Setting Up For Success

Now that Development is complete it’s time to get things moving towards those ever important production days. Planning for production includes scheduling people, locations and equipment. It includes ensuring everyone has scripts, interview questions, and shooting schedules well in advance. Rehearsals, locations scouting, permissions, weather, props and more will be part of the pre-production planning stage.

Location Scouting

Regardless of whether you plan on shooting in a controlled environment such as the UCreate Studio in Media Production or on location somewhere out in the field, its a good idea to do some location scouting ahead of time so avoid any surprises on production day. Thinking about how things sound, how they look, what available light you have can all change depending on the time of day so try and visit your location at the same time of day you plan on shooting there. Here is a quick checklist of considerations to take with you when you are scouting a new location.

Equipment

We’ll go into greater details about your camera, audio, lighting equipment and the best-practices for using them in the Production Chapter of this Guide. But for now let’s look at some of the considerations during pre-production that you may want to keep in mind.

In pre-production you’ll want to ensure that you have all the equipment you’ll need on the day of shooting. Refer to your script and storyboard to ensure that no specialized equipment will be needed for things like dolly or crane shots and make yourself a list of the equipment you can use as a checklist on the day of shooting. Here’s a few things to think about to get you started.

Scheduling the Cast and Crew

Scheduling everything and keeping your cast and crew informed and ready to roll is a big part of the pre-production phase. Typically this includes organizing the cast and crew to meet at the specified location at a specified time. But don’t forget that sometimes you’ll need to schedule equipment rentals, room bookings and food services as well. Here are a few considerations you’ll want to keep in mind as you schedule your cast and crew for production day:

• If doing an interview, do you have your questions organized?
• Does everyone who needs the questions ahead of time have them?
• Does everyone have a script and storyboard?
• Have your actors rehearsed so that filming will be efficient?
• Is all the equipment gathered in one place or will multiple people be bringing pieces? Do they need reminders?
• Have you secured the location and any permissions you need?
• Does everyone have a ride to the location?
• Do you need to provide a map or drop a pin to the location for people to find?

Wardrobe

One of the other considerations that is often overlooked ahead of time is discussing wardrobe with the cast. Having your interviewee show up in a USask Green sport coat only to film them in front of a green screen and have their torso disappear is something that can be avoided with a little pre-planning as well. Here are a few considerations for wardrobe, make-up and jewellery that might be good to discuss with people before the day of shooting.