Pre-production work is essential to creating any film project’s success, whether short or feature length. Careful planning must take place at every step of production: from developing a captivating story and script, through shooting schedule planning, team building and ensuring everyone on set are on board.
Moodboards are an effective way to explore visual directions. From character looks, lighting and color of scenes or set design. Plus, moodboards allow for creative freedom as you add any reference images, video or sound from previous projects you may have used as references for future ones. You can create multiple moodboards and select which ideas work best with your project.
Once your Moodboards have been completed, the next step should be Storyboarding the key scenes of your film. Storyboards can help visualize the flow of your movie, control pacing and timing and establish a clear vision for its completion.
Storyboards can be created either independently or collaboratively with your team, and both approaches may lead to better decisions that more accurately reflect the original vision. Collaborating is particularly advantageous as different ideas will likely come up from different people that you didn’t anticipate before. Ideally, all contributors’ input should be utilized and taken into consideration so as to achieve optimal results that better meet everyone’s visions and requirements.
Pre-production budget planning is of utmost importance when creating any film or other media project, including determining how much is necessary to cover everything from locations and equipment rentals to costumes and props, cast and crew salaries, location fees, post production costs etc. Making a plan will prevent overspending on projects which would otherwise go beyond their budget or spending less than necessary on post production costs.
Pre-production requires an additional step: scouting locations. Scouting potential locations is a crucial element to bring your story to life; it will determine its look and feel as well as securing permits necessary for production. It is crucial that the right location fits both your needs and budget while also meeting any legal requirements that might exist for filming in its specific locale.
At this point, it is also an opportunity to experiment with different camera angles, take test shots, and get familiar with your environment. Meeting with your team and reviewing script and storyboards helps everyone stay on the same page during this stage. In addition, now is an ideal time to establish clear contracts so there won’t be any unpleasant surprises further down the road.
No matter how well planned is, unexpected challenges and problems will inevitably arise on set. Every filmmaker must be flexible enough and prepared for these potential hiccups as best as they can; having a solid team of professionals at their side will help minimize these problems as much as possible.
