What to spend on before you film
Which of the fixable things to fix first, when the budget stretches to one of them this quarter and the shoot is already in the calendar.
The short version
What you get. A prioritised list of changes, with the reason and likely cost of each.
Is this for you? For a planned shoot or equipment purchase where the budget needs a clear priority. The shoot day itself sits with the pre-production line: the checklist, the camera positions and the shot card.
What leaves your plate. The free changes named before any spend at all, the order they come in treated as the advice, and equipment recommended only where it is the answer, with a figure attached.
Start with the Free Audit.
The order is the advice
The first recommendation is usually to spend nothing
We check microphone position, capture settings and the shot plan before recommending equipment. Some changes need no new purchase, though they may take setup or crew time.
Where equipment is the answer, it comes with a budget attached
One partner needed better screen capture and voice recording. We sent workable capture settings and microphone options within the available budget, without adding production services to the scope.
Before the camera upgrade
The order depends on the problem. A room change, microphone position, another take or a second angle may help more than a camera upgrade. Where the budget allows one change, the recommendation comes with its reasoning.
The floor is lower than people expect
Existing equipment may already be enough. We check a sample from the actual setup before deciding what a purchase would improve.
What each one costs to settle before the day
| The room | no new equipment · something soft in it and a closed door, before any microphone is considered |
|---|---|
| Microphone position | no new equipment · a stand moved is the cheapest quality change available to anybody |
| Camera profile | no new equipment · a setting, chosen once and then kept |
| Frame rate | no new equipment · agreed once across every camera and every screen recording |
| A second take of the opening | no new equipment · minutes on the day, and the hook becomes a choice |
| Continuity after a break | no new equipment · a habit, plus a note the crew reads before rolling again |
| Headroom for the vertical crop | no new equipment · framing, decided while the camera is still being placed |
| Something filmed for the second platform | no new equipment · one line on the shot card |
| A second angle | equipment · the largest step up from one-camera footage when it has a job the first camera cannot do; where it would only repeat the first, a better camera or a second microphone spends the money better |
| Voice and source on separate channels | equipment · separate capture can give the mix more control over voice and instrument |
The priority list
When the decision gets made
Before a shoot day and before an equipment order, which are two different moments and usually two different conversations. It also happens continuously, because every delivery shows what is still costing an edit real time, and therefore what is still worth spending money on.
What comes back
A short list in priority order, what each item costs beside it, and the cheapest one marked. Brief enough to be read on a phone. Willing to say when the answer is that nothing needs buying this quarter and the money belongs somewhere else entirely.
Where this page stops
This is the spending decision and nothing else. What to do on the day belongs to the pre-production line: the checklist a crew holds, the camera and lighting positions, the microphone design and the shot card. Nobody should be reading a consultancy note in a room where the lights are already up.
At the bench
The work, demonstrated
Try a decision from the craft: drag, tap or toggle, then read the trade-off.
These are illustrative models; no partner’s results are shown.
More demonstrations at the bench →Most of what ruins footage is free to fix, which is why the interesting question is where the money goes once those are done.
The free fixes come first, in order, and the invoice waits behind them.
What changes for you
A practical order for improving the next shoot, with no-purchase changes considered before equipment spending.
Related: The Free Audit · Pre-production consultancy · Defining the goal · How pricing works, and how you leave
Send your channel. We will review recent work and suggest what to address first.
Request your Free Audit.
Three fields, and a written reading back.
Your audit usually arrives within three working days. We use your details only to reply to your enquiry.
What you will get
What is working, what could improve and whether we can help.
Two or three priorities, with the reason for each.
A recommended next step, even if that step is not us.
There is no obligation to continue. We only arrange a call if you ask for one.
The work, written up
The case studies keep their dates, sources and limits visible.
See the casework →