This shot list covers Day 4 of SALT FLATS, a 12-day indie feature. It's the same day as the call sheet template: two scenes at a salvage yard in the morning, a company move at lunch, and two scenes at a diner in the afternoon. It plans 21 setups. The production report for the same day records 20 completed, with the badge insert (17E) owed.
What each column is for
Shot is the setup number, made from the scene number and a letter. The same number goes on the slate and in the script supervisor's notes, so an editor looking for "the push-in on Hollis" can find 13D. Many script supervisors skip I and O so nobody reads them as 1 and 0.
Size, angle, and movement describe the frame. Use short, standard terms (WS, MCU, OTS, low, handheld) and keep the key at the bottom of the sheet for anyone new. Lens is the focal length the DP plans to use. It tells the camera assistants what to have ready and tells the grips how far back the camera will sit.
Subject and action is one line: who's in the frame and what happens. Cast lists the character numbers in frame, which is what the 2nd AD needs to release actors. Sound is Sync or MOS, which tells the mixer whether to roll.
Est. min is the planning column. Add it up and compare it with the hours you have. Notes is for anything that changes how the shot is done: a relight, a rig, a prop with dupes, or who can go home afterward.
Building Day 4's list shot by shot
- Start from the scenes on the day's schedule and the shooting order the 1st AD has set. On Day 4 that's 13, 12, 17, 16.
- For each scene, list the master shot first, then coverage in the order you'll shoot it, not the order it'll be edited.
- Group coverage by direction. Shoot everything facing one way before turning around, and mark the turnaround in Notes. In Scene 13 the camera shoots toward Hollis (13B) before turning to June (13C).
- Fill size, angle, movement, and lens with the DP. Keep the lens column honest. If the office is too small for 13A on a 21mm, you want to find out on the tech scout.
- Add cast by number for every shot, and mark the shot after which each actor can be released. Hollis wraps after 12D, Pace after 17D, Bev after 16D.
- Mark sync or MOS. Inserts are usually MOS.
- Estimate minutes. First setups include lighting, so they're longest. Later setups in the same direction are shorter.
- Add up the time per location and compare with the call sheet. Salvage yard shots total 205 minutes against a 285-minute morning (8:00 AM to 12:45 PM), which leaves 80 minutes for rehearsal, blocking, and problems. Diner shots total 155 minutes, and the afternoon from a 2:50 PM first shot to a 7:00 PM wrap is 250 minutes.
- Mark shots you'd drop if the day runs long. 17E (the badge insert) can be picked up later with a double's hand, so it's the first to go.
- Send the final list to the 1st AD, script supervisor, camera, sound, and the 2nd AD the night before.
There's also a quick sanity check against pages. Day 4 plans 21 setups for 6 7/8 pages, about three setups per page. The production report shows Days 1 through 3 finished 58 setups for 18 pages, which is about the same rate, so the plan matches what this crew has actually been doing. A day planned at twice that rate would need a conversation with the director before the call sheet goes out.
Mistakes that cost the day
Listing shots in edit order. If 13C (June's OTS) were listed right after the master, the crew would light for June, turn around for Hollis, then turn back for her close-up, relighting twice where one turnaround would do.
No release points. Without them, the 2nd AD keeps cast longer than needed. On Day 4 that means paying Curtis Vail to wait around after his close-up is done.
Time estimates that assume every take works. The estimate for 13D includes a push on a slider, and slider moves take extra takes. Pad any shot with movement.
Inserts that need a principal's hands. If Pace's badge insert needs Curtis Vail, you can't release him after 17D. On this list a double stands in, and the note says so.
Forgetting the location's limits. The crusher at Hardesty Salvage runs again at 12:30 PM, so all sync sound in the yard has to be done before then. Put it in Notes where the camera team will see it.
From shot list to slate to production report
The shot list is built from the scenes on the shooting schedule, and its setup count and times get checked against the call sheet. For scenes with stunts or tricky geography, the list is paired with a storyboard. On SALT FLATS, Scene 39's fight is boarded and shot-listed. On the day, the 2nd AD records setups completed on the DPR, and the script supervisor logs each setup against the script.
Shot lists in Storiara
Storiara's Shotlist module is organized by scene. For each scene you add shots with a name, a category, a description, and an optional reference image, so size, angle, and movement go in the description. Because shots sit under the imported scenes, the list follows the script. The Shotlist docs walk through it.