Shot List Examples: 6 Video Shoots With Every Column Filled

Key Takeaways

• Storyflow is the best place to make a shot list for a video shoot when the list has to sit beside the storyboard, the brief and the location photos, because its AI builds the list from what is on the board and the crew opens it by link.
• A shootable row fills every column: shot number, scene, size, angle, movement, lens, audio, location, notes and priority. A blank cell is a decision someone makes on set, under pressure.
• Mark no more than six in ten rows Priority A: our editorial rule leaves the other four rows as the margin you cut when the day slips.
• The six filled examples below cover a talking-head interview, a product launch, an event recap, a brand film, a vertical social series and a testimonial, each with 11 to 16 rows.
• Number shots by scene and letter (1A, 1B, 2A), never 1, 2, 3, so a new shot slots in without renumbering the list.
• Room tone, clean pickups and releases are rows, not afterthoughts: every interview example lists 60 seconds of room tone as an A row.
• When Storyflow's AI builds a shot list table, each table holds up to eight columns and 50 rows, so put the location in each table's title and keep one table per scene or location.

You have the script, the client signed the storyboard, and the shoot is next week. The shot list is the document that turns those into a day: which setups, in what order, with which lens and which microphone, and what gets cut if the light goes at four. Most shot list advice stops at a column list. This guide fills every column for six real kinds of video shoot, so you can copy the one closest to yours and change the names.

How to Make a Shot List for a Video Shoot in 8 Steps

Do the steps in order. The first four describe each shot; the last four turn the shots into a day.

1. Start from the source. Put the script, the storyboard or the brief on the board first. In Storyflow, the in-app AI reads the open board plus up to five documents and three other boards you attach, and it reads scripts as PDF, Fountain or a screenplay file (.fdx).
2. List the beats, then the shots. Each beat of the script or each frame of the storyboard becomes one or more rows. In Storyflow, the menu workflows "Make a shot list for my shoot" and "A shot list from my storyboard" build one entry per camera setup from what is on the board.
3. Number by scene and letter. 1A, 1B, 1C for scene 1, then 2A. In a shot list table, Storyflow's in-app AI numbers shots this way by default; shot cards are titled Shot 1, Shot 2 unless you ask for scene numbers.
4. Fill the camera columns. Size, angle, movement and lens for every row. A row with "nice shot of the product" in it is not a shot; "Close-up, low, slider left to right, 85mm" is.
5. Fill the audio column. Lav, boom, lav plus boom, room tone, wild sound or none. Audio is the column most lists leave blank and the one the edit misses most.
6. Fill location and notes. Where it is, and what the crew needs to know: props, talent, releases, frame rate, timing triggers.
7. Set the priority. A, B or C, with no more than six in ten rows at A. In Storyflow, ask for a Priority column and the AI adds it to every table.
8. Re-order into shoot order and share one version. Group by location, then lighting setup, then camera direction. In Storyflow, the crew reads the list through a view-only link with no account, and whoever is invited to the board ticks a Got it checkbox column on the day.

Steps 1 to 3 are where Storyflow saves the most: the list starts from the board, not from a blank table. The rest of the guide explains each column, the priority rule, and then the six filled examples.

The shot list belongs on the same board as the research and the frames it comes from, so a question about a row can be answered without opening another file.

The Ten Columns and What Fills Each One

A column earns its place if the crew would otherwise have to ask. These ten cover every example in this guide; the table says what to write, what a good cell looks like, and how it maps onto a Storyflow board.

Why Storyflow tables keep one table per scene

When Storyflow's AI builds a shot list as a table, each table holds up to eight columns and 50 rows, so the in-app workflow makes one table per scene and titles it with the scene name. That frees two of the ten columns: the scene moves into the title and the shot number already carries it (3B is scene 3), and a single-location scene puts its location in the title too. The eight that remain are Shot, Size, Angle, Movement, Lens, Audio, Notes and Priority. For a shoot whose notes matter more than its angles, swap Angle for a Got it checkbox.

Shot cards when the frames matter

The other format is shot cards: in Storyflow, each shot is a wall holding its frame, a note of chips for size, light and camera, a "Shots required" checklist, a scene direction note and an equipment note, with an arrow to the next shot. Cards suit a list the director wants to see as pictures; tables suit a list the 1st AD wants to scan. Both build from the same setups, and a board can hold both.

The Storyflow 6-in-10 Rule for Priority

Every shot list is too long by the afternoon. The question is whether the team decided in advance which rows go, or decides at four o'clock with the light fading and the client watching.

The rule in one sentence

The Storyflow 6-in-10 Rule: in Storyflow, give no more than six in ten rows of a shot list Priority A, and mark the rest B or C, so the A rows fit in roughly 60% of the shooting time and the other 40% absorbs the slips. This is our editorial recommendation, not the result of research.

Why six in ten

The number comes from plain scheduling logic. Shoot days lose time to set-ups that take longer than planned, to weather, to talent and to the unexpected, and the time lost comes out of whatever is scheduled last. If every row is an A, the slip cuts must-haves. If six in ten are A and the A rows are scheduled first in each location, a slip costs only B and C rows, and the edit still has everything it needs.

What A, B and C mean

When to break the rule

Break it down, not up. A testimonial with one interviewee and a strict half day may run at five in ten. A shoot that genuinely cannot repeat, such as a one-off event, still holds six in ten, because the event will not wait for the B rows anyway.

Example 1: A Talking-Head Interview Shot List

Pinmoor Films is a fictional four-person production company, and these six shoots are its fictional clients. The first is a three-minute founder interview for the "About" page of Lowmead Architects, filmed in a half day at the studio with two cameras: A camera on a medium shot, B camera on a close-up from the side.

What makes it shootable: both cameras sit on one side of the line, as the 180-degree rule asks, and the room tone and the clean pickup are A rows, so the edit has what it needs even if the B-roll runs short.

Why the interview rows come first

Interview setups take the longest to light and the interviewee's energy is highest early, so the A and B camera rows and the room tone run first. Room tone is the recorded "silence" of the space, which the edit uses to smooth cuts; record it before anyone moves a light. B-roll follows, because, as Wikipedia's B-roll entry notes, it is often shot after the main interview to support what the subject said.

In Storyflow

Paste the question list into a document on the board and ask the in-app AI to make a shot list for the shoot, interview format. Its interview default is Shot, Size, Subject and action, Location, Audio, Lighting, Setup and Got it, because movement matters less than sound and access; ask it to add Lens and Priority in place of Lighting and Setup if your team prefers this layout. For the full set-up of an interview, see how to set up an interview shoot.

Example 2: A Product Launch Video Shot List

Gannet Audio is launching the Gannet One, a fictional portable speaker, with a 75-second launch video: product shots in a studio on black and white sweeps, then the speaker in use at a rented home. One day, a crew of five.

What makes it shootable: the studio rows are grouped by sweep colour, so the day re-lights twice instead of seven times, and the high-frame-rate rows say so in the notes, so the camera team changes the frame rate before the take rather than after it.

The messy shot goes last

Row 2D throws water at the product. Schedule it after every other white-sweep row, because once the sweep is wet, nothing else can be shot on it until it dries. Slow motion is made by recording at a higher frame rate than playback, which Wikipedia's slow motion entry calls overcranking; 120 fps here plays back five times slower on a 24 fps timeline.

In Storyflow

Put the storyboard's frames on the board and use "A shot list from my storyboard"; for a brand or commercial shoot, Storyflow's AI adds Product and Talent columns and drops Angle unless you ask for it. The product launch video page shows the board from brief to delivery.

Product references like these sit beside the launch shot list, so the crew sees the look each product row is aiming for.

Example 3: An Event Recap Shot List

The Marrowby Food Festival wants a 90-second recap of its one-day festival: arrival, food, a cooking demo, visitors and the evening. Two shooters, from gates open to the last song.

What makes it shootable: every row has a time or a trigger (gates open, the busiest hour, the 14:00 demo, sunset), because an event will not do anything twice, and the two shooters split the A rows so no two happen at once for one person.

Drones are C rows until cleared

An aerial is the shot clients ask for and the first one weather, airspace or permission removes. In the UK, the Civil Aviation Authority's drone pages cover registration (a Flyer ID and an Operator ID) and say the Open category is the main reference for low-risk commercial activity; elsewhere, check your national aviation authority. Keep the aerial at C until the pilot confirms it, so a grounded drone never takes an A row with it.

In Storyflow

Event lists work better as a table per time block than per scene: "Morning", "Midday", "Demo", "Evening". Ask the AI to title each table with the block and its start time, and keep the rows in time order, since Storyflow tables are not sortable. For the plan around the shot list, see how to plan an event video and the event videography planner.

Example 4: A Brand Film Shot List

Hollin Outdoor, a fictional maker of waxed jackets, wants a two-minute documentary-style film about the repair workshop where old jackets are mended. Two days: the workshop on day 1, the moor and a customer's farm on day 2.

What makes it shootable: the interview and its room tone are A rows on day 1, so the edit can be built around Ada's words even if day 2's weather fails, and the drone is a C row that can never push out a must-have.

Establishing shots earn their row

An establishing shot is a long shot that shows where a scene happens and how the people and objects in it relate. In a documentary-style film, rows 1A and 2A do that job for the moor and the workshop; without them, the close-ups float. Each gets an A.

In Storyflow

A brand film's shot list sits under its treatment and moodboard on the same board. Ask the in-app AI to make the shot list as shot cards, with frames as empty placeholders or web references captioned as reference, then ask for the same setups as a table per day for the 1st AD. The brand film page walks through that board.

The brand film's look is decided on the moodboard; the shot list's notes column points back to it when the light or the casting matters.

Example 5: A Vertical Social Series Shot List

Pinch Bakery wants three 30-second vertical episodes of "Bake of the Week": sourdough, cinnamon buns and focaccia, filmed in one morning by one shooter, framed 9:16 from the start. YouTube Shorts accepts vertical videos up to 3 minutes long (YouTube help), so each episode fits with room to spare.

What makes it shootable: the three episodes share one overhead rig at the bench, so all three hooks are shot without moving it, and the three tips to camera are filmed back to back while Jo is warmed up.

Number episodes, not scenes

A series list numbers by episode (E1-1, E2-1), because the edit cuts each episode separately and the shooter batches them by setup. The ALL row collects lines every episode needs, recorded once.

In Storyflow

Ask for one table per episode, each titled with the episode and its hook. Put the posting plan in a table with date cells beside it, rows kept in date order; Storyflow plans the series, and a social scheduler or the platform itself publishes it. See the social media shot list page for the board.

A series board tracks each episode from shot list to posted; the release checklist lives beside it, while publishing happens on the platform.

Example 6: A Testimonial Video Shot List

Tessaly Accounting wants a 90-second customer testimonial from Femi, who owns a bike repair shop and has used the firm for three years. Half a day at the shop, two cameras, one interviewer.

What makes it shootable: the questions are open and the words are Femi's own, the pickup of his name is an A row because the lower third depends on it, and the notes record anything he received so the edit can disclose it.

Testimonials have rules the shot list must carry

The US Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides say an endorsement must reflect the honest opinion of the endorser, that a material connection such as payment or a free product should be disclosed, and that an exceptional result needs evidence it is typical or a clear statement of what people can generally expect. Three cells carry that on the day: "open questions" in the interview row, "log anything he received" in the notes, and no scripted claims anywhere.

In Storyflow

Put the questions, the release status and the disclosure note on the board beside the list, and point the testimonial video planner at the same project. The questions stay in a document, so the AI can read them when it builds the list.

Shot List vs Storyboard: Which of the Six Shoots Needs Which

In Storyflow, a storyboard is a row of walls with one frame per moment of the film, and a shot list is a table or a row of shot cards with one entry per camera setup; the storyboard decides what the audience sees, and the shot list decides what the crew shoots, in what order. Both can live on one board, built from the same script.

Not every shoot needs both. The rule of thumb: storyboard what is designed, shot-list what is captured.

For the full comparison, see storyboard vs shot list and what a shot list is.

On a designed shoot, the brief and the commercial shot references come first; the shot list is built from them on the same board.

Shot Sizes, Angles and Movements: The Shorthand in These Examples

Every example uses the same vocabulary, so a camera operator who reads one list can read all six. The size and angle terms follow Wikipedia's entries on shots and camera angles, and the column table near the top lists the values each column takes. What the vocabulary does not show is cost, which is what the 1st AD needs.

Movement costs time

Static is free; a slider costs a few minutes; a gimbal walk costs rehearsal; a car rig or drone costs a plan and often a permission. Write the movement down so the 1st AD can see where the day's time goes before the day starts.

Lenses carry the look

Lens choices in the examples cluster at 24mm for spaces, 35mm and 50mm for people in context, 85mm for faces and 100mm macro for details. They are illustrative; use the focal lengths your kit and your director of photography actually choose, and write them in, because "close-up" on a 24mm and on an 85mm are different pictures.

The Audio Column: Lav, Boom, Room Tone and Wild Sound

Picture problems can sometimes be fixed in the grade. Sound problems usually cannot, which is why the audio column is the one to fill first.

Lav plus boom for anyone speaking

A lavalier microphone clips onto clothing for hands-free recording in interviews, and a shotgun microphone on a boom picks up sound from one direction. Every interview example uses both: the lav as the main track, the boom as a backup with more natural room sound.

Room tone, every location where someone speaks

Record 60 seconds of room tone at each location where dialogue is recorded, with everyone still and the room as it was during takes. It is the cheapest row on any list and the one an editor misses most.

Wild sound and none

"Wild sound" means recording the sound of the action without dialogue: the crust cracking, the needle through cloth. "None" means the shot will be covered by music or voiceover, which lets sound move to the next setup early. Write which one, so nobody waits for a sound take that is not needed.

From Script Order to Shoot Order

The examples above are written in story order so they read clearly. On the day they run in shoot order, grouped by what is expensive to change. Use these sort keys in this order:

1. Location. Never leave a location and come back.
2. Lighting setup. Shoot everything that shares a lighting state before re-lighting.
3. Camera direction. Shoot all shots facing one way before turning around.
4. Talent. Release people in the order their rows finish.
5. Mess last. Water, food, smoke and anything that ruins the set for what follows.

The shoot stage of a workflow board holds the day's list in shoot order, with the post and delivery stages waiting beside it.

Inside each group, A rows go first, then B, then C, which is what makes the six-in-ten limit work. In Storyflow, the in-app AI orders setups by location and lighting when it knows them and says in one line which order it used; if it only knows script order, it uses that and says so. Tables cannot be sorted afterwards, so ask the AI to rebuild a table in shoot order.

A Shot List Header Template You Can Copy

Every example above needs the same header block, filled once per shoot. Here it is for the Gannet One launch, the example taken end to end in the next section. Copy the left column into a document at the top of your board.

Worked Example: Pinmoor Films Takes the Gannet One Launch From Brief to Wrap

The Gannet One example above is the finished list. Here is how Pinmoor Films got there, in the order a producer would do it. The team and the client are fictional, and the steps are illustrative.

From brief to first draft

The producer, Nadia, puts the client's brief, the approved storyboard (nine frames) and the location photos on one Storyflow board. She selects the nine frames and asks the in-app AI for a shot list from the storyboard, as tables. Storyflow's AI builds one table per scene with Product and Talent columns for a brand shoot, and leaves out a Location column she has not given it.

Filling the gaps by hand

The draft has 12 rows. Nadia adds two the board could not know: 4A, the phone pairing insert the client asked for in a call, and 5B, room tone at the home. She replaces Talent with Audio, adds a Priority column, and fills it so eight of the fourteen rows are A, under the six-in-ten ceiling: 57%.

Shoot order

The shoot order puts the black sweep first (1A to 1C), the white sweep second (5A, 2A, 2B, 2C), the water tray last in the studio (2D), then the home: kitchen (3A, 4A, 3B, 5B) and garden (3C, 3D) in late light.

On the day

The crew opens the board by a view-only link; the 1st AD, invited to the board, ticks the Got it column as each row is done, and a change to the list is made once, on the board, by the producer. At 17:10 the day is 40 minutes behind, and the garden rows are a B and a C. 3D goes, 3C is shot in five minutes, and nothing the edit needs is lost.

After the wrap

Nadia exports the board as a PDF with the ticked list for the editor and adds a note of what was dropped and why. The next shoot's list starts from a copy of this board.

A production company keeps each shoot's board inside one hub, so last month's shot list is a copy away when a similar job comes in.

Do This in ChatGPT or Claude

If you plan shoots in ChatGPT or Claude, the assistant can write the shot list straight onto a Storyflow board. This is the plugin or connector, which is separate from the AI inside Storyflow: it runs on your assistant's model and your assistant's plan, uses no Storyflow AI credits, and does not include Storyflow's menu workflows or AI image generation.

Install and connect

In ChatGPT, open the Storyflow plugin listing, select Install plugin, sign in to Storyflow and pick which projects ChatGPT may use; read access is always on, and you decide whether it may also make changes. Mention it in a chat with @ or choose it from the + menu (OpenAI's help on plugins). Availability depends on your ChatGPT plan, workspace and region, and in Business or Enterprise workspaces an admin manages plugins. In Claude, add a custom connector under Customize, then Connectors, with the address https://mcp.storyflow.so/mcp (Anthropic's guide). Setup for every assistant is on the Storyflow MCP page; the job walkthroughs are shot lists in ChatGPT and shot lists in Claude.

Prompts for a shot list

1. "Read my board Gannet One Launch and list the storyboard frames in order with what happens in each."
2. "Build the shot list as one table per scene with the columns Shot, Size, Angle, Movement, Lens, Audio, Notes and Priority, numbering shots 1A, 1B, 2A, and put the location in each table's title."
3. "Mark no more than six in ten rows as Priority A and tell me which rows you made B or C, and why."
4. "Rebuild the tables in shoot order: black sweep, white sweep, water tray, kitchen, garden, and keep A rows first in each."
5. "Add a Got it checkbox column to every table."
6. "Build shot cards for the five studio setups, each with a Shots required checklist and the equipment it needs."
7. "Give me an upload link for this board so I can add the location recce photos."
8. "What changed on the shot list since yesterday, and who changed it?"

What lands on the board

Tables with the columns you named, shot cards with their checklists and equipment notes, and images if you ask for web references. Each table the assistant builds holds up to eight columns and 50 rows. On an invited free Storyflow account the plugin allows 25 actions a week; paid plans have no weekly limit. A photo you attach in the ChatGPT chat does not reach the board; ask for the upload link instead.

What to check by hand

Check every lens against the kit list, every frame rate against the camera's settings, and every face against a release. Count the A rows. Make sure no location, date or crew name came from the assistant rather than from you. The assistant cannot read board comments, so move a comment that changes a row into the row itself. Connections end after 30 days, and ChatGPT then asks you to sign in again.

The chat writes the rows; the board is where the crew reads them, ticks them and asks about them.

Where to Build It: Storyflow vs Spreadsheets, Shared Docs and Shot List Apps

The kind of tool decides more than the brand: whether the list can sit beside its frames, whether the crew can open it, and whether it survives a change at lunch. We place Storyflow first on the basis that the shot list, the storyboard, the brief and the location photos share one board and the AI builds the list from them. Storyflow is our product; the limits below are as real as the strengths.

Storyflow

Best at a shot list that starts from the board: the AI reads the storyboard, script or brief and builds tables per scene or shot cards per setup, and the crew opens the list by a view-only link with no account. The real limit for this job: AI-built tables hold up to eight columns and 50 rows, tables cannot be sorted, and there is no native phone app, so export the board as a PDF, or ask the in-app AI for shot list pages, for a set with poor signal.

A spreadsheet

Best at long lists that need sorting and arithmetic: sort by location, filter by priority, total the setup times. Its limit is the picture: frames do not sit beside rows, and a list emailed as a file turns into three versions by Thursday. Choose a spreadsheet when the list has hundreds of rows, and keep the frames on the Storyflow board.

A shared doc

Best at a short list with long notes, such as a two-hour interview. Columns drift as people type, and there is no shared checkbox to tick on the day. Choose a doc when the notes matter more than the columns.

A dedicated shot list app

Best on the day: tick shots on a phone, sometimes without signal. The brief and the storyboard usually live elsewhere, so the list loses its context. Choose this kind when the 1st AD runs the day from a phone, with the list planned on the Storyflow board first.

A production management suite

Best at the whole shoot around the list: schedule, call sheets, crew and contacts. It is heavier than a small shoot needs. Choose a suite when the production office already runs everything there.

A whiteboard app

Best at sketching coverage with arrows and sticky notes while the team decides the approach. Structured columns and priorities are an afterthought. Choose one for the first conversation, then move the decided list into a table.

Paper

Best for a director's pocket list. Choose paper as a backup on any shoot, printed from the final version, never as the only copy.

After the shoot, a phase board tracks the edit, the client review and delivery for each video on the list.

Shot List Mistakes and Their Fixes

Each of these costs time on the day or in the edit. Each fix takes a minute while the list is still a list.

Mistake 1: Listing shots in script order

The crew moves locations twice and re-lights the same corner three times. The fix: re-order by location, lighting and camera direction before the call sheet goes out.

Mistake 2: Leaving the audio column blank

The interview is lit beautifully and recorded on the camera's microphone. The fix: fill audio on every row, and make lav plus boom the default for anyone speaking.

Mistake 3: Every row is an A

When the day slips, the team cuts at random. The fix: no more than six in ten rows at A, A rows first at each location.

Mistake 4: Numbering 1, 2, 3

A shot added in scene 2 renumbers everything after it, and the editor's notes stop matching. The fix: scene plus letter, with new shots taking the next letter.

Mistake 5: Notes that repeat the size

"Close-up of the product" in the notes of a close-up row tells the crew nothing. The fix: write the action, the prop, the frame rate or the release.

Mistake 6: No room tone and no pickups

The edit has a hole where the interview cuts and no clean line for the lower third. The fix: room tone and a clean name pickup as A rows on every list where someone speaks.

Mistake 7: Faces without releases

A great reaction shot of a stranger cannot be used. The fix: a release note in every row with an identifiable person who is not cast.

Mistake 8: Two versions in circulation

Camera works from Tuesday's list, sound from Wednesday's. The fix: one list on one board, changed by one person, opened by everyone through the same link.

Storyflow's Honest Limits for Shot Lists

Storyflow earns its place where the list meets its sources: the storyboard, the brief, the photos and the crew's link. It does not do everything a set needs:

• AI-built tables hold up to eight columns and 50 rows each. Split long lists by scene or location, which the in-app workflow does by default.
• Tables cannot be sorted. Keep rows in shoot order, or ask the AI to rebuild a table in a new order.
• No native desktop or mobile app. Storyflow runs in the browser and is best built on a laptop; export the shot list as a PDF for a set with poor signal.
• No calendar view, recalculating schedule or call sheet sending. Storyflow builds a strip board grouped by shoot day, and its in-app AI drafts a call sheet PDF that you send.
• No time tracking. Setup durations are planning numbers in a table, not a clock.
• AI image generation is on Pro and Max, and not through the ChatGPT plugin. On Plus, frames come from your own images, web references or empty placeholders.
• Paid-only during early access. Plus is $7.99 a month billed annually ($9.99 monthly) with the in-app AI; anyone a paid member invites to a board joins free, without the in-app AI.

The Bottom Line

A shot list is only as good as its emptiest column. Fill every row, number by scene and letter, give no more than six in ten rows an A, and run the day in shoot order. Storyflow is our pick because the list is built from the storyboard and brief on the same board, and the crew opens it by link. Copy the example closest to your shoot onto a Storyflow board, start from the shot list template or the AI shot list generator, and change the names before the recce.

More on the same job: the shot list software page, corporate video production, video production planning, how to make a shot list with ChatGPT or Claude, turning a moodboard into a shot list and storyboarding a commercial in three cuts. Plans are on the pricing page.