Budgeting Time

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You may be eager to get out there and start recording your next video masterpiece. But do yourself a favor. Plan out all aspects of your production before you head out on location.Let's say that you've planned a location shoot at a restaurant so you can get some shots for a production. You told the owner you would be there at 3 p.m. Suppose you have some other shots to do in the morning at several locations. If you didn't prepare a schedule, you have no idea how long any of them will take. Each shot will undoubtedly take longer than anticipated, you forgot to allow for travel time, the crew is hungry (don't forget time for lunch!) and when you finally get to the restaurant, you are two hours late. The owner now has to take care of the dinner crowd and you're out of luck.

You didn't get into video to become a bureaucrat. You bought your camcorder and gear to watch your visions materialize, to breathe life into ideas, to create a piece of truth where moments before there was merely air. These are laudable goals. The problem, however, is actually achieving them. And that takes planning.

Your time is valuable. Spend it like you would spend money. To make sure you get the most value from your effort, you have to do some preparatory work before your finger hits the Record button. There is a saying in the biz, "Everything takes longer than it takes." That means that no matter how well you plan, something will probably happen that you didn't an…