Why pre-production is as much discipline as it is an art.

If we had to point the collective failure of all stories with a good philosophy but bad execution at one thing, it would be at this- sidestepping pre-production.

What is pre-production? In a nutshell, it means having a detailed plan to give your story a sense of direction.

When a new idea is born, it isn’t at all strange that we get carried away and dive headlong into the film-making process without thinking much about how we want the final output to look like.

The most important part of a film, is not it’s inception of its idea or its execution, but the conceptualisation of how you want your story to play out. From there on, it is just working out how you’re going to turn into a reality. But, contrary to what looks obvious, the former is both harder, and more fun. Saving yourself from wasting your time as well your crews while shooting and also of your editor from having to look through hours of footage, a well- executed can pave the way for the smooth making of your film!

So what exactly constitutes pre-production?

IT’S JUST LIKE AN ORCHESTRA

Film-making, on a managerial level, is no different from orchestrating an event. There are different people to do different things, but there has to be one who pulls the whole act together. Likewise, film-making is also not a task for an individual, no matter how omnipotent he maybe. It is collaborative, it takes effort, but when you get the concoction right, it pays!

BRAINSTORM WITH YOUR TEAM

Although, each member of the crew has their own job, which could be the camera, the edit, or the costumes, your film requires you to sit them all down together and brainstorm. Why? Because first, you need to make sure you’re all on the same page as regards to the story and also to come up with new, and better ways to let it unfold on screen. The best thing about pre- production is that the possibilities are endless, You’re not yet committed to anything so there is always room to make changes before you begin!

LAY OUT THE RETURNS

All of us have 4 levels of needs- physical, physiological, belongingness and self-development. The reason why we chose to perform any action in life, revolves around these 4 types of needs. We eat because our body needs food, we wear clothes because we need them to keep us from getting cold, we socialise and make friends because we need love, we pursue passions because we feel the need to grow. Similarly, anyone who enters the world of film-making will have a need that they are trying to satiate- look for and find those needs in your crew and figure out how you can best satisfy them.

The reason why a placid indifference prevails among most teams today is because, a typical team today is mostly made up of friends and acquaintances. There is no such thing a comfort zone that created wonders, comfort zones breed complacency, because it puts everyone in an awkward situation where they cannot openly state that their needs are not being satisfied. In such an environment, no one grows!

The reason why successful film-making crews stick together for multiple projects is not because they are comfortable- it is merely because they know well what each of them is trying to pursue through this work and make space for each other to accomplish it.

Talk to your team before you delegate them work and find out what they are looking to gain at the end of this movie- is it money? Is it a learning experience? Is it creative freedom? Find out, and if you are sure that you can offer to them means to satisfy their needs, then, and only take them on board.

STORYBOARDING

We cannot emphasise more the need for story-boarding your scripts. No matter how sure you are that you and your crew are on the same page, a storyboard will be like sealing the deal on the aesthetic level. We all visualize differently, story-boarding will help to combine and eliminate these differences and in presenting the idea as a product of the entire team’s thoughts. Not only does it act as a blue print, it also saves time and money aplenty. The video below, among many things, talks about how it will help the entire process- right from production design till editing, by simply planning it all out in the storyboard.

Story-boarding will also help you locate the loopholes in your script, that wouldn’t have been discernible at the time of discussion.

A general misconception is that story-boarding means compromising on the creative liberties of the actors or improvisation in the story itself. But the truth is, it can always be made flexible to some extent.

Happy planning, happy filming!