Pre production services tv#

It is the first of many documents critical to coordinating your crew, arguably second only to the screenplay itself. From locations to characters to individual props, the script breakdown builds an initial list of components required for your project.Īs you might guess, the script breakdown will go on to inform countless tasks within the pre-production stage.Įverything from budget-building to casting to location-scouting to scheduling to arranging the most minute of details will be impacted by the contents of the script breakdown. Pre-production planning, quite frankly, can’t happen without the script, (yes, we know this isn’t always the case- Mad Max: Fury Road started with storyboards).Īnd that’s why the script breakdown is so critical for pre-production in film or television.Ī script breakdown identifies and catalogues all the important elements of a screenplay. Pre-production teams constantly reference the script. Pre-production meetings revolve around the script. Now we’re ready to jump in.starting from the top: Step #1: Breaking down the scriptĭuring the pre-production stage, everything stems from the script. With that in mind, let’s outline each step during this stage of a production with a pre-production checklist.

What does pre-production mean in commercial filmmaking?.

What does pre-production mean in television filmmaking?.

What does pre-production mean in feature filmmaking?.

However, it’s vital to remember that jumping forward or backward to different elements of pre-production throughout the pre-production stage is not only acceptable but will often be crucial to your project’s success.Īs we explore various pre-production steps, we’ll occasionally point out critical differences between pre-production in film and other formats.īy the end of this post, you’ll be able to form your own answer to three big questions about the meaning of pre-production: In fact, different pre-production steps must often be performed in parallel to one another.įor the purposes of this post, we’re going to break down individual pre-production steps in a loose order, focusing primarily on the overarching concerns of the production department. Typical explorations of the pre-production definition tend to describe the pre-production stage as a straightforward, linear process, but that’s generally not the case.

Pre production services tv#

It tells us that different commercial, film, or TV pre-production steps frequently have to happen at the same time. The exact length of time allotted to the pre-production stage does not matter.Īnd what does that tell us about the elements of pre-production work from a practical point of view? What happens during pre-production on a long pre-production timeline will look similar to the pre-production steps performed on a short pre-production timeline. Yet the meaning of pre-production work dictates that many of the same basic tasks be performed regardless of the length of your pre-production timeline. There can be very long pre-production timelines, just as there can be stressfully short pre-production timelines.

The pre-production stage can be surprisingly variable in length, depending on whether we’re talking about pre-production in film, television, commercials, or some other format altogether. Pre-production in film, television, or commercial filmmaking technically encompasses all the tasks that happen after the project’s initial development phase and before cameras actually start rolling.īasically, if your production has a greenlight but hasn’t started shooting, it’s in the pre-production stage. Watch Ryan Connolly of Film Riot discuss his pre-production process for his short film. To properly define pre-production, let's distinguish this stage from the others that come before and after.

In this post, we’ll explore the essential elements of pre-pro in order to go beyond basic definitions and bring you an in-depth understanding of what happens during pre-production stages in film, television, and commercial filmmaking. It’s during the pre-production stage that a project officially begins its metamorphosis from a concept that exists on paper to an experience that exists on screen.īut while that pre-production definition sounds nice in theory, what is pre-production in the real world? What does it mean in practical terms? What is the actual work of the film or TV pre-production process like on a day-to-day basis? Pre-production in film or television represents a major pivot point in the life cycle of any project.