Major Project- Book Final

The book has been finished and includes the following information-

• Synopsis
• Cast and Crew
• Script
• Production Documents
• Production Stills
• Props
• Promotional Material 
• Output 

This book was a collection of information created by Lex and myself. I formatted and edited the book, while Lex made the written content as accurate as possible. This will be printed and bound for hand in. Originally the book was going to be printed with black pages but we realised when printed it would have a boarder there fore I changed the pages back to white. 

Each element of the book was well thought out and was produced in mind of the book. With such things as the introduction pages were especially written to fit well with the film. The main changes from the original idea of the book is that the Output section has been added and the location section has been removed. 

Major Project- Collaboration

Throughout the project collaboration has been essential. This either being with the actors, crew or within the grit team. As our last day approaches I have chosen to reflect on the collaboration within the project.

Much of the collaboration in pre-production was with the director (Lex Wilkinson) and myself. I worked logically and organised most of the film with the creative side being mostly tackled by Lex. Within this collaboration I contacted actors, crew and locations, this was a long process but paid off due to the quality of the final product. Within each step of the film and organisation I made sure that Lex was informed and had a say in what was decided, this made the project easier as we were both aiming for the same creative look.

During production much of my collaboration was with the actors and the continuity supervisor (Sophie Marriott), this was due to the need to make sure the film was made with good continuity. I worked closely with the actors before each shoot to go over their lines, this did lead to small script changes as some phrases did not fit the actors.

The document screenshot below was created by myself and Sophie, this was to help not only Sophie but also to inform the actors of what was expected for them to bring to each day. This document was sent out to the actors after a week without a shoot, it was to remind them of what was worn in the scenes already filmed.

During post production, I worked with the editor and director. This was only as a reviewer, I watched the film and gave a new perspective on the film for the editor and director to listen to. This fresh perspective provided information about how the audience might see the film. During production I created the schedule for the editor, special effects creator and the director to see and follow, this provided clear deadlines and a goal for each day. 

Major Project- Producing Process

While writing the report I have come across some flow charts that explain the role of the producer, this is for pre-production and production. 

Pre-Production, Producer role 

As shown by the flow chart the process in pre-production, most of the work in the pre-production starts with the script, moving down to different sections that involve contacting people. Some parts of the flow chart are things I may not have handled by myself, such as the equipment was managed by the Director of Photography but I booked the equipment for the shoot. Such collaboration was done throughout the production. 

Production, Producer role 

Most of the production was myself helping other people and being around for trouble shooting, a lot of the roles listed were taken by one person. The Director of Photography was also a gaffer, lighting and camera operator. The continuity department was tackled alone by Sophie but she always had myself on set to help out. On set I managed to be the Art Director and Producer. It just happened that I knew what needed to be done and was on set to help. 

These flow charts were found at Producing and Directing the Short Film and Video. 

Major Project- Re-shoots

For this project there have been two days of re-shoots, but neither one of these days were required due to one of the actors not being available for a whole day of shooting.

Danny Draven in his book- The filmmakers book of the dead- has a section on editing they express the need for re-shoots, this is an issue for the editor but is arranged by the producer for them.

Both re-shoots were arranged and were successful as they were able to make the film have scenes that were either missing or badly needed. The final scene was filmed twice but both times in different ways giving the editor an option of a long shot or a series of converge shots.

Arranging the reshoots were simple as we had scheduled to film so early we were able to give the editor plenty of time.

Major Production- Editing Schedule

This is the original schedule for the post production but this has changed due to set backs, we are within the schedule but we could have been more accurate with what we were doing and when.

Schedule

I made sure that I created this with the director and editor so that the goals where achievable.

Major Project- Post Production Producers

During post production the lines of control cross over between the Director and Producer, within Grit the director has the last say on the shots that are used but as the producer I watch the work and add input from the audiences perspective. Due to the Director and Editor watching the film being edited they know why they have made every single cut and why they have chosen each shot. As producer I am here to give another perspective on the work.

Professionally post production is produced slightly differently than we may have chosen to do. Companies such as Raindance have come up with what they believe is the steps for post production-

The suggestion is the above article talks about how hard Pre-production and Production are on the Producer, but Post Production is mostly handing the work over to someone else to edit and create into a final product.

They have created a list of 13 things for post-production-

1. Picking an editing format- we chose adobe 
2. Hire a picture editor- Sophie Marriott our editor
3. Hire a sound editor - We decided against this 
4. Do ADR- Although we didn't do this exactly, we did have other sound of dialogue recorded
5. Do Foley- our Director of Photography and director did this 
6. Secure Music- This has been completed
7. Do re-recording/the mix- Our editor managed this 
8. Get an M & E- This was not needed for this film
9. Get your titles- The titles have been made with music and effects
10. Get a DCP- We have a hard drive with all our images 
11. Get dialogue script- The script has been changed a long with the film 
12. Get a campaign images- We have our final images ready to be posters
13. Get a trailer- A trailer is being created by the Director of Photography

With reflection the sound is a large part of the postproduction that could have been more well developed, with the help of a sound designer the sound could have been achieved easily but has to be currently tackled by the editor. 

Other opinions on the post production and producers include that on this website- Film Makers, in which they express that the editor and director handle most of the work and the producer is only brought in when they ask. It seems that the main role is to make sure that the budget it still being kept to.

Although we are not paying for the time of our editor we are still trying to stick to a time period so that other work required of the editor is completed for their own assessment. 

Major Project- Screening Guests

For the screening we have many people coming to the screening as we have over 300 seats, meaning 300 guests, therefore that the list needed to be detailed. This lead me to creating a guest list that was cross referenced with the tickets purchased.

The website EventBright sends notifications every time a ticket is purchased, this email includes, the type of ticket, the name of the registered person and the email that they registered with. With this information I have created a guest list, I have requested that producers get the tickets for their actors, they register the actors name but get the tickets sent to their email. This is to make sure that the producers have control of how many tickets are booked for people.

The guest list hopefully is detailed enough so that someone on the door is able to keep track of how many people they let into the theatre.

Most of the correspondents with the rest of the year group have been through Facebook, I made sure that I explained in detail what needed to be done.