Site Surveys & Tech Scouting

Site surveys in China carry an unusually wide brief because the locations themselves are unusually varied. Our scouts work the Forbidden City and the hutongs of Beijing, the Bund and Pudong skyline in Shanghai, the karst peaks above Yangshuo and Guilin, the Terracotta Army site outside Xi'an, the Zhangjiajie pillars made famous by international VFX work, the heritage hill towns of Hongcun and Pingyao, and the dedicated stages and standing sets of Hengdian World Studios, which remains the world's largest outdoor film backlot.

Here is how this works in practice. Each report documents lighting hours against the latitude, power and generator placement, acoustic conditions in dense urban districts, gear access through narrow alleys and pedestrian-only heritage zones, drone airspace status under CAAC rules, and the permitting overlay that ties any survey back to NRTA approval and CFCC co-production gating.

Field teams move with high-resolution stills, 360 captures, drone footage where licensed, lux readings at the relevant times of day, and detailed access notes covering vehicle clearances and load-bearing surfaces. We coordinate with local public security bureaus and heritage administrators in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Chengdu to confirm what is shootable and what needs escort, special insurance, or restricted-zone clearance, including the sensitive treatment of Tibetan, Xinjiang, and military-adjacent backgrounds.

The picture on the ground is more specific. Reports arrive within forty-eight hours for standard urban work and three to five days for multi-day surveys covering remote provincial routes, each one structured around the line producer's stripboard so directors, DPs, gaffers, and stunt coordinators can plan without flying ahead of the unit.