Cooking a video – Part 2: Shopping

Step 2: Shopping

Hopefully in pre-production you were able to make yourself a shopping list of everything you want to go into your final product. Maybe you need footage from multiple locations, of multiple people, with multiple camera angles, lenses, and times-of-day. All those different factors need to be accounted for before you start shopping to make the best use of your (and your crew’s) time.

You can’t shop forever, but during this phase you do have to ensure that later you’ll be cooking with only the freshest goods. If one shot isn’t working, try a different one, just always keep an eye on the clock and don’t deviate too much from your pre-production.

You can’t always get back to the store to pick up something you forgot. Video production, especially non-fiction or low budget, is one big mess of ticking timers. You’re usually racing against the sun (going down or coming up), your subjects or actors need to be other places, locations are closing, budget is running out, etc. If you have too little time, you’ll have to prioritize and grab what is absolutely essential for the project. If you have too much time, consider getting a little extra. You may later find that you unexpectedly got just what you need to top of the meal. Be picky, but hustle.

Let me know your thoughts.

Keep it moving to part 3!

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