So I've talked about this a lot in some of my previous videos and the one thing that truly grew me as a DP and grew me as a cinematographer has been in pre-production, specifically mood boards and treatments. So in this video today, I want to actually go through how I create a mood board, what apps I use, and why they're actually important in filmmaking. And honestly, if you're not doing them, you're doing yourself a disservice. So, let's get into it. Okay, so the biggest thing about mood boards, there are a couple of reasons why you should create a mood board. But first, let's define what a mood board is for those who may not know. A mood board visually displays the look and feel of your project through color palettes, pictures, and video, usually presented in a collage style format. So having some kind of visual reference of what it is that you would like to do for a particular project is always going to help you and every single person that is involved. And so with that, you want to be as descriptive as you can be. You want to really dial in on your vision and let people know exactly how you want this project to go. And there's three reasons why you would even create a mood board. One would be to get the job. So as a DP lately, what I've been noticing is mood boards has been my gateway to get a job. So somebody will come to me and say, hey, we have this project that we kind of want to shoot. We're actually scouting DPs. So I have not gotten hired as the DP yet. We're scouting DPs. They give me a rundown of the project and they say, hey, would you be able to send a treatment on how you think you would want to shoot this? And then they will talk to multiple DPs and decide. whose idea they like the best, and then that's how you get the job. It's like your resume. Like, you're sending out for your resume, and then they're going and they're picking who has the best resume. The second reason why you would create a mood board would be you're already hired as the DP. You're already the shooter, and now you're working with the director to collectively come up with a look and feel and get specific on how you want to shoot this project, how you want this project to look. how you want the end results to be. So either you're going on there, your director's going on there, you're going and finding these inspirational images together. The last reason why you would create a mood board would be as a creator, even if you are just doing it for yourself, like your passion projects and your specs. It is one of the best processes to work. Working your muscle of creating mood boards is going to be ideal for you because as a creator, there has been times where I'm working with a brand and even they want to be able to see, hey, we're going to, you know, pay you. Can you do this brand deal with us? But also, can you send us how you would want to do this brand deal? And so I have to send that for approval. But also while I'm on set, it is helping me kind of stay on track with some of the images and some of the things that I want to shoot. I can always go back and reference it and make sure that I've gotten all the shots out that I wanted to get out, that everything that we discussed is going to be in the final product. So that is why it's very important to really dive in and start learning the mechanisms of creating a treatment. So the three apps that I like to use are Frameset, Shotdeck, and Canva. I try to keep it as simple as possible, but you don't have to. There are people who use Milanote, Notion, Pinterest, all of these different apps. You can use whatever you feel like you're comfortable with. But for me, I have found comfort in Frameset and Shotdeck and Canva. Frameset is going to be like more on the commercial side. I really do like that they have motion as well. So if there's any movement that you find that you really, really like and you really want to kind of... visually show that as a reference. That's really cool. Then you have Shot Deck, which is more on the film and television side. So from some of your favorite films or from some of your favorite television shows, like you got just so many films that you can kind of cross-reference with Shot Deck. Play around with both, which is why I actually have both. One website is not gonna give you everything that you need. So it's always nice to have both. So we're going to go in frameset since that is my normal process and I want to show you all my actual process of how I do it. So in frameset, first thing you want to do is pretty much type what the project is about. What inspirational photos are you looking for? So what I'm going to do first, I'm going to go to frameset since it's the main one I use. And what you want to do is you pretty much want to just go in. Let's go to roller skating since I did one on that. So you go and you search for what it is that you're looking to find inspirational photos on. And you really just scroll through and find the images and what you can do is you click it and you have this folder you can literally do create set and from there it's going to create this full on set from you. But again, it's pretty much straightforward. Just go in and try to find a way to tell a story through all the images that you're finding. That is the goal. How do I find all these images and I tell the story whether it's through color, lighting, movement, like save it all because you're going to go into Canva and you're going to be able to dial in. page by page and kind of explain your idea. And it takes time. There's been times where I'm on there for two days trying to really find images. And that's why I think that people overlook this part of the process. It's because, again, it's not the fun, go out and shoot, edit, put it on social. It's the time where you're really trying to take the time out to bring your vision to life. And that is the most important aspect. How are you bringing this vision to life? What is your vision? So after you go through ShotDag, FrameSell, whatever it is that you use, You want to now create the actual deck. So the reason why I really like Canva is because it literally has everything you need. You can get as creative as you want to be. It has texture, it has shapes, it has a bunch of different fonts that you can play with. It has templates, everything to create what you need to have this look aesthetically pleasing to where somebody may be interested in your idea, which is the whole goal. So the first page is always going to be my title page. So on there, I literally just have a main picture and then whatever the title is going to be or whoever the client is. It's essentially just going to be your title page. The second page, I'm going to go a little bit more in depth on technicality of things, what camera we're using, lenses that we may be using, if we have any support for the cameras. Kind of get as technical as you can. It's really up to you. A lot of times for me, I just like to keep the camera and the lens that I'm going to use and then dial in. outside of just the treatment on everything else that we're going to need. But you can get as descriptive as you need to be in order for you to really sell this idea. So the second page is also going to have a description of what the project is about. So for me, if I'm talking about skating, I'm going to talk about this is going to be following a skater from Los Angeles, California, blah, blah, blah. So the next page is going to be. More so of your shot angles, your shot choices, some of the things that you're going to want to be able to shoot and how you're going to want to shoot them. And here's where you start to tell your story. So even for this particular one, I got a little bit more descriptive of he's going to walk in, he's going to put his skates on. And then from there, he's going to go into this whole freelance. And I'm. I'm pretty much going to be following him throughout the day to get all of these particular shots that I want to get. And so then they can kind of see the shots and kind of start getting a visual aspect of how I'm going to shoot this. And if they like the shots, then they're going to like the idea. So be as clear as you can on the images that you choose so they can really kind of see your vision. Then you might go into like more of your color tone, mood or color theory. So for this, I want it to be more cool. very much on the bluer side of things and really silhouette vibes and so a little dark and things like that really highlighting the natural light that's coming from the window as you can see his windows in all of these shots but really adding contrast and playing more on the cooler side of things when normally I usually like to go for the warmer side of things so now they can actually see the color tone. They can really start to visualize exactly how I'm thinking about shooting this. You have the shot choices and angles, and now you have the color tone. You have the location. I like to put the location on there to, again, give them a visual reference so they can kind of see that it all makes sense. There's a lot of clarity happening, and they can actually see that it can work out, and it's not just a thought or something that's like... I don't know how this is gonna get done. So then from there, you can go again how you may wanna go. You may want more images. You may want more description. You, sometimes I might put a lighting grid if I'm doing like interviews and I know the lighting setup that I wanna have beforehand or if the gaffer creates a lighting setup for me, I might put a lighting grid in there as well and do a thorough deck. But it's really up to you. Again, I like to keep mine simple, especially because this is kind of like more of the first thing that I like to put out. Once we enter the director actually get together to start really dialing in on images, then you may flush it out a whole lot more. And you may actually turn it more into like a storyboard format than more of like a mood board format. So it's again, it's up to you. It's up to how you enter director works up to how the director works. It depends on the project. But ultimately, that is pretty much it on how you. Create a more simplified mood board. Again, you can go as crazy as you would like. Play around with fonts and add a little texture to it. You can have a colored background so it's not just white, like really. turn this into a nice presentation as if you was presenting in front of the whole class. Like that's essentially what it is. You want to get an A plus and you want to be able to get a yes on this project. So you want to just make this something that they really can see and that they're going to be happy about. I really want to shout out my friend Erin, who is such a dope cinematographer in LA. She really kind of helped me start creating mood boards. I had to do my first mood board and did not know how. I think last year and she just so gracefully sent me some of hers and I've been like in love with them she really does beautiful mood boards and again they're simple it's not crazy stuff that she does with them they have enough detail to kind of show as a cinematographer what she wants to do with this film um and they're simple but they're beautiful and you could tell she paid she put a lot of time and energy into them but she really really made me want to kind of learn this aspect of creating a mood board but really dialing in on it so shout out to Aaron for that so let me know if you guys have any questions please leave them down below if this helped you let me know there were a lot of people asking how do I create my mood boards because I do talk about it a lot so hopefully this gives you all a little insight on how I go about it I am still learning and I am still growing and how I want these to look um I want my staple to be on my mood boards like Oh, this is a Brittany mood board. And so I'm still growing in this space. So again, you guys have anything you want to share with me, let me know as well. Hopefully you like the video share with your friends, make sure that you are subscribed. And I thank y'all and I love you guys for watching. And I'll see you in the next video. Bye.