1. Pre-ProductionEvaluation.
For my Pre-Productionthere weremanydifferentstepsIhadto take in orderto geteverythingI
needed, forexample Ihadto goout on multiple daystofindshootinglocationsthenagain,Ihadto
go to those locationstofindoutwhatrisksare there and how to avoidthem.Ihad to write a script,
finda cast, go throughmy filmideainmyheadto findout whattype of camera shotsI wasgoingto
use,etc… The reasonI didall of thiswas somy actual ProductioncouldrunsmoothlyandhopefullyI
wouldn’thave anyproblemstodeal withduringfilming.
Logistics:
The logisticsof myPre-Productionare the LocationScouting andRelease, ContributorsRelease,and
RiskAssessmentforms. Ineededtogetmycast and the locationstosignforms inorderto go ahead
withproduction andensure thatI have all the permissionsIneedtofilm.
OthersheetsIneeded tofill inwere thingslike the minutemeetingswhere the castandI got
togethertodiscussour ideasforthe film.Mostideaswere mine of course,butthe cast helpedwith
quite a lot.I alsoneededtofill inaPersonnel list,write ascriptandcreate a storyboard- of course I
wrote the scriptbefore Idid anythingelse becauseIneededtoknow exactlywhatIneedforthe film
and I couldn’tknoweverythingbeforehand.Withthe completedscript,Ithenmade mystoryboard.
WithoutthisI wouldn’tknowwhatIwantedthe scenestolooklike andwhattype of camera anglesI
wanted.The personnel listincludeswhoisinvolved,inmine weremytwofriendsAnaliseandSarah
whoplayedthe twocharacters inmy film.Ialsoincludedtheirroles(actors) andtheir contact
details.WithoutthisinformationIprobablywouldn’tbe able togeta holdof the actors to tell them
whenwe shootand whattheywill needtobringwiththem.
Movingpast the script,I thenneededtolocationscout. Iwentto multiple locations untilIfoundthe
bestplacesformy film, the locationscoutingwasone of the mostimportantthingsinmypre-
production(aswell asthe locationrelease formswhichIneededinordertoactuallybe able tofilm
at the locations) andwithoutlocationscoutingi wouldn’t know whereIcouldpotentiallyshootand
where Iactuallywantedtoshoot.The locationreleaseisalsoimportantbecause thatiswhat enables
me to filmat the placesI have chosen.Again,withoutthe release,Icouldn’tuse the locationsI
chose.
The contributorsrelease ensuresthatmyactors and the people involvedwithmyfilmwon’tdrop
out lastminute orsay I can’t use the footage,whichiswhythe contributorsrelease isessential to
my pre-production.Finally,the RiskAssessmentformiswhatyoufill inaftergoingtothe locations
and assessing- youfill inhowtoavoidandhow to getrid of the them. Withoutthisform,I wouldn’t
knowwhatrisksthere are,therefore leavingthe actorsandmyself vulnerable.
Finance:
There wasn’tmuchcost for my film,the onlythingIreallyneededtobuywasan SD card, no props
or costumeswere neededasI andmy cast had themfor ourselves.The collegesuppliedme witha
camera,a tripodandanythingelse Ineeded,like atrolleyformovingshots.There weren’tanytravel
costs suchas bus fare eitherbecause the locationIhadwaswithinwalkingdistanceandthe other
was myown home- luckilyitwon’tcostmoneyformy actors to getto any of the locationseitheras
2. theylive quite close by,alsowithinwalkingdistance.Totrack the small cost,I noteddown
everythingIneededonanoutline budgetform.Onthisform, Iwrote whatI needed,how muchthey
cost and the final costfor everythingaddedtogether- asIonlyneededanSD card, my total price
came to £12.99. It was essential tokeeptrackof the financesbecause thatwayeverythingwasall
organised.
Creative:
For my filmIcame up witha fewideas, butonlytwothat I reallyliked,andbothwere alongthe lines
of the thrillergenre.Idecidedtogowiththe one filmwhichIcouldmake within4-7minutes.I
plannedoutwhere Iwantedtofilm, whatI will be filminginwhichlocationsandwhichdaysI
wantedtofilmon.I chose two of my friendswhowere willingtobe inmy film because Iknew they
wouldbe reliable, andtheywere bothinterestedinactingsoit made ita loteasiertofinda cast.
For the entiretyof mypre-productionportfolio,Ihada lotof paperworktofill inlike statedabove:
the contributorsrelease,personnel,etc…Igot the correct thingssignedbythose involvedinthe
productionbutbefore all of this,Ineededtowrite ascript.My scripttook aboutthree weeksto
write because Ihad myidea,butI foundit hardto put downinwords.Afterwritingmy scriptI
createdmy storyboardwhichhelpedme tosee whichshotsIwoulduse forthe scenesandthenI
filledinandgotmy cast to signall the formsI needed.Afterdoingthis,Itookthe lastweekbefore it
was due into lookthrougheverythingI’ddone andcheckif Ineededtoaddanythingto the forms
and checkif I’d made anymistakes.Afterall of thisItook a camera home fromthe college totest
out all the differentshotsandcameraanglesI wasgoingto use but I didn’tendupshootinganything
as my friendswere busyduringthatweek.Ididn’tdothe inpersonmeetingsuntil afterIhad
finishedupmypre-production(butIdidtalktomy friendsabouteverythingbefore that) andwe
discussedeverythingthatIwantedto do forthe filmas well asthemgivingme some ideastoo.After
everythingwasfinished,Iknewitwastime toget readyandstart filming.
ProjectManagement.
Personnel Management:
The personnel iswhere Iorganisedmycastand crew,I filledinaformwhichincludedthe namesof
my cast members,whattheirrole was(i.e.actor,cameraworker,etc…) sofor example,myrole was
director/producerandmyfriendswere bothactors- italsoincludedeitheranemail ormobile
numberat whichI couldcontact those workingonthe projectwhenneeded.Afteragreeingtoplaya
role inmy film,Ihad mycast sign a contributor’s releaseformwhichmeansthattheywon’tbackout
lastminute andsay I can’t use any of the footage.
Resource Management:
For this,I createda resource list whichincludedall the resourcesandequipmentIwouldneedfor
my production.Iwrote downthatI wouldneedacamera (of course),a cameralight,a tripod,anda
microphone fornarrative sothe camera can pickup whatthe actors are saying, andit isn’tblocked
out byambientsoundslike windorpassingcars…To go alongwiththiswas myOutline Budget
which,like statedabove,onlyreallyincludedanSDcard as mycast live nearbyandthe College can
3. provide me withthe equipmentIneed.Havingthesetwolistshelpsme withknowingwhatIneed
and howmuch the cost foreverythingwillbe.
Time Management:
Followingdeadlinesandmanagingwhathappensandwhenithappensisimportantinfilm
production.Everythingseemstoruna lotmore smoothlywhenyouhave all thatyouneedontime.
In orderto keeptrack of whenI wantedandneededthingsdone,Ihada meetingminuteslistanda
locationrelease whichbothincludedthe datesonwhichIwouldbe usingboththe equipment
neededinordertofilmandthe actual locationwhere Iwill be filming,andtheyalsostatedwhenmy
cast wouldbe available toworktoo.These thingswere veryhelpfulandwithoutthemImostlikely
wouldhave a hard time filming,especiallywithoutthe datesmycast wasavailable.
MonitoringProgress:
Keepingtrackof everythingIdidformypre-productionwasimportant,andthisiswhyImade a
stripboard.The stripboardhelpedme infollowingmyfilmingprocess,forexample where Iwas
filmingwhichscenesandwithwho.Imade the stripboardsofilmingtookplace overtwodifferent
days,I alsoput it inorderof whatI wouldfilmonthese daysandwhere itwouldbe filmed.Ihadto
write downthe exacttime of day androughlyhow many hoursit wouldtake me tofilmthe scenesI
had plannedhowever,thesetwodaysIhad free andcouldhave takenmore time if necessary.
RiskManagement:
Of course thisiswhere the RiskAssessmentformcame inhandy.I wenttothe locationswhere I
wouldbe filmingandcheckedall aroundforthings whichcouldbe arisk to myself andmyactors- I
wrote themdownas well ashowto avoidthem, Ithentriedmy bestto remove the riskandif I could
thenI wouldwrite downthatitwon’tbe a problemanymore butif Icouldn’tthenIwouldjusthave
to try my bestinavoidingthe possible risk.If itcame to it,I evenhadbackuplocationswhere Icould
shootinsteadof justthe one because if the riskwasn’tremovable,Isimplycouldn’tfilmatthat
location.
CrisisManagement:
The onlyissue Ireallyhadwiththe whole productionwashavingdayswhere the castwouldone
hundredpercentbe able tofilm.Ihad to change the datesquite a lotbecause somethingwouldend
up cominguplast minute forbothmyself andmycast but eventually, we founddateswhere we
were all free. One othersmall problemwasthe lightof day.One scene inmy filmhadto be filmedat
a specifictime where itwasn’ttoolightortoo dark,and anotherhadto be filmedinthe dark.The
problemwasthatif I wantedtofilminthe dark I wouldhave tostay outrather late and if I wanted
to filmjustbefore dark,Ineededtogoout at the perfecttime soI couldtake more thanone shot of
the scene.
General Thoughts:
Overall the whole pre-productionwasn’ttoostressful butitdefinitelywasn’teasy- especiallywriting
the script.EverythingIdidfor ithelpedagreat deal andwithoutdoingall of this,the production
wouldbe toohard to keepupwithand wouldtake a lotlongerthanyou wouldthink.Ididn’thave
any practice withanyof the editingprogramssuchas premierproor iMovie butI had usedafter
