The Importance of Pre-Production

Posted July 8th, 2010 / By John Kostrzewski in Resources, Tips

It’s easy to do. You get an idea in your head for an awesome project and you immediately jump onto the computer to start working on making that idea a reality without any preparation. I’ve done it many times as have many in the industry and sometimes it works, but what happens when it doesn’t? Do you sit at the computer for hours at a time desperately trying to figure out how to force your idea into fruition? Maybe you scrap the idea completely hoping to salvage it one day? Save yourself the trouble, and the wasted time, by doing the appropriate work ahead of time.

pre·pro·duc·tion (prē′prə duk′shən)

noun

the process of preparing and planning before actual production begins; specif., the choosing of locations, casting of actors, revision of the script, etc. before the actual shooting of a film.

The idea of pre-production is a staple in the world of filmmaking, and it is no different in the motion graphics industry as well. Laying out your ideas ahead of time, making sure everything will fit together as perfect as you can, will make the entire production process run that much smoother and faster. It’s a skill they drill into your heads in college, and it’s a requirement in the workplace; why not practice it in all your projects, professional and personal. Practice makes perfect, after all.

So what goes into pre-production of a motion graphics piece? Let’s take a look at what you need to do and think about before starting production of your next project.

An Idea

Well, you have to start somewhere, right? You should already have a general idea down in your head, but start thinking it through from beginning to end. If you know how your project is going to start but you don’t have any idea of how it’s going to end, you need to do one of two things: brainstorm or scrap the idea. If you choose to brainstorm, don’t spend a ton of time trying to force the idea out of your head. This can lead to frustration and that can lead to more wasted time. Move onto another idea. You’ll either strike gold on that other idea, or you’ll stumble upon something that will work on your first idea. During this time, only focus on what the basic idea of your story is going to be and how it is to be played out.

Script

Not all projects have actual dialogue between characters or a voice over, in which case, a script isn’t really necessary, but if it does you will need to write it down. This is your chance to fine tune the dialogue so that it is the best it can be. Anything from a simple pen and paper to the basic TextEdit or Notepad to the more professional Final Draft or Celtx (which, sidebar, is a great free software to use) will work when doing this. Remember, this isn’t a professional script that you’re going to try to sell; you’re just trying to put the text down so that you won’t forget it and so you can make it as best as it can be. Even if your project doesn’t have dialogue, you may want to write down the individual shot ideas just to see if your idea flows together verbally. If not, skip to the next step.

Storyboarding

Even thought the AFI video above (narrated by Sean Astin–or Samwise, as I like to call him–and containing all the flare of an 80s educational video) is aimed at storyboards for filmmakers, it works exactly the same for motion graphics artists. The idea is to simply provide a blueprint for your idea. Much like a script where you fleshed out the dialogue for your story, the storyboard fleshes out the visual elements. Storyboards don’t have to be the detailed, highly crafted beasts you may have come to know and dread. Simple black & white sketches designed to show object placement, shot angles, camera and object movement, perspective and so on is all you really need. However, the more detail you put into your storyboards, the easier the rest of the work will be. Define light sources through shading; try many different designs and layouts. Define as many things as you can during this process so you won’t be struggling to figure them out later, or struggling to keep a project together because something you could have avoided isn’t working out.

Styleframes

Styleframes by Brad Chmielewski

The next step up from storyboarding are the styleframes. These are basically storyboards using elements you will see in the final project. Why create the elements and waste time putting them into styleframes when you could be using that time to keyframe and tweak effects? Because styleframes give you the opportunity to see if everything will actually mesh. Make sure your colors are correct, that your object fits your background, that the sizes of the objects will look the way you want and that your camera angles and movements say exactly what you want the scene to convey. You can even try out different effects to see if they are what you need or if you will need something more (or less). This is your final chance to change anything that might not work or need to be tweaked before you go into production. Make sure you have everything right now, and you’ll breeze through the production of your project later.

Key Things To Think About

There’s a lot to keep in mind, but here’s a list of some of the things you will want to think about during this entire process:

* What type of lighting am I going to use (three point, spotlight, area light, etc.)?
* What colors will I be using (specific colors, complementary, triadic, etc.)?
* What camera angles and shot lengths do I need (Know Your Camera, Part I: Shot Lengths & Angles)?
* What camera and object movement do I need (Know Your Camera, Part II: Movement)?
* What camera settings and/or effects am I going to use (Know Your Camera, Part III: Settings)?
* What software will work best (specific software; 3d or 2d)?
* What sound effects/music will I need?

Pre-Production is an easy thing to breeze over, but it really is the smartest thing you can do for yourself when working on a project. Thinking through the production phase of your project before you start will allow you to move faster through it with fewer hiccups. All of this, of course, means you’ll have more room to breath when your client changes his/her mind about something in the project, which, let’s face it, happens all the time. Why not allow yourself the room to breath? You will thank yourself for it later.

John Kostrzewski is the Editor of Fuel Your Motionography and a freelance motion graphics and visual effects artist, videographer and writer living in Minnesota. He is awesome. Follow him on Twitter at and .