What is a "reckie"?

Or

What is a "site reckie"?

I'm posting this here because on my other blog, one of my entries on my other blog journaling my trip to Liberia I talk about doing a site reckie for the medical screening day. A lot of people have done a google search wanting to know exactly what a reckie is. So, I thought I would post an answer here for the google people.

The word "reckie" or "recce" is short for reconnaissance.

Reconnaissance (also scouting) is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information. Militarily, its shorthand Australian, Canadian, and British form is recce (pronounced /ˈrɛki/), its American usage form is recon (pronounced /ˈriːkɒn/). The associated, linguistic forms are the verb reconnoitre in British spelling, and reconnoiter in American spelling; informally, recce and recon are used as a verb.

When photographers, videographers and filmmakers use this term it means that they are going to take a look at a potential site for their shoot. They are scouting out the location to help them plan their shoot. This allows them to know what the lighting looks like at different times of the day, the noise levels, the sound quality of a room, what type of equipment will they need to bring with them, where are the electrical outlets, etc.

It is difficult to walk into a location not knowing anything about it, but a site reckie allows them to save time and money when they have talent (actors, models) and other staff there. They know all about the site before the day of the shoot.

I hope this helps the googler's understand what this word means.