The process of location scouting generally involves a location department that will communicate with the production department to find the right place for filming particular required scenes.
Location scouting is done through photography, research and visiting the chosen areas to ensure they are ideal for the film. The department then creates a short list of all the possible locations and allows other members of the film crew to decide on the best place place.
A little more about location scouting can be found here...
http://locationmanagers.org/lmga/2011/11/who-we-are-and-what-we-do-a-4-minute-video-about-location-managing/
When we were first exploring the possibilities of what we could do for a two minute opening, the idea which we had in mind already came with it's location of the Underground. Initially, we thought of this location because of it's visual impact on screen and from that we drafted what would eventually become our full narrative. We saw a girl sat in the corner of the station, dishevelled from running or being pursued. From that first idea we looked into shooting on the Underground and applied for the permit that gave us the permission to do so. It has been a long process to get the required permissions but hopefully one that will be worth the effort when it comes to the mise en scene of our film.
In the application for the permit, we summed up why we wanted to use the London Underground as our setting...
"Within this opening, we hope to capture to urban environment of the bustling London city and we believe that the London Underground is perfect for presenting this theme. The tube will appear in an audio-visual way on camera, appearing as our main setting for the opening of our narrative. The passing trains should add a sense of depth and urgency to the filming as well as providing atmospheric lighting. All of this is essential to our opening to present as much meaning as possible through visuals, given the fact that our main character does not speak. Our production group believed Paddington to be a good station to choose as it is a mainstream station, meaning crowds will be abundant and it is also easy to commute to being an central location. Further to this, the circle line platforms offer as a good mix of natural and darkened light, reflecting many aspects of our films plot and main characters struggles. The footage we can acquire from this shoot will depict our characters actions as her main thought process is shown through voice over. Therefore, the shots will match the monologue that is spoken by our character The setting of the underground also works well with emphasizing how lost this character is compared to the moving world surrounding her. The great thing about filming in a station such as Paddington is the feeling that everyone seems to have a destination, contrasting to our lost protagonist, Ariadne, who is trying to discover hers."
After research, we considered three possible platforms to use on our shoot: Angel, Baker Street and Paddington. From previous experience we all decided that these were the underground stations that evoked the appropriate mood we needed for our footage due to the versatility of the lighting, crowds and layout of the stations. Initially, we thought that Baker Street would be most ideal due to the low lighting that brought to mind a sense of isolation and also had more of a cinematic feel, but after more consideration we were reminded that Ariadne is meant to be presented as a very quiet character, shown through her contrast the the London crowds. We thought that of all three stations Paddington would be the most crowd-filled there is, not to mention well-known, therefore the viewer would identify the location more so than the others. We ruled out Angel because although it had the right atmosphere, it lacked the opposing platforms needed for a crucial set of over the shoulder shots between our main characters. Our final decision was to film on platforms one and two of the London Underground at Paddington, as they retained some of the architectural features of Baker Street with opposing platforms and also should provide us with more crowds and cinematic presence..
Angel:
Baker street:
London Paddington:
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