The Production Process
I always knew that this project would be a challenge, but I never realised quite how challenging. The pre production and post production aspects of the project didn't daunt me at all, however, the production side of the project (the part that involved directing actors and crew and overlooking the shoot) absolutely terrified me.
The first thing that had to be done was to choose a director, and once that had been done we needed to create a presentation surrounding that director and their key works. Although choosing a director was a little difficult due to the vast number of talented directors, I finally settled on Richard Curtis, the director of one of my favourite holiday films; Love Actually. Once I had chosen my director and film, I got straight into conducting research for the pre production side of my project. One of my key directorial decisions was to focus on colour and using this to reflect on the emotions and feeling conveyed within the narrative. I therefore carried out research into location, costume design, set design and how I could use colours within these areas. I decided to make red a key colour in my work, dressing Juliet in red costumes and having red props within the set design - this helped to reflect Mark's love and affection for Juliet. Throughout my project I carried out much more research in order to gain a clear vision of the visual style of my short film.
Another key aspect of the production process was transcribing my chosen scenes into a screenplay, breaking down and analysing the screenplay in order to understand the feelings and emotions involved within the narrative, creating a new screenplay including any alterations and finally creating a shot list and storyboard based off of the new screenplay. This process allowed me to precisely plan out how I visually wanted to tell the story and where I wanted to position the audience within the scene.
Whilst my research and pre production were still ongoing, we had directing workshops with Steve Finn. The directing workshops one and two helped with my concern over directing crew members and actors. In these workshops we learnt how to block scenes, blocking a scene helps to figure out where the actors will be positioned and where the camera will be positioned. In order to block out a scene, it is best to break down the script in order to get a better understanding of it. Once you, as the director, have blocked out the scenes, the crew then need to be directed accordingly as well as the actors. The actors and crew should be blocked separately as their roles are completely different. Initially, I was giving more attention to the crew as this is the position I am more familiar with, however, the actors need just as much (if not, more) attention in order to make their acting work with the camera.
As well as having directing workshops, we had lighting and DSLR workshops. These were particularly useful for me as I always planned to use a DSLR for my shoot. In the DSLR workshops we leant how to manually change the settings such as ISO, exposure and focus in order to achieve specific looks. Due to conducting research into production design and breaking down my script, I knew that my scene was riddled with underlying feelings of love - this would somehow need to be reflected in the camera work / lighting / production design. I decided to go with a dreamy look, therefore the exposure would need to be a little brighter than usual in order to create that look. I also wanted the colours to be more vibrant (due to colour being one of my key directorial focuses) - by making the exposure slightly brighter, the colours would be more vibrant. I used the workshops as an opportunity to figure out which camera settings produced the specific look I required in my production. I also used the workshops as an opportunity to have a go with other camera equipment / accessories that I previously hadn't used. I then decided whether any of this equipment would be useful in my shoot. The lighting workshops were also a massive help. It was amazing to see how much a lighting can change the mood and effect conveyed within a scene. Due to my film taking place in natural daylight, I wanted to experiment with the tungsten lights in order to create a natural daylight look.
I decided to try and get the actors and locations sorted quite early on, however, I found finding and keeping actors on board very difficult meaning that this process took a lot longer than I hoped and caused a lot of stress. I posted an advert on Casting Call Pro, reached out to actors individually on CCP, and contacted people involved with drama societies, however I had no luck. I then resorted to asking other classmates for suggestions as to where to find actors. A third year recommended an actor to me that she had worked with before. I decided to contact this actor and ended up securing him for the role. Finding an actress for the female lead was a lot more straight forward. I ended up casting a model that I'd worked with before due to her having the right look for the role. I decided to use my own house for the location due to having to rearrange the set. I was able to position furniture where I needed and also bring extra props in.
Once the pre production preparations were sorted and the locations and actors were secured, I was finally ready for the shoot. In order to make the shoot run as smoothly as possible, I tested my ideas prior to the shoot day and created a precise schedule. Having everything planned (such as the camera angles, set design, costume etc) meant that I could focus my attention on directing when it came to shoot day.
My shoot went according to plan with only a few minor issues. The only issue that I wasn't able to resolve was my issues with sound. Initially I found directing the actors a little difficult because personally I am not very assertive or confident. However, once I had relaxed into my role as director, I managed to find the confidence to tell people how I wanted them to act. I managed to get all the coverage I needed and much more which gave me plenty of options when it came to editing.
I then put a rough cut together to produce a rough idea of how I wanted to piece my footage together. I then showed Mike and Simon the rough cut and gained feedback from this. I implemented their feedback to produce my fine cut. Again, I showed this to Simon and Mike and they provided further feedback. Once I followed their advice and changed my film once again, I finally produced the final cut of my project.
What worked?
- Due to my research into production design, set design, colour and costume, I was able to produce a very precise and visual idea of what I wanted my film to look like. This meant that my pre production went smoothly as I was able to use this research in order to figure out what I wanted in my own production design. Completing my pre production with a clear visualisation for my piece really enabled me to focus on directing on shoot day, rather than having to worry about these aspects of the film as well.
- I managed to assemble my footage in the way I had visualised it when it came to the edit. This demonstrates that my good organisation paid off as I was able to capture the exact footage I needed in order to create a product that was as close to my visualisation as possible.
- The location was what I had hoped it would be. For Mark's flat I was able to convey the idea of a large empty space that had art supplies dotted around - this helped to reflect Mark's personality. For Juliet's doorway I was able to set the holiday season by putting a Christmas decoration on the door knocker. I also felt this helped to add a homely vibe to her house as Christmas decorations often carry this connotation.
- Once I had secured my actors, my communication was good as I was able to keep in touch with them and keep them on board for the shoot. My actors showed up ready and prepared which allowed for a very smooth shoot day.
What didn't work?
- I think sound was an issue throughout my piece. Due to not being able to pick up the Tascam Kit in the morning before my shoot, I had to settle for using a rode microphone attached to the top of the DSLR camera. This meant that some of my sound contained noise / static and wasn't as crisp and clear as I wanted it to be. I feel that the sound really decreases the quality of my product as sound makes up 50% of it. However, I tried to recover my project by really focusing on the other aspects of the sound design (e.g. the background music for the wedding video, the background music for the presentation scene, the atmos in the presentation scene etc).
- Due to using natural lighting, there were changing levels of daylight meaning there were changing levels of light within my product. In order to resolve this issue, I should have changed the settings on the camera in line with the changing light. However, this issue was easily resolved in post production where I fiddled with the exposure levels.
What did I learn?
- Scheduling is key in order to make a production run smoothly and to get the best quality product. I thought my scheduling was very accurate, however, I hadn't accounted for the complication that would result in me having to pick up my actress rather than picking up the sound equipment. Therefore, in future I will make sure I have my equipment before the day of the shoot, so that if anything does go wrong on shoot day there should be time to resolve that without having to compromise other aspects.
- Again, I have learnt about the importance of sound. The quality of the sound is much less than I hoped which is frustrating as it brings the whole quality of my project down. Although I did put more focus on the other elements of sound design, it is still very obvious that the sound quality of the dialogue is poor. In future I will ensure that I use either a boom pole or the Tascam Kit to avoid getting noise / static and echoes.
What could I develop?
- Although most areas of my communication with my actors was good, I should have ensured that my actors could provide their own transport and would not unexpectedly need to be provided for. This means I should develop my communication skills to make sure that every single detail of shoot day has been organised.
- I should also develop my scheduling as this proved to be a slight issue. In future I will ensure that nothing on my schedule is likely to clash which will allow for a smooth shoot day with minimal issues.
Conclusion:
I was happy with the preparation I did before my shoot as I feel the amount of research I did really helped me to consider all aspects of my production. I was then able to organise my shoot precisely in order to get the product that I wanted. I am as happy with my product as I can be despite the obvious sound issues. I am happy with the look of the product but I feel that I have let myself down with the sound quality. However, I will take this on board in the next project to ensure that it does not happen again. Although it has been an issue for me this time, hopefully it will mean the quality of my future projects is better as I have learnt from this mistake.
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