R+P Post 13: Our Shoot-Board

Our shootboard is a document produced to allow us to track which shots we need to get, how they need to look, who operated the camera, etc. on a shoot. We prepare this on a simple gridded sheet as seen below in the week coming up to the shoot and when filming this document is relied on heavily as the main source for information about each shot and takes are recorded on to it, as well as any possible good takes. The shootboard is a useful planning exercise as it allows us to evaluate how much time we will spend shooting on our shooting days, as well as when it would be most appropriate to take breaks. This makes it easy for us to plan a shoot schedule as well as arrange call times with actors, so as to not waste their time.

However, I feel this document is not perfect and if we were to change it in the future I would make the following changes:

One page from our Shootboard

• Remove the column with who used the camera, did sound, etc. as it is just easier to work this out on the day rather than pre-plan.
• Remove the shot timings column, as this can wildly vary depending on how easy the shot ends up being to shoot.
• Replace the shot timings column with timings for each set-up in each location, as this is easier to monitor and follow.
• Add a shooting date on the top of each shootboard.
• Change the props and actor lists to be for each set-up as opposed to each individual shot.

 Overall, I think the shootboard is a really integral part of our shooting process and is found at each of our practice, main and back-up shoots.