Pre-visualisation

This article needs to be updated.

This is too Eleven-centric. Definitely needs rephrasing to describe the more fancy CGI previs from the RTD2 era onwards seen in Wild Blue Yonder's Unleashed episode.

These omissions are so great that the article's factual accuracy has been compromised. Check out the discussion page and revision history for further clues about what needs to be updated in this article.

Pre-visualisation — often reduced as simply pre-vis or previs — is a stage in the pre-production process between storyboarding and principal photography. The skill is not known to have been a part of the 1963 version of Doctor Who, but it has been used with uncertain frequency on the BBC Wales version of the programme, and significantly increased frequency when previs company Painting Practice worked on the show as produced by BBC Studios and Bad Wolf Productions.

Name

Though Doctor Who titles before 2023 have consistently spelled it "pre-visualisation", it's comparatively unusual to see it as a hyphenated word. It's typically spelled in American-led circles as "previsualization" or in British-influenced projects as "previsualisation". Thus, its shortened form is often styled "previs" — or sometimes "previz". When it was credited on the 2023 specials beginning with The Star Beast, the role was consistently spelt "previs", such as on the combined role of "Creature design, concept art, previs & VFX art direction" for the company Painting Practice, as well as the specific jobs of previs supervisor, previs / postvis artist, and junior previs artist.

Overview

The skill involves translating static storyboards into a full-motion approximation of the final scene. Though pre-vis can technically be accomplished without CGI — as, for example, with cheap, hand-held video cameras — computers have provided a low-cost, more flexible way for a pre-vis artist to contribute to the pre-production pipeline.

Very rough models of the sets, locations, actors and other in-scene objects are input into a computer programme which has the ability to precisely emulate physically possible camera movements, speeds, and sometimes even cinematographic details such as lens aperture and lighting physics. Following the storyboard, the pre-vis artist then brings the scene to life, thereby offering the director a much more detailed guide on how to film the scene. The process can reveal technical flaws in the storyboarding, which prevents the director from wasting time on approaches that won't work. The process also offers the director the opportunity to try different shots in the computer before he commits to them on camera.

As documentary subject

An explanation of the process as it impacted the opening scene of The Eleventh Hour was offered by pre-vis artist Dan May on WC: Doctor Who Video Explorer.