Because travel time and location expenses are one of the biggest parts of a production budget, production schedules are typically arranged to get shots by location. For example, if you were using a mansion and a football field as shooting locations, you would shoot all the scenes in the mansion before moving on to the football field, even if you have to shoot them out of order. If you are shooting a documentary and your outline calls for shots of a beach, it's easier on your budget to get all shots on the same day even if they will be spread throughout your movie. Be on the lookout for ways to economize. For example, if a difficult setup is used for two scenes, you should plan to do both shots together. The basic strategy for getting a shot is to shoot the scene all the way through and keep doing takes until you are satisfied with everything. Even if it seems repetitive and painfully boring to shoot the entire scene from every setup multiple times, you will be rewarded in the editing room with adequate coverage. If everything works right on the first shot, you can move on to the next one—or maybe get another take just for safety. Review Your WorkTo make sure a take is good, especially if it was a complicated setup, you should play it back in the camera. As you play it back, carefully examine the performance, framing, lighting, and sound. It's possible a moment you thought was brilliant was actually out of focus, or the tape jammed and nothing was recorded. If you check your work often, you might be able to catch the mistake and re-shoot the material immediately. During production of a big-budget movie, the producers, the director, and the director of photography view dailies to make sure the shoot is on track. Dailies are a compilation of the good takes from the day's shoot. If you have time in the evening after your shoot, play back the material you took during the day. If you have a break between shooting days, do a rough edit of the pieces you shot. It is far easier to do a pick-up while you are set up for production than to have to set everything up again. A pick-up is a shot or part of a shot that you get later to repair or improve a previous bad shot.
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