Production Notes
Location Recce:
What I did:
During the stages of pre production the first task I completed was filling out a location recce. Once I had decided on the location I arranged to go there one evening; this is because I was shooting at evening so I wanted to see how it would look at this time. I went around the property and took photographs of all the spaces I was going to be using. I then assessed whether it was suitable according to the recce sheet ad decided that it would be perfect to use for my location. Once I had the images of the rooms I could then start to make floor plans and plan the scenes and shoot in more depth. I could also start thinking about what shots I will need.
What Was Successful?
Finding the location was something that was very successful because I wanted quite an intricate layout; I wanted to have the bedroom next to the living room so that she can walk out of the living and into the bedroom but still hear the noise of her children talking next door. I was very fortunate in that my grandparents and a friend of mine both own properties that have this; a bedroom next to the living room. I assessed both of them but decided that my grandparents would be better to use as it is in a quieter street and the colours in the room were more neutral so I had more to play around with when adding colour through props. Therefore managing to find the location was something very successful in itself.
What Went Wrong?
The only thing that really went wrong was that I sourced the location from people that I knew. I know this was not too much of an issue but in the future I would like to try to source locations from people that I don't know as this would add to my networking.
Conclusion:
In conclusion sourcing the location and completing the location recce was very successful as I found the perfect set for my shoot. Doing the recce helped me to acknowledge things on the set that I probably would not of noticed before such as where pug sockets are and making sure there are enough of them, and also things such as the weather and even though I was shooting indoors how ill the weather affect my production in terms of transporting kit and outside noise.
Casting
What I did:
When finding cast I wanted to use professional actors rather than people that I know to give the shoot a more authentic feel to it. I registered on Mandy and started by filling in character descriptions for what I was looking for (Karen and Harry), I used the character breakdowns that I created during the developmental stage to help me with this. I then contacted some actors privately on Mandy that I thought would be suitable for the role by looking through images of actors that fit the age range and had a similar build, hair and skin colour to what I was looking for. I also posted a job (on Mandy.com) stating the requirements for the role as well as a character breakdown. I had a few replies from the actors that I messaged privately however most of them were not available on the shoot dates and then a few actors replied to the job post however they were not exactly what I was looking for therefore I had to look elsewhere. I then contacted some drama societies in Kent by emailing them and phoning them and luckily I got lots of responses.
I had asked for head shots so I looked through them in my emails and everyone thought I thought would be suitable I emailed with a section of the script and asked for a video audition. I gave the actors around five days to send them to me as I wanted lots of time for planning with the actors once I had decided who they were so I wanted to sort it out earlier on so that it was not a stress later on during the pre production process. Once I received all the auditions for the roles of Karen and Harry I watched through them and I also asked Matt and George in my year to watch through some of them with me to get a second opinion. After I had watched all of the auditions through it was time to make a decision; I whittled it down to two actors for each role, two ladies for Karen that both physically looked the part but also I enjoyed their acting skills as they did not go to over the top with the role as some other actresses did. I did the same with the male actors and finalised it between two men before making the final decision. I wanted to keep a good relationship with all the actors that were not successful in getting the role in case they were suitable for any future roles in my projects so I sent them an email just to explain that they were not successful this time but might be in the future.
I then had the hard decision of decided who was going to get the roles of Karen and Harry and who was going to be my back ups in case anyone dropped out last minute. This was a difficult decision however I needed the actress playing Karen and the actor playing Harry to work well together, so I took the four audition videos that I had and placed them next to each other I then played each of the ladies videos with each of the mens until I decided. The actor and the actress that I chose I thought would look good together on camera as they both had similar acting methods and used similar facial expressions, they also had the same accent so it made it more believable that they were a couple that had been together for years whereas the other actor and actress had a Cornish accent and a Northern accent so I thought this may not work as well. Once I had decided on the actress playing Karen and the actor playing Harry I sent them an email to let them know that they had been successful in getting the role and asked for a few details from them.
I also then needed to find two child actors to play the roles of Daisy and Bernie; Karen and Harry's two children. I wanted to cast two children that looked similar so that they could pass for brother and sister but I also wanted them to look similar to the actress and actor that I had cast for Karen and Harry so that they looked like a family. For the 'Script to Screen' unit that I completed last term I cast a child and when looking for her I put a message on facebook in a group for the area where I live stating that I was casting for a child. A children's acting agency then reached out to me (http://www.carouselmanagement.co.uk/) and said that they could help, unfortunately for that unit I had already cast the child but when casting for children for Directions I went to them first. I phoned the owner of the company, Karen, and I briefed her on what I was looking for, as you can see from the email conversations below. She was extremely helpful and sent me profiles of the children she thought would be suitable for the role. I then selected out of ten children who was going to play the roles of Daisy and Bernie and I decided on Summer and Rohan as they both looked quite similar to Kathryn and Matt who I had cast as their parents.
In conclusion I learned a lot from the casting process, especially to not think that the first actor I ask will be willing and able to be in the production and also that I'm not going to find actors straight away as soon as I search for them. it takes time to find the right actor and it's also not worth saying yes to the first person that applies because with time more actors were putting themselves forward for the roles and this enabled me to have a plethora of actors to choose from. I did have some issues with casting for Mandy which is discussed in my project evaluation but I would still use it again in the future. Casting for the children was very successful and I would definitely go to a children's agency again in the future because it gave me lots of choice and working through an agency is a bit more reliable.
Shot Lists
What I did:
Once I had worked out how I wanted the scene to play out I then put together a shot list for every scene. I went through the script as you will see from the development stages and I sorted out all the directions for actors, this allowed me to then visualise the scene in my head and try to imagine playing it out through using storyboards. I went through each frame that I had drawn and decided what shots I wanted and from what angles. I then was able to write this out as a shot list so that during the production I could give this to my Cinematographer and it would give them an outline of the shots that I wanted to get. During the production I was able to tick off each shot so that I knew what I needed to get.
What Was Successful?
The shot list will also hopefully be helpful during the edit process as I will be able to go through it in order to cut to the different shots I have listed and it will help me to keep track of the shots that we got, I know that I won't follow it exactly however it will be a great help for me.
What Went Wrong?
The only issue with the shot list was that there were a few shots that I was meant to get before the actors arrived such as the exterior of the property but at the time it was a little too light as I wanted it to be evening, therefore I decided we would get the shot after the actors had left but because of the buzz and adrenaline after the shoot I unfortunately forgot to get the shoot. Therefore in future I would make a separate shot list for all shots needed that don't involve actors so that I remember there are separate shots I need to get rather than putting the shot list away once we had filmed that scene they were written in.
Conclusion:
In conclusion I will definitely follow this template for my shot lists in the future, I will also make the separate shot list as I discussed so that I don't forget to get any shots and I will probably add a little more detail going forward for certain parts such as angles as this was something that is not included much in the list but is important when considering shots and the effect they will create.
Script Breakdown:
Once of the most useful sheets that I created for pre- production was the script breakdown sheet. This was because it contained all the information needed for the scene to set up but in a very concise way. It enabled me to list all props needed for the scene so that when we had set up I could quickly glance over the breakdown and check that we had everything. It also allowed me outline the finer details such as wardrobe elements and makeup precisely without a long description. Another success of using the script breakdown was that it allowed me to tie all of my paperwork together so that I had four folders; one for each scene which contained the floor plan, the shot list, the story board and the actors directions, at the front of each folder. This helped so much on the shoot for keeping me organised as I knew what costume was needed for each scene, what props, what lights, what music and which actors. Furthermore I will most definitely be using the script breakdown in my future projects as it contributed to the production running smoothly.
Floor Plan:
Once I had created the shot lists and story boards I had a much better idea about what I wanted for each scene. Furthermore I could start to consider what sort of tone I wanted to create through lighting. I considered all the workshops we had done on lighting and looked back at the footage I had and tried to work out how to create a warm christmas tone in some scenes which would contrast the isolating cold tones I wanted to portray in other scenes. I made a few rough floor plans as you can see in the developmental stage but then finalised my ideas to create the four floor plans that I would use for each of my scenes. I marked where characters would be and then circled where we were going to place the lighting, this was helpful for my gaffer during production as they could move the lighting for each of the scenes whilst I was blocking with the actors.
Scheduling:
Once I had arranged all the shoot times with cast and crew through email I created a schedule and a call sheet. These were so that I had a formal structure for how the shoot was going to run and so that everyone knew where they had to be and when. It was a way to outline the day and I allowed extra time for setting up and breaks. Looking back the call sheet was not very useful during the the production process and all the information that was on it was on the schedule that I had created and already sent out to everyone involved in the production, I had also already informed everyone on costume and already done the script breakdown for props so I did not need to add any of that information to the call sheet. So in future I think I would like to add a lot more detail to the call sheet so that it is a little more informative and useful. The schedule was useful as well especially because I was using children so I had to follow the governed guidelines on how long they are allowed to legally work for, so that schedule did help me to make sure they were not working more than they were supposed to.
Storyboards:
Once I had gone through the script and developed my ideas for how I wanted my vision to appear and how I was going to director the performance I then started to get a rough idea for shots that I wanted. I was also considering Curtis' techniques and how I wanted to differ from him so I started to piece together my storyboards. I like to add colour to them because then during production it gives me an idea of what shots and moments I want to be more colourful than others and I also find that colour does spark my imagination. I created storyboards like the ones below for every scene and had these in my packs I made with the script breakdowns. They do take me a bit longer than roughly outlining with a pencil, but I do like to use storyboards during production and I like to have the full picture. The only thing I wish that I would have done is recreate the storyboards after the shot list because then I could have matched up every shot to a picture so that during the busy production when there is not much time to think I would have my pre planned vision drawn out so that the crew can see rather than read how I would like kit set up.
What I did:
During the stages of pre production the first task I completed was filling out a location recce. Once I had decided on the location I arranged to go there one evening; this is because I was shooting at evening so I wanted to see how it would look at this time. I went around the property and took photographs of all the spaces I was going to be using. I then assessed whether it was suitable according to the recce sheet ad decided that it would be perfect to use for my location. Once I had the images of the rooms I could then start to make floor plans and plan the scenes and shoot in more depth. I could also start thinking about what shots I will need.
What Was Successful?
Finding the location was something that was very successful because I wanted quite an intricate layout; I wanted to have the bedroom next to the living room so that she can walk out of the living and into the bedroom but still hear the noise of her children talking next door. I was very fortunate in that my grandparents and a friend of mine both own properties that have this; a bedroom next to the living room. I assessed both of them but decided that my grandparents would be better to use as it is in a quieter street and the colours in the room were more neutral so I had more to play around with when adding colour through props. Therefore managing to find the location was something very successful in itself.
What Went Wrong?
The only thing that really went wrong was that I sourced the location from people that I knew. I know this was not too much of an issue but in the future I would like to try to source locations from people that I don't know as this would add to my networking.
Conclusion:
In conclusion sourcing the location and completing the location recce was very successful as I found the perfect set for my shoot. Doing the recce helped me to acknowledge things on the set that I probably would not of noticed before such as where pug sockets are and making sure there are enough of them, and also things such as the weather and even though I was shooting indoors how ill the weather affect my production in terms of transporting kit and outside noise.
Casting
What I did:
When finding cast I wanted to use professional actors rather than people that I know to give the shoot a more authentic feel to it. I registered on Mandy and started by filling in character descriptions for what I was looking for (Karen and Harry), I used the character breakdowns that I created during the developmental stage to help me with this. I then contacted some actors privately on Mandy that I thought would be suitable for the role by looking through images of actors that fit the age range and had a similar build, hair and skin colour to what I was looking for. I also posted a job (on Mandy.com) stating the requirements for the role as well as a character breakdown. I had a few replies from the actors that I messaged privately however most of them were not available on the shoot dates and then a few actors replied to the job post however they were not exactly what I was looking for therefore I had to look elsewhere. I then contacted some drama societies in Kent by emailing them and phoning them and luckily I got lots of responses.
I had asked for head shots so I looked through them in my emails and everyone thought I thought would be suitable I emailed with a section of the script and asked for a video audition. I gave the actors around five days to send them to me as I wanted lots of time for planning with the actors once I had decided who they were so I wanted to sort it out earlier on so that it was not a stress later on during the pre production process. Once I received all the auditions for the roles of Karen and Harry I watched through them and I also asked Matt and George in my year to watch through some of them with me to get a second opinion. After I had watched all of the auditions through it was time to make a decision; I whittled it down to two actors for each role, two ladies for Karen that both physically looked the part but also I enjoyed their acting skills as they did not go to over the top with the role as some other actresses did. I did the same with the male actors and finalised it between two men before making the final decision. I wanted to keep a good relationship with all the actors that were not successful in getting the role in case they were suitable for any future roles in my projects so I sent them an email just to explain that they were not successful this time but might be in the future.
I then had the hard decision of decided who was going to get the roles of Karen and Harry and who was going to be my back ups in case anyone dropped out last minute. This was a difficult decision however I needed the actress playing Karen and the actor playing Harry to work well together, so I took the four audition videos that I had and placed them next to each other I then played each of the ladies videos with each of the mens until I decided. The actor and the actress that I chose I thought would look good together on camera as they both had similar acting methods and used similar facial expressions, they also had the same accent so it made it more believable that they were a couple that had been together for years whereas the other actor and actress had a Cornish accent and a Northern accent so I thought this may not work as well. Once I had decided on the actress playing Karen and the actor playing Harry I sent them an email to let them know that they had been successful in getting the role and asked for a few details from them.
I also then needed to find two child actors to play the roles of Daisy and Bernie; Karen and Harry's two children. I wanted to cast two children that looked similar so that they could pass for brother and sister but I also wanted them to look similar to the actress and actor that I had cast for Karen and Harry so that they looked like a family. For the 'Script to Screen' unit that I completed last term I cast a child and when looking for her I put a message on facebook in a group for the area where I live stating that I was casting for a child. A children's acting agency then reached out to me (http://www.carouselmanagement.co.uk/) and said that they could help, unfortunately for that unit I had already cast the child but when casting for children for Directions I went to them first. I phoned the owner of the company, Karen, and I briefed her on what I was looking for, as you can see from the email conversations below. She was extremely helpful and sent me profiles of the children she thought would be suitable for the role. I then selected out of ten children who was going to play the roles of Daisy and Bernie and I decided on Summer and Rohan as they both looked quite similar to Kathryn and Matt who I had cast as their parents.
In conclusion I learned a lot from the casting process, especially to not think that the first actor I ask will be willing and able to be in the production and also that I'm not going to find actors straight away as soon as I search for them. it takes time to find the right actor and it's also not worth saying yes to the first person that applies because with time more actors were putting themselves forward for the roles and this enabled me to have a plethora of actors to choose from. I did have some issues with casting for Mandy which is discussed in my project evaluation but I would still use it again in the future. Casting for the children was very successful and I would definitely go to a children's agency again in the future because it gave me lots of choice and working through an agency is a bit more reliable.
Shot Lists
What I did:
Once I had worked out how I wanted the scene to play out I then put together a shot list for every scene. I went through the script as you will see from the development stages and I sorted out all the directions for actors, this allowed me to then visualise the scene in my head and try to imagine playing it out through using storyboards. I went through each frame that I had drawn and decided what shots I wanted and from what angles. I then was able to write this out as a shot list so that during the production I could give this to my Cinematographer and it would give them an outline of the shots that I wanted to get. During the production I was able to tick off each shot so that I knew what I needed to get.
What Was Successful?
The shot list will also hopefully be helpful during the edit process as I will be able to go through it in order to cut to the different shots I have listed and it will help me to keep track of the shots that we got, I know that I won't follow it exactly however it will be a great help for me.
What Went Wrong?
The only issue with the shot list was that there were a few shots that I was meant to get before the actors arrived such as the exterior of the property but at the time it was a little too light as I wanted it to be evening, therefore I decided we would get the shot after the actors had left but because of the buzz and adrenaline after the shoot I unfortunately forgot to get the shoot. Therefore in future I would make a separate shot list for all shots needed that don't involve actors so that I remember there are separate shots I need to get rather than putting the shot list away once we had filmed that scene they were written in.
Conclusion:
In conclusion I will definitely follow this template for my shot lists in the future, I will also make the separate shot list as I discussed so that I don't forget to get any shots and I will probably add a little more detail going forward for certain parts such as angles as this was something that is not included much in the list but is important when considering shots and the effect they will create.
Once of the most useful sheets that I created for pre- production was the script breakdown sheet. This was because it contained all the information needed for the scene to set up but in a very concise way. It enabled me to list all props needed for the scene so that when we had set up I could quickly glance over the breakdown and check that we had everything. It also allowed me outline the finer details such as wardrobe elements and makeup precisely without a long description. Another success of using the script breakdown was that it allowed me to tie all of my paperwork together so that I had four folders; one for each scene which contained the floor plan, the shot list, the story board and the actors directions, at the front of each folder. This helped so much on the shoot for keeping me organised as I knew what costume was needed for each scene, what props, what lights, what music and which actors. Furthermore I will most definitely be using the script breakdown in my future projects as it contributed to the production running smoothly.
Floor Plan:
Once I had created the shot lists and story boards I had a much better idea about what I wanted for each scene. Furthermore I could start to consider what sort of tone I wanted to create through lighting. I considered all the workshops we had done on lighting and looked back at the footage I had and tried to work out how to create a warm christmas tone in some scenes which would contrast the isolating cold tones I wanted to portray in other scenes. I made a few rough floor plans as you can see in the developmental stage but then finalised my ideas to create the four floor plans that I would use for each of my scenes. I marked where characters would be and then circled where we were going to place the lighting, this was helpful for my gaffer during production as they could move the lighting for each of the scenes whilst I was blocking with the actors.
Scheduling:
Once I had arranged all the shoot times with cast and crew through email I created a schedule and a call sheet. These were so that I had a formal structure for how the shoot was going to run and so that everyone knew where they had to be and when. It was a way to outline the day and I allowed extra time for setting up and breaks. Looking back the call sheet was not very useful during the the production process and all the information that was on it was on the schedule that I had created and already sent out to everyone involved in the production, I had also already informed everyone on costume and already done the script breakdown for props so I did not need to add any of that information to the call sheet. So in future I think I would like to add a lot more detail to the call sheet so that it is a little more informative and useful. The schedule was useful as well especially because I was using children so I had to follow the governed guidelines on how long they are allowed to legally work for, so that schedule did help me to make sure they were not working more than they were supposed to.
Once I had gone through the script and developed my ideas for how I wanted my vision to appear and how I was going to director the performance I then started to get a rough idea for shots that I wanted. I was also considering Curtis' techniques and how I wanted to differ from him so I started to piece together my storyboards. I like to add colour to them because then during production it gives me an idea of what shots and moments I want to be more colourful than others and I also find that colour does spark my imagination. I created storyboards like the ones below for every scene and had these in my packs I made with the script breakdowns. They do take me a bit longer than roughly outlining with a pencil, but I do like to use storyboards during production and I like to have the full picture. The only thing I wish that I would have done is recreate the storyboards after the shot list because then I could have matched up every shot to a picture so that during the busy production when there is not much time to think I would have my pre planned vision drawn out so that the crew can see rather than read how I would like kit set up.
Risk Assessment:
The final part of pre production was the risk assessment, this is for health and safety to make sure that my production will be safe and no one will get hurt. There were barely any risks involved in my shoot so I managed to get the first draft accepted and signed, I did stick to what I said I was going to do for risks during the production and I printed some extras out to leave on a table during the shoot so that if actors wanted to read it or check anything then they could. I also emailed a copy of it to the children's agency as it had information in there about working hours and guidelines.
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