Now that the Major Project is completed and the film has been finalised, I can reflect on my role and input into the project and the final outcomes. In particular I will be focussing on my roles as the Producer, Writer and Production Manager, the successes and challenges I faced and how I overcame them.
What was successful?
I think on the whole there were many more successes than problems, starting with the writing. The script writing was a long process which began with the concept. Josh took the concept and wrote a temporary structure of events for the first draft of the script. We then worked through the characterisation and story structure together, culminating 11 drafts in total. Although, there were several times where we felt like we had writers block, I think that with Simon's support during tutorials which helped us to troubleshoot any problems, we were able to finalise a script that is comedic, lighthearted and punchy with a real twist at the end.
Casting was an important part of my role as the Producer. I think that this was very successful, as we had lots of interest in the roles which enabled me to shortlist them down to 6 people, all of which had lots of potential. The audition process was also very successful and highlighted the right choice for the casting, which we wouldn't have had without this process. Overall, I am very pleased with our final cast choices and think that they really help to invest the audience in the story and give it believability.
Admin was a huge part of my role as Producer. It was essential to have all of the documentation completed to a good standard to enable filming to go ahead. Prior to filming, I made a list of all of the documentation that would be needed prior to and for the shoot days. I then updated these accordingly as we got closer to filming.
On the shoot days, my main responsibilities included the schedule. Due to bad weather, I had to think on my feet and update the schedule on the shoot days to ensure that we had time to cover everything. I was very conscious of time and prompted the Director when we were running over during a scene to keep the schedule in order. I am also pleased with my managerial and leadership skills during the shoot days, and ensured that all of the contributors knew what they should be doing at all times.
What could be improved?
There weren't many things that didn't work as such, but instead there were several challenges and room for improvement.
During the shoot days, I was very conscious of the schedule and overrunning. We only had 3 shoot days in total and I think realistically, 1 more day would've been beneficial to ensure that we had as much coverage as possible. During the edit of Scene 5 where they take their masks off, we were unable to cut this shot down because of a lack of coverage, which would have been simple to film.
Another aspect during the shoot days was some inconsistency in the lighting. During Scene 7 which was filmed across 2 different shoot days, the lighting is noticeably different. As the Producer, I should have checked that they matched as it made it difficult to match them in the edit. However, with some adjustments in the edit and the colour grading, this was massively improved.
Working as a team
I think that the experience working with Josh and Ellen as part of a team to create our film 'Bobbie & Clive' was very positive. All of us were passionate about our individual roles and we all wanted the film to be a success and be our most confident piece of work on the course thus far.
I worked more closely with Josh who was the Director, as it was his concept and vision, but it was my job to enable production. He is very certain in all of his decisions, which is a positive thing but I found it very difficult at times to communicate some of my creative ideas to him as often he didn't want to take on my ideas. As the production went on and we established the final script I found that he came round to being more accepting and willing to take on other ideas which showed improvement in our level of team work. Working with Ellen as the DoP was also very positive. I found it very easy to communicate with her. She was enthusiastic about her camera work and lighting, which gave me confidence as she was very professional on the shoot days.
Generally, the experience working with this team was successful and I feel I learnt a lot from both of them.
To conclude this unit, I am very pleased with the final outcomes, the film in particular. Although, it has been a lengthy process, I am proud with what we managed to achieve in just a few months as a team and individually. I am glad that I chose to take on the roles I did, particularly Producer as I wanted to challenge myself and have input into every aspect of making the final film.
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