The script you’ve toiled over in development now becomes the blue print for production. Some parts of pre-production are incredible. Others? Not so glamorous. But I’m telling you, put the time in during pre-production and it’ll pay off like you can’t imagine.
On a studio film, the 1st AD and other department heads do a lot of pre-production tasks which range from hiring crew to casting to location scouts and more. But on your movie, you guessed it: It’s all you. Here are a few of the things that should happen before you begin shooting:
Your script is the blue print for production. During pre-production you’ll use your script to identify everything that’s needed to “build” the film. Locations, props, actors, costuming, equipment, crew. Everything. And then you’ll take this info and plan your shoot. In order for this to happen, there are things that need to change with your script to transition from development to pre-production!
So what’s breaking down a script? It’s how you figure out what you need and when while shooting. Every single day of production is planned out ahead of time. To break down a script you print it out, grab some highlighters and begin the arduous yet crucial task of identifying everything that’s needed.
Story boards and story maps can help department heads be on the same page with a quick, visual reference of what the director wants. Story maps are graphical shot layouts that are derived from setups determined when creating the shot list.
A shot list contains information for every camera setup in every scene of your film. You don’t want to nuke valuable time on set thinking about camera placement, movement, lens choices, blocking and things like that. Knowing your shots ahead of time is the best fight against the ticking clock during production. This not only protects production time, but also keeps you from doing things like shooting too much coverage, which is something beginning filmmakers will do.
Casting is crucial. On a studio film, a casting director handles casting. Ultimately, the director makes the final decisions, but a casting director weeds out the potentials who clearly aren’t right for a part. When we’re starting out as directors, we’re typically doing the casting. So you select SIDES to send out with invitations and start the process!
Finding the right places to shoot your movie can make all the difference. On a studio film, you have a location manager and location scouts doing this for you. Other department heads like your DP and Production Designer will have opinions about specific locations as well.
During the location scout, you’re just trying to find the right place to shoot. A tech scout is different. A tech scout about discovering details that will affect production. In the studio world, multiple people are present on a tech scout like the DP, gaffer, sound mixer and others. Tech scouts will SAVE YOU by uncovering potential issues and unique requirements for a specific location.
Every film production has a few similar requirements like camera, sound and lighting. But each production also has unique equipment needs. How many scenes are outside vs inside? For inside scenes, how large are the rooms? How many actors? Are you shooting in vehicles? And the list goes on. The great news? Vendors like Blackmagic Design, DJI and Aputure (to name a few) make purchasing equipment for independent filmmaking so affordable that rentals often aren’t needed as much.
And there’s more…
Pre-production can make or break your movie. There are things you must do before day one of production that will literally make the difference in how your movie turns out. On my latest film called RECKONING, the things I learned and planned for during pre-production saved me on set.
In the Write & Direct online film school I take aspiring directors through the steps of RECKONING from development through post production.
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