It's definitely had it's ups and downs! I think the film has come together really nicely, however, there's lots of things I would change about it if I had the chance to do it again - and the money! Vic and I definitely worked well together and I felt like there was a lot of support there throughout. Our cast and crew worked really closely with us, and although not everything went to plan, everyone kept pushing for the film to be done to our standards - especially Adam, which was great.
Pre Production
Pre production through the past unit and the current one has felt like non stop work. I have had lots of troubles with casting and locations, however, I am happy with the overall locations that was picked. The theatre is definitely my favourite location and it's something I was so close to not finding. I also really like the dancing/old rehearsal room location, I think it fits with the story really well, and it's not too over dramatic. Although originally I mentioned it was going to be quite dungeon like, I'm glad I didn't chose that location as in reality - not many small theatres have dark, cellar like rooms. The lighting worked really well and I think the best scenes were definitely filmed in these two locations. Overall, as a script writer, I felt pretty confident at the beginning, I was proud of my script and thought it would make a great story. Although I still enjoy the story - especially the ending, I think it can be improved on drastically and I don't think I have wrote the best story I could.
Props was something I really enjoyed looking for, during every project on the course i've always loved to find props to make the scenes come to life and to give to the characters to make them seem real. During this unit, I was so excited to get all the masks for the extras, to find the backdrop for the theatre play, and to find Bethany's end costume for the show. I do think I did well as a producer in the mise en scene of the film as in every scene nearly theres things added to create a better atmosphere and make the characters have a real life. For example, I set up a photoshoot with Amy and Joseph to take some photographs for some photo frames and for a mug. I think these photos worked effectively and really brought truth to the idea that they was a couple. I also bought lots of trophies that had 'Bethany Hutson' engraved into it (we didn't end up using these but!). Overall, as a producer for pre production I think i've done well and I'm really happy that Vic helped me throughout as it was a lot! of work to do. If I was to change anything throughout, it would be to change the story slightly, as a lot of time was spent trying to find the perfect theatre and I think the story idea was a little too big for a short film.
Production
Production was really stressful for both me and Vic. I was really happy how well Vic did with directing, as there was a lot of people and he managed them all really well and got on with what he did. He knew what he wanted and made sure that the actors knew his vision which worked well. As a producer on some occasions I felt a little overwhelmed. This was especially when the extras for the scene didn't turn up, everyone turned to me and I didn't want to freeze up not knowing what to do. I felt like I handled it well though as I waited a little while, and then decided to move on to the next scene as it would be wasting valuable time that we had of the actors and of the location. I am really happy with Chris' support throughout our production also, he always was there to give advice when we asked, and came with us on every shoot - along with climbing up a ladder to help put the back cloth up!
A problem with production was sound - I think it let us down the most, and although some scenes aren't too bad - a lot of them are. I think to fix this we should of checked the equipment more thoroughly before use, however, it often sounded great and then went back to tin like - so it wasn't guaranteed that during a check we'd of known anyway. On the day the zoom recorder wasn't working properly and we took it in to Ferg who confirmed it was a problem with the recorder.
I think I managed the team overall well through production and tried my hardest to push forward with filming without rushing Vic.
Post Production
During post production, I tried my best to help Vic by doing the sound editing. It was such a huge job that definitely isn't as simple as syncing the audio to the video. There was so much noise reduction to do, fixing the levels, and adding in sound effects and music were necessary. To help manage ourselves, a post production schedule was made for both of us. I made sure that I'd evened everything out so that I wasn't giving loads of things to do for Vic in only a few weeks. I tried to split the weeks between editing, sound and colour grading. This proved to be helpful as after a slow first few rough cuts, Vic managed to edit the rest of the film quickly and confidently. Collaborating with the composers was initially really exciting, Declan is such a talented composer, and created the song that is in the dancing scene with Bethany and Francis. However, we struggled to receive music as the months went on, and although our composers were good it was stressful as the film needed the music. Post production was something that felt like it kept going and going. Whenever we would watch the film through fully, we would notice something that needed to be fixed. Although the film wasn't the best when we first saw it, I think Vic did really well to edit together a story with what he had.
Overall
Now that we've finished, it's definitely helped me to see what i'd like to do in the future. I think I need more time to practicing my writing, however, I would like to carry it on. Producing wise - it was so stressful, but when you see the film finished, although it's not the best, it's still rewarding to see all your work put together.
The best aspect of our production was the team work. Vic and I both had a similar vision to the story which helped greatly in deciding on ideas that we could do for the film.
www.ipullthestringsfilm.com
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