Want to create a video but don’t know where to start? Here’s Around the Corner Productions’ top organizational tools to prepare for a video project:
What You'll Need to Organize a Video
A Script and Storyboard
A script and storyboard are the foundation of the creative vision of a video project. With these tools, each member of a team can visualize and execute specific shots or scenes that have been planned in advance.
When organizing a video, both tools have a specific set of rules and guidelines to ensure the most important details are communicated.
At Around the Corner Productions, we utilize an “AV” or “two-column script” format for our commercial work. For our purposes, this helps streamline the process of communicating visual and auditory components with our clients.
On large projects, however, we find that a standard storyboarding format is essential to organizing and communicating a visual identity for a brand or campaign.
StudioBinder and Final Draft are some of the industry-standard recommended software to get started with a scripting or storyboarding process.
It is critical for all members of a film cast and crew to review the script and storyboard before any shoots occur. A meeting to discuss the script and storyboard is typically referred to as a “table-read” or “read-through”. This meeting helps members of the team identify potential technical friction points and prepare for production- related items that make the following tools in the planning process even easier.
A Budget
At Around the Corner Productions, budgets help inform all elements of a videos organization. A video’s budget typically accounts for everything that occurs before the filming actually begins until the final deliverable. The most common budget items to consider when building a budget document can be broken down into three categories:
- Pre-production costs include meetings, time spent scheduling, building scripts and storyboards, location scouting, casting, and logistics of filming the piece- such as location, insurance, and licensing fees, and more.
- Production costs involve the wages of the talent, crew, travel time, equipment rentals, costume and makeup, food, gas, and overtime compensation for union productions.
- Post- production costs include editing time, revisions to the video, visual effects and graphics, and captioning. As perfect as producers may want a budget to be, incidental fees are usually also accounted for with a contingency fund in addition to general costs.
An accurate budget ensures the talent and crew members are paid and none of the creative vision or plot points of the video project are compromised on. It is ultimately the responsibility of a producer to manage the budget of a film project. The producer and director must work closely together to marry the organization and creative vision of the video project.
For smaller video projects, a simple Excel Spreadsheet is a great organizational tool to create an initial budget. For wide- scope or fiction productions, templates by StudioBinder and SAG AFTRA provide even more options for organizing a video budget.
A Call Sheet
A call sheet is the primary document that organizes all the key details of a shoot day. Details such as arrival or “call” time, filming and parking locations, weather forecast, cast and crew rosters, and contact and emergency information are all provided on a standard call sheet.
The day’s schedule is also listed on a call sheet. The schedule is typically organized in a table and lists what scenes or shots will be executed and when, along with who is expected to be present at each. Lunch or appropriate breaks are listed here as well.
Ideally, a call sheet is distributed to cast and crew members only once to avoid confusion, typically the day before a shoot to account for any time-sensitive changes.
A call sheet typically simplifies complicated communication, proves legal compliance for union shoots, and accounts for friction points identified earlier in the pre-production process. An effective call sheet ensures that all cast and crew arrive on time and the video is shot in a timely manner. StudioBinder is a great resource for call sheet templates as well.
Waivers, Licenses, and Contracts
Waivers, licenses, and contracts help a video comply with legal standards. Many of these documents vary depending on location, union vs. non-union productions, and the level of production necessary for the video. A lawyer or legal representative is a great place to start in order to ensure legal compliance for a production.
In general, talent release forms, contracts, and insurance are the basic legal documents to cover before a video shoot occurs.
Firstly, talent release forms ensure that all participating individuals on camera consent to their image and words being utilized for the video project. All talent, including voiceover actors, musicians, animal actors, and children, need prior written consent in order to be included in a video project.
Secondly, contracts outline compensation and working hours for labor associated with the video project. A contract is important because it sets clear expectations for all cast and crew’s responsibilities, as well as protects them from exploitative labor practices, and clarifies ownership of the various assets associated with the video.
Lastly, liability insurance acts as many other insurance policies do: protecting the cast and crew from financial loss related to accidents or damage during the production process. Many locations and sets will require a production company to have insurance before allowing any filming to occur. Ultimately, these tools help protect a production from legal action taken against them.
Templates for legal documents for film are available to be purchased in bundles at websites like FilmProposals, and SetHero. However, at Around the Corner Productions, we encourage all filmmakers to discuss these documents with a legal representative before utilizing them.
Why Organizing a Video Project Matters
There is a lot more that goes into a film production than what meets the eye. Many staff and crew on a video project never touch a camera. The organizational work is just as essential to the final film or video product created. Without producers, writers, storyboard artists, assistant directors, and many more unseen roles on a film set managing these organizational tools, movies would take decades to complete (which explains why the credits are so long!)
At Around the Corner Productions, we take pride in our preproduction organization, and have several experienced producers on staff ready to ensure your next video project with us is as smooth as possible.