Pre-production: script, storyboard and shot list

Two students shoot the same scene: one storyboards and shot-lists it first, the other 'plays it by ear' on the day. What difference does pre-production make?

1. 01Trace the unplanned shoot

   Without a plan, the second student improvises set-ups, forgets to capture reverse angles and an establishing shot, and runs out of time - returning with patchy, hard-to-cut material.

2. 02Trace the planned shoot

   With a storyboard and shot list, the first student works through a known set of shots, captures full coverage from the right side of the line, and finishes on schedule.

3. 03See the edit consequence

   In post-production, the planned footage cuts together seamlessly; the improvised footage has gaps and continuity errors that no editing can fully repair.

4. 04Draw the principle

   Pre-production did not just organise the shoot; it protected the film's quality by ensuring the necessary material was captured - the payoff of planning where changes are still cheap.

Result: The comparison shows pre-production as the safeguard of a production's quality - the planned shoot captures what the edit needs, the improvised one does not.

A student writes: 'Tom remembered his late father and felt overwhelming regret about their last argument.' Rewrite this as filmable screenplay action.

1. 01Identify the unfilmable content

   'Remembered', 'felt overwhelming regret' and 'their last argument' are inner states and past events the camera cannot photograph directly.

2. 02Find the visible equivalent

   Decide what Tom would DO that a camera could capture and that would convey the feeling: handling an object of his father's, stopping, a change in his face and posture.

3. 03Write it in present-tense action

   'INT. ATTIC - DAY. Tom lifts a worn watch from a box. He turns it over, thumb tracing the cracked glass. His hand stills. He sets it down, jaw tight, and does not move.'

4. 04Check the discipline

   Every line now describes only what can be seen; the regret is externalised into filmable behaviour, letting the film SHOW rather than tell.

Result: The unfilmable prose becomes properly formatted, visual screenplay action - demonstrating the core screenwriting discipline of writing only what the camera can capture.

You storyboard a two-character conversation. How does drawing it help you guarantee a seamless Classical Hollywood Style edit?

1. 01Draw the establishing shot

   Panel one: a wide shot showing both characters and the space, fixing their screen positions (A left, B right) for the audience and for you.

2. 02Draw the singles on one side of the line

   Panels of A and B in single shots and reverses, all sketched from the same side of the axis, so you can SEE that their screen positions and the camera side stay consistent.

3. 03Check the eyelines and cut points

   Draw the characters' gaze directions so A appears to look towards B's position and vice versa (matched eyelines), and mark where you will cut (on a reaction, on an action).

4. 04Confirm coverage

   Reviewing the panels, confirm you have an establishing shot, matched singles and reverses, and any inserts - the full coverage an invisible edit needs, all planned before the shoot.

Result: The storyboard is used to design and verify continuity - consistent screen positions, matched eyelines, planned cut points and full coverage - so the seamless edit is guaranteed on paper before shooting.

Your scene cuts between a character inside a house and their point of view of the street outside. In story order the shots alternate inside/outside/inside/outside. How should the shot list schedule them?

1. 01See the inefficiency of story order

   Shooting in story order would mean moving the camera and re-lighting between inside and outside repeatedly - slow and wasteful of limited time.

2. 02Group by set-up

   Reorder the shot list to capture ALL the interior shots together (one lighting and camera set-up), then ALL the exterior shots together - even though they will be intercut in the edit.

3. 03Keep the reference numbers

   Retain each shot's number so that, although shot out of order, the footage can be reassembled into story order in post-production without confusion.

4. 04Confirm coverage in each group

   Check each group includes the establishing and reverse shots and any inserts needed, so both the interior and exterior will cut together seamlessly.

Result: The shot list is scheduled by set-up rather than story order, saving time and re-lights while preserving reference numbers and coverage - the practical planning that makes a limited shoot succeed.

In your notebook you must justify opening your film on a slow crane shot down to a lone figure in a wide, empty landscape. How do you write it?

1. 01Describe the choice precisely

   State the shot: a slow crane descending from a high wide view to settle on a single small figure in a vast, empty landscape, held as a long take.

2. 02State the intended effect

   Explain what you want it to do: establish the setting, and above all dwarf and isolate the figure so the audience feels their smallness and solitude before the story begins.

3. 03Justify in film-language terms

   Tie technique to effect: the extreme long scale isolates the figure; the descending crane moves us from the world's scale to the individual; the long take and deep space give a realist, contemplative weight.

4. 04Note the rejected alternative

   Record the choice on the axis: 'I rejected opening on a tight close-up because it would create intimacy, not the isolation I want; the wide realist long take suits the theme of solitude better.'

Result: The opening shot is justified by describing it, stating its intended effect, reasoning in film-language terms, and weighing the rejected alternative - the considered justification the director's notebook (and the highest marks) require.