Modern Parables: The Making of Samaritan

The Making of Samaritan

Samaritan

Modern Parables shot its first film in the series on the parable of the Good Samaritan. The film was shot entirely in Nashville, Tennessee using a local cast and crew. The trailer to this film can be seen here.

Films go through a series of at least three stages of production called - rather ingeniously - pre-production, principal photography, and post-production. What happens in each is fairly straight-forward: prepare for the movie, shoot the movie, then edit and score the movie.

For those who are interested, we’ve pulled together some of the paperwork and materials that went into shooting Samaritan. Once the film is finished, most of this gets forgotten since it isn’t needed anymore. However, it does shed some light as to how a small film actually comes together.

Pre-Production

	Script It’s normal for the actual shoot to adjust slightly from the script; however, it lays the basis for the film.
	Locations and Scenes Once locations are identified, they must be matched up with the scenes to be shot there so that a shooting schedule can be created.
	Art Department by Day Props, Wardrobe, and Makeup all have to coordinate to know what to have on hand for each day.
	Stripboard A movie is normally shot out of sequence in order to not have to return to the same locations multiple times. This document organizes the scenes and shooting days.

Production

	Storyboards Some directors use storyboards to visualize their shot composition before shooting. These storyboards cover the first scene of Samaritan.
	Bird’s Eyes It often is helpful to sketch out a scene from a bird’s eye position for camera placement and coverage.
	Shotlist Each shot is broken down and then listed according to scene for tracking purposes.
	Gallery The photos cover the three days of principal photography in Nashville, Tennessee.

Post-Production

Credits