What to Expect on a Video Production Set

Those who’ve been on a video production set know it’s a fun and exciting experience. Those who haven’t, or those who don’t have much experience being on one, may find it a bit stressful or confusing if they don’t know what to expect or understand how things work. Hopefully after reading this, you will have gained a little more knowledge to help you on your next project, and ultimately make the day go much smoother.

Production Day Basics

Most production days will follow this pattern:

– Crew arrives and unloads gear

– Crew sets up

– Filming occurs

– Break for lunch or dinner (depending on time of day)

– More filming

– Crew breaks down, or “strikes”, gear

– Crew loads up and heads home.

A production day is usually defined as either a half day (up to 5 hours) or a full day (up to 10 hours), and the full day includes a one-hour lunch break. The clock starts when the crew arrives, and it ends when they roll out of the parking lot to head home. We should note here that in some cases production days can be based on a 12-hour day, but that determination is made in advance of the shoot.

Every project is setup and managed differently depending on the production company. When 100 Acre Films takes on a project, our team will work on set with one or more contacts from the hiring company (the client) to keep things moving along. Our lead producer or director will guide the crew on what to do based on discussions with the client ahead of time. If there are any questions, it’s best to take those to our lead producer or director and let him/her address them with the crew so there is no confusion.

Location Details

If possible, it helps to have the crew park as close to the actual filming location as possible. We often have a lot of equipment, some of which is really heavy, so being able to unload from our vehicles to easily get it onto the set saves time. Any pre-planning from the client to make parking easier is appreciated.

If filming at an office building, some require loading in through loading docks and using special freight elevators. If that’s the case, let us know ahead of time so we can go straight there when arriving.

At some point in the day, people are going to need to use a restroom. Making sure crew and talent know where the closest bathrooms are as well as having easy access to them is important, especially if working in a badge-only access area of the building.

A Fed Crew is a Happy Crew

Let’s chat about something we all like – food! Your crew works hard at getting everything setup to look and sound amazing, and that usually results in a hungry group. Some sets will have a craft service table which is a place to grab a quick snack or drink. As mentioned earlier, included in our 10-hour workday is a one-hour lunch or dinner break. It usually happens at a good stopping point during the shoot, but the exact time is somewhat flexible. When it comes to meal options, we’ll work with clients ahead of time to figure out if there are places to eat close by, or if we’ll need to bring something in. Crew member/talent dietary issues are something that need to be considered when making any food decisions, so it’s good to let our producer or director know if anyone has any special requests.

Time – Never Enough of It

On any video production set, time can seem to fly by. Something we always encourage clients to do with our help is creating a plan and schedule for your production day(s). Doing that helps ensure that the day runs as efficiently as possible.

Depending on the nature of the video shoot, we like to have around one hour of setup time for smaller productions, and even more for larger productions. If the location is challenging in some way, or the shooting schedule is extensive, pre-lighting the day before can be a huge time saver.

As an example, for a single person interview filmed with two cameras, load in and setup could be between 60-90 minutes. For a larger shoot, that time can double or even triple depending on what’s required. Plus there could be time needed for the makeup artist to do their work on the talent. While striking the set and load out is usually quicker than the setup, it still does take time and should be factored into the schedule as the setup and strike are part of the 10 (or 12) hour day.

Magic can happen and everything goes perfect on the first take. But many times, however, for a variety of reasons more takes are needed, so you need to allow time for that in the schedule.  Factors such as re-doing any answers to questions, re-doing flubbed lines, holding for any outsides noises or disturbances that can occur, touching up of hair or makeup, talent bathroom breaks, or other random situations can cause a hold on filming. Who hasn’t had to stop a shoot because the gardener showed up outside, or loud planes flew overhead? Our microphones are extremely sensitive, and you’d be surprised how much they pick up.

For corporate shoots involving multiple interviews in a day, there needs to be a reasonable time gap between interviews, especially if the camera and lighting setup needs to be changed. Changing things up within the same room can be relatively easy, but it usually takes more than 5-10 minutes, so providing as much time as possible between interviews is helpful – 15-20 minutes is usually a good starting place when budgeting time. If the next interview or location is in a completely different place, then more time is needed as the crew will have to strike the gear, pack it up, move to the new location, and re-setup. That can take, depending on the shoot, anywhere from 30-40 minutes or longer depending on the size and distance of the move.

The same holds true when shooting commercials. Moving the crew and equipment between scene setups can consume a lot of time. While crews are used to working hard and fast, the process of lighting and/or getting any camera moves setup can occasionally take longer than expected due to either unforeseen circumstances or just location logistics. There is often a lot of equipment that goes into making your shot look so beautiful and setting up for it takes time. Plus, you should factor in some rehearsal time for your talent.

We often find that clients are surprised by how long things can take on set. There is sometimes an assumption that if we show up at 9am we can be rolling cameras by 9:30am…or sooner! And maybe for some really basic productions, that might be possible. But most often that’s not the case. Working with the 100 Acre Films team, we can help you create a production schedule ahead of time so that everything is mapped out as much as possible.

We hope all this helps you better know what to expect and how to better plan for your next video project. The key to any production running smoothly is doing as much pre-planning (or pre-production as we call it) before walking onto set. Those early meetings can be crucial in working out logistical issues, scheduling conflicts, or slowdowns ahead of time which then allow us to focus more on getting the shots we need to better tell your story.