Daily log of shoot time, takes, cast, and footage recorded — production manager maintains it in real time. Foundation for billing and post-workflow.
While the camera is rolling, the production management sits beside it with a clipboard and pen — not out of nostalgia, but out of absolute necessity. The log is the complete chronicle of the shooting day: time, take number, length, camera setup, whether the take is usable or had errors, which actors were in the frame, lighting changes, stop commands. Without this document, post-production becomes a guessing game.
In practice, this means the script supervisor — or on smaller productions, the production management itself — keeps a detailed notebook parallel to the shoot. Each take receives a sequential number. Next to it: length in seconds or frames, the exact time (important for billing and synchronization with sound recordings), whether sound was recorded, camera movement (static, pan, dolly), focus points, lighting changes. Particularly critical: the note whether the take is in the can or not — a cue from the director, a sound problem, or the actress speaking too early can ruin any take. This information later determines usability and saves the editor hours of reviewing.
The log is also for billing. On union productions, every minute of shooting is logged — start, end, breaks for lunch or fog machines. Who gets paid, how long the day was, whether overtime is incurred: everything from the log. At the same time, it is a memory substitute. Three weeks later in the edit: were the actor's eyes open or closed in the shot? The log provides the answer.
Digitally, the formats have changed — many sets now use tablet apps or shooting log software that writes metadata directly into the camera's file structure. But the function remains: Complete documentation creates order in the chaos of the shooting day. Those who keep clean logs avoid later complaints from post, labs, and accounting departments. It is less glamorous than lighting or camera, but at least as indispensable.