Preparation is Key

For a while now I've been writing up different morning routines for shoot days and also how long it should roughly take to do everything.

I came up with a morning routine for when I arrive at the Media Factory :

Sort out travel requirements for crew and cast.

Make sure crew from all departments have working kit.

Go through Breakdown sheets and making sure everything needed for the shoot is with us.

Tick off equipment and send it downstairs to the bus

Make sure everyone is present and on time; call those who are not.

Check over 209 for anything we have missed.

Set off.

I also tried  to determined how much set up time we would need each day by guessing how long it took to do each one. Of course I overestimated these time - better safe than sorry.

Camera Set up (including stand in time)- 30mins

Sound rig - 25mins

Get cast in costumes - 10 min for males, 20min for females

Actor hair and makeup - 10mins for males 20mins for females

Director with cast - 20 mins

Run through - 10mins

Set design/props - 20/30mins

Lighting - 25mins

Of course most of these things will be happening at the same time. I've decided to give 1 1/2 to 2 hours setup time for shoot days. Time allocated for each day will depend on number of cast and what scenes we're shooting.

I've also decided on 30min lunch breaks because I feel like anything longer than that will make people lazy. It should be enough as they'll be plenty of 10/15min breaks during setup changes.

PRODUCTION MEETING

18.02.12

Collected all medical forms and told those who did not have it to make sure they bring a copy on set tomorrow.

Spoke about the overall production schedule and how it's going to work. Made sure everyone was happy with it.

On Set Etiquette

Told the crew how they needed to behave on set a Ferrari's. I explained that they could cancel the contract anytime they wanted and we didn't want to give them an excuse to do so. I'm sure no one on the unit would do any of these but just in case:

No  running

Don't touch what isn't ours unless you have permission

No wandering around in the corridors (It's a hotel with guests)

No shouting (unless it's me)

No general misbehaviour (we represent the university and must be aware of this at all times)

Put all cigarette butts into bins or provided ashtrays

Do not  litter the grounds

How Each Day Will Run

Everyone help get kit in/unload minibus

Start set up as soon as equipment is inside location (relevant departments)

Prod design team get ready for cast to arrive (decide what cast members do first - makeup or costume - but both of you need to be working at the same time and then switching)

As soon as all actors arrive I will announce the schedule for the day.

Then they go straight into hair/makeup, costume

Once set design and props are done - stand-ins will be used to set up shot.

Lights needs to already be set up at this point and should just need adjusting depending on shot.

Once actors are done, they'll be sent to Peter

Quick run through

Start the shoot.

At the end of each shooting day we will all go back to 209 for a debrief and to discuss next shooting day.

To finish off the meeting I made sure everyone was fully pre-pared for the shoot tomorrow. Especially prod design.

I am looking forward to the first shoot day. I think I've done enough preparation and I hope the rest the crew has too. Let's see how it goes.

January

I've managed to get a lot of work done this month and rightly so. We start shooting in less than 3 weeks, it's now time to get things together. I've noticed that a lot of the departments are leaving things quite late. We haven't even got the majority of props yet. This is quite worrying and I've asked Joe to get on it.

TEMPLATES

I created all the templates needed for the shoot myself.

I started with the call sheet. Used the same layout as the one I made for pitch films but changed the logo and added other things.

Shooting schedule template

I also created scene breakdown templates and below is an example of one which has already been 

completed. 

I asked the relevant departments several times to send the information I needed to fill in the breakdown sheets. It took a while for some of them to send the work and when I received it, the content was so basic that it couldn't be used. I then had to ask for more detailed versions and once again did not receive anything (my guess is that they hadn't broken up the script yet) , so I got Joni involved to back me up

SCHEDULING

After sending you that e-mail last month about scheduling and responsibilities I thought it was clear that Charlotte would be making the general production schedule. However it's taking her a very long time to create one. I've a few times and it's getting tiring. I really can't do much until I have that schedule so I've decided to just do it myself. It's annoying having to wait for people to do their jobs just so I can do mine.

I had already started scheduling by putting grouping Boldon Hall scenes I thought could be shot on the same day. I scheduled this based on location in Boldon hall, cast in each scene and number of shots per scene. 

Once I get sent the cast availability sheet, I'll be able to make a proper production schedule.

LOCATION SCOUTING

Location scouting for the wedding location was taking an unnecessarily long time. The options that Anthony presented were not suitable. No way can we afford to pay for a proper venue. So as usual, I've decided to take the matter into my own hands and get things moving. I got in touch with Joni and we decided to ring and e-mail a few places on the 14th. Most venues turned us down straight away or said we needed to pay and one even thought we were pulling a prank. We didn't let this stop us though and in the end Joni managed to get arrange a visit that very day to a place called Ferrari's Country House.

We took Peter and Webster and Joni drove us down there. First impressions were that the grounds were beautiful. It looked absolutely perfect and everyone agreed that we would hard to try and get it. Once inside we were met by the brash owner Susan Ferrari, who's first words were "What do you want?"

We thought it would better for Joni to do the speaking as he had arranged the visit. She asked about the film and what we needed etc. Joni really struggled in trying explain who we were, what we were doing and even the film idea. Poor lad is just too shy. We left Ferrari's with the promise that we'd be back again after what seemed like a failed attempt at getting the location.

Now, I dislike talking to adults who I don't know, especially when I have to ask them for something so I can relate to Joni. However, working on feature film has given me some crazy confidence boost so when Joni asked if I would take over the negotiations, I stupidly said yes.

I sent Ferrari's an e-mail about another visit and was surprised to receive a positive response. I saw the person replying was called Luisa not Susan.

On the 2nd visit was on the 23rd. Susan was not around and I was glad. That woman is very scary but I also have an odd respect for her. It seems like she built the business up from scratch by herself. I took along Sam - to see if the place worked in terms of prod design, Ben - because he wanted to see it, Web - who actually brought his camera this time and was able to take pictures for camera maps and Tony; who wanted to layouts so he could do lighting plans.

Very happy to say that after speaking Luisa (Susan's daughter) I managed to secure the location for the shoot and for FREE. However I was told I had to create a detailed production schedule for the 4 weeks stating when and where within the building we'd be filming each day. We also had to work around their schedule and if any weddings or funerals were booked on our shoot day, we would have to compromise. This was perfectly understandable, they are a running and they need to keep functioning. We can't disrupt their business when we are not paying guests.

Overall January was a really productive month for me. I managed to get quite a bit done and I feel like I managed to get things moving a little. I feel like everything started happening way too late and that's very disappointing. It's quite annoying that we don't have the time (or cast) to have actor dry runs. This is going to make my job more difficult than it needs to be as it means the first shoot day will now be the first time the cast meet each other and the first time they're in front of the camera. This might make the shoot take longer than necessary.

 Filmmaking can really get to independent people like me as you will always need help from someone else. And when working on a feature film with this many crew members, that annoyance gets x by 100.

"Is it bigheaded to think that I would be able to do everyone else's job much better ?"

I'm just eager for this to start and now I'm starting to feel like we might not actually get to shoot.