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Not everything happens the way you want.

That’s why we spend time in pre-production. Not only to plan for the best possible outcome, but to also plan for the worst possible outcome. And for outdoor shoots, that doesn’t always mean things that are out of our control, like weather, but also things like changing regulations.

Covid regulations threw us a bit of a curveball, in that we were no longer allowed to do a live-ish style production for this client, but we still need to produce something that will embody the “live” feel. We want the viewer to still get excited, to feel the ups and downs, and be part of the race (even though the race will be over when they watch).

It’s not something that is easy to do on the fly, but if you plan for it, when these things happen, the planning will take off some of the sting.

In this case, the equipment is pretty much the same, the direction however is very much different. So rather than cover how the race progresses, positioning, happenings, etc, we need to put more of a focus on the drama that unfolds (drama that viewers wouldn’t typically see from a live production).

[Some of the things you’ll want to make sure you plan for with each production are: weather conditions, traffic (pedestrian, auto), local regulations, public interference, crew absence (ability to build in redundancy), cast absence (rain day), equipment failure, health regulations, safety plan, communications black outs (i.e. dead coverage zones)]

So make sure your planning includes what happens when things don’t go the way you want. This will keep you from dealing with a heaping mess of files after the fact and your client will be happier for it.

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