The Pre-Production Process

The Director’s Vision

Director’s vision = story’s content + narrative structure + the film’s visual design.

Key Pre-Production People

Director

Screenwriter

Production Designer

A film’s overall look may exist in the director’s imagination, but the screenwriter and the production designer are the people who actually create the fictional world of the movie.

Director

During pre-production the director and cinematographer plan how to photograph each scene.

The director may create storyboards to communicate his ideas to the cinematographer.

The director will work with the production designer to create the sets, props, and costumes.

Screenwriter

The screenwriter imagines the world through words.

Production Designer

Turns words and the director’s ideas into real-life sets, props, and costumes.

Research is often the first step.

Produces sketches and miniature models of sets, props, and costumes.

Once the director approves designs, construction begins.

The production designer is part historian, artist, and architect.

Set

The set is the place or site of each scene.

A set may be the interior of a building, such as an office, a courtroom, a train station, or even a train car.

Or the set may be exterior locations, such as porches.

Sets are constructed.

Scenery

Scenery refers to landscapes and outdoor locations.

This includes mountains, beaches, fields, public parks, etc.

Scenery can be constructed, such as the backdrop seen through a window.

Props

Prop is short for property. A prop is a moveable object that is part of a set.

Examples include wall hangings, tableware, computers, street signs, and weapons.

Furnishings

Furnishings are the furniture that comprise the world of the film.

This includes beds, couches and desks.

Trimmings

Trimmings are the decorative elements on the set such as draperies, bedspreads, lamps, etc.

Costumes

Costumes are the clothing each character wears, including hats and shoes. Also called “wardrobe items”.

Makeup

Makeup includes cosmetics, hairstyles, and wigs.