Remote Pre-Production During Covid-19
Our production world is looking very different during Covid-19. Among other things, we are adapting to shorter shoot days and smaller crews. For all of these reasons pre-production has become more important than ever before. I’ve come up with a system that has been working very well for me as I’m collaborating remotely with a DP for an upcoming shoot. There are a few components to the system- Here is a breakdown.
Film Set Objects
Film Set Objects is a pack of icons that are used for building out lighting diagrams. With your download you get a set of 350 icons which are organized into folders off all of your most used lights on set. You can choose your camera, fluorescent fixtures, LEDs, HMIs, tungsten, rags, rigging and more. The pack is very easy to use and I was drawing out lighting plots within a few minutes of downloading. The results are very quick diagrams that look and feel very professional. I would be confident to share a finished plot with any of my clients. I cannot say enough good things about Film Set Objects. Plus, this is a product made by a DP in Portland, OR named Evan Oliver.
Google Drawings
I have been using G-Suite for quite a while but I had never ventured into Google Drawings until recently. Drawings has been the software that is the basis of system and also what makes it so collaborative. It works just like any other G-Suite application, you can share your document with others and then everybody has access, can make changes and even leave notes in real time.
Where things get really interesting is that you can use your Film Set Objects pack inside of Google Drawings. Import like any other object and then anyone with access to the document can click, drag and re-adjust any of the objects.
Below is a look at an unfinished plot, where I am waiting for some input from the Director, asking him to place the camera. I have also been including photos from the location scout into the document so there is no question to any collaborators what we are working with.
Screen Sharing
During the meetings, generally I will share my screen as we are talking through the diagrams. I think it just speeds up the process a little bit more because I can point to something with my mouse, pull up our shot list (Google Sheets) or jump over to Google to pull up a reference image. We have been using Discord for our screen sharing but Zoom or FaceBook would also be sufficient.
Let me know if you try it
If you give this a try or if you have been collaborating with another method I would love to hear about it. Drop me a line I would love to hear from you loganreynoldsvideo@gmail.com