How to Build a Practical Videography Cheat Sheet That Actually Gets Used
A videography cheat sheet is a one-page reference for settings, framing rules, and workflow steps you consult during shoots instead of guessing. People buy expensive guides and never open them. The useful ones are ugly, handwritten, and taped to a light stand. Here is what mine looks like after years of cutting it down. Front side is exposure and frame rates. Back side is lens choices and audio basics. I keep three copies: one on set, one in my edit bag, and one in my car. I run most of my interviews at 24fps, 1/50 shutter, and f/2.8. My go-to lens for that is a 50mm on full frame or a 35mm on crop. When the subject moves, I bump to 50fps for slow motion or open the iris if I am underexposed. It sounds rigid. It works because I stopped renegotiating exposure on every take.
What to Put on It
Your cheat sheet should contain only things you forget under pressure. Leave out theory. Leave out camera manuals. Write the numbers you need when the light is failing. Exposure row
- Frame rate: 24 / 25 / 30 / 48 / 50 / 60 / 120
- Shutter rule: 1/(2x frame rate). Example: 24fps = 1/50, 60fps = 1/125
- Iris range for skin: f/2.8 to f/5.6 depending on lens
- ND range: 0.6 to 1.8 for daylight
White balance row Audio row Composition row
Get the Full Details
That covers the majority of what I look up on set. Everything else is memorized or irrelevant. Do not print this on glossy paper. Coating flakes off when hands are greasy from rigging. Use matte cardstock or laminate it with a matte finish. Write with a fine black gel pen so markings survive sweat and rain. I keep mine in a small polypropylene sheet protector inside a ring binder. The binder also holds lens specs, lens rental cards, and a contact list for gaffers. When I am between jobs, the binder sits on my desk. On set, only the single sheet comes out.
Digital versions work too. A Notes app page with large type is faster than a phone search. The risk is battery death and screen glare. I carry the physical copy as a backup even when I keep a digital copy on my phone.
How to Customize It for Your Work
Write your actual settings, not stock settings. If you use an S-log3 camera, your base ISO is different than someone using a different profile. If you shoot at 23.976 instead of 24, write that. If you prefer 1/48 shutter even on 24fps because your workflow demands it, write it. Track problems you encounter and add workarounds next to them. A specific problem I ran into last year was rolling shutter on a subject moving fast under fluorescent lights. The fix was switching to a shorter shutter at 1/100 even though that broke the double-angle rule slightly, then pulling the flicker in post with a stabilizer preset. I added a small note on the back: “Fluorescent + fast subject = break shutter rule, stabilize in post.” Another common issue is color mismatch between two cameras. I added a line about shooting a gray card at the start of each setup and noting the timecode. That way I match in post without guessing.
Remove anything you do not use. If you never shoot at 120fps, delete that row. Your cheat sheet should shrink over time, not grow.
Workflow Use Cases
Here is how I actually use the sheet during a shoot day. Setup phase I lay the sheet on a table and confirm three numbers: frame rate, shutter, and white balance. I measure light with a meter or histogram, then set ND. If I am under 5600K, I adjust Kelvin and check focus. This usually takes about four minutes for a solo setup.
During take I glance at the sheet only when I change positions or lighting conditions. I do not pull it out between every take. The numbers are already burned into muscle memory after a few weeks. Post-production handoff
I staple a photocopy of the final settings to the first clip of each scene. Editors appreciate this more than anyone expects. It removes the question of whether a shot was Log or Rec.709 and cuts matching time from twenty minutes to two.
Common Mistakes People Make
The most frequent mistake is filling the sheet with everything. A full-page cheat sheet is useless because you cannot find anything under stress. Keep it to one side of an A5 page. If it does not fit, you are including the wrong content. Another mistake is relying on presets alone. Presets fail when the scene differs from your template. A preset cannot handle a window blowout in reverse. The sheet forces you to make decisions instead of assuming your saved configuration will apply. People also forget to update the sheet after they change gear. I once used an old reference that listed my previous lens focal lengths. I pulled the wrong lens for a tight interview because the sheet still had my older kit. I corrected it the same day and marked the revision date in the corner.
Advanced Nuances Most Beginners Miss
Frame rate affects audio sync in subtle ways. When you shoot at 48fps or higher and conform to 24fps in post, your audio pitch stays correct, but time-stretching can cause phase issues if you are not careful. I add a reminder on the sheet: “High fps audio: check phase in mono after conformation.” That warning has saved me several times. Another nuance is rolling shutter interaction with artificial light. Even at 1/50 shutter, some LED panels flicker at 100Hz and produce bands on camera. The workaround is not always “raise shutter.” Sometimes it is changing panel frequency or adding a small diffuser to average the flicker. I include a note on the back: “LED bands at 1/50 = check panel Hz, not just shutter.”
Download and Template Options
I do not host a downloadable file directly here because equipment changes frequently and a static PDF becomes outdated quickly. You can build a working version in about fifteen minutes using the rows above as a template. If you want a starter layout, copy this structure into any document editor and print it on matte cardstock: If you need a ready-made version for a specific camera, tell me which model and I will tailor the numbers. Generic templates force you to rewrite half of it anyway. There are scenarios where a static sheet becomes a liability. Night shoots with variable artificial sources often require on-the-fly decisions that do not fit pre-printed values. In those cases, rely on your histogram and waveform monitor instead of trusting the sheet. The cheat sheet is a baseline, not a replacement for measurement.
Cheat sheets also do not account for creative deviations. If you are doing a stylized music video with intentional overexposure or extreme shallow depth of field, the standard f/2.8 to f/5.6 range will mislead you. Mark a small asterisk on the sheet for “creative override” so you remember to step off the defaults.
Final Notes on Maintenance
Revisit the sheet once a month. Cross off items you never touch. Add any new failure mode you encountered that week. After three months, it should look nothing like the original version. That is normal and expected. I stopped updating mine after I found a stable configuration. That was a mistake. The next project changed enough that I missed a note about a different base ISO for a new camera. I learned to keep revising even when the sheet feels complete. The goal is not to have a perfect reference. The goal is to reduce decision fatigue on set so you can focus on performance, framing, and sound. A cheat sheet that cuts your setup time from thirty minutes to twelve is worth more than any theoretical guide.
