Directing The Neighbour by

Auditions

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 14:46:07 UTC

Auditions were a great way to get to know people, as I had never worked with most of them before. I worked together with Molly and Rohan to make several spreadsheets with all the roles and lists of people so that we could keep things organised and make our decision for allocating roles easier.

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 14:47:16 UTC

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 14:47:39 UTC

Pitch

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 14:48:16 UTC

Of course, our pitch was the starting point for everything, and helped me come up with a lot of creative inspiration.

Friday (Day 1): Full Group Meeting

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 15:00:19 UTC

It was great to have everyone gathered together for the first time and see what the full group looked like. We had a read through of the script and invited any questions from people about the film or their specific role. I then split everyone into groups by role and found out how each department would be splitting up their workload, for example whether camera/lights would be continuously swapping between each other throughout the shoot or taking responsibility for a certain task. We then reconvened and discussed scheduling the next week of pre production.

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 15:08:41 UTC

I made a very basic script breakdown just for myself to refer to so that I could keep track of all the major aspects from the script that each department needed.

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 15:11:30 UTC

I started creating a shot list from my lined script, however once I realised that Molly was creating daily shot lists I put my creative ideas onto those instead so that they could be distributed among the rest of the team more easily.

Monday (Day 2): Department Meetings

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 15:26:21 UTC

The camera/light team and sound team had meetings to discuss the upcoming shoot and any potential issues. I found the meeting with Connell and Jake particularly helpful as they both inspired me to think creatively about planning my shots and how they would make the audience feel. We also met online with both location managers to talk about what needed to be done, as finalising our locations was the most urgent task to be completed.

Tuesday (Day 3): Blocking/Rehearsal

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 15:34:32 UTC

While the production coordinators had a brief meeting discussing their tasks, I worked with the actors and went through each scene, planning out the logistics of movements as well as giving some pointers on how I wanted them to play out. I found it particularly helpful to use chairs to create a makeshift sofa and wall as they would be on the final set, enabling the actors to engage with the space and get to know the layout ahead of time. We managed to get through the whole script, and I encouraged everyone to try to be off book by Friday when we would be having another run through.

Wednesday (Day 4):Mid Week Check-in

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 15:38:48 UTC

The whole group gathered again to provide updates on each department's progress and see what was still to be done. I then went with the tech teams to their meeting where we managed equipment bookings.

Friday (Day 5): Full Group Meeting

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 15:47:20 UTC

On the final day of pre production, we again went through each department and checked on their progress, making sure everyone was as prepared as possible for Monday's shoot. I ran through scenes and blocked them with the actors again. As always I was also ready to answer any questions people had about the shoot.

Shooting Day 1

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 15:58:38 UTC

I think we were all really excited to get started with shooting, and it was reallycool to see my name on the clapperboard! The first shoot day went smoothly, with us wrapping up just on time for our schedule. I was pleased with each department's work and everyone's willingness to carry out their tasks.

Shooting Day 2

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 16:09:20 UTC

We shot the flashback scenes which included a party setup, and filming outside in the cold.

Shooting Day 3

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 16:14:55 UTC

Shooting went smoothly once again, despite the cold outside we managed to get all our planned shots done.

Shooting Day 4

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 16:17:31 UTC

As I knew we would be outside again almost all day, I brought hand warmers for everyone which were definitely heplful. We got all our daytime shots completed in the morning, so then we had an extended break while we waited for it to get dark outside and we could contine filming.

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 21:01:12 UTC

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-04 21:08:53 UTC

Shooting Day 5

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-05 18:55:48 UTC

We only had 1 makeup artist today, meaning that it took us a while to get going and we ended up finishing slightly behind schedule. Luckily everyone didn’t mind staying for the extra time and getting all our planned shots filmed.

Shooting Day 6

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2023-12-06 17:48:27 UTC

We wrapped ahead of schedule today, filming went smoothly.

Day 2 Re-Shoot

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 16:03:52 UTC

By this point, most of the group had gone home for the festive season, so we reshot with a small crew. We had to get creative about it as Jerome, who was the main actor in the scenes, was unavailable by this time. We tried to recreate the original shots but with Rohan as a stand-in and without showing any faces.

Then, right at the end, we found an SD card on the ground, and we discovered that it had all of the day 2 footage on it that we had just reshot!

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 16:12:06 UTC

I started lining the script to get an initial idea of how I wanted the film to be shot.

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 16:16:15 UTC

I also went together with both location managers and Rohan to visit our planned locations, so that I could sketch out a basic floor plan and think ahead about what the set would be like for shooting.

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 16:19:26 UTC

I updated the floor plan to be clearer, and more easily describe setups to the camera/lighting crew, as well as block movements for the actors.

Shooting Day 7

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 16:29:07 UTC

One of our actors was delayed, so we began behind schedule, however this actually worked to our advantage as we were filming outside and had to wait for darkness and dry conditions anyway. Thankfully, the scenes we were doing that day were short and we got everything done quite quickly. It was quite emotional to say "That's a wrap!" for the final time!

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 16:34:38 UTC

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 16:35:12 UTC

Setbacks

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 16:49:49 UTC

I was unable to keep up to date with the editors as much as I would have liked directly following the shoot wrap, as I unfortunately caught covid. This meant that it was already over a week later that I was told that all the footage from our second day of shoooting was somehow corrupt and we would have to reshoot.

Editing

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 16:56:17 UTC

Following the reshoot, we had to wait for the editors to be back in Manchester to access the footage and put together a rough cut of the full film. After watching it and sending the notes I had made, I was hoping the amendments could be completed well in advance, but it did end up being very last minute before the deadline.

Shot List

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 17:23:25 UTC

Molly and I collaborated on each daily shot list to prepare and distribute them to the camera/lighting crew in advance of each shoot day.

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 17:24:06 UTC

The shot list for day 2 has added notes on how to work around Jerome's absence in the reshoot.

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 17:24:20 UTC

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 17:25:48 UTC

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 17:26:42 UTC

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 17:27:07 UTC

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 17:27:28 UTC

user_7bbcc3509c0546058b9f3e0337d5e7af_63107_1 — 2024-01-09 22:35:52 UTC

We made an attendance sheet which we tried to keep up to date as we went.