What Is a Shot List? A Complete Guide for Video Editors
A shot list is a pre-production document that catalogs every shot a director and cinematographer plan to capture on a given shooting day, specifying the camera setup, shot size, movement, and intent for each, before the crew steps on set. It is the bridge between a script or interview outline and the footage that actually ends up in the camera.
Shot list basics
What a shot list actually contains
At its core, a shot list is a table. Each row is one shot. The columns typically include: a scene or location identifier, a shot number (consecutive within the day), the shot size (wide, medium, close-up, and so on), the camera movement (static, pan, tilt, dolly, handheld), the subject or action being covered, and a brief note on intent or mood. Some directors add a lens choice, a frame rate, or a reference still. Others keep it stripped to the minimum.
The most important column is the description: a one-line note that tells the camera operator exactly what you need without ambiguity. "CU of hands signing the document, focus pull from document to face on reaction" is useful. "Close-up, dramatic" is not. The description is what saves you when you're on set at hour eight and your memory of what you planned is fuzzy.
Shot list vs storyboard vs call sheet
Three documents, three distinct purposes
These three get conflated constantly, especially on low-budget productions where one person is doing every job. A storyboard is a visual comic-strip representation of a shot sequence, drawing each frame. A call sheet is a logistical document that tells each department where to be, at what time, and in what order. A shot list is specifically about the camera: what you're pointing it at, how, and when.
They work together. The shot list tells the cinematographer what shots are needed. The storyboard tells the director what each shot should look like. The call sheet tells everyone else what's happening today. On a feature film, all three will exist in detail. On a one-person talking-head shoot, a quick shot list in a Notes app is often all you need.
Shot sizes defined
The standard vocabulary every shot list uses
Every shot list entry needs a shot size. These are the standard terms:
- Extreme Wide (EWS): landscape-scale, subject very small in frame
- Wide (WS): full body with room around the subject
- Medium Wide (MWS): roughly knee to head
- Medium (MS): waist up, the conversational anchor for most interviews
- Medium Close-Up (MCU): chest to top of head, common talking-head framing
- Close-Up (CU): face, shoulders just in frame
- Extreme Close-Up (ECU): eyes and nose only, or a single detail like a hand or object
- Cutaway: a shot outside the main interview space, usually B-roll
- Reaction shot: coverage of a listener responding to something said
- Insert: a close-up detail within the scene, like hands on a keyboard or a document
Shot lists in documentary work
How unscripted productions use the shot list differently
For scripted narrative work, the shot list is planned from the screenplay, with a clear picture of each scene before the crew arrives. In documentary and unscripted interview work, it functions differently. You know where your subject will be sitting but not what they'll say. So your shot list covers:
- The interview setup itself (main angle, secondary angle if any, lens choice for each)
- The B-roll and inserts you plan to capture before or after the interview (environment details, relevant context shots, hands, objects the subject mentions)
- Any observational footage you want to get of them in their space
The goal here is less about locking a rigid order and more about making sure you don't leave the location with a hole in your coverage. The worst version of this: finishing an interview, packing down, and realizing you forgot to get a clean wide establishing shot. With a shot list, that doesn't happen. See how to log footage for the next step after you've captured everything on the list.
How to write a shot list
A practical workflow from outline to camera plan
Start with your script or interview outline and ask: what does the audience need to SEE at each moment? For a talking-head interview, the answer starts with the interview coverage itself, then expands to: what locations, objects, and actions will illustrate what this person is saying? Those illustrations become your B-roll shots.
Work through your planned sequence scene by scene, writing down every camera setup you'll need. Then prioritize them. On a real shooting day, you will almost certainly run out of time before you run out of shot list. Mark the shots that are essential (the interview, the hero B-roll shots) and the ones that are nice-to-have. You'll be glad you did when the client's assistant asks you to wrap 45 minutes early.
Tools range from a spreadsheet to dedicated apps like StudioBinder, Celtx, or even a simple Google Sheets table. The format matters less than the discipline of writing it down before you arrive on set.
Shot lists and the editor
How the shot list shapes post-production
Here's what young directors often miss: the shot list is not just a production document. It's a promise to your editor about what will be available in the cut. If you plan a sequence that depends on a specific reaction shot and that shot doesn't end up in the camera, your editor has to work around a gap you created on the day.
Conversely, if you capture a wide, a medium, and a close-up of every key moment, your editor has options. And options produce better cuts. This is why editors sometimes get involved in pre-production. A documentary editor who reads a shot list before the shoot will often flag coverage gaps before they become a problem in the edit. That feedback loop, director and editor talking before the cameras roll, is one of the underrated accelerators in non-fiction production.
Once the footage exists, the editorial work begins: logging what you have, selecting the best takes, and building the structure from the transcript. For interview-heavy content, that paper edit phase is where ScriptCut fits, turning the raw transcript into an ordered selection before anyone touches a timeline. See what is a paper edit for how the shot list stage connects to the editorial stage.
Common shot list mistakes
What goes wrong and how to fix it
- Not estimating setup time. Every camera move, lens change, and lighting adjustment takes time. A 20-shot list for a 4-hour shoot is probably 5 shots too many. Be realistic about what you can actually capture in the time available.
- Listing shots, not intentions. "CU hands" tells the camera operator almost nothing about when to use it in the edit. "CU of hands holding the contract, hold for 5 seconds" gives an editor something to work with.
- Skipping the shot list for interviews. "It's just a talking head, I know what I'm doing." Famous last words before you realize there's no clean wide shot for the opening title card.
- Treating it as gospel. A shot list is a plan. On the day, things change: the guest arrives late, the light shifts, the angle you planned doesn't work in the actual space. The shot list tells you what you intended; reality tells you what you get. Build in flexibility.
Sources
frequently asked questions
A shot list is a pre-production document that catalogs every planned shot for a given shoot day, specifying the shot size, camera movement, subject, and editorial intent for each. It is the plan that keeps a crew aligned on what footage is needed.
A shot list describes what shots are needed in a table format: shot size, movement, and description. A storyboard shows what those shots should look like visually, as a sequence of drawn frames. Both are pre-production tools but serve different purposes.
The standard sizes are: Extreme Wide (EWS), Wide (WS), Medium Wide (MWS), Medium (MS), Medium Close-Up (MCU), Close-Up (CU), and Extreme Close-Up (ECU). Most interview setups use a medium or MCU as the main angle.
Yes. Even for a simple setup, a shot list prevents you from leaving the location without a clean wide, a usable B-roll selection, or whatever coverage you need in the edit. The simpler the shoot, the easier it is to skip things without noticing until you are in the edit.
A shot list is a promise to the editor about what will be available in the cut. If a planned coverage angle was never captured, the editor has to work around a gap created on the day. A thorough shot list means more options in post-production.
Common tools range from a Google Sheets or Numbers table to dedicated apps like StudioBinder, Celtx, or SetHeroes. The format matters less than the discipline of writing it down before the shoot.
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