Ep. 44 How to effectively plan out your films pre-production phase

In this episode of Moonshine Moonshot, I dig into the pre-production phase of documentary filmmaking.

If you're about to start pre-production, you're pretty clear on your documentary idea and finally edging closer and closer to actually making your film.

During pre production, you’ll map out the flow of your film, lock in your on screen talent, scout locations, finalise your budget, think about the type of equipment you’ll need and build a comprehensive shooting schedule.

Essentially, you’ll do all the stuff that needs to be ticked off before you get your gear out.

I know it sounds like a whole lot of planning and not so much doing – but I promise this part of the documentary making journey can be creative and visual. And if you cast your mind way back to part 2 of the How to make a documentary series, you’ll remember that I showed you how fun and rewarding planning can be. 

If you’ve got a solid plan in place already then we're confident that you’ll find pre-production a total breeze. 

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome back, my lovely listeners. This week I am talking to you all about the pre-production process for your documentary. So, congratulations, filmmakers. You have crossed a major milestone and made it into pre-production. That means you are done with development, which is a huge step. And it probably also means that you've gotten some finance into your film, which is really exciting. And perhaps you haven't fully financed your film, perhaps you've just got some seed funding, which is equally as important because it can get you started. So if you didn't, make sure you pop a bottle of bubbly when you get a chance to celebrate what a huge milestone this is. And believe me, you deserve to celebrate this. This is a big win for you. So today's episode, I am going to dig deep into pre-production. I'm Sue Collins and I'm part of the team behind Moonshine Agency, an impact film production house producing films that have a positive social impact. Impact films are films that are designed to take an audience from passive viewing into being an active participant, meaning it gets them doing something, getting involved, mean part of a solution. The reason that I'm doing this podcast is because that I recognize that learning how to craft films is a really challenging process. When I was starting out myself, I found it very hard to find information and learn about filmmaking without it being part of a formal study or without being under the wing of a mentor. So to avoid pitfalls like being pigeonholed, running out of funding, or simply not understanding the business side of the industry, because these reasons have meant that I have seen over the years a number of really talented people give up and simply move on to more stable work. But my hope is to see the industry here in Australia thrive. And I recognize that to do that, I've got to be more open with my own skill sharing. So I've decided to share more of what I've learned through many years of filmmaking through this podcast, The Moonshine Moonshot, and with online courses at the Moonshine Communications Academy. So make sure you check out the Academy, particularly the resource section, because it's where you can download and access loads of content like check sheets and ebooks, which will help you on your filmmaking journey. So back to today where we're talking about pre-production. This is where you're going to map out the flow of your film. You're going to lock in your talent, you're going to scout locations, you're going to finalize your budget, you're going to think about the type of equipment you'll need, and you'll also build a really comprehensive shooting schedule, which is invaluable for getting your project made. So essentially, you'll do all the stuff that has to be ticked off your list before you can actually get out and make your film. And I know, I know it sounds like a lot of planning and maybe not quite so much doing, but I do promise that this part of the documentary making journey can be creative and it can be visual. And you can cast your mind way back to part two of the How to Make a Documentary series. I can't remember what episode number it was, but you'll be able to easily find it. And that's where I talk to you all about how fun and rewarding planning can be. And I bet that hasn't inspired you to go back and listen to that episode, but I highly recommend it because it's just so critical to getting your film across the line. And if you've got a solid plan in place already, then I'm really confident that you're going to find this pre-production phase a complete breeze. So what is the pre-production process? Well, it's the part of the filmmaking process that, when completed effectively and with care, will lay the foundations for a successful production. And that's got to be music to your ears. It's much like building a house. The planning part can take way longer than the actual building of the house. So don't let motivation crumbling get the better of you if this part of the process feels like it takes a while. Filmmaking is a marathon, not a sprint, especially if you're making a feature-length film. Along with using the pre-production period to figure out who you're going to work with, be it crew or talent, picking locations, an outline for your filming schedule, you'll also use this phase to get clear on the flow of your documentary before you start producing content. And I'm really talking about the story that you're going to tell here. But I'd like to put a big caveat on top. Documentary storylines do tend to shift and morph as you get deeper and deeper into the project. The three-act structure, as amazingly useful as it is for narrative film, doesn't always apply perfectly to documentary films. For documentaries, the way you imagine your story will play out on screen. That can change quite significantly the more content you capture and the more people you interview. So don't feel like you have to be completely wedded to a particular story arc that you might plan out in this pre-production phase. Because that's what this pre-production phase is for. It's to map out the journey of your documentary. And as we know, when you go down any old road, you can take a wrong turn or you can change direction or you can do a complete U-turn. So it really is just a map. It is not a set-in-stone plan. And this means everything from your rough storyline through to location set, talent, props, any visual effects or creative treatments that you might want to use. The team and I here at Moonshine Agency find the best way to do this is by writing on index cards, which are really easy to find at pretty much any stationary store. And then we use good old BlueTack and we stick them to the wall. Not only will this give you a visual overview of your project, but you'll also be easily able to move things around when something new comes into play or you decide you want to steer the film in a slightly different direction. Now I realize being a podcast, it's probably a little hard to visualize what I'm talking about here. So you could definitely jump over to the companion video on YouTube, which is also episode 44 of the Moonshine Moonshot series on YouTube. And that's going to give you that visual reference because what I'm talking about, I mean it's not dissimilar to post-it notes, but we find that the index cards are just a little bit bigger and a little bit sturdier. So they're easier to move around and keep packaged up, and you can pretty much, you know, sort them out like a deck of cards and take them wherever you go. So imagine that you're sticking one index card on the wall at a time in a row, or you know, going in a sort of an S shape to sort of highlight, you know, you've got your opening sequence, you've got your introducing storyline one, introducing uh this interviewee. Each index card's gonna have its own specific scene laid up on it in just really simple bullet points almost, so that you can sort of see clearly what's going on in front of you. Because having that kind of clear and accessible overview will really help focus your mind on the task ahead, and it's also gonna be really helpful for anyone else that you're collaborating with. So the types of things that you would include on those index cards is literally any and everything. The beauty is that you can reposition or completely remove cards as time ticks on. So here are some key things that we generally would include. So story outline. Now you're probably thinking to yourself, how can I put a story outline when I haven't even shot anything yet? And it's a great point. And as a rule, we never write scripts for our impact films unless we're specifically having to do something for a funding application. Documentaries are supposed to be unscripted, after all, but they do have a storyline. And while the exact narrative probably won't fall into place until you've captured the majority of your footage, you can start piecing together a general idea of what you'd like to have happen in your film and where those particular things might happen. So think about the people you plan to film with and the messages that they might be sharing. And you would have done a lot of this work in the development phase. How might those stories fit together in your documentary? And have a go at linking those individual story ideas. Can you shift them around? You know, would one thing actually work better if it happened sooner, or would something happen, you know, more clearly for your audience to understand if it came later in the story? And having those index cards means that you can have your plan and then easily move it around. Something else you might want to be thinking about is music, because getting the music right can take a really long time. And developing a score with a composer can take even longer. So it's a good idea to get a head start and begin thinking about the sound of your documentary during pre-production. You might consider music well ahead of time, which helps you visualize your documentary. Perhaps there's a particular artist that you already really love, and you know that that sound is going to work really well in your film. So you might be thinking of that, and then you might give your composer inspiration based on that. So they've got a really clear idea of you know what your feel and vibe is for what you want the music to be behind the story in your documentary. You also might want to put down the aha moments. And again, this might sound impossible when you've really not started shooting much yet. But remember all those pre-interviews that you did? If any of the conversations you had made you stop and think, write them down. They'll be just as compelling or eye-opening for your own audience and they're worth including in your film. So take note of any talent you plan to interview that you believe will be really emotionally charged, funny, or simply out of the ordinary and consider how you might want those scenes to work into your documentary and put them on your visual map as well. Creative treatments. If you've got to incorporate animation, drone footage, time lapse, or other more creative shots into your documentary, make note of it on the cards if there's a specific place where you need something specific. And there's no need to be too precise about where they might fit into the overall story, but you just might know that you need some sort of graphic element and it needs to come in with a certain part of the storyline. So put that on your index card so you can kind of see how it'll all start to fit together. You've probably also got an interviewee and shop list. So write down who you plan to film with and where they're located. You might not be able to film with every interviewee, but every person you interview, well, honestly, a lot of them might not end up in the film, but it's a good idea to have a visual overview of who you plan to film with. And other production elements you might want to note down as well are things like, you know, previous footage you might have captured from things that you might want to include in this documentary. And what about archival imagery from your talent? Will they be supplying you with any photos or stock footage? Is there any stock footage you might need to be purchasing? Having a think about all these elements in pre-production is really important. And then what do you do once you've got this awesome map all kind of fleshed out? Well, once you've got these key elements mapped out, you'll be able to start working on your production schedule. Your production schedule will itemize who you're shooting with, where, and when. And it's one of my favorite parts of the filmmaking journey. And I'll be getting into all the nitty-gritty on this in an upcoming episode. But before that happens, I'm going to take a closer look into licensing music, stock footage, and imagery. So be sure to tune in next week because I'm going to be talking about all those things because it is essential that you understand what the arrangements are when you are licensing music or stock footage or imagery to use in your project, because this is somewhere that you really got to get it right because you don't want it to completely unravel your opportunity to actually, you know, get your project out on the big screen at the end of all of this. So I hope that that's kind of helped give you a bit of a sense of how to plan out the pre-production process and how you might use index cards to really create that map of what your story is going to be about. And again, if you need a visual reference on what that might look like, just head over to the YouTube Moonshine Moonshot series, which is on the Moonshine Communications Academy YouTube channel. And it was episode 44, and you can actually see the visual of Mike and myself laying up the cards, which should give you a pretty clear idea of what I have just been talking about. So until next week, good luck mapping out your journey. And as always, please leave me comments and don't forget to subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on. Bye.