preparation for vfx shoot

- chrome sphere;

- lens distortion grid;

- measure everything and put them down; make CAMERA REPORT SHEET;

*shot description: a brief aide memoire;

*lens information: particularly form zoom lenses. include any serial number;

*frames per second;

*camera roll number;

*any filters placed on the camera lens;

*height and focus distance of the camera: measured from the film-back;

*tilt of the camera: measured with an inclinometer placed on the base plate of the camera.

*shoot dates and location;

- shoot a visual effects slate before shooting;

- take reference photographs: shoot everything you can. you'll need genral refernce stills showing each lighting and camera set-up, as well as the layout of the set. if there's any possibility you'll need to reconstruct elements of the set in 3D, shoot as many texture references as you can. NEVER FIRE A FLASH WHILE FILMING!

- set up digital camera on a panorama head and take a series of stills by rotating the camera around its optical centre. overlap the sets of images to create a 360-degree panorama.

- a grey ball and grey reference card, 18%;

CHECK LIST OF WHAT TO BRING TO THE SET:

-digital stills camera, various lenses, spare batteries, memory cards and a battery charger;

-tripod and lighting flag stands;

-tracking markers;

-light meter;

-printed templates for shoot notes;

-visual effects slates and a clipboard;

-pocket-size notebook or PDA

-sharpies, pens and pencils;

-gaffer tape and camera tape;

-lighting reference balls: grey, chrome and possibly white balls;

-a laptop with your compositing software of choice;

-lens grids;

-tape measure and a laser range finder;

-grey glass and various colored filter;

-video cameras on a miniature shoot, spare batteries and tapes;

-leatherman and scissors;

-an LED torch;

-a laser pointer;

-an inclinometer (to measure camera tilt);

-a spirit level;

the above info is from "supervising a VFX shoot".