Prepping Gear for a shoot and staying Organised on Set.
Perhaps one of my favourite parts of the filmmaking Process. Prepping gear for your shoots is an essential part to helping ensure your shoot goes smoothly. We always preferer to prep with as much time as possible in advance, to allow us to catch and address any issues that may come up and order any needed replacements.
The more gear you have to prep the earlier you should start but we all know this isn’t always possible. while the following is mainly taken from the point of view of Owner Operators but still applied to prepping kit if you are renting.
Deciding what Gear you need?
Deciding what gear you need is step one in prepping for the shoot. These decisions will be made after reading the script, going through the shot list and having discussions with the director about the visual style for the film.
For example the director might want to have a scene where the character feel completely isolated and alone, so you may need a wide angle, which means you need to prepare or hire a wide angle lens. If it’s a horror film where the camera is a character itself and you want smooth controlled shots then you will likely be considering a dolly for smooth controlled movements.
Conversely if you have a character running through the woods you may opt for a cable cam, or a camera on a Gimbal.
The decisions will also be made taking into account budget for the equipment, and this is where things can get creative for you figuring out how to do shots without the gear you’d ideally prefer. ( remember to always stay safe.)
The Gear List:
Once you’ve decided on the kit a good thing to do is make a list of all the equipment you will be taking with you. Its a good idea to keep the lists detailed to include small items as well such as cables and adapters. The more detailed the list, the less likely you will be to forget that one little bit that is crucial for your camera to work properly.
Personally we keep digitised Kit lists of all our equipment and split it by department and then each bag and case has its own kit list. we also utilise QR codes on all of our bags and cases so that anyone can scan the kit and get up a list of exactly which items belong in the case or bag along with pictures of the items so that even the less experienced wont miss anything, when packing the kit away.
Prepping the Kit:
When is comes time to actually prepping the kit we like to go department by department, so camera, then camera grip then lighting then lighting grip and electrics. We like to take everything out of the case and inspect it using the following checklist:
Visual Inspection - Are all the parts needed there? Does the item have any visible damage or indications that there may be an issue with it. such as loose screws, or cracked casings.
Set-up the Item - Testing hardware mainly - Are all the mounts and mounting points secure? Do all the lock offs work properly and hold their grip?
Does the item work? - Plug it in, switch it on, and test its function by running through the menus ensuring the monitors can display the image properly and things like focus peaking and wave forms are working on the monitors. For cameras we set them up run through the menu systems ensuring what we change actually takes effect and the recording in the format we will be filming in for up to 10 minutes then playing back the footage on the camera and monitors to make sure it works. then formatting the cards. we will also take the recorded footage and test it on our editing software to make sure the cards are not corrupting in anyway.
Cleaning - We will then after ensuring each item works, we will clean the items where needed and in general wiped most things down and ensure they are nice and presentable as well. Annually al our kit undergoes full cleaning and maintenance checks and testing.
Packing - Once we are happy we have everything and that its all working as it should we will pack it up in a neat pile ready to be loaded onto the truck.
Staying Organized on Set:
Staying Organized on set is Crucial to an smooth running production. There is nothing worse than having the kit end up in one massive pile and not being able to find anything wasting valuable time onset. One of the ways we stay organized is through colour coding all our cases by departments, and sperating the departments in the equipment storage area. This could be as simple as having all the camera, Camera Grip and Camera Department along one side of the room and then all the lighting and Lighting department along the other side and sound along another side.
Personally we colour code our deparments as follows:
Orange - Camera Department
Orange +Pink - Camera Grip
Yellow - Lighting Department
Yellow + Blue - Lighting Modifiers
Yellow + Pink - Lighting Grip
Pink - Grip
Red - Audio
Green - Electrics and Distribution
You can can be as simple or detailed as you like with your departments but for us especially on bigger shoots having things broken down into smaller sub departments really helps.
Ultimately its up to you you and what works best for you in how you prep your gear, as long as you try and prep in advance, keep a handy list, you should be all good to go! :)
Happy Filming!
