Logistics - How will the production process work? Basically, if your production has a greenlight but hasn't started shooting, it's in the pre-production stage. Go legit. But the pro tip for this stage of preproduction to is get the people you need early on board early. Maybe you can buy used stuff cheap and recoup costs renting it out later yourself. Making a film is a tricky, twisty journey and the last thing you want your awesome vision to do is to swerve off the road, down a cliff, and burst into flames just like some awful scene from a movie. Even such tiny expenses can add up. There are hundreds of little details that interlock and interact in surprising ways. This is the stuff youll need to keep track of all that money youre spending and to help you ensure that youre spending it right. Concepting - What's the big idea? Get your free copy today! Lastly, the screenwriter is responsible for the screenplay. Id rather pay the fee up front and sleep better. Its the process of getting everything you need together to successfully execute your film before you even start shooting. Its just one of the many efficiencies a schedule offers. You can draw a space, rooms, characters in that space, etc. 17. Always look up the requirements before you enter a festival. Nothing crazy. Like thousands, tens of thousands, or even more. 4. Switch actors up for different roles. After you lock the screenplay, all the elements on page 4 will always be on page 4, even if you decide later to add two pages after page 3. Act three of our pre production checklist begins here By now you've got a lot of the key components in place. Design - What's your animation going to look like? Title. Script changes will happen mid shoot, but the whole point of the pre production process in film is to head many of those missteps off at the pass. Trust your vision to some degree. Keeping those costs in mind should figure heavily into how to plan a short film. If the storyboard was the dynamic comic book, the production design is the static fine painting which captures a mood rather than the flow. The importance of trusting your team is knowing that everyone knows their job, and knows what to do, so you can concentrate on storytelling and your actors. In fact, if youre planning on just working in your house with friends, using your own equipment, you can skip this whole part. When writing a feature on spec, you usually dont have to overthink the scripts budget. You don't want to cramp his or her artistic freedom with dollar signs concerns if you don't have to. Upload a file or document. Really your production calendar is the place where the entire life-cycle of the project is written down and tracked. Once youve audited the screenplay thoroughly, and have one scene number per slug line, you're ready to lock the screenplay. Producers, department heads, maybe even some actors. And auditing your script? Wed say for a short film of about 5-15 minutes; these are the key roles you need: If on a low budget, you can skip the AD as you can be your own AD unless you hate paperwork and scheduling. Okay, thats a bit extreme but there have been several studies showing that its harder for people to identify sound than it is to identify image. But chances are, if your project has been viewed on Youtube, many festivals wont accept it anymore as many of them want to be the first to screen your movie. If youre just shooting something off your mobile device for a Periscope session, thats one thing. Nail them down for the shooting schedule. Storyboarding - What scenes will be in your animation? Its not me! At some point, stop with the prep, let go, and move forward. At the end of the day, a short film is just a short movie with a clear, compelling story. First up: check for missing sluglines! You can even start learning about and using production calendar softwarein StudioBinder to plan out a project before youre ready. From here, either you selected some you like for callbacks, they come in and audition again or you already make your choice. But dont be surprised if your budget changes anyway! Your production management software is going to see these as two different sets. Can you sacrifice some money elsewhere to secure the dream location? Some filmmakers also organize table reads to hear the actors play the characters and to get a feel for the script. It covers everything from pre-production (e.g., hiring crew members) to post-production (e.g., submitting paperwork for permits and licenses). Thanks to StudioBinder, your stripboards no longer have to look like this: In StudioBinder, they can look like this: Here you can determine which scenes to shoot on which days. 1. Also: virtually all rental houses will NOT let you use their equipment without insurance. One last thing; always let the camera run for a little longer and take extra shots, this will allow you so much more room to play in the editing where new ideas might germ. Or make changes to it. For a deeper dive into this topic, download our FREE E-book: A Filmmaker's Guide to Script Breakdowns. You could estimate some parts, like equipment rental fees or transportation. From developing a concept, exploring the look of your film, storyboarding scenes and much more. Let's examine what a pre-production checklist might look like for a low-budget, narrative short film. So lets get this process going! Callbacks are a great thing for an actor, it means you liked their attitude, outfit, and performance. You need to be meticulous, no detail should be left uncovered. Hear how the story sounds out from real human voices. Visual Style and Overall Look and Feel. https://www.storyboardthat.com/articles/f/preproduction-checklist-for-film, *(This Will Start a 2-Week Free Trial - No Credit Card Needed). Get started for free and see how we can help you bring your vision to life. More and more people are flocking to the small screen to find daily entertainment. Before hitting the accelerator make sure to grab a pre-production checklist for your upcoming tasks. Having both hats is highly stressful and depends on what kind of person you are. Often in callbacks, you might have more people with you than just the AD, you might also invite other crew members or producers depending on the size of your short. For rental equipment, you may need to add a day or two, to account for your pickup and drop off days. Your calendar, along with all associated tasks, will be laid out for you to review. By hook or by crook, you're gonna crew up at step 12. A simple lunch scene will need hamburgers, soda cans, ketchup bottles, napkins, a salt shaker, and maybe 10 other items. Filmmaking can take that idea one step further: a genius movie is 1 percent realization and 99 percent preparation. Your production budget is your short films spine. Not every step is always 100% necessary, and you dont need to follow the order I provided, but using this checklist can help any filmmaker prepare to create anything from a DYI YouTube video to an ad, or even a feature film. For our purposes, a screenplay is really just a piece of computer code. But if not, that hire can wait. Prep for the your tech scout by checking out ourlocation scouting cheatsheet. Blank 1099s? People like the shorthand they have with certain peers. It helps decide the visual themes of the film and assists every department from wardrobe to makeup and set builders. Surprise, surprise, you can do this right in StudioBinder too. The director will help you find the cinematographer. Well, time to make sure any of those people who need to weigh in have had a chance to do so. Take your time with this one. Get to the point where you have a "locked . Fortunately, with a short screenplay, your audit job shouldnt take very long. Just to get a sense of a timeline. Every story starts with a concept. You go into each phase of preproduction, and ultimately production itself, as prepared as possible. From short films to documentaries, music videos to commercials, the power of video production can capture emotions, share knowledge, and inspire audiences worldwide. Equipment Camera, sound, lighting, grip. Now you have to make sure the final superficial touches are in place. Lets go through the whole process step by step, and as we parse it out youll find that its not so daunting after all. Scene 8 will still be scene 8. From there, a lot of things have to come together. Like with many steps, you may have started the casting process already. We'll go into more detail on this soon. Pre-Production Checklist List making is at the forefront of planning for a big project. If youre doing this indie style, that may mean friends and family at first, professional colleagues later. There isnt a great way to estimate how much your crew will charge, so I recommend thinking of this the other way around: How much are you willing to pay? Too much preparation can make the creation rigid. On the other hand, I once produced a short where we had to build a greenhouse, and a hut in the middle of a desert. Each breakdown sheet contains information about just one scene in your screenplay. I've based it on a mirrorless camera. I call this process auditing the screenplay. The script breakdown is essentially a scene by scene inventory of absolutely everything which will be needed during the production. Before you can start the pre-production process, you will need an organized plan. Where will the truck(s) park? If you add a few scenes after scene 7? Especially as it might be the first time on location for most of them. Some people love them, some dont work with them. You owe it to yourself to know what resources are truly available to your vision. This part is the worst and dreariest part of your journey, filled with thorny legal concerns and expense run-ups. Your production office may just be a laptop and a binder. Click the "Upload file" button or just drag a file onto your board. Don't move in before you've installed the plumbing. Youre just about ready to shoot your masterpiece. The first step in making a short film? The dirty secret is that your production budget will remain a living, breathing document throughout production. But of course, that creative benefit comes at a price - literally . Make sure that EVERY slugline in your screenplay is correctly formatted. Where will holding be for extras? Now what? In this article, we will take a look at why a movie pre-production checklist is important and everything you need to include. Setup Your Project. Here's what each of them is responsible for. The shot list, like the storyboard, issues from the creative side of the production, but in effect creates a bridge into the real world equations of actually making the film. Then everything from the budget to the schedule will fall into place. So how can you break put from the pack and get your idea onto the small screen? If your screenplay has special circumstances (such as an int/ext scene), or if youd like to get into the details, heres a very useful overview of proper formatting for pre-production. DEAL MEMOS: Deal Memos are essentially short contracts. Its learning how to plan a short film. What type of last minute planning and changes should be made? But the real magic of breakdown sheets isnt in the individual sheets themselves. Ascript breakdown is a scene-by-scene list of all of the elements in your screenplay. If something bad happens on your set and you don't have insurance, your problems will go far beyond not getting all your shots done that day. Heres the deal with that: screenplays are written to be readable, to flow, to present a good story. Late lunch, malfunctioning equipment, or missing actors can get you behind schedule and make your set a circus! 1. In this video, we break down their role even more. Download our FREE e-book to learn the in's and out's of breaking a script, categorizing elements, and generating reports. Your initial step in figuring out how to plan a short film is to prepare all three of these documents. It's that simple. I often find that I plug in crew rates early in the budgeting process, then come back and tweak them at the end. How Whiplash Went From a Short to a Feature. It's where you list each individual shot you require. Assuming he wears the same thing in the whole short. Dot your i's and cross your t's. Notice that the way these sub-accounts are numbered makes it very easy to figure out to which account they belong. You could end up spending a lot on entry fees, so choose wisely! Being uninsured when something goes wrong can really cost money. Hold rehearsals and camera tests. Some props. Part 3. Then you can wrangle the numerous elements required to bring your film to life. On any scale budget, its good practice to budget things out in a spreadsheet using a trusty free budget template like this from Studiobinder. This would help avoid having 20 minutes of nothing between two auditions. Download our FREE e-book to learn the in's and out's of breaking a script, categorizing elements, and generating reports. You and the pertinent crew will travel to the locations and walk through the plan. The vast majority of professional film productions use some form of scheduling software, and this is because it is one of the most valuable tools in film. Finalize the Budget. If we watch the same movie once with great image quality and great sound quality, and another time with great image quality and poor sound quality, most people will think the second movie has a poorer image. A floor plan shows a view from above. If youre ready to learn more, check out my post on your short films fiscal infrastructure. Scheduling and budgeting a short film can be a lot of work. A DOOD report tells you which days of your production schedule each element is working. Those of you that follow my Sunday newsletter (micro-budget weekly), know how much I love DIY filmmaking. Make equipment list. Festivals can be an amazing way to meet other filmmakers, and producers and to create a name for yourself. Youve got to re-shoot now in three different locations! Its all good: limitations can create great art, too. Your production calendar might give you clues as to potential expenses that you should budget for. Its a true lynch pin of pre-production. When applying this rule, youll see youll have greater performances and more motivation from your actors. Make sure you have a plan B in case it rains. But you can and should start it now. If your project is going to have heavy make-up requirements then thats someone you'd want in during this phase. Your stripboard forms the backbone of your production schedule. Open this template by clicking Use Template. Filmmaking can take that idea one step further: a genius movie is 1 percent realization and 99 percent preparation. If your short film is simple, with few expenses, you might have already outlined your production budget on a napkin. Sometimes, the director might make minor adjustments before the screenplay is locked.". Because you want to create wiggle room. Before even thinking about getting short film funding, you need to know how much funding you need. If youd like, you can get fancy, scheduling company moves, meal breaks, and other details. Additionally, your AD (or yourself) will prepare a call sheet. What makes production complicated are all of the additional factors that have nothing to do with the motion picture. You could have written the best script since Casablanca, but without a Bogey and Bergman, it could all have been a big waste. Dont worry though. When it comes to figuring out how to make a short film script, there are a lot of factors to consider. You also might have certain crew members who dont work the full production. 2. That's why we want to share our resources with you for free. Its, in our opinion, indispensable. Location scouting is a process. Youve also learned how to do it. So that actor or DP could also be one of your producers. Or see what fits into your budget. Next up make sure that your set names are consistent. You have to find a way to be comfortable in the balance between your vision and your resources.
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