Pre Production Advice

By Beth Walls


In all walks of life, I'm terribly unorganised. I don't have a fixed location for anything, be it keys, mobile phone or even the bacon sandwich I'd misplaced two days ago, (turns out I'd left it in the shed while looking for the dustpan). In fact I recently found out my housemates have made a habit of hanging up my keys whenever they see them somewhere they know I'll never find - and I'm sure they're sick and tired of the phrase "can you ring my phone?".

Scripting and storyboarding are important in the pre-production of a project, they make sure that there is a vision and plan for when it comes to the filming. They both take on crucial features of the filming process. Scripting is crucial to ensure that all the needed material is included, whether this is a well developed script leaving no room of improvisation or bullet pointed topics of conversation. Scripting is not just used for speech but can also be used for movement, to express a specific message through the gestures of the actor or actress. Scripting and storyboarding are quite similar, one dealing with the people/person being shot and the other dealing with those behind the camera, filming the action. Storyboarding provides for a visual for the various shots that could be used during filming, so that everyone included has a definite understanding of exactly what the final outcome will look like shot by shot, and also to ensure filming on the day runs effortlessly. The storyboards do not have to be drawn amazingly, yet they are important to structure how the filming will take place with the various camera angles and shots.

You should be asking questions such as: What am I trying to achieve with my video? What am I going to shoot? What locations/people/resources do I need to accomplish my goals? What can I remove to simplify the process? Where is my video going to be shown and what do I need to do during production to make sure it displays correctly?

This process begins before you've even begun filming, I mean if you're begin editing a film that had no strategic or methodical terms of planning, then you're going to get nowhere when it comes to compiling the footage. I recently came across this LAMBDA Films video that details some simple ways of developing an idea of what you want your video to look like before you've even started shooting it. I've included a link to the video below.

Looking back at when I started becoming interested in filming and production I did not recognise the significance of storyboarding until it was way to late - on the day of filming when things became very intense and stressful with the deadline rapidly approaching. Without a structured storyboard the day was very unorganised and unenjoyable. I have however, learnt from past errors and since then have made sure that a well thought through storyboard always features in the pre-production process. Making sure that it continues to develop and progress all through the entire planning period to ensure that we are all happy with the end result.

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