Planning = Repeatable = Professional = Paid

Pre-Production is a term that encompasses all of the work that must go into planning before a video project is actually shot. This a broad subject that includes work from all areas of filmmaking but all of it begins with the Producer.

You've probably heard this term before, but most people are understandably confused about exactly what it means. At it's most basic, it means just what it says: There is no film, and then someone comes along and produces a film in the way someone would "produce" any other product. That person is the Producer. Here are some of the key tasks that a Producer must carry out in order to produce a film or video project:

Some of the confusion about what a producer does comes from the additional roles that bear a similar name such as:

• Executive Producer

• Associate Producer

• Assistant Producer

• Line Producer

Each of these is related to the producing role, but entail different tasks and responsibilities. Watch the following video to learn more:

Steps in Producing a Project

In general, pre-production can be thought of as "anything that needs to happen to make your shoot successful." That includes finding a story that's worth telling, making a budget, gathering cast, crew, and equipment, and making an efficient plan that you can stick to when things get tough. The following sections will discuss several key aspects of the pre-production process.

Development:

The first stop in producing a successful project is finding a story worth telling and developing it into a producible format. This can look different depending on the producer and situation:

• Write the script themselves

• Find an already written script

• Work with a screenwriter they believe in

• Work with a commercial client/documentary subject

In any case, there are a few key elements that a good producer should look for in a project. Films require a lot of time and money and it's best to be sure that you truly believe in a given project before moving forward:

• Is the project well-written?

• Is it produceable?

• Is marketable?

• Is it meaningful?

A lot of this comes down to having a strong understanding of what makes a good story (see the previous section on narrative structure) and knowing the target audience. This knowledge will help you craft a project, either on your own or working with a writer/client, that will be worth pitching.

Pitching:

Once you have a solid idea that is on a good trajectory for development, it's time to start gathering the resources to make the project. Thes include:

• Money

• Crew

• Locations

• etc

At its most basic, pitching means convincing people to help you bring the project to completion. When doing this, it's important to know who you're pitching to, and then tailor your information to them. What would a financial investor want to know about the project before giving you money? They are probably more interested in the project's budget and marketability than they are about the nuances of the vision for the cinematography. On the other hand, if you're pitching the project to bring a cinematographer on board, they're likely to be interested in the visual approach you have in mind, the subtext of the story, and what budget you can bring to bear for equipment.

In all cases, though, you will need to have a clear understanding of what the project is about and this comes down to clearly communicating the Premise and Theme (See the Narrative Structure section) and why the person you're pitching to should care about the story.

One way to do this is through the use of a Logline. A logline attempts to combine the Premise and Theme in a single, catchy statement that hooks someone interest in the project. Here are two examples. See if you can identify the premise and theme in each:

Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

A paraplegic marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.

In the first example, the Premise would be: Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years - this tells us the basic plot we can expect to see on screen.

The Theme would be that solace and redemption can be found through acts of common decency. (Note the value+cause structure) This gives the person you're pitching to a clear understanding of what the film is and what it's about.

Try writing a logline for your pre-test film and see what you come up with. You'll have a chance to share what you come up with in class.

Locking the Script

Typically, you'll have started pitching the project and gathering production resources before the script is completely finished. But eventually, you'll feel good about where the story is at and officially Lock the Script. This is milestone in pre-production that identifies that all of the elements in the script are final and can begin to be produced in earnest.

This version of the script will provide the blueprint for production and all pre-production documents will be generated based on it. As such, the script is given scene numbers and all page numbers become locked. This means that any pre-production documents that refer to them will remain unchanged. Unfortunately, there are often additional changes made after that script is locked either for creative or logistical reasons. In these cases, script "colors" are adopted following a standard color format (Blue, Pink, Yellow, Green, etc - new pages are printed on these colors to make it clear which parts are new) and all new scenes and pages are numbered derivatively. So, if a scene were added between Scenes 1 and 2, it would be labelled Scene 1B. This ensures that, for example, the shot list for Scene 2 will always be referring to the correct scene, even if new scenes are added.

Once the script is locked, it is time to begin the core of the pre-production work.

Hiring Crew

At this point in the process, you may have already hired a director but most other crew is typically brought on closer to production. Certain roles are needed during the pre-production process and others are only needed during Principal Photography. The chart below shows a basic overview of the primary roles on a film set and the hierarchy of their responsibilities. They are divided up into "Above-the-Line" and "Below-the-Line" roles. Roughly speaking, Above-the-Line roles are typically involved in Pre-Production and Below-the-Line roles are only involved in Production and/or Post-Production. This terminology comes from the budget - literally some roles are above a solid line on the budget and earn more money. In a classical Hollywood sense, Above-the-Line only includes the Director, Producer, Writer, and principal cast members. However, for our purposes it is more useful to include the other department heads that are involved in pre-production and creative decision making as well. For most of Video 1, you get to fill all of these roles yourself!

On larger projects, it is up to the Producer to determine what additional crew is needed to successfully produce the film and then hire them (or convince them to help some other way - on student films, free pizza goes a long way!). On small and independent projects, it is typical for Producers to hire the department heads first and then work with them to hire all additional crew that would report to them, as many department heads often have regular crews they prefer to work with.

Hiring professional crews requires legal contracts known as "Work for Hire" contracts that essentially state that anything they produce belongs to the Producer or client. Cast uses a similar type of contract known as a Talent Release Form that signs over the right to use their image and performance to the Producer. You won't need to use any work for hire contracts in Video 1, but you will need to use Talent Release Forms. These are available on Moodle.

Budget

As Pre-Production gets under way, it is important to identify a clear budget that is available for producing the film. This could be as little as nothing (all work done for favors and pizza) all the way up to hundreds of millions of dollars (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is often cited as one of the most expensive films ever made with a reported budget of $379 million!). A good producer would have made an accurate estimate of this total cost earlier on (useful for pitching the project and finding investors) but now it's time to get down to brass tacks and allocate available money to various line items. Some of the costs involved in making a film include:

Accurately determining a budget requires research and experience. Some questions that may help include:

• What can you get for free?

• What can you do yourself?

• Who owes you a favor?

• What is it worth spending real money on?

• Where can you find the things you need at the best price?

Locations

In order to shoot, you'll need a place to film. The list of required locations is obtained through the script markup process. On a professional film, a dedicated Location Scout might be employed to find suitable locations. On lower budget productions, this is often up to the Producer. Once a suitable location has been found it is vital to secure a signed contract known as a Location Agreement Form that clearly states that you are allowed to film at the location. This is another form you will need to use for your projects in this class. It is available on Moodle. This may seem unnecessary at this level, but it's a good idea to get into the habit of covering your butt from a legal perspective.

Scheduling

Knowing when you plan to shoot is a vital pre-production task. Typically, you'd already have decided on some big picture dates for Principle Photography (start shooting on this day, finish shooting on that day, etc). This may be based on cast/crew availability, script requirements (can't shoot a summer day in the middle of winter) or other factors. But eventually, it is important to dive deeper and figure out exactly what is being shot and when. This helps ensure that everything that needs to be filmed can be captured in an efficient way.

Having a clear schedule has several benefits:

• It creates a realistic expectation about how long your shoot will last.

• It lets people know where and when to show up.

• It keeps friends/crew/actors/clients informed and happy.

• It provides a guideline to adhere to while shooting (managed by the 1st Assistant Director)

There are no solid guidelines for how much material can be shot in a given timeframe. Industry standard shooting schedules for narrative films are based on 12 hour shooting days, six days on, one day off. In my own experience, I've seen moderately experienced crews shoot feature length films (90 minutes or so) in 18-24 twelve hour days of shooting.

Commercial projects typically rely on 8-10 hour shooting days and often only require 1-3 days of shooting. I've seen 30 second ad spots take an experienced crew one 10 hour day.

Of course, there are other factors to consider:

• How many locations are required?

• How much dialogue is there?

• Are there action scenes?

• Are any special effects being done on set?

• How much experience does the crew have?

All of these answer will impact how much you can get done in one shooting day. It is also important to maintain a minimum of 12 hours of turnaround (off time) between each new shooting day so that people have time to rest. This is enforced by the Unions and expensive overtime pay is required if it is broken. Likewise, you should only shoot for six days at a time before having a full day off.

Once you know the total number of days needed and which days those are, it is time to determine which scenes will be shot on which days. Here are some guidelines to follow when determining this information:

• Try to group locations so all of the scenes at one location are shot consecutively.

• Try to avoid changing locations in the middle of a shooting day, if possible.

• Shoot scenes with the same cast consecutively so it is easier to schedule your actors.

• Shoot scenes with similar times of day consecutively. This is important because of the 12 hour turnaround time - if you need to switch from shooting daytime scenes to night scenes, you'll need extra turnaround time to do so.

• Consider when certain locations might be most available. For example, if a restaurant location is only available on a Sunday when they're closed, then you'll have to shoot that scene on a Sunday.

Luckily, in Video 1, none of your projects should require even one full 12 hour day of production. Nevertheless, it is helpful to recognize that filmmaking takes significant time and resources and learning to plan well, even on smaller projects, will prepare you for larger projects and professional contexts.

Shooting Schedule

Once each scene has been allocated to a particular day, you've completed the Production Calendar and it's time to determine exactly which shots will be captured and how long each one will take. This is called the Shooting Schedule. A shooting schedule requires a shot list, but we'll be talking about that in a future module.

Some questions to ask yourself when determining how many shots you can capture in a day include:

• How long does it take you and your crew to setup the camera?

• The lights?

• The production design?

• How long does it take to rehearse the scene?

• How long does it take to actually record a take?

• How many takes of each shot do you plan to do?

• How long will it take to setup the next shot?

In general, I would recommend that you plan on an average of 30 minutes per shot, especially if they include actors delivering dialogue. Some shots will take far less time and others much longer. As you get more experience, you'll begin to build some intuition for making these decisions based on the myriad of factors involved.

It is also important to note that you must feed your cast and crew after six hours on set. This is referred to as Lunch, regardless of the time of day. It is also typical to have some sort of small meal at the beginning of the day as well. Even if you are shooting less than six hours, I still recommend you feed your cast and crew because it's good for morale and lets them know that you care about them. Additionally, it's good to have some light snacks and water available throughout the shooting day. Ideally, energy food like nuts, veggies, and fruit, not junk food like candy and cookies.

Finally, have a firm wrap time and stick to it, even if you didn't get everything shot. It's usually better to schedule another day to shoot rather than forcing people to stay longer than they agreed to, especially if they're working for free.

The shooting schedule itself is the most granular version of the schedule. By planning out this level of detail, you'll be able to be more certain of how long it will take to shoot the planned scenes, and you'll be able to do so more efficiently. In the professional world this also means less expensively, and that can go a long way.

The shooting schedule should be written in the order you plan to shoot the shots (not necessarily the order they appear in the script) and should include the following details:

• Date

• Time shooting the shot will begin

• Shot Number

• Shot Description (Size and action that takes place)

• Scene Number

• Whether it is an interior (INT) or exterior (EXT)

• Location

• Wardrobe, props, etc needed,

• Any special equipment needed

• Cast required for the shot

• Crew required for the shot

Below is an example shooting schedule. Note that not all fields are filled every time and that for things like Crew, it's ok to simplify by stating "All". On real films, cast will be numbered based on importance. So the lead actor will be 1, the co-star would be 2, etc so their names don't fill up the Cast cell.

Some additional guidelines to keep in mind while scheduling your shots include:

• Shot numbering is based on Scene Number and order of shooting

  • For scene 1, first shot is 1, second is 1A, then 1B, etc.

• This will match what you write on the slate

• Plan based on efficiency

• Typically you’ll want to shoot wider coverage first because it takes longer to light and then requires fewer changes as you move in closer

• Shoot all coverage in one direction first, then turn around so you don't have to change the lighting and production design as often.

• Try to shoot all of the material with a particular cast member consecutively when possible so they don't have to sit around for a long time in between shots.

• Don’t start the day with the hardest shot, your crew and actors need time to warm up and get in a groove.

• Organize by equipment when it makes sense. For example, by shooting all of your tripod shots together and then changing over to the handheld shots. This is typically a low priority unless the change over is particularly time consuming.

The Call Sheet

Once you have a schedule, it's time to get everyone to set on time to execute it. This is where the call sheet comes in. This document has all the pertinent information required to get the right people to the right location at the right time. Industry standard call sheets include:

• Name of Production

• Date

• Location

• Expected weather

• Parking instructions

• Address of the nearest hospital

• The planned scenes for shooting (not the complete shooting schedule)

• Contact info for the producer and any other pertinent crew

• A general call time

• Specific call times for each cast and crew member in case they are different than the general time

• Walkie Talkie channel assignments

• Any additional notes that need to be communicated.

These call sheets are sent out daily so that the crew always knows, at least 12 hours ahead of time, what the next day's call time will be. It is important to send them out daily in case anything changes. If changes are made to a call sheet that was already sent out, mass confusion will ensue.

This short video summarizes what goes on a call sheet with good visuals:

Renting Equipment

On professional film sets, most equipment is rented. This is due to the enormous cost of most professional grade equipment. For example, the standard digital cinema camera used for narrative content, the Arri Alexa 35, costs over $70,000. By comparison, it only costs around $2500 to rent it for a day and longer rental periods often come at a discount. At any rate, a key part of pre-production is determining what equipment needs to be gathered to successfully light and shoot the planned material, within the available budget, and creating a plan to make sure it's ready when it's time to shoot.

In Video 1, this consists of creating a reservation for the equipment you need using Booqable. Luckily, there's no additional cost to you, so you don't need to worry about going over budget. That being said, it is helpful to get a sense of how much a particular equipment package might cost. You can use websites like lensrentals.com to check out the going rate for the equipment we use here at CU.

Additional Pre-Production Tasks

Filmmaking is a complex and collaborative effort that involves numerous pre-production tasks that are out of the purview of this class. Below is a list of some of the additional work that would need to be done by various department heads before production. We'll cover some of these in later lessons, but most of these items are covered in more advanced classes: