What belongs on a shot list
·5 min read
A shot list is not a wish list. It is the document an assistant director turns into a running order, so the test for anything on it is simple: does this change how the day is scheduled, or does it not.
The columns that earn their place
| Column | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| Shot no. | 1, 2, 3 within the scene. Suffix inserts as 12A rather than renumbering everything below. |
| Size | ECU to EWS. See the shot sizes reference. |
| Lens | The focal length, not a description. 32mm, not 'wide'. |
| Movement | Static, pan, tilt, dolly in, handheld. Say what the camera does, not what the actor does. |
| Duration | Estimated screen seconds. This is what turns a list into a schedule. |
| Description | One sentence. What is in frame and what happens. |
| Notes | Anything the department needs: a practical to switch, a rig, a second unit pickup. |
What to leave off
Aperture, filtration and colour temperature belong to the DP and change on the day. Blocking diagrams belong on a floor plan, not in a table cell. Anything you would not stop the unit to correct does not need a column, and every column you add is one more thing to keep accurate under pressure.
Order is the whole point
A list in script order is a nice document and a bad plan. The AD will reorder it by setup, because the expensive thing on a shoot is moving the camera and relighting, not shooting. Group by camera position first, then by lighting state, and shoot the scene out of order.
This is why shot numbers have to survive being reordered. If your numbers renumber every time you drag a row, nobody can refer to shot 7 out loud and be understood, which is the only reason the numbers exist.
Durations are how you find the overrun
Estimated seconds per shot, summed per scene, is a rough cut before anything is shot. It tells you the day is too long while it is still cheap to fix, and it tells you which scene to trim. It will be wrong in the specifics and right in the aggregate, which is all a schedule ever needs.
One page per scene
Print it that way. The binder gets flipped, wet and stood on. A shot list that spans a page break in the middle of a setup is the one that gets a setup missed.