, which tends to mean less time on a location and a quieter presence in a neighbourhood.
Residents notice the difference. It is worth saying so when you are negotiating.
