How planned are your shoots?

[kye]

In a recent discussion people were surprised about what level of planning others did / didn't do before a shoot.  I'm aware of forum members working on high-end commercial sets, those working with small teams, solo-shooters, and people using 'found footage' without even any actors.  

I though it might be fun to make a poll and we can see if it reveals anything interesting.  I've probably missed some things, but ce la vie!

[buggz]

I shoot events, sometimes on a same day, or day before notice.

I NEVER know what I'm walking into...

[sanveer]

Superb Survey. Very interesting.

I am pretty embarrassed by the fact that I leave a lot of things for later. While I feel too intricate storyboarding can make a product seem very mechanical. 

[kaylee]

fwiw im doing everything on this list for an itty bitty lil 2 min no budget film

[squig]

I do everything but storyboard. I do plan and compose all my shots however. As the complexity of scenes increases, I might consider storyboarding; I prefer to pre-shoot scenes to figure out where I want the camera.

[Snowfun]

Of course, it depends on the purpose. I do travel stuff (“moving postcards”) so I take what’s given to me as and when I find it. Telling a story or making a documentary would be a totally different proposition (and much much harder I guess).

[kye]

10 hours ago, Snowfun said:

Of course, it depends on the purpose. I do travel stuff (“moving postcards”) so I take what’s given to me as and when I find it. Telling a story or making a documentary would be a totally different proposition (and much much harder I guess).

Yeah, I looked for an option to make the poll so you could complete it multiple times but no such option exists, thus why I said "typical".  Many here are versatile

[Mark Romero 2]

Beer

[kye]

9 minutes ago, Mark Romero 2 said:

Beer

Wouldn't that be for after the shoot?

If you drink it before the shoot then you'd be far too relaxed, having too good a time, not be paying attention to annoying people.......   hang on a minute - I think you might be onto something here!!

[Mark Romero 2]

We plan for the beer. If any footage ends up actually being captured, that is just a bonus.

[mkabi]

On 5/7/2018 at 9:36 PM, sanveer said:

While I feel too intricate storyboarding can make a product seem very mechanical. 

This is not necessarily true.... 

In my opinion, this really belongs to a crew of more than 1 and even if that means you have actors involved. To be honest, if you are already writing a script.... bring a friend onboard... this whole, one-man/person show is not really what its cracked up to be.... especially if you are time-constrained, have a budget, etc. The friend doesn't have to be experienced or share the same interests - they could just help with the set up (bringing equipment from the truck/car, setting up lights, setting up flags, etc.) and they can even make simple comments/recommendations.

Basically, you have ideas and images in your head.... You want to communicate that to the crew... best way to do that is through storyboarding. The script is only half way to the point, and a picture is worth a million words. It also helps with identifying the shot list.

 

[kye]

More people have Shotlists and Schedules than Scripts?  Really?  How does the logic of that work?

[BTM_Pix]

8 hours ago, kye said:

More people have Shotlists and Schedules than Scripts?  Really?  How does the logic of that work?

Not all shoots have a script though.

Even if you are just going out to shoot stock footage, you'll still have a list of shots you need to get and a schedule.

Ditto any event work.

[kye]

14 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Not all shoots have a script though.

Even if you are just going out to shoot stock footage, you'll still have a list of shots you need to get and a schedule.

Ditto any event work.

Ah!  That makes sense..  Thankyou

Maybe I should have included a second question about genre - events, narrative, stock, etc.  

[Lux Shots]

The more pre-production is done, the easier the shoot day is.

I scout every location with a light meter and my camera. I take test footage and stills. I used to just take test footage, but the stills keep the lens aperture in the EXIF, so there is less to remember. I try to meter the lightest and the darkest areas so I can know the scene dynamic range, I prefer to have 8 stops or under, which gives room for highlights and practicals. I write focal lengths on my shooting script and story boards.