来源：LAvideoFilmmaker.com
The Pre-Production Checklist: 7 Points to Make the Most of your Shoot with Solid Preparation
I love pre-production! It is a period of time in which you are fully committed to your project and you get to wield all of your creative powers in your head, unfettered by financial and logistical pressures.
In this post I will describe my personal pre-production checklist: a list of issues that I systematically go through when preparing a project.
A reader once e-mailed me to ask whether I find pre-production tedious. My answer is that I passionately love it, because it has an incredibly high signal to noise ratio: a lot of creative output with virtually no logistical drama.
题目：前制期的工作清单：七个方面让你绝大多数的拍摄准备工作更扎实
我喜欢预制工作！那是一段你可以全面制力于你的项目，并且不会受制于资金与实际预算压力的一段脑力风暴期！
在这个帖子里，我将描述我个人的前制期的工作清单：一个为准备项目而系统性的问题列表。曾经有一个读者问我，是否会觉得前制工作很乏味？我的回答是，我疯狂的喜欢着它，只因为它无以伦比的信价比：它在虚拟视觉上的产出，而非有着实际预算的支出。
The significance of pre-production
During pre-production, the project is created from scratch in the director’s mind.This means that you must see the finished product clearly in your head in its entirety: camerawork, composition, actors’ performances, color schemes, overall tone, and of course the all-important editing. All of this means that you will be working closely with your heads of department to brief them on your vision, particularly the Production Designer and Director of Photography.
The First Assistant Director also plays a big role in pre-production, particularly with respect to scheduling, which for big projects is a non-trivial issue that can only be adequately dealt with by a true-blue 1st AD.
You can always make last-minute tweaks while you shoot, but a clear, comprehensive vision is essential. This unifying overview is the whole point of the Director’s profession.
预制工作的意义：
在预制期间，项目是在导演的大脑中推演的。
这就是说，你必须在你的脑子里清晰的看到你的项目的所有进程：它包括，摄影，合成，表演，色彩风格，影片的格调，当然还有剪辑。所有这些，你必须非常清晰而紧凑的把它们在你的大脑中将它们视觉化，尤其是影片的设定和画面的风格。
第一导演助理在预制期同样起着非常重要的作用，尤其是在排期的阶段，在非交通问题困扰时，你的拍摄有时会在最后一分钟反转，所以一个合理而清晰的预制工作是非常重要的，也是一个职业导演的非常重要的素养。
An important note for beginners
If you are a rookie filmmaker, let me warn you right now that your work as a fledgling director will be 95% preparation before you shoot and only 5% improvisation on the actual shoot.
As a beginner, you are not yet in a position where you can recognize creative opportunities while you shoot and seize them appropriately, because you do not have enough practical directing experience. Most of the quality that fledgling filmmakers inject into a project comes from the preparatory stage, which is exactly what this post is about.
初学者需知：
如果你是新入行的电影人， 让我给你一些建议：在片场95％的工作是按步就班前期预制出来的，只有5％的拍摄工作会是临场发挥。
而作为新人，你还无法掌握影片最终将会呈现出来的效果，是因为你还没有足够多的经验。而大多数菜鸟的影片的问题是来自前期准备的不足。而我的这篇文章，便是讲述如何来解决这些问题。
1. Shot list
This is a numbered list of shots that includes a description of the shot in terms of composition, camera movement and other issues. I also like to include points that have important editing implications, as well as any directions for actors, when they make a difference to the camerawork.
Do not be afraid to come up with your own style of shot list, as long as every shot is uniquely numbered and unambiguously identifiable, because the 1st AD will be producing the schedule on the basis of your shot list.
If you haven’t done so already, download my shot list template. You can adapt it to your needs as you see fit.
1，拍摄清单
这个清单包括着一个码着序号的列表，包括拍摄内容，镜头运动，以及其它相关内容。我个人习惯还喜欢把一些重要的与剪辑相关的信息也列出来，比如演员的走位，摄像机的运动方向等。
当然，你也可以有你自己的拍摄清单。但你的清单必须足够明白并且已经序号好，因为你的第一助理会依据你的这个清单来分派工作。
如果你没有足够多的认识，你可以下载我的列表模板，并自行按需修改。
下载列表模板
2. Storyboards
Storyboards are basically sketches that depict the composition within the frame for a given shot, and can also include details such as zooming, panning and tracking.
Storyboards can be very elaborate when drawn by professional storyboard artists, but fancy storyboards are only really necessary when you are trying to convince someone to support your project, either to raise money, or to win a bid for a TV commercial.
If you are a newbie, I strongly recommend that you sketch some storyboards for your first project. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to draw — you do not have to show them to anyone: they help you in disciplining yourself to pre-visualize good shot compositions in advance.
Nobody has ever seen a storyboard I drew — I draw them only for myself, and then communicate what I want to the Cinematographer verbally. It has always worked exceedingly well because I have no trouble communicating verbally.
Well-drawn storyboards become more important if you are a director who struggles to communicate verbally with the crew. If you have trouble making yourself understood by your DP or camera operator, good storyboards will help with that. In this case you would be shifting some of the directing burden from the shoot to pre-production, when you will be directing the storyboard artist.
2，故事板
故事板是视觉化的第一步，是你将要进行拍摄的草图。当然，故事板可以添加许多细节，比如变焦，推拉摇移等…
当然，故事板可以由专业的插画师来画，不过漂亮的故事板仅是在你在竟标、需要说服某人来投资时有用。如果你是一个新人，我还是建议你自己来画你的故事板。别担心你不会画，因为你不需要出示给任何一个人，但故事板有助于你去视觉化你的故事。并且让你提前知道你将如何来合成你的特效镜头。
好的故事板也有助于你和你的摄影团队进行良好的沟通。让团队明拍你的镜头意图。
3. Tone
A huge issue to resolve very clearly and firmly during pre-production is the tone of your film.
The tone of the project is basically its flavor. Is it a dark vampire movie? Or is it more a tongue-in-cheek vampire movie?
You don’t have to feel hamstrung by a particular genre — although film marketability must always be taken seriously by independent filmmakers — but you do have to decide very clearly in your mind what kind of movie you are making.
Switching tone in a movie after it has been established is one of the most reliable ways to make the film fail.
The most spectacular tonal failure I can think of is Spielberg’s “Artificial Intelligence,” which suddenly switched from a heartfelt sci-fi movie to a weird alien/supernatural plot that simply did not fit with the rest of the movie. This sudden and disconcerting tonal switch is in my opinion primarily responsible for that film’s disappointing box office performance.
Tragedies need the occasional comic relief; comedies need the occasional serious scene. But do not betray your film’s established tone, or you will pay dearly.
3,风格
一个在预制期间需要解决的问题是：你的电影的风格！
你是要做重口味，还是小清新？
当然，你大可不必为你的类型大伤脑筋，但你必须要在拍摄之前就要很清楚的知道你要做什么类型的电影。
在拍摄完成后，再去修改你的影片风格，这将注定你的影片是失败的。这里面的反例是斯皮尔伯格的“人工智能”，它试图从科幻类型转向奇怪的怪兽片和超自然类型片。
当然，悲剧型是可以有喜剧元素的，而喜剧也可以有严肃的场景，但不要背离你的风格设定，那样，你会为此付出惨痛的代价。
4. Directions for actors
You must develop a very clear idea of precisely what performances you want to get out of your actors. This includes making detailed notes, and you may decide to include the most camera-critical actor directions in the shot list as well.
A number of readers have written to me expressing concerns that they are very vague and find great difficulty in expressing themselves clearly to actors and crew members. I will not sugar-coat the fact that this is a major liability for a director and is an issue that you must work on proactively, because it is really going to hold you back.
One way in which these directors can mitigate their communication problems is by deciding clearly in advance what they are going to ask their actors and crew members — and I mean literally writing down complete sentences for what you are going to ask your actors and crew members to do. I might write a whole post about this is in future.
Another valuable actor-related pre-production activity that you can fruitfully pursue is rehearsals and readings with actors. In principle this can save time on the shoot, because you have already directed your actors in advance, but in practice it doesn’t always bear fruit.
I am actually of the opinion that rehearsing with actors before you shoot does more harm than good if you are dealing with talented professionals. Particularly for very intense scenes, the less you tamper with their freshness, the better. This also means that, for exceptionally intense scenes, you only have a few takes to get them right, because the more the actors go through them, the more awkward and ineffective the scene becomes.
In any case, talented professional film actors only need light direction in most cases, if you chose the right actors for the job. In the current circumstances of the independent film industry, we have unprecedented access to some seriously professional and experienced actors, and you really have no excuse to cast anything other than true professionals in your projects. We have never had so much access to real film actors — many of them are languishing at home wondering if they will ever get a role again!
Get your act together with a well-organized project and contact them. The availability of these actors is a bright light in an otherwise bleak landscape for independent filmmakers. Capitalize on it.
Cast the right actors in your project and getting awesome performances from them will not be difficult if you have a modicum of directorial talent — the adage “directing is 50% casting” does have a grain of truth in it.
4，表演的方式
在开拍之前，你必须有一个非常清晰的演员表演方式和表演的风格。 这包括你要作出详细的表演备注，注明演员的表演，走位以及与摄影机关联密切的方向等。
很多人写信来问我，如何才能清晰的表达这些给工作人员和演员呢？我只能说，这就是你混片场的能力了。【要不谁都能当导演了，不是吗？译者注】
一个比较好的方法是，你可以有一个问题列表来和你的团队和演员们交流。也许我会在不久把它们写下来贴出来。
另一个在预制阶段与演员相关的一个活动就是排练和念台词。它会为你在开拍时节省很多时间，当然，排演时也不总是非常顺利的。但对于专业的演员时，过多的排演却是有害的；因为保持他们对你的戏的新鲜感是非常重要的，尤其是在你的场景很多，档期紧的时候。过多的排练会导致他们的涉待和效率下降。大多情况下，专业的演员只需要适度的指引便能做出正确的表演。
在现在的独立制片工业条件下，专业演员与制片商从未有如此大的可能进行合作，但前提是，你必须要把你的项目与你的预制工作做好，然后再联系他们，你的工作做得越细，就越有可能与他们合作并为你的电影营利。
5. Production design
As the director, you must develop a coherent look for your film, in consultation with the Production Designer. You can use all the visual references you can think of: paintings, art magazines, quality photographs, and of course other films.
You should collect these visual references and present them to your Production Designer and Director of Photography, because they will need them to give you what you want.
When I first started I used to have magazine cutouts and other clippings, but a more efficient method I have used more recently is to collect these visual references as digital photographs on a specific webpage that I create, and then simply send the Production Designer and Director of Photography the URL of the page. It works beautifully.
5，影片设定
做为一个导演，你必须与你的影片设计师开发出一个连贯的视觉传达来表明你的电影。 你可以用一切可用的视觉参考来制作：比如画，高质量的相片，杂志，当然也可以是其它的电影画面。
你可以收集你可以获得的所有的这些视觉画面作为参考来表明你的电影设定以及你的电影意图。
刚开始做这些设定的时候，我喜欢用杂志的剪贴画来实现，但现在我认为更有效的方法是在网上收集一些图片并整理出来，当你需要发送给相关的人时，只需要发送相应的链接就可以了。这个方法很有效。
6. Location scouting
Depending on the size of your project, you will be spending significant amounts of time traveling to different locations to assess their suitability for your project. For a feature film, this will be a lot of driving around!
Finding locations is a big task in itself, because you need to find the right location at the right price for every scene in your project. This can take a long time.
Don’t forget permits – a particularly serious issue in cities like Los Angeles (they need the money).
Having locked your locations, you will then have to do a Tech Scout with your heads of department.
6，勘察场地
依据项目的大小情况，你时常会需要四处周游去为了选取适合你的影片的拍摄地点。这将是一个非常耗时的工作。
合适的价格，合适的场景，合适的档期，需要相当的时间来平衡。
别忘了许可，相当多的地方是要许可证的。找到并付费。
7. Pre-visualization videos
A pre-visualization video is any video that you shoot for the purpose of testing a particular idea and experimenting to see if it works.
The whole point of pre-visualization videos is that they do not cost anything to shoot: you do it with whatever cheap camcorder you can get hold of, using toy figures and other objects as stand-ins.
You can also ask friends or relatives to help you. When I was in pre-production on my very first project, I tested several shots using my parents as stand-ins, more than a year before I shot the project.
7，预视觉化视频
测试视频，是你为了某个目的做的一个拍摄测试。用你可能拿到的不需费用的机器来拍。
Those pre-visualization videos helped me in the following ways:
- I was able to check whether the shots I had in mind were as good in practice as I thought they were in theory;
- through trial and error, I found the best way to get the shot I had in mind;
- I refined and improved the shots by experimenting and trying things, which costs nothing but time when you are just doing it with friends and a camcorder.
The testing and experimental benefits of pre-visualization videos can add enormous value to the project, because when the time comes to shoot, with the inevitably tight schedule and expensive equipment being paid for by the day, you will be in a strong position to direct everyone confidently and make the most of your production values.
I strongly recommend pre-visualization videos, particularly if you are less experienced.
Unsure of whether to use a long or wide lens for a particular shot? Grab your camcorder, invite some friends over and test it!
Unsure of whether a particular shot should be zooming in or tracking in? Grab your camcorder and test it!
Unsure of whether a particular cut you have in mind will work? Film the shots quickly with your friends and your camcorder, import the shots into your editing application and cut them together to see if the cut works!
With this approach you will (a) learn an enormous amount and become a valuable filmmaker, and (b) get the best possible results on the actual shoot.
It is through practical experimentation with cameras and stand-ins that you truly develop your filmmaker’s eye. It’s how I did it, and as a filmmaker, you have many more practice days than actual shoot days.
Musicians practise on their instruments; fledgling directors practise with a camcorder. Do it.
这些测试视频在如下几个方面给预我帮助：
－这些镜头拍摄出来是否与相当然的时候一致？是否需要改进？
－发现问题，找出最好的解决办法并实现预想的画面。
－找到并超越设定时的画面，实现更为上佳的镜头。
测试的价值就在于些，因为当你正式开拍时，所有的设备和人员都是以天为单位计价的。而那时，紧张的时间按排和人员开支，不由得你去现场测试。
所以，如果你是一个缺少经验的新人，我强烈建议你进行预视觉化测试。
－不确定用广角还是长焦，测试
－不确定用推进还是变焦跟进，测试
－不确定剪辑点在哪，测试
多想，多练，
What about fresh ideas while you shoot?
I’m a big fan of making improvised tweaks while I shoot as a direct result of having a fresh idea at the last minute, recognizing an unforeseen creative opportunity and seizing it appropriately.
However, the paradox of making the most of fresh ideas while you shoot is that you are in a better position for improvisation when you have prepared thoroughly beforehand.
The more preparation the director has done, the more the director will be in a position to make the most of last-minute ideas on the shoot.
For this reason I remain a huge fan of thorough preparation.
Very experienced and talented directors can afford to leave more room for improvisation on the shoot. For example, Steven Spielberg reportedly improvised many of his camera set-ups on “Munich,” which is made all the more remarkable by the fact that this film has some of Spielberg’s most complicated camerawork. However, do bear in mind that, in addition to having preternatural talent, Spielberg has also been directing for literally half a century (he started his path as a young teen).
Most other directors need to do their homework
在拍摄当中，有新的点子出来，怎么办？
Concluding thoughts
It is worth repeating: it is in pre-production that the director really makes a project. The rest is simply execution, sprinkled with last-minute inspiration — assuming you have competent actors and crew members.
Free from the stressful pressures of principal photography, the director can let the imagination run wild during pre-production, experimenting with different ideas with no cost other than time. It really is a remarkably enjoyable phase — the calm before the storm.
I enjoyed sharing these tips and I hope you found them useful. Good luck!
结论：
再次重复：在预制阶段，导演创造了整个项目，而在其余的阶段仅仅是执行
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