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This essay seeks to investigate and reflect upon my contribution to the video project Just Business, a light-hearted comedy short set around a ‘motley crew’ of characters engaged in a job interview process. I opted to take on the role of producer, after originally being focused on performing, in order to challenge myself and develop the skills I have gained across my four years at university. I was attracted to Just Business as a project largely because it did not fall into the Black Mirror style dark short films that are in such high abundance and as such were something I wanted to avoid. With comedy suffering and in short supply across all genres (Nosowitz, 2016) and one of Britain’s biggest broadcasters ‘[turning] its back on comedy,’ (Chortle, 2019), it also seemed like a timely piece of work. I will discuss a number of examples from my role during pre-production and production, whilst also drawing on research I undertook throughout the process.

In the role of producer, it was natural to be reliant on other people to complete their roles in order for me to fulfil mine successfully. Rea and Irving (2015, p.103) give the example ‘if a production assistant doesn’t control the flow of traffic, the director can’t get the shot,’ and this knock-on effect is something that became evident during the shoot. Punctuality and absences were the key cause of these issues. Our pre-production week was heavily disrupted by external showcase rehearsals as well as viva-voces from a previous module and ultimately we lost around two full days of pre-production if all the hours were combined. Although I tried my best to negotiate around this and collate all this information at the start, it definitely affected our pre-production period and if I were to perform this role again, I would make sure I discussed with all necessary parties to minimise disruption because during the pre-production week, ‘you have an abundance of something you won’t have when you start shooting: time,’ (Rea and Irving, 2015, p. 4) and I don’t want to waste that.

This cause and effect continued throughout the shoot on a number of occasions: most notably with regards to the tardiness of some cast members. There were a number of occasions where cast members ran late. Having previous experience in the producer role, I had the foresight to call actors half an hour before necessary to give time for buffer. Although this is unproblematic on a student production, on a real life set this would cost extra money but our only currency on Just Business was time management, something that is ‘vital and needs to be addressed’ (Cury, 2017, p.4). To negate this lack of punctuality, I spoke to the cast members in question and warned them about the potential consequences both on a module level and on a wider industry level, and there were less incidents as production went on. In future or on a paid production, I would hire trustworthy crew with a good record something which, according to Rea and Irving (2015), can save a lot of time and money throughout the process and based on the knowledge that ‘far too often projects that could have been successful, and even those that should have been, fail because of bad time management,’ (Cury, 2017, p.4) this is even more relevant. Rea and Irving (2015, p.261) also note that ‘when you are late, you lose respect’. Knowing this, you can also understand the importance of university modules and making a good impression because you never know who you will be working with in future. This gave me the motivation to work harder throughout the shoot and ensure the final product was as high quality as possible.

Similarly, this chain was evident when discovering the importance of recees during the shoot. One of our most important shooting days was that in the reception space where we had just over three hours to shoot the waiting room scene of the film. During this period, the reception space would still be used as a working space and so we had to work around that. Whilst we were aware of this and were willing to work around this, the sound department had failed to perform a recee as advised by myself and locations did not inform me about the vending machines at the location - these vending machines were extremely noisy. Although the locations manager was able to convince the staff on site to turn off the vending machines, it highlighted to me the importance of everyone understanding their roles and ensuring tasks were being carried out, specifically that each department had completed a recee of each location. If the sound department had carried out a recee, they would’ve noticed the vending machines and flagged it up but because they didn’t, it had the potential to delay shooting. ‘The most pressing of production responsibilities is selecting suitable locations for filming’ (Essanny, 2008, p.137) and so it is vital everyone is on the same page and finds each location suitable immediately. Essanny (2008) also suggests to select a locations manager who understands that the finding of locations should be more difficult and worrying than confirming permission and gaining consent, something that will allow for a more efficient shoot. I will bear this in mind in future, whilst also ensuring all tasks are being carried out regularly. This will save time and prevent any potential halt to production.

More widely, this relates to the understanding of individual roles and of set etiquette in general. Although as a producer, there was ‘no traditional position for [me] on set,’ (Rea and Irving, 2015, p.257) I was willing to help as and where necessary, acting as the likes of a location marshal as and when necessary, and of course being on set, it allowed to me monitor proceedings and ensure everyone was performing their tasks. At the start of production week, we had a number of issues regarding set etiquette, including cast and crew being on their phones on set and because ‘the success of a shoot depends on everyone treating each other with respect and civility’ (Rea and Irving, 2015, p.261), it was important to stop this and shoot as professionally as possible. In real life application, this would cost unnecessary time and money. Although we managed to stop this a few days into shooting, in future I would definitely ensure etiquette was a high priority from the first day, also including, which Rea and Irving (2015, p.261) label as extremely important: ‘crew members should not give advice to those outside their area unless asked’ and ‘no one gives direction to the actors except the director’. This caused mixed messages on our first few days of shooting and could’ve resulted in a poorer quality product with a creative interpretation not relevant to our director’s vision, which in turn could’ve led to unnecessary and costly reshoots. If our film was the second in the production block rather than the first, I think I would have benefitted from a more disciplined cast and crew who had learnt from mistakes made in the previous film. However, this was favourable in terms of being able to guide the cast and crew according to the aims of our film and ignore influence from a previous film, and the learning process here will also help to rectify issues more easily if I were to perform the role again.

The most immediate challenge for me though was applying my production skills from other genres to that of short form fiction. Although I had produced with this scale crew prior to this project, it had only been in the studio entertainment genre. Initially this caused a few problems, such as trying to find a line between creative and logistical control. In the reality and entertainment genres, producers ‘often need to plot and point’ the story (Essany, 2008, p.135) but in short form fiction, producers are largely involved in the management and orchestration with very little creative control at this level. Despite this, I did find that the ‘extensive knowledge of storytelling’ (ScreenSkills, n.d.) necessary to produce assisted me during the pre-production and production process. I undertook some research into how best to transfer these skills and read a number of books and valued websites to hone these skills, following the guide that ‘the more thoroughly a project is planned, the smoother the production will be...you can’t do too much preproduction work’ (Rea and Irving, 2015, p.3). Whilst I anticipated that there would be problems and challenges along the way, I wanted to be prepared for them in the best way I could be.

My greatest challenge throughout the process was communication and the learning curve I made as a result. During pre-production, there was a miscommunication regarding risk assessments which not only caused a panic, but also had the potential to delay the first day of shooting because, as Rea and Irving (2015, p.156) say: ‘communication is the key to a successful shoot.’ Although the risk assessments were compiled, this was miscommunicated and the first day of shoot nearly cancelled. This would’ve had a cause and effect chain on the remaining two weeks of production, which ultimately falls to my responsibility. After this incident, I ensured my communication was clearer, specifically with the actors and their call times, as I didn’t want this cause and effect to ripple in different ways, but if I were to perform the role of producer again, I would ensure that all communication was clear across all departments and through all levels right from the start of pre-production - there needs to be no crossed wires. Mistakes will happen because ‘even careful preparation won’t always stop things from happening’ (Film Sourcing, n.d.) but it is important to mitigate this due to the possible damaging consequences and thus financial implications in a real-life environment.  With risk assessments, it also became evident as production progressed that the different departments should be feeding back with any potential changes to their risk assessments (make up, technical etc) which can be applied to the master assessment for the shoot. This helps to prevent any health and safety misdemeanours on an ongoing basis but, perhaps even more important from a creative and financial perspective, would stop any delay to shooting or continuity problems if someone were to be injured. This also relates to the communication and how imperative it is that departments communicate between each other constantly. As Cury (2017) discusses, things will change on a shoot, roles will differ regardless of genre but therefore, communication should always be consistent and is imperative to any shoot. In future, I would lay down a clear communications plan between departments and have even more check-in meetings to ensure tasks are being completed; risk assessments compiled and recees carried out.

Ultimately, I feel that we were successful in getting across the project’s aims and that came down to the production. Although we had a number of minor problems along the way, nothing occurred massively to hinder the project and I am pleased my producer role seems to have been carried out successfully. Whilst there was some resistance to the script in the first instance (I believe most of the cast and crew were more positioned to be creating darker pieces of work), most of them came round and seemed to enjoy working on Just Business and by the end, we had developed a healthy, professional and enjoyable working environment. This success was largely evident on screen in a fun piece of work that received laughter (in the right places) and applause at the screening and test viewings.

In conclusion, I learnt a significant amount during the video project module and was also able to build on skills I have already gained across two courses and four years at university. Primarily, I learnt about the importance of communication and delegation, especially when in a more senior role, and also how to transfer skills across genres. The project gave me a real confidence in the role and my ability, something I was doubting going into the project. I was glad I took on the challenge of not a wholly unfamiliar role, but a role in a different environment and genre to what I was used to, and as such we were able to produce a good piece of comedy drama just as we had the intention of doing. In future, I will harness the skills I developed during this module and build on them even further whilst learning from the mistakes of this process in order to advance more.

REFERENCES

Chortle. (2019, 6 February). ITV turns its back on comedy. Retrieved 1st May, 2019, from https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2019/02/06/42246/itv_turns_its_back_on_comedy

Cury, I. (2017). Directing and producing for television: a format approach (5th ed.). London: Routledge.

Essany, M. (2008). Reality check. USA: Focal Press.

Film Sourcing. (n.d.). Film production risk assessment. Retrieved 4th March, 2019, from https://www.filmsourcing.com/film-production-risk-assessment/

Nosowitz, D. (2016, 4 October). Where have all the fun sitcoms gone?. Vulture. Retrieved 1st May, 2019, from https://www.vulture.com/2016/10/where-have-all-the-fun-sitcoms-gone.html

Rea, P. W., & Irving, D. K. (2015). Producing and directing the short film and video (5th ed.). London: Focal Press.

ScreenSkills (n.d.). Producer. Retrieved 25th February, 2019, from https://www.screenskills.com/careers/job-profiles/content-creation/producer/

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***MAIN ENTRY 1***: DEVELOPMENT & PRE-PRODUCTION

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***MAIN ENTRY 1***: DEVELOPMENT & PRE-PRODUCTION

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DEVELOPMENT

The main aspect of the development was assisting the director and writer in advancing the script and discussing any potential issues or red flags with the script that could cause a problem from a financial or safety point of view. Following this, I began arranging the audition workshops and one on one crew interviews, both of which were incredibly important for our film. Just Business better suited a group audition workshop so I ensured there were a number of people available for each slot, working around their availability. I chased up anyone who failed to respond to initial correspondence to give everyone a fair chance at the role they wanted, this led to me compiling the final audition schedule (attached) and I distributed this alongside the character biography sheet. On the day of the auditions, I took notes and ensured everything was being kept to time whilst also reacting to any messages of lateness/absences to ensure the group workshops were still able to go ahead. Following the auditions and interviews, we worked with the other film in our block, using the option spreadsheet I had created (attached) to confirm the groupings. This correspondence was then emailed out to all group members at which point I created an email group to expedite this process over the next three weeks.  During this period, I also made contact with a number of potential composers, giving them a synopsis of our film. This determined who was interested in composing for us, then I organised meetings with them throughout the pre-production week.I created two Google Drive folders for the production - one for everyone to be included and for collaborative work, and the other for top-level production only and for private documents (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TSabCJNgd8kKuzsI4ZjbtmlyvOcucysJ and https://drive.google.com/open?id=1i1rtRB3ss2-RqlEfeJfay-vKve5XeXPy). To this, I added the contact sheet I had created (attached)  the finalised cast and crew document (attached)  and I ensured the latest script was uploaded, whilst also developing a suitable template for the call sheets (attached) as most existing templates suited only larger scale films.

PRE PRODUCTION

Monday 25th February

Ahead of the day, I emailed all members of the group in order to remind them of the location for pre-production and also to brief them on what to expect. Today, myself and the director met with the locations manager and the production co-ordinator before calling the rest of the group. This gave us the opportunity to discuss the project in better detail and for the director to give them a better idea of his creative vision, primarily for locations, before our first main group meeting. Once everyone had arrived, we conducted a group meeting, readthrough and discussion about the script, which was beneficial for everyone. I ensured all lateness and absences were noted and continued to chase up those who were missing.  Due to consistent failure to respond to any form of contact, we took the decision to recast one of the characters and we asked one of the design team to double up and play the role of Shona too, in addition to her primary crew role. Initial arrangements were also made to account for any vivas and showcase rehearsals taking place during this week, which unavoidably took a lot of our crew and cast members, including the director, out of the pre-production process for hours at a time. I collated all the information about this to put into schedules for the remainder of the week in order to minimise disruption. I began preparing the actor agreements for the production assistant/co-ordinator to print and get signed later in the week.Before releasing the cast and crew, we allocated them tasks for the following day: actors to develop their own character biographies, production co-ordinator to begin draft of shooting schedule, the design team to have generated props and costume lists/mood boards and camera/lighting to have considered potential shots. After this, the director and I discussed and produced the schedule (attached) for the next day and also how to improve.

Tuesday 26th February

After a check-in with the full group in the morning to determine where everyone was up to with their tasks, I met with the production assistant to start initial work on a basis production schedule, using the weather as a guideline to take into account any exterior scenes. It was decided throughout today that our main exterior - the lunch scene - would become an interior to allow for greater scope of locations. I told the locations team that we wanted to begin the process of confirming locations and signing them off by tomorrow. The director and I met with our first potential composer, talking him through the project and assigning him a ‘sample’ task to send us - meeting this early allowed plenty of time to work with whoever we decided upon. Throughout the day, I oversaw the departments to ensure they were all progressing with their individual tasks, and we also met with the kit store (alongside the technical team) to discuss equipment that we would be using for the shoot. We had some issues with cast/crew leaving before they were released. At the end of the day, the director and I once again discussed the schedule for Wednesday. Due to the excess of vivas and showcase rehearsals, I put this into a spreadsheet schedule attached to allow it to be managed more easily through the day and for it to account for any potential changes. This was distributed alongside a warning about lateness/leaving early and absences.

Wednesday 27th February

Today we had to stagger call times to account for more disruption and also a change of rooms for the afternoon, this did however allow me to give the camera/lighting team time to test kit whilst the director worked with the actors. There was huge disruption due to showcase rehearsal however I ensured tasks were being completed and departments were still active. We met with another composer, following the same process as yesterday. I began compiling risk assessments attached after discussing with different departments for the locations that were beginning to be confirmed. I ensured all release forms were signed off and ready for shooting. We assigned more tasks including: camera/light/sound/actors to consider blocking, locations/production to continue sourcing and finalising locations, make-up/costume to have costumes signed off. I met with the director again to discuss the following day.

Thursday 28th February

I continued compiling risk assessments and signing off locations with the director, advising departments to perform a recee of these locations (especially the ones on campus) before Friday, which would allow us plenty of time to flag up any potential problems ahead of shooting. We met with two final composers and have a good idea of who we want to proceed with. I worked on finalising the first draft shooting schedule (attached) with the production assistant to allow me to start building call sheets, who I also ensured sent out a casting call for an external character. We were aware of the flexibility required so left days free for reshoots. I also began collating and logging receipts for the budget (attached).  We began preparing for tomorrow, the final day of pre-production.

Friday 1st March

Today we again staggered call times due to disruption and met with the locations manager and production co-ordinator first thing to tie up loose ends and confirm final locations. I called actors for the afternoon in order to finalise costume and sign actor release forms with the director and ensured that all departments were signed off ahead of shooting and appointed final roles missed off by the module criteria, such as Assistant Director and DIT, necessary for the shoot. I finalised risk assessments and had them signed off and emailed the equipment store to ensure they knew that different crew members would be collecting the kit. I confirmed the call times for Monday morning and ensured this information was distributed in a variety of ways.

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***MAIN ENTRY 2***: PRODUCTION & POST-PRODUCTION

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***MAIN ENTRY 2***: PRODUCTION & POST-PRODUCTION

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PRODUCTION

Monday 4th March

The first of our production days, I was prepared to make myself to the production team throughout the day, as and when necessary, whilst also overseeing the process. I kept track of absences/lateness and reported them as necessary. I also referred to the risk assessment and ensured health and safety was being carried our (taped down wires etc). I assisted where necessary in continuity and made sure compliance was upheld in the likes of branding etc. At the end of the day, I updated the call sheet for Tuesday and sent it out to the group ensuring everyone was aware of the arrangements, albeit similar, for the next day. I also sent everyone a report from the day to keep them updated and requested all continuity sheets and pictures to be uploaded to our Drive in order for them to be easily accessible in the event of any reshoots, pickups and to match previous scenes.

Tuesday 5th March

I continued to monitor attendance, lateness and on-set etiquette. A number of cast had been on their phones but largely I managed to nip this in the bud. We were in the same space as yesterday but were left with a problem as another organisation had booked to use the space between 12 and 2:30, we had been double booked. Graciously, I agreed to let them use the space and we took an extended lunch. Despite this, our cast and crew were well-disciplined and I think have learnt from previous mistakes and we ended up running ahead of schedule. I made the decision to bring forward a scene we had scheduled to shoot on Thursday to that afternoon. It was largely a silent scene with only one character speaking and no props required which meant it was easily moved. This then freed up Thursday to schedule any reshoots of Monday and Tuesday, which we decided were needed after reviewing the footage that evening and departments were instructed to prepare for this eventuality. Yesterday and today gave me a better idea of how long we would need for each shot and scene, as it tends to vary depending on the project, allowing future calls to be even tighter. After wrap, I confirmed the calls for tomorrow.

Wednesday 6th March

Today was our first day of shooting outside the main space. We were in an on campus reception space shooting the waiting room scenes of the film. Due to this being a working reception, we had a limited amount of time in the space as to not disrupt activities too much, it would also continue to be used during filming so we had to negotiate around any students or staff coming in and out of the space to use the facilities. I made myself available to watch doors and stand outside to prevent this noise, assisting the overall production. There were a few instances again of cast on their phones however this had definitely depleted. Myself and the director also spoke to our sound department after they failed to recee this location despite our instruction and we were left with an extremely loud vending machine - luckily they were turned off. This was an extremely tight schedule - we had less than three hours in the space, including set up and take down, and so I managed it accordingly. After wrap, I confirmed the calls for tomorrow and worked on more risk assessments for the following week as our final locations locations were confirmed.

Thursday 7th March

We used today for reshoots of scenes we had originally shot on Monday and Tuesday. I continued to manage the set on both a timing and health and safety level. This was successful and after reviewing footage, the director was much happier with what was now in the can. This also helped potentially negate any need for reshoots in the post-production period, saving us time and money. After wrap, I confirmed the calls for tomorrow whilst also confirming the skeleton crew we will operate with tomorrow. I discussed with the director, production co-ordinator and locations manager to arrange this as well as also necessary transport for actors and crew.

Friday 8th March

This was our first day off campus and also across two locations. In the morning we shot at GK Gallery for the opening scene of the film. I was concerned about branding here, however I am sure I mostly managed to negate this and it will not be prominent in the film. After receiving warning about one member of our crew on location on previous projects, I was also careful to ensure that on set etiquette was being followed as much as possible, but also general etiquette around the general public to ensure we weren’t disrupting the activity. Although we didn’t have a time limit in this location, I was conscious of taking over the small cafe for too long and disrupting their business so I set a 90 minute limit for this silent, two shot shoot. We were successful. This was the only day scheduled without rain and as such, we shot our one exterior (the alleyway) this afternoon. We were mostly successful and although it was rushed because we felt onset rain, I hope this does not come across on screen. I ensured health and safety was still being followed and that everyone was happy before proceeding. This was even more important on an exterior location, albeit on private property. I stood in to read lines for one of the actors too, offering my general services on set. After wrap, I confirmed the calls for Monday.

Monday 11th March

Returning to the main space for the final time, we set the tone for the final week and proceeded with our shoot on a limited schedule. We only had one scene to shoot and plenty of time, so we didn’t rush in order to raise morale and not add pressure, as days later in the week will be very intense and pressurised. I ensured all cast and crew for ready for the differing days in the week as we were on location more and that everyone was briefed on confirmed arrangements and risk assessments for that. After wrap, I confirmed the calls for tomorrow.

Tuesday 12th March

We shot the meeting room scenes today. I had to work round the availability of other projects for actors today but due to the one on one nature of the scenes, we were able to call them one hour at time, giving plenty of time for costume and make-up whilst filming was ongoing in the separate meeting rooms. I ensured the actors were turning up on time and ready for shooting as we had a lot of small scenes to get through at a number of angles. In a smaller space, it was even more important to note the health and safety. I also acted as a locations marshall around the area. After wrap, I confirmed the calls for tomorrow.

Wednesday 13th March

I briefed the cast and crew prior to this morning about the dire necessity for people to be on time. We arranged taxis for everyone from central and convenient locations with the warning that if they missed the taxi call, they would be marked absent for the entire day. We could not afford to lose any time here as we only had three hours at The Botanist for our lunch scene, including set up and take down. The Botanist proved a difficult shoot due to the workers setting up for opening and that included a lot of noise. We were prepared for this following the noise last week in the live working space and the sound team were aware that ADR may be necessary, but we did not want to neglect the potential for stunning visuals at this location. Acting as a locations marshall again too, I also made sure health and safety was being followed and that the staff at the location were not disrupted by our activity. I was on top of timings here, moving on the AD and director when necessary due to time constraints. Most actors wrapped here so we thanked them for their efforts on the shoot. After we wrapped, we took a skeleton crew to film a scene with an external actor too in a bedroom, so I ensured she was welcomed even more than our regular characters and that her release form was signed. After wrap, I confirmed the calls for tomorrow.

Thursday 14th March

Although the last day of shoot and operating again with a skeleton crew, this actually proved to be the most difficult. Morale seemed to be low and as producer, I tried to raise it amongst the crew with the notion that we had come all this way, this was the end of the shoot. As we continued to compromise on the corridors we wanted, this became the last part of the film to shoot, where it was originally scheduled in the first week. I became an adhoc locations marshall again here due to us working in a live working location, whilst also ensuring health and safety procedures were being followed and trying to prevent disruption to other working activity. We returned all kit safely to the kit store with nothing missing and reviewed rushes.

Examples of both risk assessments and call sheets attached.

POST PRODUCTION

During the editing process, I was mostly on hand to the needs of the director and editor. We established relatively early in the post production period that we would not require any additional reshoots and that we were happy to proceed using the footage we had. We did however discuss the potential of using ADR on some scenes but ultimately decided it was better to use the natural dialogue from location for more realism, more suited to the film. I ensured the editor and director stuck to deadlines for particular rough cuts, sound edits and effects edits to ensure that our product would be delivered on time and without any compliance issues. I verified the credits and provided the editor with the credits heirachy. We arranged a number of meetings with our composer as our film developed in the edit and he provided the finished piece and I got him to sign a release form. I delivered the final product on time.

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CALL SHEET - WEDNESDAY 13TH MARCH (1) (1)