Night Shoot

What this is about

Three cost blocks show up immediately. Lighting: a package that can fill a street, plus generators, cable runs and the rigging hours before anyone rolls. People: night surcharges, catering at unusual hours, and a crew whose concentration drops in the second half. Neighbours: noise limits, light spill into windows, and complaints that can end a shoot early. On top of that the following day cannot start normally, because turnaround runs from wrap. Schedulers therefore group night days together and put a switch day between the blocks.

A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.

What runs differently here

Where this differs from the general case:

• Group night days into a block. Alternating day and night wastes a shooting day each way through turnaround alone.
• Rig in daylight where possible: setting cable and lamps after dark costs roughly double the time and every safety risk doubles too.
• Inform residents and businesses early. A letter and a phone number defuse most of the calls that stop a night shoot.

With TillyGen

TillyGen shows what a night block does to the surrounding days, including the turnaround it forces on the morning after.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.