This can form the bulk of the work, but typically is given a very tight deadline. It is also, arguably, the most important area because it forms the basis on which the entire project is predicated.  Once you go past the script breakdown, you'll find there is considerable overlap meaning one task runs at the same time as others. Various elements of this list were taken from the web resources listed.  

Before we get into the list, some important caveats are worth noting. With pre-production, if you asked 20 people for a list, you would get 20 different lists. However, there are key elements in each that are essential to any moving image project.  Not all of these are essential for all types, but it is fairly comprehensive.  Equally, the order these are presented in is somewhat important, but different production companies might have a certain preference.  We are also ignoring some critically important steps, but that are irrelevant to the A Level, such as insurance, permits, contracts and forming a business entity.  Equally, steps or roles that are suited to multi-team shoots have been omitted.

• Story & Screenwriting

  • Moving image is about telling a story and this needs to be locked in before any real work starts. 

  • The story doesn't have to be textual. Silent movies still have a narrative (the manifestation of the story), as do cartoons, documentaries, etc. Even 'fly-on-the-wall' "documentaries" are mostly scripted these days, or the cast is put in difficult situations or given dialogue ideas.

  • Often, the story will come from a script. The script is the catalyst for the project being approved in most cases. Sometimes it's an idea that is given a green light to be turned into a screenplay.

  • Sometimes a project, as stated above, can begin as an idea and the story is written by the screenwriter (below).  The screenwriter, along with director will be brought in straight away to complete the screenplay.

  • This is also the stage where all of your research would be done for a factual production, such as a documentary. Nobody would want to go through the process of hiring crew, budgeting, etc., to find there is no story.

• Budget

  • Script locked down? Now you have to figure out how much money you have to film it. The budget may be given to you, or you may need to propose a budget. Either way, there is no point even doing anything until you know what budget you have. It will also shape what can and cannot be done in terms of the script. 

  • It is not uncommon for directors to walk away when they see the budget and realise the story they want to tell just isn't possible with the available budget.

• Find your crew (part 1): department heads

  • You need people who will make your vision come to life. Indie style productions require far less crew and are often friends and family, but who do you need? Not all of the below but you pick what's relevant - you will even staff yourself into some of the roles.  Crew can be split into above and below line. Above-the-line crew have creative influence, whereas below-the-line crew (everyone else) are responsible for the physical production. The Crew Positions page has a comprehensive set of resources on this.

    • A fellow Producer to share the million and one tasks you'll need to make to get the film/product made

    • A Director to bring your vision to life -  the director will also help you find the cinematographer (DP)

    • The Screenwriter takes the script and turns it into something that can be filmed. The screenwriter researches, develops, and creates the narrative. Screenwriters are often hired by a producer to develop a story or rewrite an existing script. They also create their own original material to pitch, option, and sell to producers.

    • The Cinematographer (DP) can sometimes come in later to a project, but it is their job to take a director's vision and make it work. They work with the camera team and lighting to literally capture the vision. Brought in early, they can give valuable insight into locations or shot ideas that may not work in a practical sense.  

    • A Line Producer who will literally monitor the budget line, by line - hence the name

    • The Production Coordinator will manage production assistants, monitor the dailies (shots taken that day), keep on top of the production schedule, book hotels for crew and cast, first aid training, send out call sheets (sometimes the job of 1AD)

    • Lead Make-up Artist/Practical effects artists - if your shoot will involve heavy use of make-up or practical effects, they these people should be brought in early too.

    • A Location Manager is brought in when it's time to start finding locations that match the story. For a documentary, they can help secure filming rights or partake in historical research, etc.

    • Rounding out the first draft of major hirings are Department Heads. Different projects each have their own requirements, but your'll want a department head to start thinking about vision, reality, crafting, etc. Department heads might include:

      • Costume Designer- large or complex productions may require a lot of advanced work in terms of costuming

      • Art Director - Want a floating ship that blows up, this will take time. Want to film in your house, with minimal set dressing, art department isn't as necessary. The production designer will help shape a vision, but the art director will work with craftspeople to make it happen.

• Script break down

  • The script breakdown takes your locked-in script/story and turns it into props, scenes, make-up, sound equipment, lighting, locations, costumes, etc. Think of your screenplay as a recipe and the breakdown as the shopping list.  You are making a series of reports for each department head to manage and get right.

• Storyboard

  • We now hit a highly-creative step, turning the scrip. You're now turning the words into images.  Every director/producer has their own style for storyboarding (some do not bother at all). However, you'll get good marks for a good storyboard and it also ensures everybody is on the same, literal page. The storyboard should capture the essential details of what happens in each scene.

• Location scouting/tech scout

  • There are differing opinions here but many documentaries, feature films, etc., start location scouting while crafting the storyboard - creating an overlap. Sometimes, the scout will inform and bring about change to the storyboard and vice versa.  When you focus on a location it's time for a tech scout.  The location manager

  • A tech scout is where you visit the site with key crew (department heads, etc).  You need to master the art of compromise. With individuals, but more so with limitations beyond your control. For example:

    • Your director loves a location, but it'll cost a lot more to lock than you budgeted. Can you sacrifice some money elsewhere to secure the dream location?  Or is the location a no-go? Be prepared to have these conversations and/or make these calls. Sometimes asking upfront for a list of deal-breakers from the director is useful. You don't want to cramp his or her artistic freedom with dollar signs concerns if you don't have to. At the same time, the director needs to accept (and work with you) on fulfilling the budget.

• Shot list

  • The shot list works in tandem with the storyboard. Your screenplay has already told the story – but now you have to figure out the logistics. Shot by shot, scene by scene, you must outline as well as you can what will be needed to fulfil the camera image and movement for each cut. 

  • A shot list is a form of pre-editing. You’ll know what the blocking needs to look like, in what order to do camera setups and many other necessary details.  The list is the order you will do your shots.

  • This will help department heads determine the needed crew and equipment and will help you plot a shooting schedule, budget, and more. The shot list, like the storyboard, issues from the creative side of the production, but in effect, creates a bridge into the real-world equations of actually making the film. 

  • Besides helping in pre-production, the shot list should always be on set to help organize production and ensure that every shot the project needs is captured.

  • Even factual productions will need a shot list, for example, how an interview will be filmed. 

• Filming Schedule

• The filming schedule takes your shots and orders them into filming days. 

• Production management software will help you with this by checking who and what is needed for each shot

• Filming schedules also include rigging time and camera set-ups. These are necessary blocks of time to change lenses or other rigging needs such as lighting.

• A filming schedule rarely covers more than one location in a day unless it is a quick set-up and de-rig. However, it is common for a location to span over multiple days of filming.

• Casting: finding your talent

  • This is a critical step to get right, as the wrong cast can sink a project.  However, as with many steps above, you may have started the casting process already. 

  • Perhaps a star was attached during the development phase, but you're still going to have some parts to audition during the pre production process in film.

  • There are a ton of great casting resources online now. To get you started, explore some of the resources in the casting section.

• Start prepping sets, props, etc

  • This step is a question because in some cases the answer may be “very little.” Say you're prepping a short film that you'll shoot in your apartment – production design tip numero uno when you’re on a tight budget.   Some set dressing. Some props. Nothing crazy.

  • For big, complex projects the art department will need a lot of prep time.  Here is where to get the art department's engines revving. Especially if your movie production requires any kind of build.

• Permits

  • Think you can film anywhere, you cannot. Personal recording in a public place is legal in the UK, but filming for entertainment purposes (and your schoolwork would count in this) needs permission. Local authorities can grant you a license to film in a public place. For private locations, the landowner or building owner simply needs to give you permission.

• Create shooting schedule

  • This is where software like StudioBinder will make your life much easier.  The vast majority of professional film productions use some form of scheduling software, and this is because it is one of the most valuable tools in film. 

  • This step of pre-production can't happen before you've done everything that came before, as it is all built on top of each other like a home. 

  • Ideally, you’d want to lock in your locations and talent before this step because of availability. And you'll want to start the process of building any sets before this too, because that timeline directly affects this step.

  • This job is usually undertaken by the first assistant director (1st AD)

• Find your crew (part 2): other roles

  • You've got the main players in place (your keys), but now they need support, and we're getting close to DAY ONE. So it's time to crew up.

  • Sometimes production heads will have useful contacts or people they want to bring on. People like the shorthand they have with certain peers.  It's good for the overall morale, it's also good for productivity.

  • If your keys don't have recommendations, or need some help rounding out the team, then that's when you can advertise or approach hiring resources such as ProductionBeast.

• Pre-production meeting

  • This is where you meet as a whole team and go through the key logistics

  • You can also do a full-crew tech scout, whereby the team will establish important details such as power distribution, water, etc.

• Rehearse

  • The last thing you want with an expensive cast, crew and equipment is to waste hundreds of hours because you cast do not know their cues, blocking, etc. 

• Rent equipment

  • You do not want to do this too early, as you'll be paying for kit to sit around.

  • Are we ready for "Lights! Camera! Action?" Well... not without lights and a camera we're not.

  • Sometimes you'll start the gear or equipment list a lot earlier than this. It can be an evolving process, and you certainly might need to place some items on hold. But for the most part, you don't want to jump the gun until you know precisely what you're going to need for your crew. At the tech scout your DP and/or his/her Gaffer and Key Grip will make their final lists. And… they'll need to see the locations in order to know what they'll need to achieve the shots.

  • Let's go back to the idea of order of operations once more. The shot list will inform the walk through at the tech scout. Which will tell you exactly what you need equipment-wise. 

• Send out call sheets

  • This is the call-to-arms for your crew. 

  • The production manager will manage this task, letting talent and crew know when to turn up and where. 

Each step in the 15 step pre-production checklist feeds into the next. That way you don't do anything before you're ready to. You go into each phase of preproduction, and ultimately production itself, as prepared as possible.

Production is the most exciting part: after all the planning, you get to make the film/program/product.  However, it can be incredibly stressful with long hours and seemingly torturous waits for the actors between shots/scenes. 

Set Rules and Policies

It is important to have clear rules on set and there are many established rules studios follow. 

Film set etiquette 

Rules for on-set

Shooting

The shooting day will be determined in advance by the 1st Assistant Director via a call sheet. The call sheet contains, amongst other things:

• Title of shoot and location

• Who is required (crew and talent) and at what times

• Weather

• Special notices, such as car parking, access issues, noise constraints, etc

• The filming schedule outlining all of the shots that need to be captured that day, grouped by camera setup

• Day out of days report (DOoD) which logs how your actors are being used and avoids dead time (where you are paying them to sit around)

StudioBinder will automatically populate call sheets and email them to your contacts based on your shot list

Rushes (dailies) 

Rushes are the raw, unedited footage shot during a day's shoot on a film. They are often organised by the production office and backed up where needed. Each camera's files are labelled and sometimes paired with the clapper information.

It is important that YOU take care of all of the files you take from your film shoots, including audio files. It is often far too costly to have to re-shoot.

If your filming schedule is reliable, you can put dailies into dated folders, with subfolders for each camera and audio devices.

Good Advice

Never assume a shot has been captured. Directors will always want to play back a shot to see if they are happy and will often take at least two re-takes, just in case they prefer one over another or, in technical difficulties.

Post production work is time consuming and technical.  There are a ton of professionals involved in Post-Production, and trusting each other probably matters more in ‘post’ than any other time in the filmmaking process. These are the final steps and they’re the glue that holds the movie together, literally. So, what is Post-Production, who’s involved, and what should you consider before it begins? 

The Post-Production process involves a slew of professionals — editors, sound designers, foley artists, colorists, and more. There are some standard practices that are universal across television, features, and other visual mediums. 

But of course, it is important to note that depending on the size of the project, its budget, and which arena you’re in (television, film, or even video games), the Post-Production process will vary. 

This section will mostly get into the stages that are generally part of the process, as they relate mostly to film.

Definition

Post-Production is the stage after production when the filming is wrapped and the editing of the visual and audio materials begins. Post-Production refers to all of the tasks associated with cutting raw footage, assembling that footage, adding music, dubbing, sound effects, just to name a few. The Post-Production process is highly collaborative, across a few months to even a year, depending on the size and need of the project.

Film Post-Production workflow:

1. Have reliable storage

2. Picture editing

3. Sound editing — ADR and Foley

4. Secure music

5. Sound mixing

6. Visual effects

7. Color correction 

8. Titles, credits, and graphics

9. Gather distribution materials

10. Make a trailer

Once the film is shot and production is wrapped, you can finally go to bed! Just kidding. It’s Post-Production time. Whether you’re a director, producer, or editor, you’ll be involved in at least a few stages of this process. And there are quite a few stages. Let’s get into it. 

Is Your Footage Secure?

Once you’re done shooting, before you do anything, and I mean anything, make sure you have reliable storage — a secure place to house all the footage you just spent hours shooting.

It can be anything from a basic hard drive to spinning hard drives, or even RAIDs (a combination of hard drives). 

RAID can be installed in your computer or it can be external. It’s usually used by editors handling a lot of footage because it increases the performance and reliability of standard data storage.

Before you accept a job, or before you hire an editor, make sure safe and secure storage is in place.

It begins with picture editing

Which brings us to the next most important point of them all — the editing process, more specifically, picture editing (we’ll get to sound editing soon).

Your cinematographer might have some suggestions, but make sure before you hire an editor, you’re already familiar with their work. 

Now the editing process can begin. Here's a quick breakdown of editing techniques that an editor might use.

After your editor reads the script and look at the dailies (or rushes) from the footage shot that day, they can start working their magic. They’ll likely make an Edit Decision List (EDL), cutting the film how they believe is most advantageous to the story.

This is a pretty big responsibility, so make sure whoever you hire understands the tone and feel of the film ahead of time. But don’t be afraid to let them use the skills you hired them for — striking that balance will be key to telling a great visual story. Editing software like Avid, Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro, are recommended. 

Assembling footage takes time — it could take anywhere from a month and a half to several months. The first draft of the film is called a Rough Cut, and the final version will be called the Answer Print. When the director is happy with the visuals, they’ll “lock the picture,” and the sound editing can begin.

Next up: creating sound

Once the picture is locked, it’s time for sound editing. Hire the best sound editors because a ton of work is involved. They’re responsible for assembling the audio tracks of your film, cutting dialogue tracks, removing unwanted noise, and even enhancing your movie with sound effects. The specific sound needs for that particular project will dictate who to hire.

If you saw Dune, you know that the sound design is incredible. Watch this breakdown for some of the insider tricks and techniques they used.

Sound effects are often the job of a foley artist. When the pre-recorded sound from set doesn’t sound so good, foley artists come in and recreate the sound. 

They watch the movie in a studio and it’s most common for them to recreate the sound of footsteps by walking on tile floors or sometimes wearing certain types of shoes to get certain sounds. They come up with clever ways to make doors slam, and bones break. 

When actors come back into the studio and re-record dialogue over the scene, it’s called ADR, or Automated Dialog Replacement. Sound engineers and sound editors do this when the sound wasn’t captured well enough on set.

But sometimes, it is done for creative purposes. This is also good for scenes that require voiceovers or any other dialogue off-screen. And in animated films, of course, ADR takes up most of the “filming.”

This is also a critical time for sound editors to gather cue sheets to get ready for sound mixing a little later on. 

Scoring or securing music

It’s always best to work with a composer and have an original soundtrack for your film rather than the headache of licensing other people’s music.

Of course, it is entirely possible to get the songs you want, but it does get expensive. And the Music Supervisor (who you’ll also be hiring) takes care of securing the recording and publishing rights.

It costs time and money, and don’t forget about renewing those licenses down the line. Some filmmakers try different approaches.

Greta Gerwig received an Oscar nomination for both her writing and directing of Lady Bird. Listen to her talk about securing the music below.

But of course, this isn’t always possible. So, if you can, hire a musician to create an original score and save yourself a headache. 

Sound mixing

So, now that you have your music, sound effects, and re-recorded dialogue, it’s time to start layering each track on top of each other. It’s time for the Mix. Sound mixers will adjust all of the volume levels, eliminate anything too distracting, basically making sure everything sounds just right. 

Watch this breakdown of the opening sequence in Drive as a fantastic example of how sound mixing can be the primary storyteller.

Adding VFX

Visual Effects or VFX is spearheaded by a VFX Supervisor managing a team of artists and other engineers using computer-generated imagery, or CGI, to create visuals impossible to capture on set. 

For instance, the dragons in Game of Thrones...definitely, and unfortunately (or fortunately?), not possible in real life. But of course, many projects will not require these effects. 

And some visual effects are considerably smaller than dragons flying through the air, and may mean a simple explosion, otherwise too expensive or dangerous to execute during production. Tim Burton’s re-imagined, Dumbo was a more recent film that relied on visual effects.

VFX artists start working once the picture is locked. This is because they work frame by frame, so it causes a real headache if they have to add extra frames, or if a shot is swapped and have to start all over. So, the editor must have all of the editing transitions and everything else complete, before VFX can really start.

Working with color

Colour correction and color grading can actually be done before VFX, but sometimes it’s done after. It really depends on what’s needed from each department. Sometimes a VFX artist does the coloring.

Colour is an unsung hero in visual storytelling. Watch our essay on how David Fincher uses color in his work.

As long as the picture is locked, a colourist can go in and digitally alter the shots. They lighten frames to and adjust hues for continuity as well as to reflect the scene’s tone.

Hue, saturation, and brightness — the three elements of colour that make all the difference. In this book, we'll explain the aesthetic qualities and psychology effects of using colour in your images. Topics include colour schemes like analogous and triadic colours and how colour palettes can tell stories of their own.

Generating titles, credits, graphics

Next up, editors create title cards, credits, chyrons, and any graphics necessary (date stamps, etc.), and add them in.  

Opening credits are super important! Of course, first impressions are everything but they are also a chance to capture the tone and mood of the project. Put your best foot forward and invest some creative energy to grab your audience from the very beginning.

End credits don't require nearly as much creativity (but it wouldn't hurt). That being said, what you'll need to pay attention to here is accuracy and professionalism. There are spoken and unspoken rules about how end credits work, as you'll see here with Ryan from Film Riot.

You’re almost done. The project is nearly complete but there are a few more steps to consider, especially if there are distribution plans in play. 

Prepping for distribution

Even though the Post-Production process may be coming to a close, you still need to worry about distribution.

First, you'll need to make sure you have an M&E ("Music and Effects") track. If you’re trying to sell your film internationally, you’ll need to provide a sound track without English dialogue so dubbing in a different language is possible. 

Dialogue Script

Again, if you are selling it to international buyers, you’ll need to create a script with the exact time code for every word spoken. This way the dubbing artist or person writing out the subtitles knows where to put your dialogue on screen. 

Digital Cinema Package (DCP)

If you want to send your film out, make sure your film is on a hard drive, ready to be delivered. Create a Digital Cinema Package that has the final copy of your movie encoded so it can be distributed to theaters.

Advertising your film

As we said before, first impressions are everything. And the advertising of your project needs to hook people immediately. Especially considering how much content is out in the world at the moment, people are much more selective with what they watch.

This image might be the first thing the public sees (including potential distributors or programmers), so make sure the image, credits, and tagline on your poster capture exactly what your film is about.

Trailer

Make a one-to-two minute trailer. Though, nowadays, there are actually Trailer Editors. If you have it in the budget, let them take it over. They’re not as attached or immersed in the film, and they're coming in with fresh eyes. They have plenty of experience in pulling out the most exciting and noteworthy bits from the film.