A traditional production board, stripboard, or production strip is a filmmaking term for a cardboard or wooden chart displaying color-coded strips of paper, each containing information about a scene in the film's shooting script.[1] The strips can then be rearranged and laid out sequentially to represent the order one wants to film in, providing a schedule that can be used to plan the production.[1] This is done because most films are shot "out of sequence," meaning that they do not necessarily begin with the first scene and end with the last.[2] For logistical purposes, scenes are often grouped by talent or location and are arranged to accommodate the schedules of cast and crew. A production board is not to be confused with a stripboard used for electronics prototyping.

A modern version of a strip board will commonly be printed using dedicated computer software, such as MovieMagic Scheduling, Celtx, or Scenechronize, or by customizing general purpose software such as OpenOffice.org Calc or Microsoft Excel.

Purpose

The production board is an essential element of the filmmaking process, because the sequence in which scenes are shot during principal photography normally does not follow their chronological sequence in the script.[2] The sequence usually depends on organizational aspects such as the availability of the cast, crew, and locations, and, in the case of outdoor shots, factors such as the season, weather and light conditions.[2] The production board is the project planning tool used by the unit production manager (or sometimes the first assistant director) to develop the actual sequence in which scenes will be shot.[2]

Most importantly, to save money, the production team will identify all scenes that involve the same location, cast, and crew and group them together as much as possible so they can be shot together all at once.[2][3][4] Since actors are normally paid a "day rate," it makes more sense from a financial perspective, for example, to shoot all three scenes involving a particular actor and location on a single day (even though the scenes may occur in completely different parts of the script), rather than paying the actor's day rate three times to bring back the same actor to the same location on three different days just to speak a few lines each day.[5] Shooting scenes out of order helps avoid the cost of having to repeatedly travel back to the same locations or reassemble the same sets, but requires considerable effort from both cast and crew members (especially the script supervisor) to maintain the illusion of continuity.[6]

Shooting in a cost-efficient manner only gets even harder if the production team decides to use unionized talent. For example, in the United States, the Screen Actors Guild requires payment for "hold" days in between nonconsecutive shooting days at remote locations, as well as a minimum of 12 hours of turnaround time between shoots, which means the same actors cannot be scheduled for a day shoot at dawn the next day after a night shoot.[3]

Common contents

Information on the strips can include:[1]

  • The scene number
  • The day (Sunrise/Morning/Noon/Afternoon/Evening/Sunset/Night)
  • The number of pages in that scene
    • This is commonly counted in eighths of a page.[7]
  • The set that is described in the script
  • The actual location that will be filmed
  • The characters in that scene
  • Miscellaneous notes on the production

Color Conventions

Production strip boards are often color-coded according to the following convention:[8]

Description Strip Color
Day Interior White
Day Exterior Yellow
Night Interior Blue
Night Exterior Green
Day Separator Black
Week Separator Orange
Free Day Grey
Holiday Red

Scenechronize uses a sightly modified convention:[9]

Description Strip Color
Day Interior White
Day Exterior Yellow
Night Interior Blue
Night Exterior Green
Sunrise Exterior Pink
Sunset Exterior Orange
Day Separator Black
Omitted Scene Red
Disabled Scene Grey

Finally, MovieMagic Scheduling has its own standard:[10]

Description Strip Color
Day Interior White
Day Exterior Yellow
Night Interior Green
Night Exterior Blue
Morning Pink
Evening Orange
Day Separator Grey

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Goodell, Gregory (1982). Independent Feature Film Production: A Complete Guide from Concept Through Distribution. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 85. ISBN 9780312304621. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Goodell, Gregory (1982). Independent Feature Film Production: A Complete Guide from Concept Through Distribution. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 87. ISBN 9780312304621. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Wurmfeld, Eden H.; Laloggia, Nicole (2004). IFP/Los Angeles Independent Filmmaker's Manual (2nd ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier. p. 52. ISBN 9781136051067. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  4. ↑ Kelly Crabb (2005). The Movie Business: The Definitive Guide to the Legal and Financial Secrets of Getting Your Movie Made. Simon & Schuster. pp. 276–277. ISBN 0743264924. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  5. ↑ Katz, Steven D. (1991). Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen. Studio City: Michael Wiese Productions. p. 103. ISBN 9780941188104. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  6. ↑ Miller, Pat P. (1999). Script Supervising and Film Continuity (3rd ed.). Burlington, Massachusetts: Focal Press. pp. 7–9. ISBN 9780240802947. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  7. ↑ "It's a 1st AD thing. You wouldn't understand., Eights of a Page Explained".
  8. ↑ Singleton, Ralph (1991). "4". Film Scheduling (2nd ed.).
  9. ↑ Scenechronize Help Page (click the "Pearls" button to see the legend)
  10. ↑ MovieMagic Scheduling - Complete Video Training - Strip Colors
  • Clevé, Bastian (2000). Film Production Management (2nd ed.).
  • The Complete Film Production Handbook (3rd ed.). 2001.
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