A shot list is the outline translated into things a camera has to capture. Every A-roll segment you will speak, every B-roll shot that covers it, written down before you set up. It is dull to make and it is the best defence against the most expensive mistake in production: realising in the edit that the shot you need was never filmed.
The cost of skipping it is not abstract. It is a second filming day. You sit down to edit, reach for the close-up of the thing working, and it does not exist, so you set the lights up again for one shot you should have grabbed the first time. The shot list is ten minutes that buys back an afternoon.
A-roll and B-roll, listed separately
A-roll is you, or whatever carries the talking. B-roll is everything you cut to so the talking is not a single unbroken shot of your face. List both against each beat of your outline, so each section already knows what footage it needs.
| Beat | A-roll | B-roll to grab |
|---|---|---|
| Intro | Hook to camera | The finished result, close up |
| The one rule | Explainer to camera | Screen recording or diagram |
| First attempt | Talking over the doing | Hands working, two angles |
| The fix | Reaction and explain | Close-up of the change |
You do not need this for a pure talking-head video. You need it the moment your video shows anything: a process, a product, a place, a screen. The more your video does, the more the list earns its keep.
Grab 20% more B-roll than feels sensible
Whatever the list says for B-roll, shoot a bit more while you are set up. Extra angles, a few seconds longer, one more pass of the same action. The edit is hungrier for cutaways than you expect, and B-roll you did not film is the thing you cannot add later without staging it all over again.
It doubles as a packing list
A finished shot list quietly tells you what kit the shoot needs. If three beats call for a screen recording, you know to set that up. If one needs an overhead shot, you know the tripod arm has to come out. Reading the list before you start rolls straight into the next task, prepping the setup, with no gap between them.
Where Chewbr fits
Build the shot list is step 6 of the 47, the bridge from planning into production. It is the last Plan step that lives on paper, and it is what makes the first Produce step, prepping your setup, a two-minute job instead of a guess.
Keep reading
The shot list comes straight from your outline, and it sets up the publish date everything works backwards from. When you reach the edit, the B-roll you banked here is what keeps the retention graph from flatlining in the middle.