Everything that has to be decided before the camera rolls, from the one-line concept to the call sheet, so the shoot day runs on rails instead of luck.
Almost every bad shoot day traces back to a pre-production decision that never got made. The footage is fine, the crew is willing, but the schedule slips, the location falls through, or nobody confirmed who is bringing the lights. Planning a video shoot is not paperwork for its own sake: it is the act of making every decision once, in advance, while it is still cheap to change, so that on the day the only thing left to do is execute. This guide walks the full pre-production arc in the order a working producer tackles it: lock the concept, break it down into what you actually need, assemble the right-sized crew, build the kit list, scout and schedule, and pin the budget. Whether you are a solo creator with a phone or a director with a commissioned brief, the same sequence keeps a shoot on time, on budget, and watchable. Where you are unsure how big to go, a remote production consult can right-size any of these stages for your exact project.
Before any gear or crew talk, write down what the video is for in one sentence: who it is for, what it should make them feel or do, and where it will live. A 30-second Instagram performance clip and a three-minute branded documentary share almost no production logic, and the platform and runtime drive every later decision. If a client or artist is involved, get this in writing as a short creative brief and have them sign off, because changing the concept after you have booked a crew is the single most expensive mistake in production.
Translate the concept into a treatment: a page or two describing the look, tone, key shots, locations, and any talent. Add references, stills, or a mood board so everyone is chasing the same picture in their head. For narrative or music work, build a shot list or a simple storyboard. The shot list is the bridge between the creative idea and the practical breakdown that follows, and it is what tells you how many setups you have to light and how long the day really is.
The breakdown is where a producer earns their fee. Go through the shot list or script and extract, for every scene, what it demands: cast, location, time of day, wardrobe, props, special equipment, and any permits or stunts. This is how you discover that scene four needs a second location and a makeup artist before you have committed money to a schedule that ignored both.
Group the requirements to find efficiencies. Shots in the same location should be shot together regardless of script order; scenes with the same actor should be clustered to limit their hours. The breakdown feeds directly into the schedule and the budget, and a thorough one is the difference between a calm day and a day where you discover a missing prop with the crew already on the clock.
Crew is your biggest variable cost and your biggest quality lever, so size it to the project rather than to ambition. A talking-head or simple social shoot can be one or two people. A commissioned music video or branded piece usually wants a small crew of four to eight. A narrative day with lighting setups, movement, and talent management is a full crew of a dozen or more. The mistake in both directions is real: too few people and the director ends up pulling cables instead of directing; too many and you are paying day rates for people standing around.
Build the crew around the work the breakdown revealed. If you have heavy lighting, you need a gaffer and likely a grip. If the camera moves, you need someone on focus. If there is talent, someone has to manage them and the schedule so the director can direct. Hire department heads first and let them tell you what support they need, rather than guessing at a flat headcount.
With the look and crew set, list the gear by department: camera and media, lenses, support and movement, lighting and grip, audio, and power. Tie every item back to a shot. If nothing in the shot list calls for slow motion you do not need a high-frame-rate body; if there is dialogue you absolutely need a proper mixer and lavs, not the camera mic. The kit list is also a budget document, because it tells you what to rent versus own and where the rental holds need to be placed early.
Plan power, media, and backups explicitly, since these are what actually stop a shoot. Count how many batteries and cards a full day burns and double it. Decide where footage gets offloaded and to how many drives. Carry spare cables, gaff tape, and a basic tool kit. The glamorous gear gets the attention; the boring consumables are what keep you rolling at hour ten.
Visit every location before the shoot, ideally at the time of day you plan to film. Check power availability, natural light direction, noise, parking, load-in distance, and whether you legally need a permit or a signed location agreement. A location that looks perfect at noon can be unusable at 5pm when the sun moves or the cafe next door turns on its music. Photograph the space and note where you will place camera, lights, and talent.
Logistics are the quiet half of producing. Sort parking and load-in, find a holding area for talent and crew, plan catering and water, and confirm bathroom access. Build a contact sheet of everyone involved with phone numbers. If you are shooting in public or in a business, secure permissions in writing. None of this shows up on screen, but all of it shows up in lost hours when it is missing.
Turn the breakdown into a realistic schedule. Order setups to minimize lighting and location changes, not to follow script order. Be honest about how long each setup takes once you add lighting, rehearsal, and resets: most first-timers plan twice as many setups as a day can hold. Build in time for lunch, company moves, and the inevitable overrun, and identify which shots are essential versus nice-to-have so you know what to cut if you fall behind.
The call sheet is the single document the whole team works from. It lists the date, locations with addresses and maps, call times per person, the shooting schedule, key contacts, weather, sunrise and sunset, and nearest hospital. Send it the night before. A clear call sheet is what lets a crew of strangers arrive, find each other, and start working without a single 'where am I supposed to be' phone call.
Cost out every line the plan implies: crew day rates, gear rental, location fees, talent, transport, catering, insurance, and post. The breakdown and kit list feed this directly, which is why the budget comes near the end rather than as a guess at the start. Compare the total to what the project can actually support and adjust scope before the shoot, never during it. If the numbers do not fit, cut a location or a crew role on paper, where it is free to do.
Hold a contingency of roughly ten to fifteen percent for the things that always go slightly wrong: an extra hour, a replacement cable, a parking ticket. The most common overspends are overtime from an over-ambitious schedule and last-minute rentals you failed to anticipate in the breakdown. The most common false economy is cutting an experienced crew member to save a day rate, then losing far more in lost time. If you are unsure how to right-size the budget for your scale, a remote production consult can sanity-check the plan before you commit money.
Hand the footage to our editors — music video editing, done to a professional standard.
Hand the footage to our editors — artist documentary editing, done to a professional standard.
Hand the footage to our editors — multicam video editing, done to a professional standard.
For a simple one or two person shoot, a few days to a week is enough to lock the concept, scout, and pull gear. For a small crew commissioned piece, give yourself two to three weeks so you can book the right people and rentals before they get taken. Full crew narrative or branded work often needs four to six weeks, mostly because crew and location availability, permits, and custom builds all have lead times you cannot compress. The bigger the crew, the earlier you commit.
The call sheet on the day, but the shot list is the document everything else depends on. The shot list tells you how many setups you have to light and shoot, which drives the schedule, the crew size, the kit list, and ultimately the budget. A vague shot list produces a vague plan and an overrunning day. Spend the time to make it specific, and the rest of pre-production becomes a series of straightforward derivations from it.
Size the crew from the breakdown, not from ambition. Cover three jobs first: who operates the camera, who controls the light, and who runs the day and manages talent. A talking head needs one or two people; a commissioned music video usually four to eight; a narrative day with movement and lighting wants twelve or more. Hire department heads and let them tell you what support they need. If you are unsure, a remote production consult can map the right crew to your exact shoot.
Roughly ten to fifteen percent of the total. Shoots run over for predictable reasons: a setup takes longer than planned, a cable dies, parking costs more, or the schedule was a touch too ambitious. A contingency line means those normal surprises do not force you to cut a hero shot or push the crew into expensive overtime. If you reach the end of a shoot and never touched it, that is a sign of a well-planned day, not wasted money.
Yes for small shoots, with discipline. On a one or two person job you are the producer, so you still have to do the breakdown, scout, schedule, and budget; you just do them yourself. The risk is that on the day you cannot direct, operate, and run logistics at once, so keep the scope tight: one location, few setups, minimal talent. As soon as the shoot grows past a handful of setups or adds talent and lighting, a dedicated producer pays for themselves in saved hours.
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