While working on a senior film in college, I made a shot list without seeing the location first for one of the scenes. The location was locked down last minute and there was no time for me to go study it. I thought I would be all right since I was able to Google the apartment complex's unit layouts... When we arrived there, my shot list went out the window. It looked nothing like what I had seen, which was due to furniture layout and the images of the units possibly being out of date. I ended up calling shots on the fly... it wasn't a total disaster since I had already planned out what I wanted the scene to look like. ANY pre-production is better than none.
If you can scout and actually see the location, awesome, do that. If you can't, well... storyboard at least what you want the scene to look like. You can modify it as you need to when you get to the location. If you're working with a DP, ask him/her what he/she prefers. Some people prefer being a part of the storyboard process, some do fine with a list i.e. shots # 1. 2. 3. 4. .. and I know one who picks up on direction on the spot day of. It all depends, but no matter what, for yourself, make an effort to story board.
Video Production