“Pre-Vis Chess” with Sagar Rathod

What is Pre-Vis?

Previs is short for pre-visualization, and it’s a process that allows filmmakers to visualize their film before production starts.

You might use it to present a rough outline of your movie’s story or show how the shots you want to shoot will fit together.

That way, when the actual production begins (which can take many years), there are no surprises — and no wasted time.

Pre-Vis Chess

In most cases, we are given a storyboard to work from. But sometimes we only have a bare-bones script. So it is up to us as pre-vis artists to make sense of the script.

In this video, I’ll demonstrate a simple yet useful pre-vis exercise that helps us and the director better understand a scene. I have used this process many times… most recently on Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’ and One Piece on Netflix. I call it Pre-Vis Chess.