View Full Version : one location films


slacker
08-29-2004, 08:19 AM
Hey there,

I live in Australia and am really interested in making my own film... like i have a fair few ideas rattling around in my brain and am thinking of doing something real low budget... some of my mates are quite good actors on the up n up and i wanna put them in a project.

Anyway i was thinking of something with one or two primary locations and maybe a bit of shooting on the street guerrilla-style. So i was sitting here thinking of films i loved with just one or two or even three locations and i realised i need to see some more. Anybody know of some films with few locations... besides the obviuos... Clerks, Resevoir Dogs etc.

Zensteve
08-30-2004, 12:36 AM
I've been thinking about this all day, and I can only come up with two flicks.

Hitchcock's "Lifeboat", and the new "Open Water" :pop:

----------------

Mostly I've been distracted, thinking about tv sitcoms. They tend to have single location setups for the entire duration... with fast banter, laughs (in theory) and many guests to keep people from fixating on the fact that they never really go to special locations.

indietalk
08-30-2004, 12:44 AM
Hey there,
So i was sitting here thinking of films i loved with just one or two or even three locations and i realised i need to see some more. Anybody know of some films with few locations... besides the obviuos... Clerks, Resevoir Dogs etc.
Dog Day Afternoon :yes:
The Breakfast Club
Signs
Panic Room
The Birds
Rear Window

slacker
08-30-2004, 01:02 AM
hey good stuff, i've seen all of those films. Dog Day Afternoon is one of my all time faves. Can anybody think of some really low budget ones. Like Clerks, except not.

Hitchcock was the master of films based in a room. He was truly brilliant.

But really one or two locations is all a film needs, I just saw Bourne Supremacy and it jumps across like eight countries and three continents in the first 10 minutes.

indietalk
08-30-2004, 01:18 AM
Ethan Hawke made Chelsea Walls, a digital production, with one main location, Hotel Chelsea in NYC. I read that it cost $150,000, which if true, is pretty unbelievable! :eek:

cyan
08-30-2004, 03:10 PM
Rope
Rear Window
Phone Booth
The Guys
Melvin Goes to Dinner
Glengarry Glen Ross

ahab
08-30-2004, 03:18 PM
Night of the Living Dead

NicklausLouis
08-30-2004, 03:20 PM
I was gonna say Melvin Goes to Dinner but it has a lot of flashbacks that take place outside the restaurant. In fact a lot of the films here have small scenes that take place outside the main location. I can't think of any films that have only one location period. (is a "period." redundant?) I can think of a lot that have one main location with a few smaller locations sprinkled in.

Poke

rizien
08-30-2004, 04:36 PM
Isnt Dawn of the Dead all one location too? Maybe with the exception of like, 1 or 2 scenes i guess. It's been a while since i've seen it though.

slacker
08-30-2004, 10:34 PM
lol, your all taking my title way too seriously. Films with one main location and a few others here and there will do. Like Night of the Living Dead used one location fantastically... actually reminds me of another... Dog Soldiers, all of the filming done outside of the house was filmed in the woods.

See the reason i ask is to write a film that i can afford to make first i plan to access the recources i have, eg. places i have access to, equipment etc.

So i know that i have access to maybe a handful of locations, i just needed the name of some films to see how they take advantage of that. So far you've all been really helpful.

Zensteve
08-30-2004, 10:38 PM
Wasn't "Shallow Grave" done in a big rundown house, and a bit in the woods? Brit-flick from the '80s.

Also, the hit classic "1958" was filmed in one location. One room, technically. :yes:

slacker
08-30-2004, 10:56 PM
isn't that 1958 a short on this forum... lol, i just saw your VOTE 1958 signature, it's yours isn't it. i'm a little slow. I'll go check it out. BTW, Shallow Grave is another of my favourite films.

NicklausLouis
08-30-2004, 11:26 PM
Films with one main location and a few others here and there will do.

If that's the case, all that are listed here are very good examples.

Also see Evil Dead (1 and 2).

Also, the hit classic "1958" was filmed in one location. One room, technically. :yes:

And don't forget the even hittier classicer Magnamameous Bark and Gigante Chupycabras. We filmed all the scenes outside of my parent's house, except the final scene ... we flew to New Zealand to shoot that one.

Poke

slacker
08-31-2004, 12:24 AM
cool, i'll check that out too, it's been trying, checkin out all the shorts on this forum with my dial up connection.

I've seen the Evil Dead films, love them, I think people don't really mind if horror films only have one location, cause there are a lot of trapped in a room, trapped in a house etc, horror films that have been very popular.

Wheels
09-01-2004, 07:58 AM
I can think of one more: Bound by Wachowski brothers - a Masterpiece! And everything is happening in two rooms. Great characters and a story is all you need.

NicklausLouis
09-01-2004, 09:38 AM
I can think of one more: Bound by Wachowski brothers - a Masterpiece! And everything is happening in two rooms. Great characters and a story is all you need.

I remember Bound taking place in several locations. But it has been a very long time since I saw it, and I only saw it the one time.

Poke

Wheels
09-01-2004, 10:52 AM
I remember Bound taking place in several locations. But it has been a very long time since I saw it, and I only saw it the one time.

Poke
Hm, it's been a long time since I saw it too... Yes, but 95% of film is based on one location: two rooms (one next to another) in same building.

Demosthenes X
09-04-2004, 11:07 PM
Technically, any film can be shot in one location. Greenscreen!

Seriously, though, I just got back from working at a week-long course at a film school, and one of the best movies of the week was set in a coffee shop. Granted, these are shorts, but a good script and characters can carry a story regardless of location.

Donny
09-05-2004, 02:45 PM
You mentioned Clerks, and I'd like to mention that Mallrats was shot mostly in a mall, and also Drawing Flies which Kevin Smith Produced was done in a woodland location in Canada, and an apartment.

whiterabbit
09-05-2004, 03:36 PM
no one mentioned Cube

slacker
09-06-2004, 03:31 AM
yeah Cube was good. I'm more intersted in dialogue and character driven films... Clerks is one of my faves... you always hear about these one location movies but you never really see to many of them.

NicklausLouis
09-06-2004, 09:08 AM
I just thought of one that has only one location (I can't believe I didn't think of it before).

Tape by Richard Linklater with Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman (before the split) actually takes place entirely in a hotel room, and it's shot on DV.

Poke

slacker
09-06-2004, 09:22 PM
yeah i'm a major fan of linklaters.... hence the name. I've sen all of his films... except Tape... never seen Tape... i'm gonna buy it soon coz i cant find anywhere in my neighbourhood to rent it.

Rogue Crew
09-21-2004, 11:09 PM
Nobody mentioned "Finder's Fee".

King Goldfish
09-25-2004, 01:02 PM
Werent most films made in the early days shot in one giant Film Studio?

It's wonderful what a large wall and lots of watercolor can do :D

but I guess that doesnt count.

What is the new movie called where 2 people are left behind while taking a scuba class.. and along comes a shark? I never seen it, I heard it sucked and was over rated.