Build your first filmmaking kit in the right order
A four-page worksheet to set your shoot needs, write a budget and choose a build level. Use the camera, audio, lighting and storage checks to plan your kit.
- Blank fields for your shoot and budget
- Build-level checks for solo work and small crews
- Four printable pages to plan and check your kit
What's in the checklist
- Camera and lens checks with space for notes
- Audio inputs, mics and test-recording checks
- Lighting and light-control checks
- Support, power, card and backup checks
Who it's for
- Solo creators and small crews buying their first kit
- Shooters moving up from a phone to a dedicated camera
- Anyone who wants to check a kit against a planned shoot
A look inside
The first page helps you define the work, crew, location and budget before choosing a build level. The rest of the checklist sorts gear into camera, audio, lighting, support, power and storage.
Worksheet version: the four-page PDF, reviewed . It is based on our gear planning checks for a shoot, not hands-on product tests. It has blank budget fields and build-level checks, not priced camera or lens picks. The PDF was deliberately left unchanged in this review. Send errors through our contact page. We check reports against the worksheet and update this page when a change is needed.
What emails follow
Email 1 brings your four-page checklist. The 24-email series then works through practical filmmaking gear decisions over about 12 weeks, with messages 1 to 7 days apart. After the series, receive one useful gear guide each week. Unsubscribe any time.
Questions
What does the checklist cost?
Nothing. It's free; you only give an email address.
How does it arrive?
It arrives by email right after you sign up, as a printable PDF.
What format is it?
A PDF checklist you can print or keep on your phone.
How do I stop the emails?
Every email has an unsubscribe link; one click stops them.
Get the checklist
One email address, and the checklist lands in your inbox with the gear guides to follow.