Production Attic’s Company Director breaks down the importance of pre-visualisation when planning a shoot.
At Production Attic we make it easy for people to tell stories that impact their audience. However, we don’t just tell stories, we show them. Seeing a film, even in a rough state, can convey much more than a written treatment.
That’s why, wherever possible I like to build in time to create previz edits at the early stages of pre-production. A little extra here can save a lot of time later and lead to a much better film.
One of a series of films we delivered to SEC in just 3 weeks turnaround.
The challenge
The Scottish Events Campus (SEC) came to us with a difficult task in late 2021. They needed a relaunch film to celebrate live events returning, as well as establish the OVO Hydro brand.
They had a clear visual style for the OVO brand and tagline (“IT’S TIME“) but needed help scripting a story, that could be told within the budget of a single day of filming, and delivered within only 3 weeks.
The film had to include the excitement of live events, capture the feeling of returning to the venue, establish OVO branding, tie in with ITS TIME, and not mention any hint of the dreaded C word. All while not showing any activities that would be deemed to be breaking Covid guidelines.
A difficult task, near impossible timescale, important stakeholders who needed approval, and all the while we were navigating COVID and gearing up for our work at COP26.
Despite this we delivered, on time, a suite of films with a mix of original footage shot with actors in The Hydro; Original music; Animation; VFX (we had to magic some masks on pre-2020 footage); Archive footage, and Footage from previous Hydro films.
More films, all based around a main 1.5 min master edit.
How did we do it? Previz
As soon as we were greenlit I turned our written treatment into an edit using a mix of old Hydro videos, stock footage, and photos taken on a location recce. This captured the story I wanted to tell, the pace and tone it would have and illustrated the sort of shots it would include.
It demonstrated how our written treatment would look when finished and most importantly it was wrong.
When our client could see what we had in mind they were able to point out, and articulate, issues in the message we were conveying. Notably, our first draft followed a Hydro crew member which was flagged as something counter to the message of fans rediscovering the venue themselves.
All of this was in the written treatment but it’s much harder to visualise so it wasn’t picked up. If we had shot this without the previz, then by the time it was noticed it would have been far too late. There would be no time or budget for reshoots, and we would have a film but not a happy client. However, as this was still early in the first week of production we were able to quickly pivot, address concerns, and through a series of daily drafts end the week with an approved animatic.
The final film above and previz edit below using a mix of stock, recce photos and old Hydro films to make sure the story could be signed off well ahead of the shoot
Benefits of Previz
Previz isn’t just a great creative tool. Logistically having this approval early on also ensured we could stack departments, which would usually need to work one after the other. Music composition, animation and production could all work from the same blueprint.
On the shoot day, we had a clear, succinct, guide of shots to capture. All of this cuts down wasted time across all departments meaning the extra time upfront is more than paid for later.
The shoot day went smoothly as we knew exactly what to capture
Previz edits are a great tool and are also a lot of fun to do. It’s great to put together an initial plan without the constraints of having only the footage you’ve already shot. And to see how your ideas stack up. Better to find out what doesn’t work now.
The most in-depth animatic I’ve created recently was for our short film Esc. This was a bit of an experiment as it was shot with a team of animators rather than a live-action crew. We replicated our set, lenses and grip kit (2m jib) in 3D and shot the full film in 3D weeks before stepping on set.
ESC Animatic side by side with the final film showing how close we are able to get to the final piece
Previz is something pretty new for us. It’s one of many things that have changed in our processes since Covid. As shoots quietened down in 2020 we turned more towards animation and editing using stock footage.
As shoots continue to return it’s really exciting to see how the lessons learned from the pandemic can continue to inform and strengthen our traditional live-action work.
