From the course: Producing a Video Crew

Reminders for you prior to the shoot day

From the course: Producing a Video Crew

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Reminders for you prior to the shoot day

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- Now there are a few things to remember prior to your shoot day, the first thing I like to think about at least a week before my shoot is locations. Make sure you have all the insurance certificates in hand. Make sure everybody at those locations is prepared to have your crew show up. Make sure you know what the load-in parking and gear locations are. I also like to do a drive by is what I call it of a location if it's an external location. A long time ago a location manager for feature films clued me into the idea of the last minute drive by because I used to do a lot of locations for features and commercials. And he told me about a famous building in Washington DC that he had lined up for a shoot the next day, a big photo shoot with lots of models and literally when he did the drive by discovered that the large marble steps had been removed from said building because of some massive flooding that was going to damage some important documents inside. His entire shoot was based on the models walking up and down the steps so he had to quickly find a different location. So I kept that in mind and for all of my career I've always done a final drive by and if I can't do it, I get somebody on the location to do it for me, because you just never know what might've changed since the last time you were there. Talent you want to be sure you have talent releases ready to be signed or set up in your app so it's just a quick easy thing to do to get people to sign as soon as you see them. You want to make sure that their call times have been confirmed with them at least a week prior. You want to be sure you tell them what to wear, what not to wear, review the topics and themes for the day. I also like to put a little pad in my schedule if it's a non-professional talent because you know real people have real emergencies so I just like to make sure that I have a little extra time for them to get to the set and get on location. In terms of budget you want to be sure you know what your priorities are prior to your shoot day, because sometimes timing will shift throughout the day and you're just going to have to make a call about what's most important to you, so it's always good to review that before you're onsite in the thick of things. Now let's talk about the day before the shoot. That's really the point at which you're going to just tick through your list one last time, make sure you've got your arrival plans figured out, your meal plans, your talent plans, your attire, your budget, and your final deliverables, just one last run through that list the day before your shoot.

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