Professional & Critical Practice (Commission): Shoot Planning

Following a pre-production meeting with Alpha Weapons Academy, I underwent the following planning...

• Deciding on structured questions to ask the head instructor and members in their interviews
• Creating a shot list for filming
• Finalising plans with schedule, equipment and crew
• Gathering paperwork

When thinking up the questions to ask Dave (the head instructor), I wanted to keep it simple, informative and professional. I feel that I went with a traditional list of questions including him introducing himself and the company, followed by questions about the classes in the order that they appear in the script, and concluding with any future plans for the company.

I decided on the same simplistic approach with the two member's interview questions, by focusing on the key information and most interesting answers, while trying to make their interviews differ from one another.

Below are the list of questions that were sent to Dave and approved prior to filming...

My next step was creating a shot list in both script order and the in order of classes and interviews being filmed on the shoot day. Referring to the finalised script, the shot list that I created was improvisational based on not completely knowing what to expect from the class activities throughout the day, although structured in knowing the approach that I wanted to have and the key scenes and shots that I wanted to capture.

Below are the two versions of shot lists prepared for filming...

Script order shot list

Shoot day order shot list

Lastly, I booked out my technical equipment, organised a schedule with my crew, and gathered my paperwork (shot lists, script & consent forms). I decided that due to the filming location being small, and the coverage being focused on one area within the location, I would be readily and successfully able to both direct and film the promotional video, and simply require a sound technician - Jordan Parker.

The equipment that I decided on was a Sony EX1 camera due to my experience and knowledge of this camera and it's high quality results, a tripod, a boom pole for better quality sound and a fig rig in case of rapidly moving shots. I decided against using a lighting kit due to the location being brightly lit already and the health and safety risk of having trip hazardous and hot equipment around an active and small gym location.

With the above documents, crew and equipment prepared, and with a schedule of setting up from 9:30am and beginning filming at 10:30am, along with being aware of the classes length and schedule, I was ready for shoot day.