LO3: Task 4 - My Contribution to a Production Role

During March last year, I worked in a group of four for Unit 46: Audio Visual Promos in Creative and Digital Media. For this task I shot and directed a short made-up film trailer which would be pitched to Sheffield-based Warp Films. Warp are known for producing many well-known British films and television programmes such as Four Lions, Dead Man's Shoes and This Is England and its subsequent spin-off series'.

Along with Jake Dungworth, Lewis Leversidge and Alex Raynes, first brainstorming the concept and theme of the film, me and my friend Alex came up with a script and storyboard for what we wanted our made-up film to be about. I used my skills in writing that I have developed from studying English Language in A-Level and took inspiration from films such as This Is England in terms of dialogue to match the conventions of a Warp Films production.

We came up with the story of a drug-addict who begins having strange blackouts that often result to him awaking next to a corpse who he assumes he must have murdered. Then he begins to suspect that someone is doing this to him purposely.

Contacting Actors

Following the responsibility of a director, I needed to be as cooperative and well-communicated as possible, which skills I feel were improved in the process. Before filming anything, we needed actors to act in our film. For this, I acted on my own initiative and went out of my way to find actors through contacting the BFI Film Academy, as I had completed a Silver Arts Award there. Meabh O'Donovan suggested contacting Rob Speranza from the South Yorkshire Filmmaker's network. I sent him an email explaining what our project was and enquired if he could suggest any contacts. He suggest around six contacts based on the descriptions we needed to fit the cast, and I emailed a group of them asking if they would possibly be willing to help us out, despite the lack of budget.
I feel I went out of my way to perform this task and improved my networking and communication skills in the process.

Carrying out the Role of Director

On our first shoot we had to meet two of the cast for the first time, Luke Goddard and Wilson Davies. I outlined what scenes we would be filming before this through email after sending them both the script and treatment, filled out by Jake Dungworth. I was also responsible for designing the Call Sheets outlining how many of us were filming, which actors were turning up and what equipment was required. We used Canon DSLR 650Ds for the project.

During shoots, I had to make sure the actors were following the script and shot plans correctly, giving them instructions on how to portray our chosen vision of the trailer. We would tend to shoot the same action from different angles and camera movements so we would have lots to work with for the post-production. For example, a scene where the two actors would walk across a row of flats was done in multiple takes, using tracking shots, panning shots and dutch angles.

I feel I was very clear with the actors on what action was required of them and managed the cinematography and camera settings well also, checking the frame rate and focus at all times. I feel I demonstrated what creative image I had in mind for the project and think the actors felt confident in our direction.

I felt we as a team interacted well with eachother, making sure all cameras were ready for action and that we didn't interrupt eachother's shot. We all prepared the equipment successfully, making sure things such as tripods and steadicams were setup to match the shots we needed.

There were times before shoots that I felt I went really above and beyond to extensively achieve success with the project. During another shooting date, featuring Wilson carrying a fake dead body through fields behind my estate, I took it upon myself to make a prop for the dead body, using scrunched up news papers filling jeans and a coat, which was then wrapped carefully in bin liner and black duct tape. The "body" looked surprisingly convincing, sometimes having to assure passers-by that the body was not real! I also took it upon myself to use my house as a shooting location for when Wilson and his "ex-girlfriend" played by my tutor Miss Allen argue.

There were a total of 8 shooting dates for this project, which I organised myself as I was the one in contact with the actors. I made sure I attended all of the shooting dates in locations such as sports bars, friends' estates, the college basement and offices at Sheffield Live Studios, which I also contacted for permission to use their location. In terms of organising and networking myself, I feel I did very well for the project as I was always the one organising what days we would be shooting and who would be there, which meant designing many call sheets such as the example below.

Editor

As well as helping direct and shoot the film, I was the main editor in the post-production process. I used Adobe Premiere Pro and took all the footage from when we shot the actors in multiple locations and organise them all so I could successfully arrange them in our chosen sequence according to my storyboard. I feel I was successful at this project and took as much time out as I could to complete the edit, following the edit log and script with accuracy and consistency.

I organised the shots from different dates and locations into different 'bins', and used them all accordingly, creating an edit decision list also to plan out which footage will go where, and what transitions and effects will be used.  Here I timed how long each cut would be and what effects would be used on each one.

The editing could get very tedious at times and difficult to organise, but I feel I was very patient with the edit and managed to create a creative and successful trailer edit. I understood my responsibility as an editor and had to oversee the storyboards at all times and follow the initial post-production planning documents. I also made the trailer follow our initial vision of the film and used the editing as a tool to establish the style and pace we wanted our trailer to have.

Overall Contribution

Overall, I feel my contribution to the role of Director in Film was proven well through the Audio Visual Promos Unit and I think I displayed many qualities a director should have. I think my organisational skills have increased massively after this project, as I was consistently checking when the actors were available and when they could make it to the shooting dates. On set I was always making sure the equipment was set up correctly and constantly communicated with the cast and crew to make sure the storyboards and shot plans were being followed correctly.

I was also very pleased with the final edit I was responsible for, as I had never fully edited a project before and think this was done well. I think I extensively contributed to the production of the film trailer and took lots of time out to do so.

Once we finalised the trailer, we pitched to Mark Herbert, head of Warp Films. During the pitch I explained how many locations we shot in, how we got in contact with the actors and how the film was edited. Mark was very impressed with the end result comparing it to University-standard film projects.

I plan to take film in both directing and editing further at Stafford University and hope to further my understanding and knowledge of the field there.