What Happens in Pre-Production, and Why Does It Matter?
Pre-production is the planning between saying yes and the first day of filming. It covers the audience and message, the script or shot list, the schedule and run sheet, locations, crew, gear and the people on camera. It matters because most of a video's quality is decided there. When it's done well, shoot day looks effortless, because the problems were found and solved weeks earlier. When it's rushed, they turn up on set or in the edit, where they cost more to fix.
Key Facts
- For a conference or event opener, we ask for about four months' lead time.
- We settle what happens if the day runs over at the start of the pre-production meeting.
- Our director of photography has built a rough 3D model of a hired location from photos, to test the lighting before the shoot.
- We aim to be on site before talent call time, so the people on camera don't watch the set-up.
What Gets Decided in Pre-Production?
Almost everything that shapes the shoot. By the time the crew arrives, each of these should be settled, with a name against anything still open.
| Decision | What it covers | Usually led by |
|---|---|---|
| Audience and message | Who the video is for, and what they should take away | You, with the production team |
| Script or shot list | A script, or for loose social content, a list of the moments to capture | Production team |
| Schedule and run sheet | The day block by block, with access, set-up, filming windows and the hard finish | Production team |
| People on camera | Who appears, when they're free, and that they know what's happening | You |
| Locations | Which spaces are yours to use, what the entrance looks like, parking and access | Both |
| The look | Wardrobe, props, production design and the lighting plan | Production team |
| Logistics | Catering and dietary needs, parking and invoicing details | Both |
| Delivery | What comes first, such as stills before video, and when each version lands | Both |
What the pre-production line on a quote pays for is covered in what goes into a video production quote.
Why Is Shoot Day the Easy Bit?
Because the hard work has already been done. Weeks of planning on the script, schedule, run sheet, gear and the people on camera are what make the day look effortless. Clients often tell us they didn't appreciate how much went into it until they saw the behind-the-scenes footage.
Planning is also how everyone stays aligned. When the decisions are made early, nobody turns up on the day unsure of what's happening, and nobody in the edit inherits a problem that could have been solved weeks before.
What Should a Pre-Production Meeting Cover?
It should turn every unknown into either a confirmed fact or a named owner with a date. Ours runs in roughly this order.
- The schedule, block by block. Access, bump-in, filming windows and the hard finish.
- What happens if the day runs over. We ask this at the start of the meeting, while there's time to plan for it.
- Shared terms. Agreeing what things are called, so a styled product set-up has one name everyone uses.
- The look. The lighting plan, shot list, wardrobe, props and production design.
- The script. Lines that read well can be hard to say, so we agree now that wordy ones may be tweaked on the day.
- Locations, space by space. Photos of each area we'll use, and the decision each one unblocks, such as where a handover happens or what the entrance looks like.
- Arrival. We aim to be on site before talent call time, so the people on camera don't sit and watch the set-up.
- Delivery, parking, catering and invoicing. What you need first, and the practical details that are easy to leave late.
Before the meeting ends, the open items should be read back, each with an owner. Afterwards, expect a short, firm list of anything still outstanding, with deadlines. Slow answers on dietary needs, parking and schedule sign-off nearly always bite in the week of the shoot. From then on, the call sheet is the one place changes go.
What Work Should You See Before the Shoot?
Enough to show the thinking. That means a shot list you can read, the schedule, and for complicated spaces, a rough preview of the set-up. Most of this work is invisible to clients, so we make it visible. Seeing it lets you check the plan and react to it, and it shows that a flexible approach is deliberate.
For fast social content with people who aren't actors, the plan may be a loose list of moments to capture instead of a tight storyboard, so the crew can catch the energy as it happens.
Why Is "Fix It in Post" a Bad Plan?
Because fixing the shoot's problems in the edit costs time and quality. Every shortcut on the day becomes a job for the editor, who could otherwise be spending that time making the film better.
Sound is the usual example. Noise removal in the edit has become powerful, but we won't promise it can rescue an interview recorded beside a drill that never stops. We reduce the problem while recording instead, by choosing the right microphone, timing the interview for when a building site downs tools, and recording backup lines where the noise can't be avoided. The edit is the fallback. How the edit itself runs is in the editing process.
Pre-production is the point where we deal with the problems that could happen, before they can, and set the shoot up to succeed. Matt describes it as the planning version of himself looking after the one who'll be on set and in the edit.
Past Matt should think about future Matt and try and minimise the problems that present-day Matt has to fix. Fixing it in post is not even relevant if past Matt addresses it in the present.
What If a Role Can't Be Cast Days Before the Shoot?
You should hear about it early, with options attached, a date to decide by and a default if nothing changes. A good production company won't sit on it and hope.
When a supporting role was still uncast eight days before one of our shoots, the agencies told us the rate was the sticking point. We offered a small increase on the fee and capped it out loud, because a slightly higher rate wasn't worth losing a good actor over. The role went back out that afternoon and the extra money lifted interest. We also set a day to make the call, and named a fallback. Our director, who has an acting background, would step in. Casting someone from your own team is another option worth keeping open.
When Should a Production Company Tell You to Wait?
When the video depends on something that isn't finished yet. If a keynote is still being written or a brand is still being built, anything filmed now may not match it. We've talked a client out of starting for exactly this reason. The useful way to wait is to stay close, learn the big moments the film should allude to, and come in once they're settled.
If you can't wait, make the smallest useful version now and plan to re-edit it as more material comes in. It's the counterweight to "done beats perfect", which we also believe in.