Now that our documentary is finished I thought it would be nice to do a series of reflective blog posts on different areas, which will also include reflections on other people’s documentaries after the screening. I am going away on the 3rd of November, so I really need to get these done before I leave.
I didn’t write a blog post on our own in class assessment because I thought it would be more worth while to write this after the editing process had finished so I could talk about my role as producer, director and also editor, and then reflect on my changed attitude to filmmaking or really what I’ve learnt about group work and the processes of a documentary production.
Producer
I would probably say that this role was the most difficult and frustration, especially when your subject is constantly on a rollercoaster of massive mood changes and therefore made the process of organising film dates almost to the point of impossible. I think I did well to deal with this myself, yet didn’t really communicate the difficulties I was having to my group members, which I assume would have been very frustrating for them. Producing is the most stressful because people are busy and you have to finalise dates and always be on the ball communicating between your subject and group members. It is also about being on top of all that pre-production stuff and being extremely organised. In having produced our drama last semester I have to say that producing drama is a lot easier because it’s formalaic, with everything lined out. Your director gives you a shot list and you strategically and practically go through it to create a schedule you cann actors who legitimately want to be in your film for rehearsals and everything is very formalaic you can write a step-by-step list of everything you have to do. In documentary because it’s less structured, a lot of the information is in your mind and you write down some shots that you need but all in all you have to work around your subject who is often unpredictable. What I learnt was a large degree of patience and that it is more important to make your subject happy than really anything else because you have a great crew that will organise everything else in terms of technical requirements. Especially, with Maggie it was about reassuring her making her feel as comfortable as possible in front of glowing lights and a camera.
Director
Perhaps I’m not cut out for this role, because it’s really difficult. I worked really well with Meenal to come up with a visual style and then was happy to let her go with the camera because I had built a trust with her and was fully trusting of her capabilities to use a camera. This is one area of the group work I was really happy with as it made me way less stressful on the day because all I had to worry about was communicating with Maggie and making sure we got the stories and information we wanted. Again, with documentary this is unpredictable; things that she had talked about previously with me she didn’t want to talk about to the camera. Yet, I was happy with this as she seemed in control of what she wanted and didn’t want to say, which was one of the ethical things Liam brought up when you’re dealing with vulnerable subjects- that they told you things that they didn’t want to. I would always say I don’t want to trick her into saying anything because that is being unethical and taking advantage of that vulnerability. In the first interview I probably didn’t go in as hard as I would have liked and talked to my group about what we NEEDED from the next interview, which made it a lot easier, except that Maggie wasn’t in the best place. Ultimately, what I learnt is that you need a lot of time with subjects like Maggie and heaps of flexibility so maybe if this was not a uni subject and I had infinite time to interview we would have kept building the trust and got a lot of information. However, I think all my previous research into aesthetics and what we were dealing with really made me prepared for what Maggie was going to offer.
Editor
I really loved editing. I literally edited as much as I could and it really paid off on the final days of editing where we could really focus in on fine-tuning. What I learnt: editing makes a film. That is it and also mastering Final Cut to a higher degree. I really understand now the reliance Observational doco makers have on editing because it allows you to embed meaning and make what your subject says more important mimicking how you saw it on the day. This goes back to all that pre-production stuff of really knowing your subject and being able to use your editing to convey what they want to say as truthfully as you can, because sometimes when they say something important to them they rush it and it now emphasises something unimportant. This was all about timing. What I also learnt: give your subject time. When we started editing we knew that Maggie was very spaced with her words or rushed through them and I think we were too eager to cut everything down to being really precise and fine, when we really needed to give Maggie’s words space, to let her ponder and let the audience wait to hear what comes next. When we gave Maggie space everything was a lot clearer, you could hear Maggie clearer and her words meant more, which was really important.
Overall
I want to edit. If I spent my life editing I would be happy. Editing is when you can really just think about everything and get to know your footage, whether it is good or bad and just let it speak for itself. It allows you to be 100% creative without having to worry about technical limitations, things going wrong, etc. It is also very inspiring and I often found myself going home and just thinking about the footage how we could structure it and how everything could link together to create a whole. I think I like editing the same way that I like writing essays or watching films, it’s about analysing each bit of footage and then putting it into a context that gives it meaning. It’s like making your own topic sentence and then filling in the gaps that convey that topic. Except, with the structural freedom that you don’t get with an essay. Editing is right up my alley it’s about seeing what isn’t there, what is there and then analysing it, creating and forming meanings that you didn’t think were there in the first place. It’s like being utterly shocked and suprised when that film makes that fatal twist.
I’ve now been to the location twice, and have decided that it is a great location for our film. It is a brand spanking new office. It may look rough from the outside, but inside it is fresh, glowing and new and fits the monochromatic outlook we’ve been attempting to achieve all along. The first time I went to location is was purelly from a producer’s stand-point, go in take photos, asking myself whether this would logistically work. I took photos to show my group members and made sure there were powerpoints, enough space, permission to use the space, and a way to hide that the location is in suburbia rather than in the city. There are blinds so tick, tick, tick. I also was able to grap myself a floor plan, since they’ve just done renovations, which was great because it shows where all the light sources are, including windows and sky lights as well as where all the furniture is.
Today, I went in with my director Eliza and we went through a detailed floor plan of every shot. My role today was more of a 1st AD type of role, thinking logistically. We decided to use this room for the office of Bernard, not because it best fitted what we wanted because it was logistically viable to have enough space to set camera and lights. We also had a set design idea to stack boxes around the desk to make it look more claustrophobic, which was an idea Eliza had all along.
We came up with some great ideas, and as first assistant director I have a great knowledge of what Eliza wants to achieve. I was impressed by how much Eliza thought about the feel of the short film, she wanted every shot to reflect the monotonous feeling of a working environment. Saying things like we need to repeat this shot, we need to show this again, we need to create monotony. We need to have a switch in mood change when Bernard enters the office again after killing Jonathan. It really impressed me that she had the amazing vision of how she wanted the film to feel. I drew up a floor plan, that I need to sketch up properly, and we talked to Ruby (the other director of our supergroup team) about scheduling to ensure we get both films done in that weekend. Eliza is writing up a schedule and we will do a full blown schedule on Monday whilst we are editing Lenny. I’m really getting pumped for this! You can find all of the location photographs here.
This is more or less a progress report about my role and all sorts of other stuff I’ll keep it brief.
Casting call is out. This was fun to do and because Eliza had already given well written descriptions of what she was looking for it was a relatively easy task. I have kept a copy on googledocs just in case I find another casting call site and then will be able to paste it straight up.
Contact with my group is going really well. We are using email and googledocs to keep in contact. We have had two meetings, sticking to one a week, we will probably need to amp this up a bit. All meeting notes get written up on googledocs so all group members can access all the information. Googledocs really is a mervellous thing and allows people to share and edit ideas, which is perfect for film production notes.
Honestly, we’ve still got a lot to do. However, I feel like we’re slowly getting there. We now have a proposed location thanks to my lovely mother, as her work has now been turned into an office-like building. This means that we will have a whole house to film in and logistically be able to set up a green room, etc. It also means we will have lots of space to film in. Eliza has given us some examples of the type of location we will need to set up, and hopefully this will be logistically possible. As producer I have organised a meeting with my mum at the location. However, I have already talked to her and we do have permission. Tomorrow I am going to go and check it out taking some photos. Eliza has described the feel she wants for the location as: bland colours. Very monochromatic- except for Bernard. He wears brown and has terrible, puke coloured ties. Therefore when I head to the location, it will need to be rather monochromatic, which my mum says it has been painted white and grey so that sounds perfect to me. Eliza also sent us some photos of the type of feel she wants, that are from some films:
This sets up a clostraphobic environment, where Bernard feels trapped within his workplace. An art with film is convey a lot through image and action. It also adds a metaphoric layer to the film if he physically looks claustraphobic then this indicates that he is emotionally uncomfortable as well. Now, back to some logistics in terms of location:
- I need to ask if I can change around things: add shelves to make it look claustraphobic and uncomfortable.
- If there are no partitians I need to see if they have some readily available and figure out how to put them up.
- We now have an art director so when I take photos I need to make sure they highlight the space and take down notes on if things are logically capable in that space.
- What is the lighting like? Fluro, incandescent. If my DOP asks a question about lighting I need to make sure that it is possible or if we will need extra lighting.
- Floorplanning I will take a tapemeasure to measure out the spaces, to indicate how big the room is. I will also take my video camera to give my director a feel for the space. I will draw out a comprehensive floor outline of the building so we can start thinking about floorplan.
I think this about covers everything with location. I just need to have a feel for the location and make sure that Eliza’s shot list that she has written can be articulated in the space.
In terms of Lenny. I was happy with the shoot. We made fake blood and got everything done on time. We will edit it on Wednesday as that is the next day that I have group members available to work on it. We followed the storyboard well, however what I learnt is that so many creative juices flow through you when you’re there filming that you realise that there are so many more things to do, and you ask yourself questions like what if the angle was lower? You just keep thinking and thinking about all the great shots you can add that will make it so much more aesthetically pleasing.
So this is an update of our progress. I am going to write a blog post along these lines weekly.
This post is going to be more or less a mix bag analysis of the lecture and readings for this week. I think the lecture and reading compliment each other quite nicely so I don’t really see why not. Firstly, casting is crucial get your actors right, and if not change your script. There is always the possibility of things going astray, you’re not always going to get the perfect actor and they may not have the exact apperance that you want so work around it to the best of your ability. If their apperance isn’t perfect remember there is always makeup and things like that. In the reading it suggested to videotape the rehearsals using a ‘documentary style of spontaneous coverage’ as this will allow the director to get a feel for things, changing bits and pieces if appropriate.
Remember that this whole project is a collaborative project, so it’s wise to know some things about each area. I’m finding this particularly important within my group because some people are more knowledgable than others, so at times it becomes very imporatant to nudge people in the right direction.
The director needs to be knowledgeable, and really be able to have a feel for the whole production. They need to be able to troubleshoot and really know the script inside out. I think this is really important for the director as they really need to have a full grasp of what they are doing, which was indicated through the Scorsese reading a few weeks back. It was obvious that he knew everything that he was doing inside out.
However, what I really got from this lecture today is the importance of planning, the more planning you do the more prepared you are, according to the reading my responsiblities according to producer and 1st AD which is also my role in this case is to:
-assembling and administering funds, overseeing the project as a whole, where the ideal producer:
concentrates on being an enabler, supplier, and rationer of vital resources. To this end, planning, scheduling, and accounting should be the producer’s strengths, but producers of experience and taste are also important arbiters of the film’s artistic progress, especially because they normally have some distance from the day-to-day production.
So to take a small aside for just a bit. My role as producer is to enable the production to go ahead, and more to be successful. Therefore I need to be able to make sure things are possible and if they are not then find a way around it to make it possible to the same effect. Therefore by good planning and organisation this should be possible as if I know every detail of what needs to be done and the possible flaws I can find a solution and enable the production to run smoothly. In terms of artistry, because I work closely with the director it is important to know the feel of the film, to know what the director is trying to achieve. The rest isn’t possible without this knowledge. I need to know what the director wants to do to enable it to happen. Keyword here would definitely be ‘enable.’
To continue on….
The first AD is also responsible for similar things, and to put it briefly: scheduling, arranging, getting the right people to the right place, coordinating, contacting, reminding, acquiring, calling, herding, barking. To put it simply really. I need to make sure things get done in terms of the director’s intentions. I need to know the ins and outs of the director’s mind and get the ball moving according to all these words. I need to be professional and confident, especially confident in my director’s capabilities as again I am working as the enabler. Making things happen.
To finish off…
Safety. Yeah it might sound tediously boring, however it is vitally important. I didn’t realise I guess how many bad things can happen. People can get really hurt, and I guess the main point to make it common sense. However, to add to this think about safety as a PRIORITY. Know all the risks. You are working with electricity. It’s just about really being aware of your surrounding, and knowing every little thing that could go wrong, that’s important. Luckily, we have risk matrixs and things like that to help us organise these things.
Reference:
Rabiger, M. Directing : film techniques and aethetics, (p. 385-400). 3rd ed. Boston : Focal Press, 2003.
Image source:
grendelkhan, film crew, flickr, CC-Attribution-Share Alike, http://www.flickr.com/photos/grendelkhan/280629729/
Our group has decided on DOUGHNUT as our script. The process that we took in order to choose this script was by going through the scripts that we liked and then finding crossovers between our seperate lists. Our crossovers were:
DOUGHNUT
SHORT FILM SCRIPT
HOW DOES THIS MAKE YOU FEEL?
DIAMOND DOGS
GLUTTONOUS GIRL
We decided on Doughnut because it fitted all our set criterias. We wanted to choose something that was challenging and was also achievable. It is achievable because it firstly fits the original script criteria of being in one location, having 3 characters (a few minor parts but nothing that’s unachievable). We all agreed that we liked the fact that it didn’t rely heavily on dialogue, but said a lot through action, such as the final scene having the main character biting through the doughnut with a look of extreme pleasure on his face. I particularly liked the antagonist Jonathon who is typically the swarmy young office employee, and reminded me immediately of Pete a character in Mad Men, who to me is almost the characature of swarmy-ness. Since, I am currently obsessed with this show it seemed fitting to make a short film set in an office environment, so it worked for me quite nicely. The only problem I had was perhaps that the protagonist wasn’t intriguing or interesting enough. However, Eliza pointed out to me he was intriguing because he is a man stuck in a job, confined and controlled by people that are younger than him, which would be a painful and extremely frustrating situation that could lead to a rather irriational moment of desire to eradicate said annoyances. Therefore, this script really pulls together numerous desires; the gluttonous desire of the routine of a weekly doughnut, and the desire to be on top again which has been taken away from him by the younger, less experienced colleagues that surround him.
We went through a few things and came up with some ideas in terms of conveying a sense of being trapped, which can be achieved through drab set design and the confinement of a cubicle environment. Logistically it should be a relatively easy location to set up and also advantageous as it is indoors, and therefore there is no threat of unlikable and typical Melbourne unpredicable weather. In terms of my role of production it ticked all the boxes that I set as my criteria in my previous blog post. In terms of budget it is definitely viable- the only purchase will need to be doughnuts, as all the set design pieces should be viable through group resources. Location scouting as I have previously discussed is achievable, it would be achievable in RMIT itself or any type of office or classroom space. Transportation doesn’t really need to be thought about in detail as yet, but I don’t think we would need to travel far from RMIT to find an office building. In terms of scheduling there is no reason why this film cannot be made in one day it requires one singular location, that relies on action rather than copious amounts of dialogue and there is nothing in it that is overally difficult to achieve. Obviously there will need to be a lot more reading of the script and going into fine detail of everything that we will need to achieve with this script. Therefore we decided that we would (before our next meeting) go through the script in terms of our roles, eg. I will go through the script in terms of my role as producer in a large amount of detail, the sound recordist will go through it in detail and think about what we will need in terms of dialogue, sound fx and music.
Overall, our script decision meeting went really well as we were able to feed off each other and talk in detail about what we liked about the script and how it would work, and also how the script would work logistically as well as creatively. There is also something that Eliza said to watch that has a similar type of character, or more reminded her of the main character in Doughnut, which I will watch and blog about shortly.
I’ve been reading my way through numerous of the scripts written by the people in this course and I am truly flabbergasted by how good a lot of them are. It’s going to be so extremely hard to choose a script to make because a lot of them are so good, and also from a producer stand-point easy to achieve logistically. Due to my role as producer when I have been reading the scripts I have been thinking about logistics. Asking certain questions to myself in terms of logistics. As I outlined in a post on my crew role I took into consideration the following things when reading the scripts:
- budget (not really from a finance point of view, but on a can this be achieved without the use of money and how many resources will we need to achieve this script, mainly in terms of props and costumes)
- location scouting (is the location achievable, or more importantly if the script is fantastic, yet the location will be hard to acquire, how would I acquire that location or will the same script work at a different location. Also the size of the location, will we have lots of space to move around in for all our equipment, or will we have to weary of where our equipment is place because it is a small location?)
- transportation (in terms of is the location or will the location be hard to get to, will we need to transport equipment a long distance, etc. etc.)
- scheduling (will we be able to film this script in one day? This really lays on the previous points. If there are ticks on the previous points it should be able to be achieved in one day, however I will need to take into consideration: the amount of dialogue, camera movement, establishing shots, etc. etc.)
In terms of scheduling a lot of this will need to be discussed with the director of our production Eliza who will have an idea of how she would like the script to be shot. Obviously if there is a lot of dialogue it will take time, because we need to make sure our actors will perform correctly, and there will most likely be a lot of different takes on dialogue- getting close-ups, mid-shots, wide-shots, etc. As Scorsese says it’s about capturing emotion. If Eliza wants lots of camera movement this also takes time, and of course we will have camera movement not everything will be static.
Therefore there is a lot to think about and when reading these scripts and I have read a lot of them already. I will write a blog post shortly that will analyse some scripts in terms of the above criteria that I will be able to bring to my group meeting when we discuss what script we would like to make.
I thought it was about time I thought and blogged about this. Basically, in our Wednesday tute I got assigned PRODUCER, which I am excited about! My group is a lovely group of four:
Eliza: Director
Renee: Director of Photography
Albert: Sound
I don’t know these people very well, and therefore think it will be exciting to see what we all have to bring to the table seperately and then together. We talked through some stuff and decided that this week we would all try to read through the synopsises and email each other the ones we like, and then see if there’s any cross-overs, if we can compile a list of synopsises that we all like it will mean that we don’t have to read through every single script. We also talked about when we were all available to determine when we coud have group meetings, which were 1:30-3:30 on Monday and Wednesday 1:30-3:30, which is convenient because it’s right before our TV class.
Now, on to my role as PRODUCER. I found the google doc, which outlined the roles of the producer or in the industry what is described as the Unit Production Manager:
The UPM, under the supervision of the Exec Producer, coordinates, facilitates, and oversees the preparation of the production unit, including: all off-set logistics, day to day production decisions, locations, budget schedules and personnel. Specific duties will include:• Prepare script breakdown and preliminary shooting schedule with the 1st AD• Prepare and coordinate the budget• Oversee search and survey of all locations and the completion of business arrangements for the same• Assist in the preparation of the production with a mind towards efficiency collaboration• Supervise completion of the production report for each day’s work, showing work covered and the status of the production, and arrange for distribution of that report to proper channels• Coordinate arrangements for the transportation and housing of cast, crew, and staff• Oversee the securing of releases and negotiations for locations and personnel• Maintain a liaison with the local authorities regarding locations and the operation of the company
