Hey Danny,
A location shoot in a problematic location is a great illustration of how technology can provide a work-around. Here's a
high-end example: When making
The DaVinci Code a decade ago, Ron Howard was deprived of permission to shoot inside
Eglise Saint-Sulpice, a church in Paris built over the ruins of an ancient temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis (meow!) - so it was
digitally synthesized as a virtual set!
Obviously, something like that can only be done for a top-tier feature for now, but it is hardly impossible to do something vastly cheaper - and almost as magical - at the
entry level.
Chroma key compositing, often called
green-screening, is the technology used when your TV weatherperson stands in front of an electronic map.
Maybe they should stop giving hurricanes sexy female names, ya think?
Long-time frequent
New York Times technology reviewer David Pogue details how he achieved success with it a couple years ago using a professional kit costing a mere $250,
here. And he reports that the actual digital editing was the work of his 12-year-old daughter.
So when you want to do something "naughty" at a location where it won't be allowed, you first shoot all the non-naughty footage (e.g. walking around, looking for a place to sit down), and then, back in the studio, you shoot the naughty stuff using footage (or a high-def still) from the location via the green screen trick.
To make things easier, you might use a few props you carry to the location and back, like a chair. By cutting away from the static shot on location to a short shot looking elsewhere, you can then cut back to the static shot resurrected in the studio, without worrying about exactly duplicating how you sit in the chair or whatever. And when I write
static, I refer to camera non-motion; it should not be harder to use a still-camera location shot with motion in it than one consisting of still-life alone when you green screen. (Aside: Today, feature films use expensive programmed robotic cameras to enable camera motion when doing green-screen.)
Please observe that this technique also allows you to exploit fantasy sets created by artists, or footage shot on the other side of the world by a third party - maybe even someone to whom you subcontract specified work. So if the time comes you want to bang Dracula's brains out, you can entertain using footage of a real castle in Transylvania.
Igor, pass me the buttplug! (Aside: Don't forget to remind Drac that vaginal lubricant is
mainly blood plasma, so he doesn't wait for a "full moon" before he heads south.
)