Preproduction, preproduction, preproduction!

There is a quote I love that says “Prodigious Preproduction Planning Prevents Piss-Poor

Postproduction” (Ronald Petrie). The degree of success achieved from a film production heavily depends on the amount of effective preproduction that takes place! I can't stress this enough. The more heart a person puts into planning, imagining, and preparing for a shoot, the freer they are during the shoot to be inspired and maximize their creative potential. It further enables you to tell a story that people will be able to feel and understand. The more effort put into preproduction, the better a film or video can effectively communicate its message to its viewers. Going back to reshoot scenes or dialogue you wish were included in the final video can become very expensive. It's kind of like building a house.  Imagine building a home without an actual blueprint or any idea where to put the electrical outlets. What a mess! It's better to thoroughly think about all the rooms and features you want to be included in your home before the building takes place. Going back to add a larger kitchen, or an extra bedroom, all of a sudden becomes very timely and expensive. 

You might ask, "what is effective preproduction"? There are all different levels of preproduction that can take place, but there are two very important parts that are critical. Setting your overall vision needs to be prepared with a script and a storyboard. A script is the written roadmap of your production. It describes the story of your film or video and contains the dialogue the talent will be acting out. Whether for a feature film or just a 15 second Facebook ad, the talent needs to know what they are going to say. Sure there is a time and a place for improvisation, but if you have a certain message you want to convey, it's so important the talent knows beforehand what their lines are. Coming up with a script while the camera is running is amateur, wastes time, and the overall outcome is usually junk. Trust me your audience will notice. Your lack of preparation will shine through. A script also serves as a foundation for building a storyboard and producing cinematic images. 

Check out this awesome free storyboard website!

A storyboard is a sequence of illustrations or images that corresponds with the script. The storyboard helps determine which images are best suited for certain parts of the script and assists in you seeing how to more effectively convey your message. It helps you determine your lighting, location, and lens choices. It's in the process of putting the storyboard together that buzzing lightbulbs of inspiration turn on, that show to your mind images that strongly speak your message. This is where you get to design how to move people, inspire them, or whatever the purpose of your film or video is. While looking through the storyboard you can also see whether certain sequences or scenes need to be modified, or even removed from the video. It's often that people have an idea for a video but don't realize it's not the most effective way to tell the story. Reading through a storyboard helps you see this. It helps you to imagine the final product and see if the video is built appropriately. It helps you see if it may be boring, too long, too wordy, too moody, too happy, or too short. It's true, an awesome video can be made without a script or storyboard, but truuuust me, these tools are here for your benefit. They save time, money, and ultimately help maximize the strength and amazingness of your film or video. With preparation comes freedom and creativity.