Before the day — the 6 answers
If any of these is blank on shoot morning, you lose an hour on set. Answer them the week before.
- The single — which track is this content selling? One answer only.
- The look — 3 reference images max. More refs = mud.
- Wardrobe — 2 outfits. Second outfit doubles your apparent shoot days.
- Location A + B — one primary, one 10-minutes-away backup.
- The hook moment — the ONE visual someone stops scrolling for. Plan it, don't hope for it.
- Who's cutting it — name the editor before you shoot, not after.
Run-of-show — the day
Built for a 6-hour day. Golden hour goes LAST — it's the money light.
- 0:00–0:30 Load in, blast the track, block the first setup while energy is fresh
- 0:30–2:00 Performance takes — full song ×4 minimum: wide, tight, movement, detail
- 2:00–2:30 Outfit swap + location move (this is your real break — eat now)
- 2:30–3:30 The hook moment — the planned scroll-stopper, shot 3 ways
- 3:30–4:30 B-roll: hands, textures, walking, laughing, the in-between — this is 60% of your edit
- 4:30–5:00 Vertical-first singles: lyric moments straight to camera, 15-sec bursts
- 5:00–6:00 Golden hour set — best outfit, best location, performance + portraits
The shot list — minimums, not maximums
Check them off on the day. Anything after this list is bonus.
- 4× full-song performance takes (wide / tight / moving / detail)
- 3× hook-moment angles
- 10× b-roll moments, 10–20 sec each
- 6× straight-to-camera verticals
- 1× golden-hour sequence
- 20× stills mixed through everything (they're your covers + carousels)
What this becomes — the 30-piece map
Where each piece of the day ends up. This is why the day is structured this way.
- 12 captioned performance verticals (Reels / TikTok / Shorts)
- 6 b-roll mood clips with lyric overlays
- 4 straight-to-camera hooks for release week
- 4 carousel posts from stills
- 3 BTS clips (shoot the shoot — 2 min of phone footage is enough)
- 1 hero cut — the golden-hour sequence, your pinned post
Kill list — the 5 mistakes that waste shoot days
- Shooting the whole day in one outfit
- Improvising the hook moment ("we'll find something")
- Skipping b-roll because performance "went long"
- Saving golden hour for "if there's time"
- Not deciding who edits before the shoot