Checking off your shot list as you film keeps the plan honest without slowing the day down. A mark next to a row is proof you have it, and proof is the thing that lets you leave a location without doubt.
The habit only works if marking is faster than forgetting. If ticking a box takes more effort than the shot itself, you will stop doing it by lunch.
A pen and a printed page beat an app you have to poke at with a glove on. If you shoot digitally, a text file you keep open works fine. The point is that marking takes under a second.
Use a simple system: a check for shot, a dot for attempted but compromised, a strike for skipped on purpose. That tiny vocabulary tells you at a glance what still needs attention when the light is fading.
Checking off during the day is not enough on its own. Before you power down, walk the list one more time and read it against the cards. The mind plays tricks after six hours, and a shot you remember grabbing may exist only in the plan.
The sweep catches the row you told yourself you would do after lunch. It also catches the shot you marked as good but shot at the wrong frame rate. Reviewing footage on the spot is the only cheap moment to notice.
A list nobody marks is a wish. A list marked as you go is a receipt. Only one of them lets you leave in peace.
Checking off is a record, not a command. Some shots will stop being necessary once you see the location. Others will appear that the list never imagined. Mark what you actually did, including the shots you improvised.
An improvised shot that works deserves a row written by hand. That row is how the list learns. Next time the same location comes up, you will not have to rediscover the angle you found by accident.
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