Preparing for a Video Shoot – Find Problems Before They Find You
I love the process of planning video projects. Each one is different (that’s one of the things I love about video) but every new production gives me the opportunity to improve upon my preparatory process. For one of my last projects, I drew rudimentary storyboards to plan out exactly where I wanted to position actors and cameras. The drawings were terrible, but they were still very helpful. My drawing talent may be questionable, but the value of planning is not.
No matter how different one project may be from another, there are some things you can do before just about every shoot to help you feel prepared. That’s not to say that unexpected things never happen…of course they do! That’s the nature of production. But if you’ve thought through as many of the small details as you can during pre-production, you can focus your full attention on any bigger questions or issues that arise during filming.
A few days before filming:
Make sure you have hard drives to store your footage – allow time for shipping/delivery (and remember that crews prefer SSD drives).
Ask your client one more time for their final comments/thoughts on the script – are any final edits necessary?
Read the script out loud to yourself one more time and visualize the final video – Will you need portrait shots? Are there any other transitions or cut-aways you might need?
Review any videos the client may have provided for reference one more time.
Finalize parking and load-in instructions for the cast and crew.
Finalize your gear list – Talk to each member of the crew one more time about what you’ll be filming and what you want the finished production to look like.
Start building your call sheet.
Build a schedule for the day(s) of filming and run it by another member of the crew. Then, run it by your client as well.
Make a plan for feeding your crew (don’t forget to ask any clients who may be on set if they want to be a part of the plan as well).
Send certificates of insurance to the crew, gear rental houses and your location(s) if necessary.
Pay deposit(s) for gear rental, locations or the studio.
Send pictures of your on-camera talent to your make-up artist(s).
The day before filming:
Send the call sheet to the cast, the crew and your client.
Make sure you have contact information for the person who controls access to your filming location(s). It may be a building manager or security guard instead of your client.
Finalize the shot list.
Create a place to collect and organize your receipts.
Organize your filming kit – do you have sponges, powders, hair spray etc.? Does anything need to be cleaned?
Print your script and/or interview questions and your shot list (printed copies allow you to easily take notes in the moment).
Don’t forget to have the following items on the day of filming:
Hard drives
Identification
Bottled water for the crew (it’s good to encourage people to bring reusable bottles if you’ll be someplace where it is easy to refill them)
Snacks
The script (and a digital copy for the prompter operator on a thumb drive, if needed)
Interview questions
Shot list
Call sheet
Company credit card
Phone and/or computer charger(s)
Many little problems can be discovered and quickly resolved by using this checklist. You might find out that your location has tricky parking or that you need to adjust your schedule to accommodate another interview subject. By reviewing your plan with the crew just before filming, they might suggest a piece of gear or a change to the schedule that will make your day(s) much easier. Thorough preparation gives you much more flexibility when finding solutions and prevents you from eating up valuable time on your day(s) of filming.
