Woman hands holding film slate by the sea.

Embarking on a video project is an exciting endeavor! Whether you’re producing a commercial, short-form content for social media, or internal videos, there are numerous steps to ensure a smooth shoot. The key to turning your vision into reality lies in pre-production planning. Pre-production planning lays the foundation for your shoot and sets the stage for the entire project’s success. Let’s dive into the value of pre-production, review our pre-production checklist, and tips for success.

What is Pre-Production?

Before we dive into the pre-production checklist and tips for success, it’s crucial to understand this initial phase of the project. Pre-production is the organization stage before the shoot that encompasses several key activities. If done correctly, you are starting from a strong foundation for the project; however, if you don’t, you are bound to encounter troubles throughout the project. The main components of pre-production include script writing and finalization, storyboarding, casting, scheduling, budgeting, location scouting, and establishing clear communication channels. Think of pre-production as the architect’s blueprint before building; without it, the construction would lack direction and structure.

Why is Pre-Production Essential?

As stated above, pre-production matters. While people sometimes rush this stage because it’s not as exciting as production or post-production, this stage should not be rushed. To learn more about why it’s essential, keep reading.

Foundation for Creativity and Communication: Pre-production allows creative teams to explore various aspects of the story and visual presentation and goals before committing resources. This stage also ensures that everyone is on the same page so there are no significant disagreements in terms of vision during the project.
Budget Management: Detailed budget planning in pre-production prevents unexpected expenses and ensures detailed record-keeping throughout the project for your internal needs.
Enhances Quality: This production stage also gives the production team the foresight needed to avoid practical hurdles, which will save time during production, lowering your overall budget.
Saves Time: Addressing potential issues beforehand reduces production disruptions, as noted above, which can be costly and time-consuming. Nothing is worse than realizing during production that a prop is missing or the location won’t work, which will delay the project and raise the costs for labor, location, and more.

Pre-Production Checklist

While it can be daunting to organize all aspects of the shoot before you start recording, we cannot stress its importance enough. To help guide you along the way, we’ve created a pre-production checklist covering the planning process’s essential components. Your checklist might evolve and look different as you figure out what does and doesn’t work for you, but this guide should serve as the bones of your overall strategy.

Production Scheduling

The first step in your pre-production checklist should be to confirm the date(s) of production and make sure all essential personnel are available during those dates. Once that is confirmed, send a calendar invite or another form of communication that will serve as a reminder of your shoot.

Budgeting

Prepare a detailed budget with how much you can spend on the project, and estimates for each stage of the project below. As pre-production progresses in the checklist, keep the budgeting sheet updated to ensure you do not exceed your overall costs.

Scriptwriting and Revisions

Once you have completed your scheduling, you can work on your script. The scriptwriting process can vary in length depending on the type of project you are working on. Our top suggestions include ensuring you read the script aloud to hear how it all sounds, sending it to someone else for review, and being comfortable with needing to make a Plan B during production.

Storyboarding/Animatics

If the project requires a storyboard, now is the time to work on it! A storyboard will help visualize the different shots you need for your video. It will include shooting specifics, any reference images, lines, etc. This helps plan the shots and get an understanding of how everything will flow together.

Casting

Now you can move on to the most exciting part for many people: casting! Hold auditions and cast the right actors for the role. Whether you are doing only actors, VO with animation, or real-life testimonials, you want to make sure everyone understands the video’s tone, style, and goal to keep it cohesive. It’s also essential to consider availability and budgeting at this stage to ensure you aren’t exceeding the budget or attaching yourself to an actor who isn’t available at the time of production or has a conflict. This is another stage where confirming your Plan B will prevent further production delays.

Location Scouting

Identify and visit potential locations for your shoot and any spots in the area where you want to film the b-roll. Secure permissions if necessary and understand your shoot’s logistics, lighting, and sound conditions.

Day-Of Scheduling

While you already have your schedule for the overall shoot day, it’s time to draft your shoot schedule for the production days themselves. Coordinate with the cast, crew, and location, and build in buffers for unexpected delays. Your schedule should include start times, time allotted for each shot, personnel needed for the shot, as well as the equipment required for the specific shot.

Equipment and Crew

Determine the equipment needed for the shoot and ensure that you have everything available, functioning correctly, and charged. It’s also best to bring any backup batteries for production as a precaution. If you need additional crew, you can use freelancers or reach out to production companies. If you are trying to save on your budget, you can also reach out to local colleges and universities for their video production students.

Run-Throughs

The last stage of pre-production is going to be doing a run-through on the day of the shoot to ensure that everything is on location, everyone understands their role and responsibilities, and the team handling production feels as if the passing of stages is complete and they can now handle the next stage.

Expert Tips for Your Pre-Production Checklist and Planning

The top tips for succeeding in pre-production are communicating as clearly as possible. There is no such thing as too much communication during pre-production planning. Strong pre-production planning helps make sure you can adapt to changes that will happen throughout the project and pay attention to the small details, as they often make the most significant difference in production quality.

Similar to communication, there is no such thing as too much organization when planning a shoot. It’s better to spend additional time and be extra prepared than rush this stage and watch aspects of your project crumble as it moves through the stages.

To learn more tips about successful pre-production planning, read our blog on the topic!

Production

While pre-production is the planning phase, production is the action phase where your plan is executed. This stage involves direction, filming, and capturing the script in real time.

Post-Production

Once the action phase is complete, it’s time for the final stage, post-production. In this final phase, the project comes together. Editing, special effects, sound design, and color correction are vital components that enhance your project’s visual and emotional impact.

Partner with Online Optimism for All Your Video Needs

Navigating through the pre-production checklist and subsequent video stages requires expertise and precision. At Online Optimism, we are dedicated to managing every aspect of your video needs. From the meticulous pre-production checklist to polished post-production services, you can trust us to deliver a product that exceeds your expectations.

Don’t just make videos; make statements! Contact us today to get started!