Creating a Short Film: 03 Pre-Production

Creating a Short Film is a 13-part training series that shows the actual struggles and challenges filmmakers have to overcome to get films made. Author Chad Perkins and his team made a short film, The Assurance, and documented the process: from writing and directing to editing and screening the film. This installment covers pre-production—because there are so many preliminary steps that go into a successful film, and they happen long before the cameras start rolling.

Learn how to prepare the assets, such as shooting scripts, storyboards, and shot lists. Discover how to schedule and budget a shoot, and keep costs down while leaving room for the creative decisions that need to be made along the way. Find out how to hire a crew, scout and secure locations for each scene, and prepare props, sets, and wardrobe for actors. Learn what you need to do to keep your people safe, and the things you can prepare ahead of time to make sure production and post-production run smoothly.

There are more filmmaking tips to be had! Make sure to watch the first installment to learn about the background of the project and to get an overview of the role of the producer. Look for the follow-up episodes to learn more about writing, directing, working with actors, editing and visual effects, and everything else that goes into filmmaking.

Learning objectives
Turning the script into a shooting script
Working with script breakdown software such as Adobe Story
Creating storyboards and a shot list
Scheduling the shoot
Budgeting the shoot and post-production
Hiring a crew
Preparing sets and costumes
Scouting locations
Creating props
Preparing assets for post-production