Discover Outdoor Locations Beneath Your Feet

The High Cost of On-Location Filming

When people think of “filming a movie,” they usually imagine the entire cast and crew traveling to a location.

But this comes with significant costs.

If it rains, the shoot is canceled—and the time and scheduling of everyone involved is wasted.

Solo Background Shooting for Composited Scenes

In films that rely on compositing, the background footage can be shot by the director alone.

Even if it rains, only one person’s time is lost.

Using Ground-Level Landscapes as Backgrounds

Composited scenes don’t require the background to be “real.”

For example, I often use miniature sets of ancient ruins as backgrounds and composite actors into them—creating scenes that depict ruins that don’t actually exist.

Of course, building miniature sets is a big task. But you don’t always need to go that far.

Here’s my recommendation: observe the ground outdoors.

Scale Doesn’t Matter in Compositing

When compositing people with backgrounds, scale doesn’t have to match.

Let’s say you find a fist-sized rock.

If you place your camera low to the ground and film the rock, then composite a person in front of it, the rock will appear as a massive boulder.

Even a 30cm slope can look like a towering cliff if shot from the right angle.

Tree roots in parks often twist above the ground in interesting shapes.

Normally, they’re just “roots of a park tree.” But if you film them from ground level, they can look like the base of a giant tree—perfect for a fantasy setting.

Composite a person into the shot, and you get a surreal, otherworldly image.

With a compositing mindset, even your local park can become a treasure trove of cinematic locations.

That’s the beauty of miniature-based filmmaking.

What to Avoid When Shooting Backgrounds

When filming natural landscapes as miniature sets, avoid anything that reveals scale—especially leaves and grass.

For instance, if you film a rock to look like a boulder but there’s a leaf next to it, viewers will use the leaf as a size reference and assume the person is tiny.

So make sure:

• No fallen leaves are visible
• No grass is growing in the frame

Winter Is Ideal for Background Shooting

In seasons when grass is abundant, it’s hard to hide scale indicators.

But in winter, grass is sparse, and you can simply clear away fallen leaves to control the scene.

That’s why winter is perfect for capturing natural miniature backgrounds.

Build a Library of Background Footage

In composited filmmaking, it’s crucial to stockpile usable backgrounds in advance.

If you want to shoot a winter scene in summer, you’ll have to wait.

But if you filmed winter landscapes during winter, you can composite actors later and create the scene anytime.

The same goes for summer scenes filmed in winter.

By building the habit of collecting background footage, you’ll be able to produce more films with less effort.