Pre-Production
Pre-production is a fairly loose term which refers to the tasks undertaken before production begins. Exactly what is included in this stage depends on the medium and situation.
For a small video company, pre-production may refer to everything that happens before shooting begins, for example, meeting with the client, research, storyboarding, location planning, etc.
For feature films, pre-production is more specific and only begins when other milestones have been met such as financing, screenplay, casting and major staffing. In this case pre-production includes:
- Location scouting
- Prop and wardrobe identification and preparation
- Special effects identification and preparation
- Production schedule
- Set construction
- Script-locking (semi-finalisation of the script)
- Script read-through with cast, director and other interested parties
See also: Stages of Production, Production, Post-production