PRE-PRODUCTION: Project Evaluation

This unit was purely about the pre-production stage to a film. Initially, I was looking forward to this unit because I would rather plan everything than go out on location and actually film it. As a result of this I volunteered to be the producer for this project. I wanted to focus on the planning aspect of a production, getting everything organised and dealing with the problems that come with making a film.

Pre-Production
I started the unit with every intention to complete my role as producer with a lot of detail. I was determined to get our production ready for the shooting period by the middle of December. To start this off, I first created a pre-production schedule. This was recommended by Simon as I hadn't heard of one before. The pre-production schedule was there for Katie, Alex and myself to follow in order to complete each aspect of pre-production by the deadline. In between the start and end of this project, I scheduled individual deadlines. For example, in the schedule I put in each script draft that I expected from Alex. To do this I liaised with him because I didn't want to create an unachievable goal. We decided when it was a good time to have the first script draft completed by, and then I scheduled the following drafts after this. Alex explained that once the first draft is complete the following drafts will be easier to do because they should just be tweaks rather than writing out a brand new script. As a result of this, I left a few weeks until scheduling script draft 1 and then I added in the following drafts each week after this. I also scheduled deadlines for Katie and myself. For Katie, I put in a storyboard and shot list deadline, however we had a slight delay in the script drafts due to having to change the first one more than expected so the storyboard and shot list had to be put back a couple of weeks. It also made sense to have Katie base her storyboard and shot list on one of the final scripts rather than an early draft. For myself, I scheduled casting, locations and the budget. These included deadlines of when the casting advert should be out and when the auditions will be. The location deadlines consisted of when I should have found our final locations by, and I put in what test shoots were happening on each week. For the budget, I scheduled when the GoFundMe should be completed and online and towards the end where the estimated budget total should have been completed by. 

Most of the different aspects of production stayed on target. I mainly had to add in extra things as I didn't think of these at the beginning of the project. In total I made four pre-production schedules, each had small changes made to create the next one but by the end everything was completed so having a schedule for this turned out to be very beneficial for us. 

The next job for me as producer was to start looking for locations. The story of VET-MAN consists of a man wanting to follow his dream as a vet but coming across difficulties in doing this. As our story is about a vet, he needed a realistic location so the film was believable to the audience. I had a creative overview of the project and this meant that it was my job to find suitable props, costumes and especially locations in order to bring Alex's vision across realistically from the script to the screen. For the main animal sanctuary, Alex already had an idea which he based the story on - The Kent Owl Academy. Before I agreed, I looked into alternative animal parks in case I found something more suited to our film. After looking into Monkton Nature Reserve and Wildwood, I found that Alex was right and The Kent Owl Academy was the best fit for VET-MAN. Researching and finding nothing better wasn't a waste of time because I could have easily found a better location which may have made our film better. From my research into The Thick Of It I found that it's always better to have an alternative location for filming in case circumstances change for our final location. While I was looking into the other two locations, I contacted them and found that we would be able film there if problems arose with The Kent Owl Academy. Therefore, my research ended up creating a couple of back-up options for our film.

The next locations I looked for where the two houses - Tess's and Sheila's. I had a couple of options for both locations but ended up going with the most accessible location. For Tess's house we needed a tidy and well-kept home and for Sheila's we needed somewhere with a big and open drive. I found both of these relatively easily and I gained back-ups for these as well. I ended up getting a house in New Ash Green with the back-up being a house in Gravesend for Tess's house and for Sheila's house I sourced a house in Margate which had a big drive. If circumstances changed with this one, I also have permission to film at a house in Broadstairs who also have a big drive at the front of the house. Again, looking around at other houses wasn't a waste of time because I gained back-ups instead. 

Alex wanted two external locations to add to the story. The first one is used when Tim meets Luke and the Vet Van and the second is where Tim hits the dog outside Sheila's house. I sourced a house with a drive in New Ash Green for where we first see the Vet Van. This area is secluded and is most suited for our film because Alex wanted somewhere quiet so we wouldn't be in the way of the public. The house that is connected to the drive can pose as Luke's house. By looking at it like this, it seems as if the house is Luke's and he has just finished doing up the van on his back drive. This makes more sense to the story than having Luke just standing on the side of the road waiting for Tim to appear. For the road outside Sheila's we were quite lucky because the house we are using for Sheila's has a quiet strip opposite the house which will be appropriate to film the scene on. It's a quiet road as well so we shouldn't get into other problems with pedestrians and other cars.

The final location Alex wanted was a pub, this is used at the end of the story when Tim and Luke reflect on the day. I looked around at different pubs, the first one being The Hungry Horse. Shortly after looking into the pub I realised that it didn't have the right aesthetic for what we wanted. This is more of a family restaurant than a small pub. As a result of this I didn't contact them because using them would have brought the quality of the locations used in the story down. After this, I looked into pubs in Canterbury because I have been to a couple and they have a better look than The Hungry Horse. The pubs I looked into were The Black Griffin, Lady Luck and The Cherry Tree as these had a better look to them. However, I soon realised that these do not have a car park near. As this was a requirement for the pub, I had to rule them out. We could film in one of these pubs and then go to a completely different car park as the two locations are in two different scenes. However, in terms of ease, we ideally wanted to find a pub with a car park near it. As a result of this, I decided I would keep looking to see if I can find the most suitable pub with a car park, if not we will film at one of the pubs in Canterbury and change locations for the car park. Shortly after I found The Bell Inn, a pub in Bearsted. This pub is small and more traditional looking rather than a restaurant pub. It also has a car park attached to the side. This seemed like the most appropriate pub location for our film so I got in contact with the landlord. He was more than happy to let us film at his pub as it's not the first time a film crew have visited them. After conducting a test shoot at the pub and keeping the landlord on board, I had found and secured our final location. 

As part of my organisational role of producer, I arranged the auditions. To start this I created the initial casting advert which I posted to Mandy.com. Due to peoples opinions of the site I decided that this was the best website to post on. If it didn't work well for us, I would have also posted the ad on Spotlight in order to get more actors to see it. However, I found that most of the actors we saw in the end had profiles on Spotlight as well so I felt it wasn't essential to advertise the need for cast on more than one website because most of the same people would see it. We were very successful on Mandy as we ended up with 32 applications for VET-MAN. This was good as we were able to see a wide range of people rather than having not enough. Alex and I refined the candidates by location as we preferred to work with people who were closer to us to save money on the budget. Once we had done this, I had to email out to the successful candidates and invited them to the Studios for an audition. I had to rearrange a lot of audition times because understandably, some of the people were busy with their personal lives. Throughout this process, we had 2 people withdraw and about 7 people ask to send over self-tapes. In the end, out of 32 original applications, we had 3 people send over self-tapes and we personally met 7 people during the auditions. Even though we didn't see as many people as the amount that applied, we were very happy with the amount we saw and we casted 5 people who we felt were best suited for the part. They were all very friendly and we are looking forward to working with them in the new year. I have been updating them since the audition and will continue to do so over the Christmas break to keep them interested in the project. 

I initially arranged a call back however, not everyone could make it and we felt it wasn't worth it only getting 2 people in out of the 5, so this was cancelled and I've arranged a sit down rehearsal for January. Arranging it now means that I will be able to rearrange the date if someone cannot make it. 

Like I mentioned previously, as producer I had to find the most appropriate props and costumes for VET-MAN. To do this, I read through the first script draft and took a note of each prop that was used and each time a costume was mentioned. These lists changed after each script draft I received. In order to get the most suitable prop for our project, I looked online and searched for the one that fitted our film the most. For example, we see feathers come off the owl when it falls to the ground. I looked into basic crafting feathers and goose feathers to see which would look best coming from an Owl. Working with Alex, we decided that goose feathers would be the best match, but then all the feathers I could find were white. I found some natural coloured feather from HobbyCraft in the end, and we decided that the colour was more important that the shape of the feather. Therefore, after a bit of online shopping, I found the most suited feathers for our fake owl. This was the same as the screwdriver props. In the script Luke specifically states a Phillips or a flat-head so the screwdrivers I had source had to fit this description otherwise the quality of the film would have gone down.

The costumes were similar. Each character needed specific clothes which matches their purpose in the story. For example, Mollie is the owl expert so she needs to look like one. I took note of the clothes that the volunteers were wearing when we visited the academy for the test shoots in order to help me arrange the most suitable costume for Mollie. Similarly for Tim, as a vet he needs to wear some sort of scrubs and this is also stated in the script so it was essential that I sourced these for him to wear. Luckily, we have scrubs left over from the previous project so I didn't have to add these to the budget.

Continuing with the budget, I created this by writing down everything that was going to cost us money, adding it up and then dividing it by three. If I was to create a final amount first I would be less likely to go over it. By doing this I would be limiting us from getting crucial props and costumes that add to the authenticity of the film. Once I had the total amount for the budget, I then looked into aspects which I could make cheaper that didn't have an impact on the look of the film. For example, I asked if the actor for Tim could get the train rather than drive as this was cheaper for us. This alternative also had its advantages because he may have been stuck in traffic if he drove causing us to delay filming but at least we know that he's got a better chance of getting to the shoots on time by train. Another part of the budget that I was able to make cheaper was the van insurance. As long as we are covered for the period of time that we need the van for, and the insurance is fully comprehensive to cover us for anything that may happen then the cheapest price I can find, the better. I created an amount for our fuel reimbursement rate after finding a couple of different amounts and then making an average of them. In the end our rate was 0.37 pence per mile which Alex, Katie and myself were happy with. After we printed our Pre-Production Package the budget was still changing so I finally came to a final amount of £1426.01. 

In order to help the budget, I researched into the best crowdfunding site to raise money on. After deciding that GoFundMe was the most suited for our project, I created one shared it on social media. From my research I found it best to share on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. I also found out that I should be sharing it once a day if I could. I tried my best throughout the project to stick to this advice. After many posts and many shares, we only received £18.92, but this is better than receiving nothing so we are very grateful. 

Advertising and marketing were the hardest I felt out of my jobs towards this project. As I completed my market research and found that our target audience from the start was 16-30 years old, I decided that advertising on social media was the best idea to engage to this age range. However, I knew this wasn't enough. I next looked into the age demographics for posters and print ads and didn't get much further with this. While I was looking into this, I realised that biggest age group to get public transport was younger people. To back this up I found a statistic on Statista.com. As a result of this, I decided advertising inside buses and tubes were the best way to engage with our target audience. However, our budget wouldn't allow me to put posters inside this modes of transport, so I had to plan it as a hypothetical situation. I designed the poster for the buses and tubes and made sure it was in a rectangle so it would fit at the top of the windows. I experimented with different colours in order to find the best one which stands out the most. The whole point in advertising is so people see it and are engaged by it. As our target audience are made up of the younger generation, I felt it wasn't worth advertising normal print ads like leaflets because they wouldn't interest the younger generation. The only way I used leaflets was to fundraise but to combat the age issue, I posted the leaflet in different locations where young people may go, for example the UCA campus and my place of work.

Production
By organising and sourcing all these aspects of the film, we are now ready to move into the production stage of VET-MAN. My aim from the beginning was to have everything sorted by the end of this project and I believe that I have done this well. 

I have organised crew members ready for the production stage. They are all experienced within their job roles. This was a requirement for my creative side to the production. I couldn't get just anyone as they wouldn't add any value to the production. As a result of this, I sent out an email to the first and second years on the TVP course with the hopes of finding someone interested and experienced in sound and camera. By doing this I managed to source our sound assistant. She has experienced being on sound before and she has a general interest in the role as well. However, due to not many people responding to the email, I had to contact a couple of people directly. This is how we found out camera assistant. She had a little amount of experience on the camera but she was passionate about it and is very interested in the role which is what we wanted. As a result of having both the sound and camera assistants interested in the role, means that I can rely on them and expect them to stay on board throughout the production stage of the project. Our last crew member I felt needed to be a make-up artist. This was because we will be using a lot of fake blood and we'll need a couple of black eyes, and I felt that we needed someone experienced in theatre make-up to help us out. This thought also came from our previous project when we struggled to make the blood splatter onto the actors face. After contacting someone I know, I was introduced to someone else who was experienced in fake blood and prosthetics. By talking to her, she was able to give me tips on how to create the blood splatter and what tools I would need to do this. As she was free on our filming dates, we were more than happy to have her on board. By having someone experienced with make-up, it should be able to bring the authenticity of the film together by having realistic blood splatters and black eyes. 

Post-Production
I created schedules for all the stages of production, a pre-production schedule, production schedule, shooting schedule and a post-production schedule. Out of these the post-production schedule was the hardest one for me to make. I researched into how to make one but every schedule I looked at focused on pre-production over any other stage. On the editing stage it simply said editing and distribution. As a result of this, I made my own by taking inspiration on the layout from the ones I researched into. I listed down the different stages within editing, such as the offline edit and audio, sound effects and colour grading which make up the online editing. I scheduled these to happen in the first month of our post-production time in March. The second month consists mainly of the fine cut and perfecting the look of the film, before completing it in May ready for the degree screening and distribution on YouTube.  

I will be co-editing the film with Katie. We have decided that I will be doing the offline editing and she will be doing the online edit because she will be involved with the colour grading so it made sense for her to be a part of the entirety of the online edit. I researched into the difference between both types of editing and found that offline editing isn't as common now due to advanced technology but as we are sharing the editing role, we felt it was best to keep the roles separate. I will be putting the initial footage down onto the timeline in the correct order and then Katie will be refining it with cuts, sound effects and colour correcting.

What went well?
- I believe that keeping to the pre-production schedule went well. Apart from a few set backs and rescheduling, we met the majority of the deadlines on the schedule and this meant that we completed the unit well and are ready to start the production process.

- Casting went really well. Apart from only seeing under half of the people we were expecting, I felt as if we saw enough because we have gained a very impressive cast from the auditions and people who are eager to help us make a successful sitcom.

- Keeping in contact with the locations went well. Alex had the contact for the owl academy and we got the permission to film here as he knew the owner of it and the homeowners of the houses were easier to keep in contact with, but as the pub was a running business, out of all of them, this would be the hardest to keep in contact with. However, I have kept in contact with them and the landlord is still happy with us filming there in February.

- Creating the schedules went well. I believe I made professional schedules which were easy to understand for everyone. I enjoyed making these as well as it felt like the production was coming together, especially when I was creating the production and shooting schedule.

- Finding the crew ended up going well. I didn't realise at the start I had to give reasons as to why I chose the crew I did. I found out that this is part of my creative side to producing the film. In the end I managed to get a couple of people who were experienced within their role and I am very excited to start work with them. 

What didn't go so well?
- Understandably, the script was changing very often. However, sometimes I struggled to keep up with the changes. I gave feedback to each script draft but on some parts I didn't think to change my own work. For example, I knew that Tess was taken out of the last two script drafts but I didn't think to change the budget until our pre-production package was printed. This isn't a big issue because I have corrected it within this unit but it's not corrected in the book.

- Sometimes the communication within my group wasn't great. At the beginning, I didn't know every single aspect of the story which meant I became stuck on my own work. However, this improved throughout the unit when I understood the story better and what Alex expected from me, in terms of locations, costumes etc. Then I was able to work towards getting the most appropriate things for our film.

- I think I could have done more with advertising. I wanted to create a short film but this was difficult on my own as Alex and Katie had their own work to complete. I had a couple of ideas for a small animated film which simply advertised the idea of the film. Below was my main idea:

The words VET-MAN travel across the screen and stop briefly in the middle before travelling off the screen. The titles fade and we see Tim in front of the camera. Tim and Luke are trying to make a promotional video for their new vet business. They’re using Luke’s living room and have stuck handmade posters and signs up behind them for the backdrop of the video. Tim starts on the camera while Luke is holding it. Tim gets distracted by Luke being unable to hold the camera straight. 

Tim: “We love animals- Luke hold it straight- small or large. From cats to cock- LUKE-erels. We care!”. 

Then Luke accidentally drops the camera and the screen cuts to a grey screen as we've lost the connection.

I felt that this gave away the comedic aspect to the film, and shows how stupid Tim and Luke can be as they can't even shoot a short film together. The audience would also be able to understand the link to animals in this video as well. Advertising will be easier over the next unit because we will see our cast during the rehearsal and then we could do something with Tim, even some promotional photos. As we only saw the cast at the auditions before we decided the final people, it was difficult to think of a way to advertise the show without creating a video with the cast or taking photos of them.

What did I learn?
- I've learnt that I have always have something on my mind about the project. Throughout this unit I was always thinking of some thing I needed to do, like reply to emails or note down a change in the production. I thought I did a lot during the As Live production, but now I realise I've done a lot more for this project. 

- I've learnt how to communicate with people outside of the University. In the As Live unit, I had the production manager who was in constant contact with our contributors and I only met them on the rehearsals for the show. However, as we are a small crew, I had the job of keeping in contact with the cast, arranging auditions and call backs. 

- I've learnt how much a budget can build up. I didn't expect the budget to end up being so much. We are all happy to pay our part towards it to create a successful film, but none of us realised how much everything was going to add up to. This made me see how important fundraising is because if we gained a lot of donations then it would bring our individual prices down. 

What would I do to improve next time?
- I will get on board with the story quicker next time as it took me a while to find out exactly what the story consisted of.

- I felt I was organised with this project but I still managed to forget some things as I had so many different parts of the production on my mind. I felt a bit overwhelmed about the project at times because of this. I'm sure I can be even more organised next time, in order to feel calmer with the project.

- I would start thinking of advertising at the beginning of the project rather than half way through, giving myself more time to think of a good advertising strategy.