Be the first to comment!80 participants on film scout & location management course
 Email item
|  Print item
|
|
The Minister of Finance, the Economy and Investment, Tonio Fenech addressing participants today who have completed a Scout and Location Management Course organised by the Malta Film Commission said that, “the film industry in Malta and Gozo has experienced substantial growth over the past four years, with over 65 productions shot in Malta and Gozo.”
He continued, “Government is now concentrating its efforts on enhancing this industry’s growth by investing in local human resources, through training courses which improve the quality of the film servicing industry on our shores. This will make Malta and Gozo an even better quality proposition to international film makers while enhancing the local film industry, creating in the process more job opportunities.”
The Minister also highlighted the important role that is played by location managers, who have the responsibility of ‘selling’ the beauty of our islands and their adaptability to different possible film themes or scenes.
Tonio Fenech followed a number of photography presentations made by these participants, which were commented upon this course’s co-trainers Christian McWilliams and Joseph Formosa Randon. Christian McWilliams was responsible for location management on films including Entrapment, Spygame, Prince of Persia, the merchant of Shanghai, A Team, Mission impossible 4 and World War Zee, directed by Brad Pitt in Malta. Having mostly worked on feature films and foreign TV series, Joseph Formosa Randon has over the last fourteen years worked on a large number of projects, locally, with directors such as Stephen Spielberg, Ron Howard and Guy Ritchie.
The scope of this course, attended by 80 participants, was to train participants in finding photograph and securing locations based on a script and a brief given by film producers. Scouts negotiate location fees, organize local permits and liaise with local authorities and police to organize film shoots.
Participants were taught the details of location scouts responsibilities and were given an overview of the work of a location manager. These include finding locations; photography skills required to present photos to a Hollywood director closing a deal with a location owner or a building owner and presenting options to a production team.
