Pre Production Documents

What are the essential prep production documents?

It depends. If you google "essential pre production documents" you will get a list between 4 and 12. 

4, okay, that sounds manageable? What are they?

Be careful, it really does depend on the media product you are producing. But most media products you will make will require:

Mood Board

A mood board puts together various images, colours, fonts and other visual items to create an overview of a design. Mood boards are often used by designers to develop ideas and communicate ideas to other people that they’re working with. They are good for creating an overall picture of a project. 

A storyboard

A storyboard is a series of sequential pictures with short annotations. They are used to visualise the shots and scenes of a television production, such as an advert or film. Storyboards are an essential tool, as it is very important to plan exactly what you want to film, this saves both time and money. 

Scripting

Scripting or a script means slightly different things depending on what product is being produced. It is a very important piece of the multimedia production process. Similar to preparing for a presentation, scripting helps you to organize your thoughts, determine what you want to convey and create a flow for your narration or enhances your storyboard and is essential to bringing your characters to life. 

Character Sheet


A character sheet details how you want your character displayed and also any characteristics of your character. Its use depends on the type of multimedia project you are building.