PRODUCTION BOOK GUIDE AND TEMPLATE By Jinane Bahlawan

While working on my production book, I realized that I wasn’t really sure on what to do or how I should format my stuff. Looking at other production books, people were using all kinds of weird fonts or everything was just lacking in information. Since film students hate logistics and paperwork, here’s a guide with a quick template on what your production book should look like. This guide is specific to Digital Frame and Sequence, but could serve as a production book for all later films. Your teacher might have different requirements or even less requirements than what’s here, but this will help you develop one that is thorough, consistent, and concise. MATERIALS:

- 3 ring binder (preferable) or folder with prongs - Section/page dividers (plastic, no pockets)

Title each divider tab as follows:

1. Story Synopsis 2. Script (Dialogue, or V.O.) 3. Character Sketch 4. Storyboard(s) 5. Inspiration/Infleunces/References 6. Production Design 7. Camera Work 8. Production Schedule/Shooting Schedule 9. Camera Log 10. Sound Design/Music 11. Production Contact List (optional, but suggested) 12. Evaluation

Now, we’re going to break down these tabs into another 11 pages, where each page will contain guiding questions, tables, and all sorts of other stuff to help you get your project organized more quickly! If you’re unsure about what your production book should still look like after this guide and template, check out the separate document titled “PRODUCTION BOOK SAMPLE”. It’ll be the production book I used for my first F&S experimental. Happy filmmaking!

TITLE:

BY

LENGTH:

CLASS:

INSTRUCTOR:

DATE:

This information should be either the first page in your production book or on the cover of it.

SYNOPSIS

LOG LINE: This is a 1-line description of your film.

PLOT: This is a paragraph description of your film’s plot.

Start by identifying the protagonist, problem/conflict, and

setting. Then go into the major plot

points/conflicts/turns, but don’t give away too many

details. Avoid unnecessary description. Bring up other

characters in the order they appear. Remember – this is a

summary, not an essay or a novel hook. Be sure to end it by

describing how the major conflicts are resolved.

(I recommend 1.5 spacing for this so that it’s not too

cluttered.)

THEMES: Those “big concepts” that your literature teachers

bugged you about; heroism, fear, brotherhood, community,

stuff like that.

2. SCRIPT

If you haven’t taken Storytelling Strategies yet and if you

haven’t written a film script before, you should use a free

scriptwriting program like CELTX.

Otherwise, you probably know how to format a script by

name. You’re smart; you can figure out what to do here.

If your project doesn’t need a script, that’s one less

thing for you to do! Yay!

3. CHARACTER SKETCH

I’m assuming this is a sketch design of your character(s),

but he didn’t say we needed it so I’d hold off on this for

now.

4. STORYBOARD

On the next page, you’ll see the template for the

Storyboard. It is visually preferable if your storyboard is

in horizontal format, but vertical is fine too. You don’t

have to be an artist to fill in the storyboard (it’s a plus

if you are); scribbles are fine as long as you can

understand them.

SCENE PAGE ____________________ _______________

 

 

INSPIRATION AND INFLUENCES

This is where you can get creative. You can put anything

you want on this page. Images, quotes, poems, websites,

color palettes, song lyrics – anything that

inspired/influenced this project for you.

You should name and explain each influence that you place

here. Don’t just put a picture of Zooey Deschanel and be

surprised when people ask why you chose Katy Perry. You

should really take the time to discuss what about each

reference is contributing to your project.

A listed form might keep your thoughts more organized. I

would keep your influences/inspirations page(s) to a

maximum of 2.

 

PRODUCTION DESIGN

LOCATION(S): This is where you are shooting, NOT THE

SETTING OF THE STORY. Talk about your location and why you

chose it. Put a picture of your location if you can. If you

have multiple locations, make a list. Make a note of any

restrictions/requirements (i.e. the landlord needs to leave

by 8pm).

SETTING(S): Now, describe the setting of the plot and

how/if the location needs to be modified to fit it.

 

CAMERA WORK

This page is supposed to be where you talk about your

camera work, which means you describe the style, lighting,

and/or look you’re going for.

Bonus if you put a color palette because that’ll probably

be a lot easier.

 

8. SHOOTING SCHEDULE

9. LOG SHEET

OneClass won’t allow tables to work in a word document and

PDFs won’t allow the tables to be in the same file, so I’ll

be uploading these two separately! Look for “PRODUCTION

BOOK TEMPLATE – SHOOTING SCHEDULE” and “PRODUCTION BOOK

TEMPLATE – LOG SHEET”.

 

10. SOUND DESIGN / MUSIC

This is much like the camera work section where you’re just

talking about the style and references that you’re planning

on using.

 

PRODUCTION CONTACT LIST

This is the credits page, pretty much. You just list some

additional information like phone number and email and

stuff. Simple enough.

TITLE:

NAME:

TELEPHONE:

EMAIL:

(and repeat as necessary, of course)

 

EVALUATION

When you do finish your film:

This is a summary of what worked and what didn’t. Take some

time to talk about each aspect of the production: story,

crew members, lighting, camera, editing, direction,

locations, etc. Share some horror stories and issues during

all stages of production; how could you avoid/handle these

issues in the future?