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Production3 min read

LESSON 108

Pre-production and the shot list

The shoot is won before it starts.

IN THIS LESSON

  1. What pre-production covers
  2. The shooting script
  3. The shot list and call sheet
  4. Practice: a small-crew version

What pre-production covers

Pre-production is the planning stage before anything is filmed. On a feature it formally begins once the project is greenlit, and it includes finishing the script, hiring cast and crew, finding locations, deciding what equipment is needed and setting the budget. The script is broken down scene by scene, and every location, prop, cast member, costume and effect is listed. A detailed shooting schedule is drawn up, sets are built, and a start date is fixed. Usually there is a read-through of the script attended by the speaking cast, the director and the heads of department.

The shooting script

When a screenplay is approved for production it becomes a shooting script. Scenes are numbered so every department can refer to them, and individual shots within a scene may be numbered too. Once circulated, page numbers are locked; changes are issued on coloured revision pages, a different colour for each round, with changed lines marked by an asterisk in the margin. New material after page 45 becomes 45A, 45B and so on, and a removed scene leaves a page marked omitted so nothing looks lost.

The shot list and call sheet

A shot list sets out, scene by scene, every shot the director intends to film: its size, angle, movement and lens, and any special needs. The assistant director uses the director's shot list together with the production schedule to build the daily call sheet. That sheet goes to cast and crew, usually no later than twelve hours before the next day begins, and gives call times, the scenes and pages to be shot, the address, parking, contacts, safety notes, weather, sunrise and sunset, and the nearest hospital.

Practice: a small-crew version

This is working practice. Even for a one-day shoot, write a one-page shot list with a number, a short description, size and lens for each shot, and tick them off as you go. Order them by location and lighting set-up, not by story, so you light each set-up once. Add a column for must-have and nice-to-have. Send a simple call sheet the evening before with the address, times, the plan and your phone number. It is the cheapest insurance a production can buy.

Try it today

  1. 01Pick a two-minute scene from a script or write one.
  2. 02Break it into numbered shots with size, angle and lens.
  3. 03Reorder the list by location and lighting, not story.
  4. 04Mark three shots you cannot lose.
  5. 05Make a one-page call sheet for a pretend shoot day.