Shot list example: a filled-in list for a one-day shoot

A shot list is what you need to film, written down shot by shot. It turns the script into something a crew can get on with, and at four o’clock it’s how you know whether you’ve actually got enough.

This is a filled-in one for the kind of day we film most: a short film about a business, with an interview at the heart of it and footage of the place around it. It’s made up, but it’s written the way we write our own. Our free shot list template loads this same example with one click, so you can open it next to this and type over it.

The shoot

A two-minute film about a small manufacturer. The founder, Sarah, explains what they do in an interview, and footage of the workshop shows it happening. One day, on location.

The list

Eight shots. For a day with a two-hour interview in it, that’s about what we’d plan, and it’s deliberately not more. Four of them are starred as must-haves, so if the day runs late everyone knows which ones can’t be dropped.

Why each line is written that way

The shot column is the size of the frame

Wide, mid, close, over-shoulder: the shorthand your crew already uses. It gets its own column so you can run your eye down the list and see the balance of the day.

Subject and action is something you can point a camera at

“Sarah walks in through the roller door and stops” can be filmed. “Workshop footage” can’t, really. Same with “b-roll of the factory”. Write “hands setting the clamp and checking the gauge” instead, and the camera operator knows what to frame and the editor knows what’s coming.

The notes answer the question before somebody asks it

“Lav plus boom” tells the sound recordist to put two mics on the interview, so there’s a backup if one fails. “Check no customer names are readable” is the one that keeps the client out of trouble, because a job list on a screen can name a customer who never agreed to be in a film. And “before the light goes, not after” is there so the drive home isn’t the moment you remember the exterior.

The cutaways are written down

Shots 4, 5 and 7 are there for the edit. When you cut an interview down, the join between two answers usually needs something to cover it, like the hands or someone listening. If they aren’t on the list, they tend to get forgotten by lunch.

The order you film in

The numbers on a shot list are just references. The order you actually film in goes on the call sheet, and it’s usually nothing like the order of the finished film.

In our example the film probably opens on the outside of the building and Sarah walking in. But on the day, the interview comes first at 8:30, the workshop footage mid-morning, Sarah’s walk-in and the office after lunch, and the outside shot last, before the light goes.

We put the interview first because it depends on one person being fresh and on time, and if anything runs late, it’s the easier footage that gets squeezed. Your editor puts it all back in story order anyway. If you’re building a list from a script, the template page walks through that step by step.

Shot list or storyboard?

They get mentioned together, but they do different jobs.

For most small-crew work, interviews and brand films and event coverage and social content, a shot list does the job on its own. A storyboard earns its time when the composition is the point.

Mistakes worth avoiding

Writing categories instead of shots. “B-roll” isn’t a shot.

Listing in script order. You’ll move the gear twice as often as you need to.

Leaving out the cutaways, which you only notice in the edit.

Too many shots. A list you can’t finish wears the crew down and hides what matters, which is why the template lets you star the must-haves.

Leaving it in the bag. It only works if someone’s checking shots off while you film.

Keeping the list

A spreadsheet works fine, and the big production suites have their own.

Ours is deliberately simple. The free shot list template has the columns above, a star for the must-haves and a checkbox for when you’ve got it. Fill it in on the page, then download it as a CSV, copy it into Google Sheets, or print it or save it as a PDF. There’s no account, and what you type stays in your browser. The printed list has a small “Made with Miracue” line at the bottom.

We’re also building a way to hand your script to Claude or ChatGPT and have it help fill in the shot list in Miracue. Whatever you give it goes to the AI company you use. It isn’t live yet, and there’s more about it in our pre-production checklist.

We made it for the kind of shoots we do, corporate and marketing films, so it’s for you if that’s your work too. On the day, the list is only half of what you’re working from. The other half is the script, and if someone on camera is reading lines, our free teleprompter runs in the browser on the tablet or laptop you’ve already got. The call sheet template covers the rest of the day, and everything we give away is on one page.

When you want the whole shoot in one place

The template gives you a list you can print or share. Miracue Pro, which opens in November, joins it up. Your shot list sits on the same shoot as the call sheet and the storyboard, Pro sketches a storyboard frame from each shot with AI, and on the day you, and anyone you invite to your team, check shots off on your phones. Check one off, and it’s checked off on everyone’s shoot day. Your client gets their own link to the plan. Studio, for teams, follows in January.

Join the Pro waitlist to hear first. The template stays free either way.

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