Unit 2 Part A/B

The workshop

Planning the power point

For the presentation I am working with Yasmin, the producer for Hungry for Love. We've decided to do a power point to the rest of the groups to give an insight into what we did as producers and also the careers of professional producers. To give the groups an insight into what our role responsibilities we've decided to incorporate some activities such as how to break a script into eights and the way to schedule a shoot.

For the power point we've decided to give each other different responsibilities to make it easier to create.

Responsibilities for the workshop

• I'm going to find out the information about producers, write the slides about what a schedule and rule of eighths is etc.
• Yasmin is going to sort out the activities and is also putting together the power point so I will have to make sure that she has the information she needs to do so. She will also be doing some of the slides such as 'what is a producer' and 'planning a schedule'.
• We will be giving out own personal accounts of what we learnt throughout the process and what our experiences were so will be responsible for making sure that we both have those ready and any additional notes that we may need to read from.
• We've for the activity we wanted to show how to break down a script and schedule so Yasmin had decided she will make sure resources are printed out and ready.
• Ideally the presentation should be completed a week before the workshop so that we have time to get any extra information or make any changes if need be.

Plan for the presentation

• We'll need resources such as scripts, call sheets and schedules which can be printed out and given out for the activity.
• Pens and paper so notes can be taken.
• Me and Yasmin have decided to alternate between presenting each slide, so I will have to familiarize myself with which bits of information I will be presenting.
• Make sure that all notes are printed out prior to the presentation.

Plan for the day

• We won't be working on the same day as another group so this gives us time in case the workshop happens to run over time. Due to the length of the presentation and the fact there isn't another group we need to work with we shouldn't need to plan for lunch breaks.
• As the presentation is an hour and twenty minutes long we want to make sure to keep our audience engaged by asking questions throughout and breaking up the time using the activities.

Aims for the workshop

• Producer is probably one of the roles people know least about so it would be good to give other people an idea about the different types of roles that have to be done within the job and the amount of responsibility relied upon that person.
• Also by giving the presentation about what being a producer is all all about it may inspire some to go out and seek experience within the area.

Part C

What is the challenge?

One of the biggest challenges for myself is organising the group and meeting deadlines. As everyone in the group is new to their roles I feel this may make it slightly difficult when trying to get work handed in on time as everyone is still getting used to their roles and responsibilities. Another of the challenges is getting to grips with the scheduling, planning and preparation that goes into all aspects of the shoot. I haven't yet familiarized myself with how to do this and feel this will definitely be a challenge to myself and my organisation. Ultimately the responsibility of ensuring the film is completed is the biggest challenge to me.
How will you achieve it?

Ensuring that everything is organized and deadlines are met is probably one of the biggest aims; making sure that everyone is engaged in the production of the film from its pre to post production and meeting deadlines will definitely make it easier for the crew as a group when it comes to the actual shoot and editing process.

What do you need?

There are quite a few things I’ll need to look at. With regards to the actual planning of the shoot and the scheduling of when scenes need to be done Michelle the producer who has been working with the Northern Stars Academy producers, has given me a number of sheets with formats and layouts to help me map out the information needed to plan the shoot. I also made sure to gather the contacts of everyone that I would/may need to contact throughout including those of my crew and the actors. I also need to make sure that resources such as the scripts are available to myself, the crew and the actors so that I can start the planning of the schedule, the actors can familiarize themselves with the script and the crew is able to make the necessary plans within their specialized area in preparation for the shoot.

How will you monitor your progress?

There are so many deadlines and 'milestones' throughout the course I think it is important to set personal tasks and goals so that I can reflect on how I dealt with them and how if at all I can improve.

There were a number of occasions especially towards the beginning of the course where I had a chance to reflect on how I could better deal with certain situations in the future. 

• Towards the beginning of October the first 'big' challenge presented to the group and myself in particular was the completion and submission of a script. The script situation was pretty difficult. I was aware everyone was relatively new to their roles so didn't want to stress people out by repeatedly  getting on to them. In retrospect however, I think I should have been more aware of the difficulties other members of the crew were having. This was definitely a learning curve for myself as it made me re evaluate how I acted in a leadership role. It forced me to become more confident when asking 'where people were at?' ensuring work was completed on time and also reinforced the importance of getting team members to discuss if they were having any problems or needed help. Even though it was a really stressful situation at the time, in the long run learning from those mistakes was a great help in making sure everyone communicated with each other for the rest of the process. 

• Casting was a definite reminder of the importance of being organised. As we did not have a completed script by this point I made sure that every other aspect of the day had been organised from how we greeted the actors, to the questions we asked and making sure the resumes were put into corresponding order. The start of the day was admittedly shaky  but once I became confident with greeting the actors and with the questions I asked it definitely became easier. The time we had put aside as a group to plan out how we would proceed through the day was so useful and I feel on reflection, a demonstration of how I was adapting to my role

• The residential was a chance to put all that I had learnt from my meetings with Michelle to what had happened previously into practice. I felt with this I had definitely improved in how organised I was. I ensures that I, and the rest of the group had each others contact details as well as the actors and mentors etc. I made sure all the provisions were in place for what we needed the day before the shoot for example making sure sound and camera had all equipment ready, scripts and call sheets were readily available, actors had been informed of any details for example what they needed to bring/wear and I also made sure that any amendments to script or call sheet with regards to how much footage we managed to get shot was done so the night before. On the actual shoot I was confident in letting the crew know when we were running over time and once we'd gotten ourselves more familiar with what we needed to do on the second say it ran much smoother.
  
   (Photographs from the shoot)
  

• Editing was another important part of my role. It took a while for out group to get the editing right so I had to make sure everyone was available to come in for extra sessions. Understandably there were difficulties in getting everyone in at the same time as we all had prior commitments such as school, sixth form etc. However I feel this was, for me, a time when I had to be most confident in my leadership role. I was aware getting the film finished on time was a large responsibility of mine so made sure that at least me and Tom (Director) could come in and get it finished. This definitely showed improvement in my organisation (having to balance this with sixth form work) but also editing skills as I wasn't sure at the beginning whether I'd have the chance to work with it.

• The festival pack which I assembled at the end of the course was good indication of how far the group had come from initially getting the script together. I asked Tom for a plot summary and I got it much quicker than I had done so with the script. Throughout the project I made sure to keep a record of peoples information in a folder along with the scripts and spreadsheets so that I could easily fill the pack in. 

• The premiere was definitely the ultimate test of whether or not I'd reached our goals. It was a success. As a group we'd managed to get the film in on time and it was good to see that mine and the groups work had paid off!

(stills from Taxi Driver, Actually)

Part D

Learning about Art Practitioner’s; what did you do? Who did you meet?

We came together for a session meeting with industry professionals and learning about their profession, their interests and how they came to the position they were in.  It was good to hear the different aspects of each role as we were able to ask questions to a producer, DOP, production designer and sound editor. It was particularly helpful to meet with the producer who then gave us a few tasks to try and complete to see how we would manage with scheduling, planning and preparing ourselves for any challenges/ problems that might occur when filming.

What have you learnt that you didn’t know?

During this session I was able to work with the producer Michelle Fox who took me and the other producers through the steps we needed to carry out within our roles. It was quite eye opening as I was unsure beforehand the specific details my role entailed. I found out just how much responsibility lay on the producer  I didn’t have any real awareness of how to schedule a shoot properly and had never heard of the ‘eighths rule’ which we were to apply when breaking down the scenes. Even though it was slightly daunting the information we found out was invaluable with regards to our planning and preparation and once put into practice after a few attempts I found it to be easier than anticipated. The information we were given in preparation for the shoot was really worthwhile as I felt it made the process of planning more manageable and when amendments needed to be made to the scripts/schedules etc at the end of each day on set, I could do so efficiently.

 Above is an example of a call sheet I was given as part of the tutoring the producers were given by the mentors, which I then gave annotations to during the session.

 We were then given a script breakdown sheet and a copy of our script and told to try and fill in the sheet based on what was present in the script.

Here is a copy of one of the schedules/call sheets I made whilst on the residential. I found my ability to create these and make amendments when we didnt manage to shoot enough footage became much more confident the more practice I had.

What did you learn about a particular craft?

With production I found out the extent of how much pressure and responsibility is relied upon the particular person which is something that I was aware of but hadn’t really appreciated. The importance of organization and good working environment amongst crew members was also something which had been reinforced after hearing about the producer’s previous experience and stories.

What did you learn about the film/media industry? What are the different routes into it? What is it like working in it?

One of the main points reinforced was the importance of going out and finding different opportunities for yourself. Some of the mentors who we worked with had gone into the industry by starting as a runner and working their way up by gaining experience from different places whilst others had attended universities and then gone on to jobs from that. Some of the mentors mentioned how their job aspirations within the industry had changed once they gathered some experience and tried different rolls. We were also told that there are a lot of opportunities to be had as long as you are able to be flexible as it can be unpredictable at times and job roles can differ especially if you are starting out as a runner. Throughout, all of the practitioners were really enthused when talking about the subject and we were given a better insight into how the media industry can be challenging, exciting and rewarding to work in.

Part A

Based on your experiences in your selected crew roles, plan and review your progress through the academy in your particular craft.

Why did you choose your role?

I decided to put producer down as one of my options because I felt it had a lot to offer me.  I have never had experience of a definite role as 'producer' in a crew and feel it is one of the roles people generally tend to know least about. Before picking it as an option I had a general understanding that producers had a large part to play in the inception of a film through to its completion and  felt by choosing this role it was a great way to experience first hand the stages which go into creating a short film.

Have you any experience in that role?

I think the skills present in being a producer are some that I have had to apply to my A level studies in particular Media where I, with a partner, created a film introduction. Planning and scheduling were part of the preliminary plans and I had to make sure that deadlines were met in terms of shooting footage and editing etc. There was also the element of having to create a pitch which was then presented as though to a distributor. I think within this it demonstrated skills such as organisation and leadership skills, however I feel these could still be improved upon. I haven't worked in a crew larger than 2 people so I feel through choosing the role of producer in this instance it will hopefully improve both my organisation skills and confidence within a leadership role.

Existing strengths/weaknesses? What would you like to improve and why?

I feel I do have good leadership skills which is definitely a necessity in this case and can in most cases adapt to suit the present situation. However I feel with scale of the challenge presented to myself it will be a testament to my confidence in a leadership role of a large group as I have the ultimate responsibility of making sure everyone is doing their job and meeting deadlines. On top of building on my confidence in a leadership role I would also like to improve my organisational skills. There are so many stages and components which go into creating a short film and I think this will be a good chance for myself to show an improvement in how I organise myself and other people. I think these are skills that would definitely benefit myself when working on film projects and in general so am keen to see if the process can help me improve upon them.

What is the challenge?

One of the biggest challenges for myself is organising the group and meeting deadlines. As everyone in the group is new to their roles I feel this may make it slightly difficult when trying to get work handed in on time as everyone is still getting used to their roles and responsibilities. Another of the challenges is getting to grips with the sceduling, planning and preparation that goes into all aspects of the shoot. I haven't yet familiarized myself with how to do this and feel this will definitely be a challenge to myself and my organisation. Ultimately the responsibility of ensuring the film is completed is the biggest challenge to me.