A Cinematographer's Guide To Pre-Production

INTRODUCTION

Early on, when I first started working on film sets, I used to think that the job of the cinematographer was the cushiest job around. After all, they have a huge technical team that carries all the heavy gear into remote locations, a gaffer and electrical crew who set up all the lights, someone who’ll bring them a cup of coffee in the blink of an eye, all while they sit on a dolly and play with the camera while a grip pushes it. 

The reality is that there is an important reason why some DPs, to the untrained eye, do seemingly little work during production. It’s probably because they’ve done a large amount of the groundwork prior to stepping on to set. 

For many cinematographers and HODs on high end jobs their workload is kind of like an iceberg, the little bit at the top that you see is the work done on set, while the massive chunk below the surface happens during prep.

In this video I’ll try to create a basic guide for pre-production by listing all the respective tasks that are usually performed by cinematographers prior to shooting. 

Of course, since filmmaking can vary all the way from massive multi-month shoots to single day, single crew member corporate documentaries, this process will never be fixed. 

Prep will always be flexible depending on the nature of the project, the working style of others, the budget and many other factors. Nonetheless here’s a basic template for prepping for a film.       

1 - PROJECT INTRODUCTION

Getting a job in the first place won’t happen without having some contacts in the industry. Cinematographers usually receive an introduction to each project through directors or producers. 

This may involve a meeting where the project is pitched and they have a conversation about it. Or it may start by being sent a copy of a treatment or script. During this early phase when ideas for the project may still be in their infancy, probably the best thing you can do is to focus on building a relationship with the director themself.

The more time you spend together chatting the better you’ll be able to understand their perspective, how they work, references they may like and start to develop an idea of the visual picture that they have in their head.

These early conversations lead into another task.

2- RESEARCH

Researching the topic of the film is a nice way of familiarising yourself with the subject matter. 

What you’re doing throughout this process is slowly building up a better understanding of the story and world that it takes place in that will inform a perspective on how the visual language will be crafted in your head and, later, how it will be shot.

This may include noting questions about characters in the screenplay, looking at the architecture of the locations in the story world, familiarising yourself with a historical context for a documentary topic, or researching vintage lighting technology for a period film. What this research covers will be entirely dependent on the context of the film.

3 - VISUAL PLAN

Now that you know what the project is and are better informed on the subject matter, it’s time to put together any ideas in the form of a visual plan. There are a few different ways to do this. One idea is to draw from films as references that hit the kind of tone that the director is after, or address a similar subject matter. 

If you want to hit a polished, dark, satirical comedic tone then watch some films by Ruben Ostlund. If your story’s world is parched, dry, barren and bleak then you might find something in the language of There Will Be Blood that works.

Other forms of reference such as music, photographs or paintings may also be used. What you're trying to do when coming up with visual ideas is not to directly copy a reference but rather to use them to inspire the kind of tone that is suitable for your project, when thinking about things like shot sizes, framing, camera movement and lighting. 

I find it useful to compile a moodboard of images - which can also be used to establish the kind of colour palette that you’re after. 

4 - LOCATION RECCE

Having a visual plan will inform the next step of prep which is location scouting. Sometimes the director and production team would have already locked down shooting locations, but other times cinematographer's may be able to provide their thoughts and input on which location best suits the production’s needs.

This can be done by visiting locations in person, by browsing location stills or even by looking on Google maps.

The crew will then do a recce of the chosen shooting locations. Usually the HODs, like the producer, 1st AD, the director, the cinematographer, the gaffer, the grip, the unit manager and the production designer will attend this scout so that they can make the necessary preparations for the shoot day.

For example, the grip may have to make measurements at the location so that they have the right sized rigging tools, or have enough space to fit large equipment through tight spaces. The unit manager will determine the logistical access to the space and how many vehicles will be able to park nearby. The production designer will have a look at what decor is already inside a location and then determine what art elements they’ll need to bring in.

As well as being practical in nature, a recce also provides a creative opportunity for the cinematographer and director to run through how they imagine the scene in the space and start shaping shots and lighting ideas.

It’s always a good idea to keep records of this process. Whether that’s in the form of written notes, photographs, or by finding frames in the space using a viewfinder app such as Artemis. 

5 - SHOT LIST

Using the ideas for shots that were discussed during the recce, the director and cinematographer may now sit down and start compiling a shot list. Usually this is done with a spreadsheet and can include a written description of the shots, drawings, or use location photos or viewfinder images that were taken during the recce. 

For higher budget projects and commercials an artist may also be employed to create storyboards for the shoot or specific scenes. On even higher budget shoots which involve lots of visual effects work they may also create a previs, which is a rough, animated cut that displays all the shots that are required.     

6 - LIGHTING PLAN

This step isn’t a must, but I find that creating a lighting plan - especially for more complicated setups - is a great way to determine what lighting gear needs to be rented, the access to power, how long this setup will take to achieve and to more thoughtfully think about the light that you want.

Sometimes a ‘light study’ may be necessary - where you visit the shooting location at different times during the day to see what the ambient light is doing and whether or not you’ll need to control it.

A lighting diagram can of course be hand drawn or more precisely done using software like Photoshop. It’s also great to have this document to send to the gaffer to give them a clearer idea of your vision and so that they can potentially use it as a guide to pre-light locations before you arrive.

7 - GEAR LIST

By now, you should have enough technical information from the scout, shot list and lighting diagram to determine what gear will need to be rented. Some cinematographers also like to do a day of camera tests for long form projects to determine a lens, camera or sometimes film stock combination that they are happy with.  

Usually I break my gear lists down into the separate department sections of camera, grips and lighting. Unless you’re working at a higher budget level, there may be a bit of a negotiation that will take place between the gear rental company and the production team. 

Usually I like to first send through a complete gear list which includes everything I’d like to make the shoot happen. Then, if we get a quote from the rental house that is over the allocated gear budget, I will start to provide alternative, cheaper gear options - such as a less expensive zoom lens instead of a set of cinema primes - or start losing gear on the list until we reach a point where the production’s budget and the rental house quote meet.

When you create a gear list it’s also important to consider the post production workflow. Shooting in a higher resolution or RAW versus log versus a baked in Rec709 look - will affect whether a DIT, colourist, transcoding, or more expensive hard drives will be required - which all affects the budget.    

8 - CREW LIST

Now that you have the gear you’ll need crew to run it. Cinematographers will usually either pass on crew names to production who they have worked with before, have interview sessions where they talk to crew HODs, or go with the crew recommendations of a crew agent or the production team. 

Like with gear, how many  crew you are able to hire will be determined largely by the production’s budget but also by the working style that you are after and, of course, the technical needs of the project.

For example, even if you have a large budget for an intimate documentary shoot, you may still only want one director, one cinematographer and one sound person to be on set. 

9 - TECHNICAL COORDINATION

The final step involves coordinating all the technical details so that the shoot goes as smoothly as possible. This includes creating a schedule using the shot list. 

Usually this is done by the 1st assistant director, however cinematographers may need to provide guidance or feedback to their schedule regarding shooting times, pre-lighting, rigging and what crew will be required where.

For example, some exterior dusk scenes may need to be scheduled so that the wide is shot during the best after sunset light and any close up insert shots are saved for last where they can be lit with artificial light sources once the ambient light has died.

CONCLUSION

Generally, prep for a film starts by being situated in a more creative, thoughtful space - where you can dream up the vision you would like. Throughout the planning process it’ll evolve into being more technical, practical and more about how the shoot will be executed.

By the time you arrive on set, you should already have a good understanding of the world of the story, have formulated a broad visual approach, have all the gear that you need, the crew to run it, and have scheduled things to run as smoothly as possible.

So if you’re on a shoot that is all going according to plan and the DP is watching his crew work, giving bits of feedback all while casually drinking a cup of coffee - it might be because most of the iceberg of prep has already been done.