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Monday 18th March

To begin pre- production, as the producer, I believed that it was important to have a whole production team meeting to start the creative process. This also allowed myself, EmmaRose (Director) and Ross (scriptwriter) to get an idea of what the rest of the cast and crew had taken from the script production wise and enabled us to make sure we were all on the same page in terms of what story we wanted to tell. After this initial meeting I sent the costume, props and PA continuity team off to book an appointment for costume fittings, create a list of necessary set and props and logging templates to use on set. I created a pre-production schedule so that throughout the week each department had a clear structure to their days and goals to work towards daily.

Firstly I took aside the entire cast and gave them a general talk about health and safety on set as parts of the script were potentially dangerous so I just wanted to make sure that all actors were comfortable with all the potential stunts that we were planning on doing as well as the sensitive themes that we were portraying within the film. Furthermore I had a brief meeting with my locations team to discuss the protocol that they were to follow when booking locations such as how much budget they were allowed to spend and what locations needed prioritising over others in terms of booking. I then sent them off along with my production coordinator to begin sourcing and confirming key locations so that we could begin filling out risk assessments. The technical team including camera, sound and editing also sat with the director and scriptwriter to discuss initial ideas and prep work that they wanted to carry out so that they felt that they were prepared for the shoots.

At the end of the first day of pre-production each department had completed a large portion of their tasks and I was really impressed with the group as a whole; the majority of costumes and props had been sourced, each department had marked up their script depending on which role they were doing and everyone was clear on the tasks they had to complete the next day in the debriefing session I ran at the end of the day.

Tuesday 19th March

To begin the second day i had a meeting with EmmaRose and Ross to discuss their jobs for the day and what they hoped to achieve as well as what i was hoping to get done with the production team. After which we did a group briefing, discussing what had been done the previous day and what needed to be done to make sure we were on track to being shoot ready.

Similarly i then had a meeting with the locations team and i decided that i wanted to have all locations finalised by the end of the following day which meant that they had a lot of research and recces to get done. A location had already been finalised the previous day therefore i sat with my production coordinator to draft the first risk assessment for what was probably one of our toughest locations to assess just because it was an abandoned location with security who had to be alerted to our activities in the space. Whilst assisting with this i began making a rough shooting schedule with the locations that we had confirmed and prepared a couple of location release forms to coincide with these. On this day i also sat with our on set sound technician to discuss her potentially getting in touch with a composer ahead of post production that could compose a score for the film as well as markup her own script for the purpose of knowing what she needed to achieve sound wise during filming. Furthermore i sat with the editors and, upon instructions from the director, asked them to use the week to create a promo poster as well as staying in constant contact with the director and myself so they knew what was needed from them during the rest of the filming process to prepare for the edit.

At the end of the day we de-briefed and my locations team had contacted several locations and had managed to secure another however they were still having issues coming up with a space to use for the ‘cultivation suite’ as everything they had presented was not quite in keeping with the tone of the film and therefore had to keep looking. Other production departments were looking near to being ready for filming already which i was very pleased about as it meant i could focus my attention on getting the more technical aspects of the shoots sorted.  Finally I then spoke with the DOP about his needs equipment wise for the film as i was attending a meeting with the equipment store the following day  and made a note of every scene that would require specialist pieces of equipment such as the ronin and go pro.

Wednesday 20th March

On this day i had several meetings to attend including one with the equipment store and a potential location as well as working with my coordinator on the strip board that contained all of the technical information of each shoot which would enable PA continuity to create the call sheets.

I went to the equipment store to secure all of the necessary essentials that we would need for the full two week shoot however i ran into a few scheduling issues with regards to booking out the ronin as another group had managed to book it out for a whole week exactly when we needed to film. To resolve this i asked for it to be booked for us for the full second week and then went to speak to the producer of the other group who then conveyed that they would not actually need it for the full week so i managed to persuade her to let us borrow it for the days the locations had already been booked for. Once that was sorted i could focus on booking extra equipment for the following day for a technical rehearsal of the more technically challenging shots including the shoots that involved the gopro and experimental one shot movements that the DOP and director wanted to try. After this i went with my location manager to look at using a room in the students union as the cultivation suite however upon arrival it was very clear that the space was not what i was looking for at all and sent the team off to look for a better alternative in the afternoon.

Later in the day i checked in with costume and set and everything seemed to be running smoothly so i asked them both to make me detailed lists of what props/set/ makeup/costume was needed for each scene so we very clearly knew what to prepare prior to each days shoots. Furthermore i also took some time to go over confirmed locations and make sure my coordinator knew what risks to assess for each location and it became apparent that for the outdoor scene i might need to let the local authorities know of the activity as it was depicting a dangerous activity however the location itself was on university property and therefore i spoke to security who said that because i had let them know prior they were happy to let us go ahead without involving the police however it was something that was put on the risk assessment anyway. At the end of the day de-briefing we had confirmed more locations and wrote a list of which ones we had not secured which meant that the strip board and schedule were really starting to take shape.

Thursday 21st March

Today was the day of the technical run so first thing we collected equipment and set it up ready for when the actors got in as we anticipated that to perfect everything we wanted to it would take most if not all the day. Whilst this was going on i was very busy trying to finalise locations and i also went to a meeting with a potential composer to discuss our requirements.

My locations team had managed to secure a meeting with a hostel in central Manchester which had the perfect rugged and metallic vibe we needed for a lot of our big shoots. They were willing to let us shoot in the hostel originally for £175 but we managed to negotiate down to £150 for 2 full days and a night which gave us plenty of time in one of our biggest locations. Securing this location was one of the highlights of this experience as it really was exactly what we were looking for and definitely tied in with all the other locations really well. After receiving the invoice for the hostel i took it straight to the office where i got the money to pay for the location, this was then sent straight to the hostel via my locations manager and the location was secured.

I asked PA continuity to begin filling out all the call sheets at least for the following week using the strip board that my coordinator had typed and put on our google drive whilst i went to a meeting with the composer. I took my sound technician and scriptwriter with me so they could clearly communicate what needed to be done musically and he said he could get it done before Easter so we had time to listen to it and make any changes before post started which was a perfect arrangement. Once the meeting was finished i de-briefed the whole team and we talked through what needed to be finalised and sorted by tomorrow so i knew we were completely ready for the full shoots.

Friday 22nd March

Today was all about finalising every element of production which meant checking and double checking each team to see that they were fully prepared for the next two weeks. To my dismay a few locations were still to be confirmed or found which meant coming up with a plan b which involved dressing someone's basement to create our location which also meant more work for set and props.

Furthermore once each section had been thoroughly checked and gone over by myself and the director we checked them off to really make sure we knew that we were fully prepared. During the debriefing session at the end of the day i asked the whole team if they had any questions about the next stage in the production process as well as if they had any concerns or queries. Thankfully by the end of the last day of pre-production i can safely say i felt prepared for the shoots.

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Monday 25th March

Today was the first day of production and was arguably one of the smallest shoots we had to do; it was filmed in wooded area in Peel Park and depicted the very last scene in the film. The shoot began with the whole team collecting equipment and setting up whilst myself, location managers and production coordinator sat around the edge of the area in high vis jackets to stop members of the public walking through the shoot. I also put filming signs on trees surrounding the area to make sure that people would know what was going on. Overall today went very smoothly and we got everything shot that we needed to.

Tuesday 26th March

On the second day we shot another very small sequence in the location that we had to set dress to make it look like a basement office. Set-up was the biggest part of today however with the help of each member of the crew we got it done and shot. All went well and everything was shot that we needed to get done with minimal;problems.

Wednesday 27th March

Today was a very busy shoot day as it involved two very different locations and this meant that timekeeping was of the utmost importance. The first location was an abandoned part of the university campus which had a security van guarding it, however we had already got permission to film on premises and once we explained we were allowed onto site. However we were only allowed two hours at a time and therefore each member of the team had to be instructed to be as efficient as possible. I kept time and made sure that everyone was being safe on this set as there were a few trip hazards that could cause injury. We got everything completed apart from one shot which we pushed back to the following day as we were back on the same set.

In the afternoon we filmed in the basement of another university building. This turned out to be the perfect location for what we needed as it was completely deserted and quiet. It meant that we could take time over tricky shots and experiment with new ones as we had a lot of time down there. Overall this was a productive day with minimal shots getting pushed back.

Thursday 28th March

We were back at the same locations as the day before today and i did notice a change in the crew as some definitely became a bit unhelpful when it came to set-up and doing jobs that were not meant for them. We were cut very fine for time in the abandoned site today due to the fact that we had to add an extra shot from the day before however we managed to pull through and get all the equipment to the next location. When we got there however there had been a double booking of the space with another university group so i talked to them and we worked out that we would each use a different part of the basement complex and try and be as respectful and quiet as we could. The arrangement worked well and we were able to wrap early in that location having completed all shots needed.

Friday 29th March

Today’s shoot was definitely the hardest location to film in due to problems with sound. We were filming in the squash court in the university sports hall, it was a very last minute location as we could not find what we were looking for anywhere. Due to the site being quite open it meant that we could very clearly hear dance music coming from multiple rooms. Whilst i did ask the instructors if it was possible for them to turn their music down they had regular paid classes on so this was not an option. It meant that we had to film in intervals and it ended up becoming a very long and tedious shoot. We managed to film everything we needed to however we were very aware that we were going to need to ADR any scenes shot in that location.

Monday 1st April

Shooting today took place in a hostel in central Manchester which we had secured for two days and a night which meant we were going to have plenty of time to get a sizeable portion of our film shot. When we arrived we found that the bunk beds were laid out in a different way to how we’d choreographed certain shots which meant the beginning of the day was spent re-blocking. The rest of the day ran smoothly with no issues and myself and a few members of the team stayed over in the hostel that night so that we did not have to move all the equipment back to Salford and that way we could keep an eye on it and get an early start the next day.

Tuesday 2nd April

Today was another long shoot day in the hostel but i did my best to keep the pace of the production moving as much as possible as i knew we had lots to get done. We managed to keep going though and wrapped filming on time. I made the whole team help pack and load a taxi with equipment as well as tidy the hostel room so that we checked out on time and left the room in the state we found it in. Overall this location experience came with no problems and everything got shot.

Wednesday 3rd April

We used today to go back to the set that we created in one of our production team basements. It had been left as we had set it up which meant that we only had the technical equipment to take down there. We had a battery issue today where the person who had taken the equipment home had forgotten to charge them so i went back into campus to get new ones and return the old. This put production back by around an hour which meant when i came back we had to pick up the pace and i was a lot more active in making sure it all got shot. However we did not manage to finish everything, this was not ideal but we were coming back again in the morning so it just meant that tomorrow’s shoot was going to be longer than anticipated.

Thursday 4th April

We were back once again in the basement set and as everything was already set up we began immediately with scenes that we had not managed to get finished the previous day. I then helped to set up another section of the basement for another scene which involved sticking photos onto a wall as our props manager could not be there that day. Once everything had been filmed we packed away and discussed tomorrow’s final shoot.

Friday 5th April

Today was our final shoot day and we filmed outside an industrial site in Salford that depicted an old, rusty gate with a fence which was exactly what we needed to show a stick being burnt which would be edited in post later on. Again however we had issues with sound as it was very windy that day and therefore was decided that we would have to ADR the whole scene in post. It was also a really sunny day which meant i had to hold up a reflector for the majority of the shoot. In spite of all this we managed to wrap fairly quickly and take back all the equipment with no problems. specialist pieces of equipment such as the ronin and go pro.

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I would have to say that the post production process for this film was the most stressful part of the creation of this film due to several factors that were out of our control. A major contributor to why the final stage was so difficult was because our director was unable to attend most of the edit sessions over the last few weeks meaning i had to make a lot of creative decisions for the good of the film which should not have fallen to me to make. Through online communication we only managed to gage a certain amount as to what she wanted from the edit and this became extremely frustrating for both me and the editors as they needed to know what kind of film she had envisioned but she was not giving them what they needed to do that. An example of this was when scenes needed to be looked over and she was not available to do so and therefore the process was slowed down because changes needed to be made that she was not willing to look over.

During shooting we had also come to the conclusion that we would have to ADR a couple of scenes however when we got to the edit it became clear that the majority of the film needed to be re-done sound wise. Therefore we booked out a weekend slot in the recording studio and i scheduled each actor to come in and repeat their lines. I will say that my sound editor was not very helpful or cooperative with the majority of his edit and had to be told several times to change what he’d done before he agreed to it and this i believe was unprofessional. Another issue that occurred was that, in the first week, one of my editors laptops crashed and it lost all of the work he had done. Fortunately he did not panic and just carried on which i was really happy with.

Towards the end of the editing process our composer messaged us to say he could no longer score the film so, very last minute, i had to find another composer to take his place. However the day before the deadline the new composer messaged to say that he’d had technical difficulties and was unable to complete the tracks for us. The editors did what they could with the music they had however i was disappointed that we did not have the full score. Overall post production was a little bit messy in terms of organisation but we pulled through and submitted on time and the film was completed despite all the issues we encountered.