How to Pre-Production as a Cinematographer (Real Insights)

I thought I'd share my pre-production process as a cinematographer based on a recent music video that I shot in Paris. And I think this project suits quite well to talk about the pre-production process, the how, the what and why it's so important to be precise when it comes to planning your stuff. Especially for a project like that, which was quite abstract and also not the most typical type of visual I would shoot. For this one I could also only work on remotely so I couldn't join tech scout. So planning for your stuff gets even more crucial. I will share the director's treatment I got picked up on and also then the documents I created as the cinematographer for this project in order to ensure a smooth shoot. Since with every project there's gonna be quite some traffic with documents, versions and what not, I don't like to just make a folder within my desktop and drop everything in there. It might work but it's definitely not the nicest place to be in and work in. And also it's not as efficient as a creative organization tool like Milanote, which are also today's sponsor. So a big thank you to Milanote for supporting this channel. My brain just works so much better when I can have everything within one place and also laid out pretty clearly with an overview. And it's not so much text and multiple documents I have to go through. Of course I have to go through everything but it doesn't look like too much. It's quite funny because it's quite a lot of documents which I can look at but at the same time I already know what that is and have it categorized. That way I know exactly where I can find my stuff and I can also assign people to certain folders like lighting. I can send that to my gaffer and they can work within that and everybody can just collaborate within that. And that way you also don't have to send many versions and the update of that document and then you change something or you forgot to attach one file when you were trying to pitch your gaffer. No, you can just send them the link and then you can constantly update things and it's huge for me. I've actually used Milanote for a couple of years now and recently I've been also applying it to RDP or gaff work that I do. And I've experienced a more organized and more efficient Jared so I like it. And if you're as visual as I am it might also work for you. They also have an app which makes it pretty easy to access on the go which is also pretty cool. I keep everything in there from my gaffer's notes to the whole project I can access on the shoot and remember the one reference shot. Milanote is available for free and with no time limit. So if you want to give it a go you can sign up for a free account using the link provided in the description. So once I got brought on board this is what I was provided with. The director's treatment and later on the movement board and also the set design. So this was the first document I was provided with which was the director's treatment. This music video was in French and also the director's treatment was in French because the label in France they just wanted it in their own language even though the production was entirely in French because it was quite international. But I also got a English version of the treatment. So after digesting this treatment I'm going to create my own cinematography document and I will prepare all the visual aspects and yeah visual language starting off with a mood board. I went through my whole galleries of Frameset, Pinterest and Vimeo and also Instagram to find some references that I think would match with what I had imagined in my head but you know I'm always playing it within the rules of the director's pitch obviously. I'm never limiting myself to it though so if I think I have a great idea I'm gonna pitch it. From that then I'm going to create a lookbook which is basically going to be the visual guide or bible with all the rules and it also contains all the visual language for this project. I do that within Keynote though and I like to keep this within Nanai's design because this is what you sell and it's also often your first impression and also gets them to trust on your creative vision. It's pretty much like the director's treatment just for cinematographers. In my lookbooks I typically cover look and feel or mood and tone, compositions, movement, aspect ratio and lens choice. This is pretty much the basics and sometimes I even go for more details if it's being asked for or if it's just a more complex project like narrative things. Notice how this document is also 4x3. Often of times the colors or exposure of some stills that I pulled from my references aren't exactly what I'm looking for even though the rest is. So that's why I head over to Photoshop and color them the way I need them to be in order to match my color palette and also to fall in the desired look and feel that I need to make a coherent and nicely designed treatment or lookbook. But luckily that's the only time I really need to go into another program. The artist in the music video is on a journey. So we start in a more dark environment and in the end it's getting the brightest. So that's why I for each act then did a brief description and also a reference image of where the light levels and visual style is going to change. Also composition wise I was going for some side-weighted compositions if you can say so and later on it got more balanced because the character is going to find his piece essentially. I also then added some references from some clips where I thought the camera movement would match quite nicely to what I envisioned the movements to feel for this project. I think I added this one later at least after creating the lookbook. So based on the wardrobe, the set design and probably also the location which I hadn't seen at that point but I then created a color palette to be clear which and what we could have in the frame. I also then added a color grading inspiration. Nothing really final yet but somewhat final result with the color grading. They liked the lookbook, they just thought that act 2 and 4 needed to be brighter in terms of levels and also lighting wise I guess. But I don't think it's a huge problem like of course we can pump in and open up the exposure but I think the set is going to make up for it already like naturally because of the location and I thought it's not going to be too dark obviously the first scene but 2 and 4 needed to be brighter even though it's a melancholic song. They just wanted it to be not too dark and I was fine with it too but I wasn't able to update the lookbook because I had to move on with my storyboard. Yeah because everything was pretty much short term. Then I was ready to visualize each shot in a storyboard. This was probably the hardest part since at that time I had no idea what the location was going to be like so every shot had to be designed within my head hoping that it would work out on location. Typically it's way easier to plan your shots when you're physically present with a viewfinder so you can determine everything within camera angles and focal length. However in this case I had to rely solely on pictures, plans and maps that I got. As a result I had to dive into storyboarding without knowing what the rooms or spaces would look like. This was particularly challenging because the music video had like a continuous story with the camera following the artist through different scenes and transition shots. So everything had to flow seamlessly. Having my lookbook as a fundamental in my head I was then listening to the song and reading through the lyrics to see where to place the transitions of the four acts. Throughout this process I was also working along the director's treatment of course to make sure the vision and elements shine through my shots. It wasn't until the day before shoot where I could be physically on location so that's when I pulled out my phone with my viewfinder app to check if my focal length estimations would work out and where to block and place things. But thankfully I had my friend Ignacio help out with the storyboarding and also some shot ideas. We met online and spent the day on paper. I'm not too good at drawing. Well actually let me show you. Yeah essentially that's that's what we were drawing. I was just making some quick and ugly ones that would just show what is on my head and to just get the point across. He then made it look real nice which then also looked way more pleasing to show to the rest of the team and obviously to the label. Once that was done I was having meetings with my camera operator about technical stuff. Camera movement, different breaks and then he would put together a list of some options on camera packages to rent which matched my vision and was also within budget. So for this one I wanted a taller image height so I was hoping to get a full frame camera or at least the Red Gemini which is around pretty much the same sensor size like the which still was way taller than other Super 35 cameras. Because I really with my compositions and focal length choice I wanted to be closer to the subject but at the same time wider with the lens to have a more sense feeling which essentially makes you feel more connected to the artist. As soon as we got a decision on the location I asked for all the documents, photos and maps. Then later in a meeting with the creative team we agreed really quick where every artwork needed to be placed within that location. Based on the location documents I was able to make some broad lighting plans and also diagrams and by that time I still didn't know who was going to be my gaffer so that's why I went a little bit more detailed to be on the safe side. I was already thinking about what grip and lighting gear we would need so I made a recommendation list within budget and needs here as well. In a meeting with my gaffer I then pitched my approach on how I would light this but I always like to give them the creative freedom to choose what equipment they want to use as long as it gets to the result I'm happy with. So he could also then go through my G&E list and swap out or even add items. Luckily my gaffer and best buddy were an amazing duo so it worked out really well. Really cool guys too. For a more narrative piece with dialogue you might also want to lay out a camera-less floor plan. I did include this within my lighting diagram for this project but that's not an actual one. Rather for lighting a more complex floor plan might look like this. Every project is different and doesn't require all the exact same steps. For example with this one we had the storyboard with timings and the animatic and we also decided on shooting scene-wise and mostly chronological. In this case the first idea just made the shooting schedule which also included which order we wanted to shoot and made most sense for us. We could have made a more detailed shortlist though. Probably would have saved us some time in the end too. This storyboard was almost like a shortlist too though. You might also work differently based on what you think works best for you as a person or on other projects you might skip the storyboard completely and just go for the shortlist. I know some DPs tend to only do a mood board which is fine but I think having a lookbook makes it so much more clear to what I envision and also put that into words and graphics. Not only for the people I'm working with but also for myself. So that it's not only within my head because sometimes you might lose it. And why I also think that's important is because as a DP it's your job to communicate your vision well. So not only having that within graphics but also words and having a clear structure and the rules makes it so much more clear. And once I have that lookbook it's way easier to refer back to it or if a question pops up between the director and you which is a new idea and now you can fit it in based on your rules that you predetermined prior. Or you're having discussions later on with clients and they now might want to change something which doesn't really make sense and wouldn't really work but everything builds up onto something the way you've shot it. Colors, exposure, lighting, ratio and that way you can argue pretty nicely and just tell them well that's what we agreed on and to be able to continue with the vision we have to also do them steps to have the nice result. You then can just refer back to what you agreed on so there isn't going to happen any really crazy changes. It was my first time working with so many department heads and as a DP I constantly had to check back with the director, the art director, the set designer, movement director, gaffer and of course also camera operator since for this one I decided to hand over the operating part to a dedicated operator so I could focus more on the image itself, call decisions and get everyone on the creative team going according to plan. Which also was a great opportunity actually to work on my communication skills because that's also something where I wanted to improve and I still want to improve and I think it's also really important as a head of a department and generally to clearly tell people what you want and yeah to just communicate well. Another area where I would like to improve is timings and giving estimates. When the first AD is asking how much time for this setup or this shot I would like to give a clear answer but I guess that's something which will improve from time to time and with experience and I might actually need to start tracking time because I always forget. I hope this has been insightful to you. If you have any question please let me know I'm very happy to help and thanks again to Milanote for being an awesome brand and for sponsoring this video. I appreciate you if you made it until the end and I really hope to see you in the next one.