Location plates

One people-free master plate per place, built around the action, then a reverse wherever the camera crosses and coverage for every other direction.

The master plate [proven], at 2K, at the film's ratio:

• a three-quarter view, wide or medium, never frontal (a frontal plate reads as wallpaper);

• a visible anchor object, and landmarks named with rough positions and sizes, so later shots can stage against them;

• built around the action: where each person will be, exact counts of repeated objects, a clear camera path. A room built for two fails a scene with three;

• one light logic and shadow direction, with the treatment's time of day and exposure baked in. For night and low-key scenes, 2–3 stops down, the brightest thing a practical, an empty sky cropped out: the video follows the plate's exposure;

• lived-in detail and natural asymmetry, with use traces where hands and feet go [proven]; "brand-new" is written as the treatment's choice;

• the film's lens family, and nothing else of the lens (decided): only when the treatment sets one lens family for the whole film, the plate carries its visible signature. Anamorphic gives oval highlights in out-of-focus lights and a horizontal flare only from a real source in frame; spherical gives round highlights. No heavy blur: every shot of the place inherits the background, so it stays readable. With no film-wide lens family, the plate stays neutral;

• no readable text except brand text the treatment requires.

Show or place the key [proven]. The master plate shows the scene's key source (a window, a lamp, the sun's side), or makes its place plain, so the scene's first shot can establish it. Use negative fill where shape matters. Let each material answer the one source in its own way: skin soft, fabric matte or sheened by its weave, glass with an edge highlight, metal with a hard reflection. Never one sheen on everything.

The order inside the prose. Write the plate prompt in the template's order (below): the opening (what the image is, the ratio, the time of day), the context line, the place and vantage (height, field of view), geometry by screen side from foreground to depth, edge control, set dressing with counts, light, atmosphere, the still world, the look (grade, grain), lived-in detail, the period rule, the palette, and emptiness with no readable text. Generate two images and check each for people at full size: silhouettes, backs and reflections count. The plate fixes the place's design; traffic, crowds, water and lights move in the video.

An empty master location plate for a film, {aspect}, {time of day}. It serves {scene}: {story intent}; it must hold {what the shots stage here}. {Place}, seen at three-quarters from {vantage}, camera at {height} m, a {°} field of view. Geometry: in the foreground {left or right masses}; in the middle {the anchor object, with exact counts}; behind, {far landmarks}. {Edge control: what each edge cuts; nothing the shots stage touches an edge}. {Set dressing with counts and positions}. Light: {one source, direction, quality, Kelvin}{, a ratio where it helps}, {where shadows fall}; {practicals and their state}; {exposure for night}. Only real sources give off light; every surface just reflects it. {Atmosphere}. The world is still: {what does not move}. The look: {grade, contrast, grain, highlight roll-off}. Lived-in detail: {wear, use traces, asymmetry}. {Period rule}. Palette: {each leading colour with its material, light and place | when asked: the 60%, 30% and 10% bands with placement}. The {place} is deserted: nobody at all, no figures in {windows, mirrors, screens, posters}; any sign blank or unreadable.

Example: the kiosk street at dawn

An empty master location plate for a film, 16:9, the first blue light before sunrise. It serves scene 1, the kiosk owner brewing the first pot before the street wakes; it must hold the kiosk counter, the stool beside it and a clear path for the camera to drift in from the corner. A narrow side street in old Cairo, seen at three-quarters from the street corner, camera at 1.5 m, a 55-degree field of view. Geometry: in the foreground left, the edge of a closed steel shop shutter with flaking green paint; in the middle ground on the right, a small wooden kiosk painted pale blue, its counter folded down, exactly one gas ring and one dented brass kettle on it, a stack of exactly six upturned tea glasses, a low wooden stool to its right; behind, the street narrows between four-storey buildings with balconies and hanging washing, and ends at a pale strip of sky. The shutter cuts the left edge; the kiosk and the stool sit well inside the frame. Light: the key is the cool dawn sky at the street's far end, about 7000 K, soft, raking along the facades from the back of frame; the kiosk's one bare bulb is on, warm, about 2700 K, a small pool on the counter; long soft shadows fall toward the camera. Only real sources give off light; every surface just reflects it. A faint haze hangs at the street's end. The world is still: the washing hangs straight, no smoke rises. The look: low contrast, slightly under, fine grain, a gentle highlight roll-off. Lived-in detail: a worn pale patch on the counter where glasses are set down, a path scuffed into the pavement in front of the kiosk, a cracked kerb. Palette: dusty blue leads on the kiosk and the dawn walls, the warm bulb pool on the counter supports it, the brass kettle is the only gold accent. The street is deserted: nobody at all, no figures on the balconies or in the windows; every sign blank or unreadable.

The reverse plate [proven], by default for every scene the camera crosses (shot and reverse, an orbit, a look back across a space). Ask of each crossing scene: if the camera turned 180°, which approved image would describe the frame? Make it from the approved master plate as Image 1, owning the architecture, materials, landmarks and where the light comes from in the world, but not its camera angle:

• say in plain words where the camera now stands, compared with the master plate;

• spell out each major object's new position (decided): "in the master the kiosk is on the right; here, on the left";

• rewrite the light for the angle, never copy it; once the master plate has placed the key, a reverse may go side-lit or backlit with an edge on the face side [proven];

• an edge-control sentence, as on every plate (what each edge cuts; nothing the shots stage touches an edge);

• a carry-over list (materials, grain, palette, grade), and what this angle leaves out;

• write the consequences of the camera's position ("the dawn sky is now behind the camera; it lights the shutters flat"), not "turn the camera".

Image 1 is the approved master plate of {place}: it gives the architecture, materials, landmarks and where the light comes from in the world; ignore where its camera stood. {Context line.} The same {place} from the opposite side: the camera stands {new vantage}, looking back toward {what was behind the master's camera}, at {height} m, a {°} field of view, {aspect}. In the master {object A} is on the right; here it is on the left. {Other new positions}. {Edge control: what each edge cuts; nothing the shots stage touches an edge}. {The light rewritten: where the source sits now, where shadows fall}; only real sources give off light. Carry over exactly: {materials, palette, grade, grain, time of day}. This angle shows {what is new} and does not show {what is now behind the camera}. The {place} is deserted: nobody at all, no figures in {windows, mirrors}; no readable text.

Example: the kiosk street, looking back

Image 1 is the approved master plate of the kiosk street: it gives the architecture, materials, landmarks and where the light comes from in the world; ignore where its camera stood. It serves the reverse of the owner's first glass, when he looks up toward the corner. The same street from the opposite side: the camera stands just past the kiosk, toward the street's far end, looking back toward the corner where the master was taken, at 1.4 m, a 50-degree field of view, 16:9. In the master the kiosk is on the right; here it is on the left, its open side and the counter facing the camera at an angle, the brass kettle on the gas ring nearest the lens. The stool, right of the kiosk in the master, now stands to its left. The closed green shutter, foreground left in the master, is now in the middle distance on the right, beside the corner. The corner wall cuts the right edge; the kiosk, the stool and the kettle sit well inside the frame. The dawn sky is behind the camera: its cool light falls flat and even on the shutters and the corner wall, and the shadows run away from the camera; the kiosk's bulb still makes its warm pool on the counter. Only real sources give off light. Carry over exactly: the dusty blue kiosk, flaking green paint, the brass accent, low contrast, slightly under, fine grain, first light before sunrise. This angle shows the corner, a closed bakery door and a parked handcart, and does not show the far end of the street or the sky. The street is deserted: nobody at all, no figures on the balconies or in the windows; no readable text.

Coverage plates [proven]: other angles of a place (low, front, a clean background behind each speaker), made from the master plate the same way: the master plate as Image 1, an approved coverage plate as Image 2 where it helps continuity, the vantage stated relative to the master plate, an edge-control sentence, the light rewritten, a carry-over list.

State master plates, crowds and ratios

• Day and night, pristine and wrecked, lamp on and off: separate master plates, made the same way. A state derived from a master plate and approved in its own right becomes a new anchor.

• An angle collage of one space is a named alternative only when a scene circles one space and the reference budget is tight; its role line says it shows angles of one place, not a split screen. Separate plates are the default.

• Empty is the default. A crowd is baked in only when it is part of the place: extras mid-action, nobody looking at the camera, every face distinct. Leads never stand in plates.

• Ratios: for a 9:16 film, the master plate at 16:9 for geography, then 9:16 coverage per shot direction. For films delivered at both 16:9 and 9:16, plates at the wider ratio [best available, not yet validated]. With two native ratios, compose each plate so the action reads in both; where one frame can't hold it, a coverage plate per ratio.

Sources

• Higgsfield Academy (courses) (reverse plates); Higgsfield's katana workflow (the people check); JOEY, @joeysnoisygroup (light rewritten for coverage); @adilinthewildtempo (blog) (plates built for the action); PJ Accetturo on Hell Grind and Mork (newsletter) (state masters).