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Creating a Shot List

Lesson 3 from: iPhone Filmmaking: From Shoot Through Edit

Cielo de la Paz

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Lesson Info

3. Creating a Shot List

What footage will you need to capture in order to tell your story? What shots do you need to have enough to stitch everything together inside a video editor? Walk through the process of brainstorming potential shots, for both short videos and longer content such as interviews. With variety in mind, categorize your shot list to capture context and tell the whole story.
Next Lesson: Gear List

Lesson Info

Creating a Shot List

So let's go to the shot list now, based on that story arc, then I thought about Okay, what kinds of shots do I need to capture in order to tell that story that I just mapped out? Um And then what? Shots had to be included? Um, that would really show their unique design agency. So after I spoke to them, I didn't get to see the location or anything, but immediately, I thought, OK, there designers, their industrial designers. So if they have a three D printer, I wanted to make sure that showed that I wanted to show where they were. That was probably going to be something unique to them. Um, and then I figured maybe their sketches. Or maybe there was some things in their studio that were half done. I want to show all of those things. So I started writing down what those shots could be. And what were the musts that I had to capture and my shot list, doesn't it? It's no, uh, it's it's nothing complex. If you can illustrate. I mean, you could do a storyboard, Sure, but for me, I mean, this is...

good enough. So this was really all that I did. This was a Google doc, and, um, I don't if you can read. But after talking to them, I was like, Okay, so maybe to show where this this is all happening to give context. I want to show the city of San Francisco I wanna show Potrero, which is where the studio was. I want to show the streetscape because they were on top of this nice hill on then. I also wanted to get a shot of their home office studio, and you can see here I'll have things in parentheses in terms of how I want to move my phone or the camera. Right. So San Francisco skyline up there. It says, pan, you know, do I want a pan? So this these air kind of reminders for me, um, to to really think about how I want to move the camera. Um, And then it went down. So I went down into the different types of shots. So at the top, I have What are the establishing shots and then the medium shots? What are they? So I hadn't seen the location. So these were just things I was making up in my head. Um, so medium shots were the office of them working. I knew they had a garden. Was it going to be important to the story? Was a sure So there was a question mark there. Um and then I said, three D printer. Let's try to get that. I'd ask them about that. They did have a three D printer, and finally, I want to think about the close ups like, what were things that really deserved to be really looked at closely. And I thought, you know, they probably work with their hands a lot sketching or if they're making things I thought that would look really interesting and then some over the shoulder shots. Um, so I really thought about what I wanted to capture their. And then finally, even before you get to the location, I already think about ways to get creative with the phone. So because the phone is unique and you don't want to use it like any other camera you wanna use it to, you know it's best advantage, and it's so small. So what? What could I do with the phone to get those creative shots? And then finally How could I vary up the speed to really change it up and make things look a lot cooler? And so the shot list to me was super important as I went through the shoot. It was something that I came back to each time to make sure that I did capture some of the things that I thought about, cause I don't if you guys are like me. But when I get Teoh location, it's likes girls, you know, I'm just like, Oh, this looks cool. And this look is cool. And then I get so distracted that I need this to stay on track to make sure I capture the basic shots that I said I was going to get. Um, but that doesn't mean that, um, you can't shoot Mawr doesn't mean you have to stick to your shot list. In fact, what often happens and what happened in this particular shoot is that I did shoot a lot more than I thought I would, because you finally see the location. You finally see the different rooms and all of the cool things that they have. And so I definitely shot a whole lot more than what was on my list, but I made sure to shoot what was on my list. Um, there were a few things, though, on my shot list that, um, didn't quite make sense. So after getting to the location, I was like, Yeah, the garden. Remember the garden? They didn't really do any work in the garden, so I thought, OK, that's really not important to the story. So I don't know, just not shooting outside in the garden. So But the shot list for me was a way to guide the whole shoot and make sure miss anything.

Ratings and Reviews

Chrystelle Hadjikakou
 

Being a beginner in all things video, watching this live class left me excited to try out a lot of things on my iPhone, not to mention I learned loads. Cielo showed us the full process from shot listing to gear to preparing the shoot and then shooting and editing, which was very enlightening, also I want to thank the people who were on the chat, because sharing tips and tricks was great too! Thank you for the awesome work!

Linda
 

This class was great! Cielo offered really good information. It was probably more than I needed since I am a beginner, but it inspired me to try and use it for the simple reasons I took the course. But it also showed me what is possible and how I can eventually upgrade what I am doing. It's good for people who are really into photography and telling the story of entrepreneurs (which is so important these days) can use their photography skills to help business owners stand out whether it's your side hustle or main career.

Greg Bird
 

I just finished the class and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is perfect for someone like me just starting out and I recommend this class to anyone interested in making mobile videos. I look forward to diving into the more extensive editing course next. Thank you!

Student Work

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