This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
From Outline to Shot to Scene
After working out all of the ideas that you want to use for your story, you can flesh out your shot list with additional information. This will make capturing the content on the day of the shoot a lot easier, as well as assembling the pieces later in the edit.
Organizing into Scenes and Shots
A scene in your story is a collection of shots at a particular time, in a particular place. Think back to the story of John at the keyboard with his coffee. The time is that moment when he is in front of his machine. The place is inside of his office. The cameras are not really moving here into another moment of time or place; they are just covering different angles of John that add to the emotional value of what you (as the creator) are trying to say. In this case, a scene is similar to a sequence.
)
FIGURE 3.9 Organizing the shot list into scenes makes the list more useful.
Each of your scenes should have a distinct number, and each shot that makes up the scene should have a number as well. Because of this, it would be beneficial for you to create two additional columns in your shot list: one to keep track of the scene that you are working on and the other to identify the individual shots in that scene.
You can identify scenes by numbers, and create shots with a combination of numbers and letters. For example, the fifth shot of Scene 1 would be 1E. If the number of shots in a specific scene exceeds the letters of the alphabet, start with AA and move on.
Shooting Out of Sequence
Most videos are not shot in the same linear fashion that you see them. Doing so would mean that you would have to move the camera, lighting, and talent for every shot, making the process take a lot longer than it needs to. It is more advantageous to group all of the shots of a specific type together so that you make the best use of the time when you have a camera set up in a particular way in a specific location. Once those shots are complete, you can make changes to the camera-lens-lighting setup and record the next set of shots. The result, however, is a series of clips that are completely out of order from the story. How will you know how to put all of it back together?
This is where the shot list is worth its weight in gold. Because each shot has an individual file name, you immediately have a roadmap for what shots go where and can put the story together in a snap.
Scene 1, Take 5
As much as we would like to think that production is going to go flawlessly, mistakes happen. Your talent doesn’t look in the direction you want. The camera’s batteries run out. Someone walks into the scene as you are recording. Every scene and shot will have a series of takes—attempts at delivering what you want correctly.
When you hear on TV shows “Scene 1, Take 5,” what they are saying is that it is the fifth time that this specific shot has been done, with four other times not being up to scratch. Can you have a take 37? You can. That’s usually a start to a very long day of shooting. But if you add a column to your shot list to track the good takes, you can more easily make sense of it all later.
Expanding Your Lists for the Printout
To account for the unexpected, add a column for Notes to your shot list. You can use this area to keep track of any thoughts that may come to mind before, during, or after the shoot.
Next, fill in your scene and shot numbers, but leave the Take and Notes fields empty (unless, of course, a thought has come to mind). Your list is ready—almost.
)
FIGURE 3.10 Expanding the spreadsheet for your story
On the day of the production, I recommend that you print your shot list and put it on a clipboard. I’ll give you four reasons why this will be incredibly helpful:
During the shoot, you can take a look at the list of the shots that you are working on for a quick read of what you’ve covered and what is left to do. Be sure to check off each of the shots as they are completed, guaranteeing that you don’t miss something essential.
You can fill in the Take field during the shoot. When you start recording and something goes wrong, you can pause the recording and start again—the next take. Once you get the take you want to keep, record its number in the Take field.
You can access your shot list while your phone is doing the recording. How are you going to call up Excel while the line is busy, so to speak?
You can access your list if your phone battery runs out. You know this will happen eventually, and you don’t want it to stop the production.
The biggest reason I like to use a clipboard, however, is a certain level of professionalism. Phones are so pervasive these days that a person or client could perceive you as being distracted from the project because you’re engaged with who knows what on your phone. Clipboards, however, still convey a feeling of “we are working here” and can make people stand a little straighter during the shoot day.