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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