Guides
A videography shoot day SOP checklist, from the night before to back at base
What to tick the night before a videography shoot, on location, at wrap and back at base, plus the weekly gear, media backup and license checks.
What to take away
- This is a working checklist for a shoot day and the hours around it, written to be printed and ticked rather than read once.
- The four moments that matter are the night before, the location before rolling, wrap, and back at base. Most losses happen at the last two, when everyone is tired.
- No card is formatted until a verified second copy exists. That single line prevents the only failure in this trade you cannot fix by working late.
- A checklist that lives in someone's head is not a checklist. Print it, or put it where the whole crew can tick it.
The night before
- Call sheet sent, with address, parking, contact numbers and arrival time
- Weather and traffic checked for the actual route, not the general area
- Batteries on charge, count confirmed against the number of setups planned
- Cards formatted in the camera that will use them, and counted
- Audio kit checkedtransmitters paired, spare batteries, spare lav, windshield
- Tripod plate actually on the tripod, and the spare plate located
- Releases printed or the signing link tested on a phone
- Permit or venue permission confirmed in writing, with a copy on your phone
- Shot list and running order in a form you can read in bright sun
- Vehicle fueled and loaded, with the load checked against a written gear list
The gear list is the item people skip. Build it once from the camera, audio and lighting setup guide and reuse it, because a list built the night before a shoot is a list written by a tired person.
Night-before shoot prep
- Call sheet sent with arrival time
- Batteries on charge, count confirmed
- Cards formatted in camera, counted
- Audio kit checked and paired
- Tripod plate on tripod, spare located
- Permit confirmed in writing on phone
- Vehicle loaded against written gear list
On location, before you roll
On-location pre-roll checks
- Power located, tested, backup plan
- Room tone recorded 30 seconds
- Audio levels monitored on headphones
- White balance matched across cameras
- Frame rate and shutter confirmed
- Timecode synced or clap every setup
- Releases signed before subject on camera
- Power located and tested, and a plan that survives losing it
- Room tone recorded, at least thirty seconds, before anyone talks
- Audio levels set and monitored on headphones, not by watching a meter
- White balance and picture profile matched across every camera in use
- Frame rate and shutter confirmed on every camera, including the second one
- Timecode synced, or a clap on every setup, so the edit has something to lock to
- Focus checked at working distance on the actual lens, not from memory
- Background checked for reflections, signage, brand marks and anything that will need painting out
- Releases signed before the subject is on camera, not after
- Card one labeled and a note started of which card is in which body
At wrap, before anything is packed
- Every card accounted for by number, and none of them formatted
- Cards copied to two separate destinations and the copy verified, not just seen
- Copy verification confirmed out loud by a named person before departure
- Audio recorder files copied and checked as a separate step from camera media
- Notes written for the editproblem takes, preferred takes, anything to fix in post
- Client asked, on the day, whether anything on the deliverable list has changed
- Gear counted back into cases against the same written list it left on
- Location returned to its original state, and anything borrowed handed back
Wrap is where discipline collapses. Everyone wants to leave. Build the habit that nobody leaves until verification has been said aloud by the person who did it.
Wrap verification steps
- Every card accounted for by number
- Cards copied to two destinations
- Copy verification said aloud by name
- Audio files copied separately
- Edit notes written for problem takes
- Gear counted back into cases
- Location returned to original state
Back at base, same day if possible
- Third copy created, on a different drive or offsite
- Media named to the project convention, not left as camera output
- Project created, footage linked, and a proxy or transcode run started
- Hours logged by stage while the day is fresh
- Receipts photographed and filed against the project
- Music and stock needs identified while the shoot is still in mind
- Next stage owner told the project is ready and what state it is in
Logging hours the same day separates a business that knows project costs from one that guesses. Receipts are not optional: IRS guidance on the records a business should keep describes a system showing income and expenses clearly, with documents behind purchases and assets.
Same-day base tasks
- Third copy on different drive
- Media named to project convention
- Project created and proxy started
- Hours logged by stage
- Receipts photographed and filed
- Music and stock needs identified
- Next stage owner told project ready
A parking receipt from a shoot day is exactly what vanishes.
The weekly items that keep the daily ones working
- Cards tested and rotated, with any card showing errors retired rather than reused
- Batteries cycled, and any that will not hold charge taken out of the case
- Backup drives checked, including a restore test rather than a glance at a folder
- Firmware and software updates reviewed, and applied on a day with no shoot
- Archive reviewed against your retention policy, and anything past it dealt with deliberately
- Music and stock licenses checked against the cuts actually delivered that week
Owners regret skipping that last line. Music carries more than one right, held by different parties, with separate licensing paths, as the U.S. Copyright Office's work on the music marketplace sets out.
Weekly maintenance checks
- Cards tested and rotated
- Batteries cycled, weak ones removed
- Backup drives restore-tested
- Firmware and software updates reviewed
- Archive reviewed against retention policy
- Music and stock licenses checked
A subscription may not cover a client's commercial use in every territory or term. Read the license you hold, then take anything consequential to a qualified attorney.
Safety items that belong on every day
- Cable runs taped or matted where the public walks
- Ladders, rigging and elevated mounting checked by someone other than the person who set them
- Heat, cold, hydration and break plan agreed for a long day outdoors
- Drone operation, if any, confirmed against current rules for the airspace and site
- Anyone new on the crew briefed on what to do if something goes wrong
Schedules and work environments here vary widely by production, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics description of broadcast, sound and video technicians notes. A fixed safety routine matters more than in trades with a stable site.
Common questions
Is a printed checklist really necessary?
For the night-before and wrap sections, yes. Those are the two moments when memory is least reliable and the cost of a miss is highest. The rest can live on a phone.
Who ticks the boxes on a crewed shoot?
One named person per section, not whoever is nearest. Shared responsibility for a checklist means nobody owns it.
How does this fit with the wider system?
It is the daily layer of a larger pipeline, and the stages either side of it are set out in the shoot-to-delivery workflow. Whether the day happens at all on time is a booking question, covered in booking shoots without stacking delays.
Does the list change by project type?
The wrap and base sections do not. The location section grows for events and multi-camera work and shrinks for a single interview. Keep one master list and mark the optional lines rather than maintaining several versions.
What about working in a second city?
The list travels, but the local items do not: permits, parking, power and venue rules are all local. Add a short pre-travel section for those, and read it against expanding into another market before you commit to regular work away from base.
