A production board , stripboard , or production strip is a filmmaking term for a chart displaying color-coded strips of paper, each containing information about a scene in the film's shooting script . The strips can then be rearranged and laid out sequentially to represent the order one wants to film in, providing a schedule that can be used to plan the production. This is done because most films are shot "out of sequence," meaning that they do not necessarily begin with the first scene and end with the last. For logistical purposes, scenes are often grouped by talent or location and are arranged to accommodate the schedules of cast and crew . A production board is not to be confused with a stripboard used for electronics prototyping.
19-454: Historically, strip boards were manually assembled by hand on specially-made multi-panel boards made of vinyl or wood, about 15 to 18 inches tall (38 to 45 cm), whose panels could be easily folded up. In the 21st century, such boards are obsolete, and aspiring filmmakers are no longer routinely trained in how to use them. In contemporary filmmaking, a digital version of a strip board is prepared with dedicated computer software applications, of which
38-549: A cost-efficient manner only gets even harder if the production team decides to use unionized talent. For example, in the United States, the Screen Actors Guild requires payment for "hold" days in between nonconsecutive shooting days at remote locations, as well as a minimum of 12 hours of turnaround time between shoots, which means the same actors cannot be scheduled for a day shoot at dawn the next day after
57-412: A night shoot expected to run past midnight. If an actor has more than ten hold days, the production must do a "drop-pickup," in which the actor is dropped from contract and released to work on other projects, then picked up later to resume working on the film. Information on the strips can include: Production strip boards are often color-coded according to the following convention: Scenechronize uses
76-492: A slightly modified convention: Finally, Movie Magic Scheduling has its own standard: Celtx Celtx ( / ˈ k ɛ l t ɪ k s / ) is media pre-production software, designed for creating and organizing media projects like screenplays , films , videos , stageplays , documentaries , machinima , games , and podcasts . The software is developed by Celtx Inc., which is owned by Boston, Massachusetts-based media company Backlight. Celtx's developer Celtx Inc.
95-687: A year later, also at Sundance. The company's engineering offices are in San Francisco , while the sales and support offices were in Burbank, California . In November 2012, Ease Entertainment, a payroll and production accounting/financial tracking software firm, acquired the assets of Scenechronize. All existing employees of Scenechronize were retained with operations in their Burbank offices being relocated to Ease's headquarters in Beverly Hills . In August 2015, Entertainment Partners (EP),
114-400: Is a bankable star at the peak of their career with tightly limited availability, the production must work around that star's schedule. Child actors are often subject to legal restrictions on the number of hours they can work per day. Children also tend to have less patience and stamina (relative to adults) before their ability to deliver a high-quality performance is exhausted. Shooting in
133-745: Is a computer software platform , developed by Clever Machine Inc., for television and movie production companies. Its purpose is to reduce the need for paper materials used during the production process, in order to reduce waste. Clever Machine was founded in December 2003 and incorporated in California . The founders, Hunter Hancock, chief executive officer, and Darren Ehlers, chief operations officer, and five engineers had originally provided customized solutions to financial services companies, assisting in marketing and engineering positions with multiple enterprise software companies. The company's first project
152-652: The Mozilla Public License version 2.0. Feature development and language translations of the application were driven largely by the feedback and volunteer efforts of members of the international Celtx community. Celtx software is developed by St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador -based Celtx Inc. Celtx, Inc. is owned by Boston, Massachusetts-based Backlight, a media technology company founded in 2022. Backlight also owns four other media software businesses: ftrack, iconik, Wildmoka and Zype. Scenechronize Scenechronize (stylized as scenechronize)
171-466: The illusion of continuity . Many variables affect the sequence of scenes as they are arranged and rearranged on a strip board. Outdoor scenes subject to fickle weather conditions and difficult stunts and special effects are sometimes scheduled early in principal photography, so there is time to recover and make necessary changes if problems arise. Some producers arrange for alternative "cover sets" near exterior locations, so they can immediately relocate
190-507: The most popular one is Movie Magic Scheduling from Entertainment Partners. Other popular applications include Celtx and Scenechronize . It is also possible to create a digital strip board by customizing general-purpose spreadsheet software such as OpenOffice.org Calc or Microsoft Excel . The production board is an essential element of the filmmaking process, because the sequence in which scenes are shot during principal photography normally does not follow their chronological sequence in
209-432: The necessary lighting setups and must rely on whatever light is already available on location. Some scenes need long lead times to set up properly, such as in-car dialogue scenes for which a car is usually fitted with movie cameras and towed during the filming. Some producers prefer to schedule intimate scenes later in principal photography, to give the lead actors some time to become comfortable with each other. If any actor
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#1732776641330228-436: The production team will identify all scenes that involve the same location, cast, and crew and group them together as much as possible so they can be shot together all at once. Since actors are normally paid a "day rate," it makes more sense from a financial perspective, for example, to shoot all three scenes involving a particular actor and location on a single day (even though the scenes may occur in completely different parts of
247-459: The production to shooting interior scenes on the cover set if an exterior location is rendered unusable by bad weather. Local climate extremes can severely limit the number of hours available for shooting exterior scenes, if cast and crew become incapacitated by hypothermia or hyperthermia . For maximum scheduling flexibility, a common filmmaking trick is to film day for night or night for day, but small independent productions cannot always afford
266-425: The script), rather than paying the actor's day rate three times to bring back the same actor to the same location on three different days just to speak a few lines each day. Shooting scenes out of order helps avoid the cost of having to repeatedly travel back to the same locations or reassemble the same sets, but requires considerable effort from both cast and crew members (especially the script supervisor ) to maintain
285-452: The script. The sequence usually depends on organizational aspects such as the availability of the cast, crew, and locations, and, in the case of outdoor shots, factors such as the season, weather and light conditions. The production board is the project planning tool used by the unit production manager (or sometimes the first assistant director ) to develop the actual sequence in which scenes will be shot. Most importantly, to save money,
304-478: The unit production manager or line producer maintains an overall view, with the option to share that information with other crew members on an as-needed basis. In 2008, a preview release of Scenechronize was demonstrated to art directors and unit production managers. The beta release of Scenechronize was announced at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009, with the initial public release announced
323-606: Was available as a subscription web service, in addition to a desktop version. In December 2014, Celtx developer Greyfirst changed its name to Celtx Inc. As of September 21, 2022, the latest version of the software shown on the Apple store was version 3.0. Celtx is scriptwriting and collaboration software for screenwriters; film and television producers; and producers of theater, radio, podcasts and comics. Celtx originates from desktop software built on open, non-proprietary standards (e.g., HTML , XML and RDF ) and licensed under
342-529: Was founded as Greyfirst in 2000 in St. John's by entrepreneurs Mark Kennedy and Chad House. "Celtx" is an acronym for Crew, Equipment, Location, Talent and XML. Its Celtx pre-production software launched that year as a desktop service. The software was originally designed for small and independent production companies. The original desktop software was built atop the open-source Firefox browser, allowing hybrid online/offline operation. By June 2013, Celtx software
361-595: Was to provide an outsourced information technology team to a financial services company. From there, the company was able to begin its own software company, Scenechronize, after purchasing a business plan from Rhys Ryan, who also joined the company. Using a Web-based user interface , Scenechronize organizes different production aspects — the script, locations, casting, breakdown elements, and schedule. Tools have been specifically created for assistant directors, line producers, above-the-line and below-the-line crews. Each team member has access to his or her own department, while
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