Shot list template for video shoots (free to copy)
Search for a shot list template and you get storyboard grids built for drama: scene numbers, slate references, columns for a camera department you do not have. On a one-to-three person brand shoot, most of that is decoration. Below is the shot list template we actually use - seven columns, a worked example for a one-day brand shoot, and the one rule that makes it earn its place when the day runs late. Copy it into whatever you like; no email address required.
What a shot list is for
A shot list sits between two documents. The brief is what the client wants and why. The run of day is when things happen. The shot list is the bit in the middle: the client's wishes converted into individual things a camera can record, in an order you can defend at 4pm.
The template: seven columns
Every column here has survived a real shoot day. If a column has never changed a decision on set, it is not on the list.
- 1. Shot number - just a running number. It exists so someone can shout "have we got 12?" across a room.
- 2. Description - plain English, one line. "Founder talking about how the business started" beats "INT. OFFICE - MCU SUBJECT".
- 3. Setup / location - which lighting and camera setup it belongs to. This is the column that saves you hours: shots sharing a setup get shot together, whatever order they appear in the edit.
- 4. Framing and movement - wide, mid, close, and whether it is locked off, handheld or on a slider. Two or three words.
- 5. Duration or takes - a rough estimate. Not for accuracy, but because adding the column up tells you whether the day is honest.
- 6. Deliverable - which edit this shot feeds: the hero film, the cutdowns, the social verticals, the stills pull. Shots that serve nothing get deleted before the shoot, not after.
- 7. Priority - A, B or C. The most important column on the sheet, covered below.
A worked example
A one-day brand shoot: a two-minute company film, three social cutdowns, stills for the website. Written out, the top of the list looks like this.
- 01 - Founder interview, main answers · Setup A, office corner · Mid, locked off · 40 min · Hero film · A
- 02 - Founder interview, second angle · Setup A · Close, locked off · same take · Hero + cutdowns · A
- 03 - Wide establishing of the workspace · Setup B, main floor · Wide, static · 15 min · Hero film · A
- 04 - Team working, three angles · Setup B · Mid and close, handheld · 45 min · All deliverables · A
- 05 - Hands on the product, detail passes · Setup C, bench · Macro, slider · 30 min · Cutdowns + stills · B
- 06 - Vertical reframes of 04 for social · Setup B · Portrait, handheld · 15 min · Social · B
- 07 - Exterior of the building, golden hour · Setup D, outside · Wide, static · 20 min · Hero film · C
- 08 - Extra portraits of the team · Setup B · Stills · 20 min · Website · C
Eight lines, roughly three and a half hours of actual filming, which on a nine-hour day with rigging, lunch and a client who wants to chat is about right. If your list adds up to seven hours of filming, you have not built a shot list - you have built a complaint you will make to yourself at 6pm.
Priority order, not shooting order
This is the rule that matters. Write the list in priority bands, and let the schedule decide shooting order. Every shoot loses time somewhere - the location was not ready, the interviewee was nervous for the first twenty minutes, the client turned up with a fourth idea. When that happens, a priority-banded list means you cut from the bottom and still deliver the film you promised.
Two habits go with the bands. Show the client the A band before the shoot, so "we did not get the drone shot" is a footnote rather than an argument. And never let the B and C shots quietly creep upward on the day because they are the fun ones - they are in band C for a reason you agreed to when you were calm.
Mistakes we kept making
- Listing shots the edit does not need. If a shot has no deliverable in column six, it is a hobby.
- Ordering by story. The film opens with the exterior; that does not mean you shoot it at 9am while the light is flat.
- Leaving it on one phone. If the only copy is in the director's notes app, the camera op is guessing.
- Not adding up the durations. Every over-run we have had was visible in the list the night before, if anyone had done the sum.
The lazy version
We ran this template as a spreadsheet for years, and the spreadsheet was never quite the same document as the schedule - move a block in the run of day and the shot list stayed where it was, which is how you end up filming setup C twice. So in Cinella, the shot list lives on the shoot itself, alongside the call sheet, kit list and the generated run of day. You tick shots off from your phone in Set Mode at arm's length, and the client sees only what they should in their branded portal - not your priority bands.
The template above is yours regardless: copy it, adapt it, ignore our column six. If keeping the list, the schedule and the call sheet in sync ever gets old, Cinella is £12/month during launch (rising to £15 for new subscribers after; join now and your rate stays £12 for as long as you stay subscribed), with a 14-day free trial and nothing charged if you cancel inside it.