Lesson 1 of 3
The shoot-day protocol
A shoot day runs on protocol, not vibes. Open with a 15 minute morning huddle to align everyone on one thing: the story objective for the day. If the crew cannot say in a sentence what the day is about, you are not ready to roll.
Gear check, every time
Test every mic before anyone speaks. Record 10 seconds of room tone, the pure silence, in every location, because the editor needs it to patch audio later. Clean the lens. Shoot 4K with gridlines on: 24 or 30fps for a cinematic look, 60fps when you want slow-motion.
The three-roll rule
Never cut early. Start rolling 5 seconds before the action and let it run 10 seconds after the peak. The best reactions live in the silence after the explosion, the breath someone takes once they think it is over.
Narrate and cover the room
Verbalize everything. You are a walking narrator, so say what you feel out loud and that becomes your voiceover. At every location run the golden-hour B-roll protocol: 3 establishing shots from different angles, 5 extreme close-ups of details, 1 high-angle and 1 low-angle.
Quick check
Your subject finishes a tearful confession, stops talking, and just sits there in silence. Your instinct is to cut. What do you do?
Match the pairs
Match each shot to the story job it does.
Think it through, then show the answer
- High-angle establisherIsolation, the subject looks small
- Tight detail of tapping fingersAnxiety bubbling under the surface
- Two-shot over the tableThe battlefield where they clash
- Walk-and-talkMomentum, the story moving forward
Every shot is a sentence. The angle and framing tell the viewer how to feel before anyone says a word.
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