Pre-Production

Once the decision has been made to make the film, the next step is pre-production which is where various people will go through the script and analyse it in detail ready for the shoot.

They will…

• Identify the locations they’ll need to film in

• List the equipment they’ll need to make it (cameras, lights, etc)

• List all the props/clothes they’ll need and where they can be found

• Try to raise some money for the film

• Begin putting together contracts

• Think about which actors might be good for the roles

• Etc, etc, etc…

Importantly, here the director will also begin to go through the screenplay and think about how it’s going to be shot.

The director might imagine a scene of hundreds of helicopters crossing a beach and firing on to the shore as Ride of Valkyries plays. Or they might see a man and a woman sitting at the breakfast table, unable to talk because of the terrible emotional gulf between them. Or perhaps a decaying hand crawling out of a grave…

The director, in other words, could be thinking of absolutely anything!

They might have just a few random ideas in their head or they could have a fully detailed storyboard in there (and if you don’t already know, the storyboard is basically a comic strip version of the screenplay which shows the action, approximate angles where the camera will be placed, an idea of the background – house, alleyway, city, desert, etc – and some idea how the finished film will look).

For us actors, pre-production is when the casting begins to take shape and where we begin to enter the picture.

Who will actually do the casting varies from film to film. Sometimes on a small production it will be the director themself who will look at actors and decide who will play the various roles. On bigger productions it will be a casting agency who will narrow down possibilities for the director to choose from.

Regardless though, the process is roughly the same.

Let’s assume a casting director (or cd as they’re often abbreviated to) is doing the casting. What they’ll do first is go through the screenplay and make a list of all the characters who appear. This will include everyone from the leading actor through the supporting actors right down to mass of extras who appear in the battle scene.

For each one the cd will write out a breakdown (a thumbnail sketch) for the character.

• Wayne male, 20-30

• Grandma female, 60-70, small, Caucasian, grey hair, wizened; a wise woman who does not suffer fools lightly

Sometimes a character breakdown will be brief (like the first one above) and other times it will be more detailed (like the second). Obviously as the cd goes through the script they will note any very specific points which could influence the casting; if the script demands that the female lead at one point must have a phone call in Japanese then that must be remembered in casting; if the male lead shaves all his hair off in one scene, again that must be taken into account and put in the breakdown.

These casting calls are then sent out for the actors to find, apply to, audition for, and finally be cast in.

And then it’s time for The Shoot.