The relationship between new media and film production continues to expand with the launch of Scout, an Internet-based movie location database.

Visitors to the Scout website are able to access text descriptions of each location within the database as well as photographs from various angles, in regular or panoramic format. They can also move within ‘virtual reality movies’ of the locations, manipulating pov and exploring shooting possibilities. A search engine helps speed up the surfer’s information quest by categorizing locations by key word or film genre (such as ‘romance’ or ‘wildlife’).

Scout was developed by Kingston, Ont.-headquartered Softlight, a multimedia content and service provider which also has offices in Toronto and Johannesburg, South Africa.

It may sound like the online creation threatens to replace human location scouts, but Softlight believes the site just makes their job easier in terms of location management. No longer will scouts have to go to take pictures before a production will consider a location – images could all be found on the website. The photos’ Internet home would also allow for the dispensation of hard copy and folders, which can be mislabeled or misplaced.

Providing Ontario location information has traditionally been the jurisdiction of the Ontario Film Development Corporation, which has a location library of 11,000 sites that is in the process of being digitized. The ofdc is tracking Scout’s progress and sent representatives to the official site launch, held May 19 at Fort Henry in Kingston.

Even if Scout and the ofdc offer competing services, Narath Carlile, cofounder and software director of Softlight, says any device that helps promote production in Canada is good for all, and he acknowledges the expansive role the government agency plays in tax credits, skills development, marketing initiatives, as well as corporate development and operations.

‘We would like to set up a meeting with them to discuss how we can work together,’ he says.

The South Africa-born Carlile cofounded Softlight with brother Hagan in 1997. Last year they won the Young Navigators Entrepreneurship Award, a non-profit private sector initiative that provided the support and mentorship that made both the growth of their company and the development of Scout possible.

Softlight chose Kingston as the prototype city for Scout, and features more than 100 of the historic community’s locations on the site. Kingston was a good fit not only because of the brothers’ familiarity with the area, but also because of the financial assistance they were able to secure from the Kingston Economic Development Corporation, Via Rail Canada, Fort Henry, Internet Kingston, the Kingston Chamber of Commerce, and 1000 Islands Cruises.

Narath Carlile feels Kingston remains a mostly untapped resource for filmmakers.

‘We thought perhaps Kingston was a little underrepresented,’ he says. ‘People know about one or two locations, like Fort Henry, but there are lots of other attractive locations here. And Kingston has had films shot here – it does have some infrastructure.’

He points to the hbo production Vendetta, a 1999 mow starring Christopher Walken, that shot in Kingston and brought in $800,000 to the area. Softlight hopes Scout will help bring more business to town.

With the Kingston project up and running, the company is planning to expand.

‘We’re looking around and we’re discussing,’ Carlile says. ‘Of course, Toronto is such a big [city] to take on, but there are some other ones, and we’re waiting to see who will bite.’

If the idea takes off, Scout will also focus on areas outside of Canada.

‘It’s new media, it’s Internet-based, it can be accessed by the world and hopefully serve around the world,’ Carlile says.

(www.filmlocationscout.com)

(www.softlight.net)

(www.youngnavigators.com)