Pre-production or daily information session for crew — schedule, safety, logistics, requirements. Held before rolling or during prep to align team expectations.
The briefing — or as many call it: the daily briefing — is your first stop on set in the morning. Before the first camera rolls, the crew sits together: gaffer, key grip, sound, script supervisor, director, producer. The 1st AD moderates, the DP or the producer leads through the essential points of the day. It's about concrete facts — which scenes are up, in what order, how long do we have for each setup. Some people think it's a waste of time. Wrong. A clear 15-minute briefing saves you three hours of chaos and misunderstandings later.
The agenda is always similar: The shooting schedule is discussed — location, lighting situations, moving props, camera movements. Then come the safety aspects: Are we shooting near water? Are we working with fire or pyrotechnics? Are there people with physical limitations on duty? This isn't formal chatter — it's prevention. In the next point, we clarify technical requirements: Do we need generators, extra cable, special equipment? The gaffer needs to know if we're shooting outdoors and where the nearest power source is. Sound checks room acoustics and potential sources of interference. Everyone asks their questions now, not afterwards.
In pre-production, the briefing works differently — more structured, more detailed. The production designer shows visualizations, the DP explains their lighting concept, the location manager goes through the spatial limits. This is your chance to clarify misunderstandings early before you mobilize 50,000 Euros of equipment and then realize it doesn't fit after all. I've seen a production design completely overturned because no one said in the pre-production meeting that the crane wouldn't fit through the stairwell.
Pro-tip: If you're leading a briefing, keep it short and action-oriented. Long monologues lead to nodding heads and then a mistake still happens because no one is listening anymore. Write down the agenda — half a page is enough. Each department gets one to two minutes. And answer questions immediately or make a note of them for the break. That's how it works.