If you have an important video project coming up, planning is everything. Ben Pitt shares some strategies to prevent your shoot descending into chaos
The thing I love most about video production is how it draws together so many different skills and people. One minute I might be adjusting the white balance on my camera, the next I’m dancing on the edge of a roof wearing size 11 high heels. The medium of moving pictures is a melting pot of written words, acting, photography, costume design, makeup, architecture, interior design, carpentry, painting, computer-generated imagery, music and dance. Anything goes, and often it all has to come together at the same time while the camera is rolling.
Making videos with friends, family or colleagues on a low budget can be a wonderfully chaotic experience, but sometimes it’s worth applying some discipline. If you have a clear idea of what you want to see in your finished video, then you need a clear set of steps to get you there. A wise person learns from their mistakes, but an even wiser one learns from other people’s. This article brings together the things I wish I’d known when I started making videos.
PRE-PRODUCTION
Video production is unlike most art forms in that it doesn’t really lend itself to doodling. You can’t just pick up a video camera, start shooting and realistically expect something interesting to come of it. Planning is essential, and the first step is a strong idea. I believe that every video production should have a clear, concise point to it – something that you could describe in a single sentence. It might be “Grandad had a surprise birthday party and the whole family was there”, or “Our oak tables are hand-made with love”, or perhaps “Aliens invade Earth and are defeated by ants”. If you can’t distil the idea down to a few words, the video will probably end up being a bit rambling and vague, too. Get a grasp on the central message of your production and everything else can flow from it.
Feature-length films are very often divided into three acts. The first is the exposition, which reveals the central characters and the world they exist in. The end of the first act is marked by an event that upsets the status quo, and sets the characters on some kind of narrative journey. The third act is the resolution, and you can usually spot where it starts because the protagonist is often at his or her lowest point just before the third act. After the dramatic climax, there’s usually some kind of epilogue where we see things settled down into a new status quo.
It’s easy to see how this kind of structure works for a Hollywood blockbuster, but it may not seem appropriate for a short film about beekeeping. However, if you’re struggling to turn a single-sentence concept into a structured story, dividing it into acts is a good way to start. Even a five-minute film starring your children will benefit from an exposition, narrative journey and dramatic climax.
Next comes the screenplay or script. This isn’t just a transcript of the words that will be spoken. It should also include descriptions of the scenes, acting directions and anything else that’s required to tell the story. If your screenplay is an enjoyable read, you’re halfway towards making a good video.
Many video productions will go straight to shooting from here, but I would always recommend creating a storyboard. While the script provides a set of instructions for the actors, the storyboard does the same thing for the camera operator. Each camera angle is represented by a sketch, and it’s tremendously useful to have a list of shots that you can work through and tick off as you shoot.
A storyboard will help you think about the various kinds of camera angles you might use: establishing shots to help the viewer understand the location, long shots to show characters in their environment, medium shots of upper bodies and close-ups of faces. You might also want reaction shots to show what people are thinking or feeling while someone else is talking. These different types of shots should tie in to the dialogue and action, and it’s much easier to plan this in advance rather than make it up as you go along while shooting.
A storyboard will also help to avoid clumsy edits. The 30-degree rule states that, when cutting between two camera angles of the same subject, there should be at least 30 degrees movement of the camera. Otherwise the edit looks visually jarring, for reasons we won’t dissect here. It’s really difficult to avoid this without a storyboard.
It doesn’t matter how good or bad your drawing skills are. Even the scruffiest sketches will serve as a reminder of what shots you’re going to capture. I usually tackle this by printing out some 16:9 boxes on a sheet of A4 paper and drawing with a pen.
To take it one step further, consider making an animatic. This is an animated storyboard, complete with recorded dialogue and put together in video-editing software. At its simplest it could just be the static, hand-drawn storyboard frames sequenced together, with you doing all the voices for the various characters. If there are complex shots with moving cameras and different elements entering and exiting the frame, it might be worth animating them.
This is easier than it sounds, as long as your editing software supports blend modes. Rather than draw all the storyboard elements in a single frame, draw them separately, scan them and cut them out as individual JPEG files. You can then import them into your editing software on different tracks and use the object animation tools to resize and move them around the frame. Setting their blend mode (either per object or per track) to Darken or Multiply mode means the white background of each JPEG won’t obscure the objects behind.
The advantage of an animatic is that it gives you a clear idea of the pace of a video production. It brings the storyboard alive to reveal how the various close-ups, long shots and other shots interact with each other. It should also help you to spot when you really need a certain type of shot, especially at the start or end of a scene, to help one scene flow into the next. Big-budget productions often have to call actors back to reshoot a scene, perhaps because there’s a single shot that didn’t quite work. That’s rarely possible when shooting on a low budget, so an animatic can minimise the chance of missing a crucial shot.
Animatics can be created in any editing software that supports multiple tracks and allows objects to be animated around the frame, which is virtually all of them these days. Adobe Premiere Elements is particularly good for this, but you should be able to use whatever editor is your current choice. I used Sony Vegas Pro for this shoot.
PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST
If you’re working on a shoestring budget, there’s a fair chance you’ll be the screenplay writer, storyboard artist, director and editor for the project. There’s nothing wrong with that, and there are many internationally acclaimed filmmakers who like to keep a tight control over every part of the process. However, there’s a lot to be said for handing over the reins for someone to bring a fresh perspective to a project. Meanwhile, there are other jobs that need to be done at the same time while shooting. The more people you can get involved, the more they’ll be able to concentrate on a specific job.
Bigger productions will start with a producer, who is essentially in charge of the money. They hire the rest of the team, and they’ll often be involved in creative decisions, too. The director is the lead creative person, and is ultimately responsible for everything except the money.
Most productions will need at least one person in front of the camera and one person operating it. If you have enough funds to pay people – or volunteers to call on – there are lots of roles to dish out to keep everyone busy. The camera operator is self-explanatory, and it’s a largely technical job of making sure the camera settings are correct, the subject is the frame and in focus and keeping an eye on battery and storage capacity. On big productions, moving the camera is a job in its own right, and it’s done by a grip. A grip specialises in dollies (wheels, often on tracks), cranes, Steadicam and anything else that may be required to move the camera while recording.
The cinematographer or director of photography (often shortened to DP) is more interested in the artistic side of what the camera can see. He or she will be in charge of lighting, and will be on the lookout for strong compositional shapes in the frame. The DP may be in charge of a number of camera operators and lighting engineers, and liaises between them and the director.
SOUND DECISION
Sound is sometimes overlooked when shooting a video, but I’d argue that it’s just as important as the video itself. There’s a basic problem in that the best place for the microphone is rarely anywhere near the camera, and so external microphones are a must if you want to capture speech.
A boom microphone hovering just out of shot is standard practice for professional productions. Where that isn’t possible, such as for long shots, the dialogue will be recorded separately, usually as a separate studio recording session, known as automated dialogue replacement, or ADR. ADR is useful because you can record dialogue in controlled conditions, but making it sit convincingly in the mix isn’t easy. I’d recommend recording all the dialogue on location and, if necessary, use the audio from one take with the video from another to maintain a consistent microphone position throughout the scene.
If you don’t have access to a boom microphone and a dedicated person to operate it, consider using a handheld audio recorder that you can conceal somewhere on the set that won’t be visible to the camera but is reasonably close to the people speaking.
Lots of cameras include an input for an external microphone, but only some include proper volume control, metering and a headphone output. An external sound recorder makes it much easier to keep on top of the sound, especially if you’re able to put one person in charge of it.
On-location sound recording usually only captures the dialogue, with all other sounds recorded, simulated or picked from sound libraries at a later date. However, it’s often useful to record some background ambience on location, just in case it comes in useful while editing.
Depending on your budget and the type of video you’re producing, you might also have a dedicated person in charge of costumes, hair and makeup. The production designer is in charge of the shooting location, including props, custom-built sets and so on. If you don’t have lots of people to share these roles out, then double up the jobs but make sure that someone is thinking about these areas so they don’t get overlooked.
A script supervisor or continuity supervisor is there to ensure that the various shots will join together without any glaring inconsistencies. Classic examples are when an actor takes sunglasses off, only for them to reappear in the next shot, or when props mysteriously jump from one hand to another. These things aren’t the end of the world but they can distract the viewer from the story by highlighting the filmmaking process.
The unsung heroes of the production crew are the runners. They make tea, run errands and generally keep things moving. In my experience of working in small production teams with a tiny budget, it’s a massive help to have someone who doesn’t have a specific creative role but who can keep the show on the road – keeping an eye on the clock, knowing where everyone is, making sure they’re fed and watered and being ready to step in to help out whenever it’s needed.
GET SET
On the subject of clocks, it’s essential to have a detailed schedule. Number the shots in your storyboard and work out if there’s a better order to shoot them other than chronologically. If shots 16, 19 and 25 use the same camera angle, you may as well capture them together. You may also want to tackle the more complex shots earlier in the day while you still have all your mental faculties. If you need your actors to appear tired, angry or generally fed up, schedule those towards the end and they shouldn’t have to dig too deep to find some motivation for the scene.
Print out the storyboard in the order you want to shoot and leave space to write notes beside each shot. It’s usually pretty clear at the time which takes are successful and which are no use. It’s a bad idea to start deleting takes while shooting – I’ve only ever pressed ‘Delete All’ by mistake once, and I never want to do it again. However, it’s useful to be able to disregard takes that you know are no use when you start editing, and these notes will save a lot of time.
I’d also recommend assigning a certain amount of time to each shot. Allow extra time whenever the camera needs to be moved, and more when there’s a change of scene, costume or any other interruption. Don’t forget to include breaks for food. Write the start time for each shot on the schedule. Share this schedule in advance with the team so everyone knows roughly what to expect. However, warn them that it’s only a guide. You don’t want people wandering off because they think they’re not needed for a couple of hours. Video production involves; a lot of standing around, but it’s essential that people are ready and waiting whenever the director needs them.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Putting a team together is probably the hardest and most important part of pre-production. The other big challenge - particularly when working on a tight budget - is finding a suitable location to shoot in. It’s not realistic to build a set especially, and it’s not easy to get permission to shoot in public places. Most domestic rooms aren’t big enough to fit the people and equipment you’re likely to need. I’ve often had the camera pressed against the wall with a wide-angle lens, trying to fit all the actors into a scene while struggling to keep the equipment and crew out of shot.
Consider paying to use a location, whether it’s a village hall, a cafe used out-of-hours or an acquaintance’s garden or open-plan living room. If you have a budget, this might be the place to blow it. Search for ‘film location’ and you’ll find agencies that specialise in providing locations for the film industry, ranging from leisure centres to luxury apartments and mountain retreats. While there’s fun to be had improvising sets and props with next to no budget, being able to walk into the perfect location gives you a big head start.
When you’ve found a suitable location, take your camera there and see if there’s enough light to shoot at a slow ISO speed. It’s generally a bad idea to rely on sunlight, as the changing sun position and clouds can lead to continuity errors from shot to shot. If the artificial lights are insufficient, you’ll need to hire lights or a lens with a wider aperture, or settle for faster ISO speeds and the picture noise that comes with it. These aren’t the kinds of decisions you’ll want to be making when you’re trying to shoot the footage, so get it sorted beforehand.
Think about whether you want to move the camera for any of the shots. If so, figure out how you’re going to do this – and practise – well in advance. I looked at equipment for moving cameras in Multimedia Expert, Shopper 321, and one of the simpler but effective methods was using a metal frame such as the Hague CamFrame, which gives you something more substantial to hold on to.
Then there’s the basic but essential stuff such as batteries and media, and perhaps a laptop for backup and playback on set. Pack some black string and black gaffa tape. I’ve lost count of the number of times this has saved my bacon when trying to improvise my way through a scene. Make sure there’s food and drink for everyone, and that everyone knows where they need to be and when.
If you don’t want to get sued, do a risk assessment. This is a fairly simple bit of paperwork that proves you’ve taken steps to avoid injury to other people. Search for ‘risk assessment video shoot’ for examples and templates. You should also get an insurance policy in case someone injures themselves while shooting. This will include public liability and possibly employer’s liability too. Talk to an insurer and explain what you’re doing and they’ll be able to advise what kind of cover you’ll need.
ON THE DAY
Some video shoots are well organised and relaxed. In my experience, most are the exact opposite, especially when everyone’s doing it without pay. In that situation, the director can’t be an angst-ridden auteur barking instructions at people. It’s his or her job to keep everyone on side and committed to the success of the project.
If the director has successfully delegated the various other jobs to other people, the main job that’s left is to direct the actors and to take an overview of the shoot. The cinematographer may have created some stunning atmospheric lighting, but does it enhance the message of the scene?
It’s also worth looking out for details. Is an extra staring directly at the camera, is someone smiling when they shouldn’t be, is there a prop behind an actor that looks like comedy ears? Is someone forgetting to act when they’re not speaking? It’s easy to miss these things while shooting but impossible to ignore them when you come to edit.
Then there’s the technical side. If you’re using separate devices for sound and picture recordings, it’s essential they’re captured at the same time, every time. Someone on the team – usually the director – should ensure that both are recording before verbally announcing the scene, shot number and take number. Someone should stand in front of the camera and use a clapperboard or a hand clap to give an audio-visual cue to help synchronise the video and audio on the soundtrack.
Always capture a few seconds of footage before the dialogue starts and after it finishes in a shot. The easiest way to do this is to ask the actors to wait for an ‘Action’ instruction before they start to deliver their lines, but you’ll also want them to be in character for a couple of seconds before they speak, and stay in character after they finish. This provides a buffer so you can choose when to cut from one shot to the next. Shots often need a bit of space, especially when moving from one scene to another.
Finally, don’t forget the age-old tradition of a wrap party. Video production is tremendous fun but also pretty exhausting, so make sure you show your team some appreciation when the job is done.