PREPRODUCTION SURVEY
Preproduction is a useful time to stand back and ask yourself these questions: Does it really say something? Does it have vision? Does it have a point of view? Are the main ideas still valid? This questioning is not a once-and-for-all process. It should be something that goes on (at least subconsciously) through all the ¤lm stages. But the preproduction period is an especially good time to do this because you can still make a lot of changes, whereas once you start ¤lming, such changes become much harder and more expensive.
Reviewing People and Location During preproduction, try to revisit all the ¤lming locations and talk once more to the main people who will appear in the ¤lm. The location review (on which I often take the cameraperson) helps ¤rst of all to refamiliarize you with the subject matter. A few months may have passed since you did the scouting and research, and things may have changed. The review also helps you sort out practical questions regarding parking and security. You are also now looking at locations from a slightly different perspective, with a director’s eye rather than a writer’s eye. What will be the best shots? Which direction does the sun come up? Should you plan to shoot that building in the morning when it’s shaded, or in the afternoon when it’s sunlit? This is also a time to meet again with your key ¤lm participants and anyone else who is going to help you. The meetings serve both a psychological and practical purpose. First, it may be bene¤cial to talk over the ¤lm in a little more detail with your on-camera interviewees and explain to them what you want to do. It’s a time to put their minds at rest about how dif¤cult it will all be and about how much their lives will be disturbed. This is also a time to get to know them better—to explore who they are, what they will say, how they might appear on camera, and if anything new and important has happened to them since you last met. You should also work on establishing a real trust between yourself and the participants or the interviewees. I cannot stress enough how important this is; it has always seemed to me that documentary directing is more about trust than about ¤nding the right camera positions. You should also use this time to examine scheduling possibilities. When are your participants free? When do they do those particular operations at the hospital? When do the main business meetings take place? What is the actual date of the school graduation? Whom should you have to contact when you come to ¤lm? How many days in advance should you notify them?
145