Visual production blueprint — every shot planned: framing, camera moves, cutting logic, sound. Roadmap for director, DP, editor. Saves time on set.
Technischer Schnittplan
The technical découpage is created before shooting and ensures what really needs to be shot on set. You draw or sketch each individual shot – with camera position, focal length, movement, character placement, and cut points. This is not a storyboard in the classic sense, but an operational blueprint that keeps the director, camera, and editor in sync. Without it, the director improvises on set, the camera films too much or too little, and the editor is later faced with material that doesn't fit together.
In practice, it works like this: For each shot, you note the number, the shot type (wide shot, medium shot, close-up), the camera angle (low angle, high angle, eye level), the focal length (if relevant), the camera movement (pan, zoom, Steadicam), and the exact cut point – when does it enter, when does it exit? Equally important: What happens in the sound design? If the first shot is silent and the second begins with atmosphere, you note that. You also mark overlaps – whether the cut occurs within a movement, or if the shots butt up against each other. This spares the camera later endurance tests and you unpleasant surprises in the edit.
The technical découpage is also your argument on set when the director suddenly wants an additional wide shot that isn't in the plan. You can say: This means we're shooting longer, and these three shots are dropped. This sharpens the focus. In low-budget productions, this plan often saves 10–15% of shooting days because no one wanders around – everyone knows what they have to do. For more complex scenes (multiple characters, long dialogues, location changes), the plan becomes almost a necessity to avoid continuity errors and optimize shooting workflows.
Important: The technical découpage is not dogma, but a working basis. Good directing changes it if reality on set offers something better. But the change is made consciously and documented – not out of chaos.