DIRECTION - PRE-PRODUCTION PREP.
So much has changed since sent over my script ...
The scene was to open in a supermarket - I went into Morrison and gave all my details to the deputy manager, I called a few days later - then the day later ... you can catch the drift.
Until I finally went in there on the 31/02/19 after 2 weeks of waiting to be turned down.
I now haven't got time try and sort out and scout for another supermarket, which can take weeks to organise, so I had to re-think.
I am going for a new approach to the scenes without changing the motive of my character.
In the original script Sanborn coms to the house, so I will be using this and instead of the supermarket scene I have put in the scene before he goes back home, to show the relationship between James and Sanborn. I think that this will also have an impact because we see James at home with the family that he is suppose to love and adore yet he has more of a relationship with his Sgt.
I am still going to create the sense of emotional and physical distant between James and his wife but i am going to also demonstrate how close he is with Sanborn.
LOCATION 1 - VINTERS PARK
Why? My Characters are suppose to be disposing bombs in a war zone in another country - unfortunately My budget can't stretch that far - so I came up with the idea that they was on a camp out in a war zone. This idea comes from my time in the army cadets and feeling cold and miserable in the woodland area, I will use subheading to explain where they are suppose to be so the audience don't get confused.
What did I need to do to book this location?
I emailed the warden at Vinters park outlining my intentions for the shoot day and gave him detailed information of what equipment I will be using and how many of us there was going to be.
He emailed me back the same day and requested my risk assessment which I will send to him on Monday, he also asked for the mapped out area of where i intended to film, so i sent him the picture that you can see above.
The weather is going to be cold so I have informed the cast and crew to bring extra layers.
LOCATION 2 - MY HOUSE
Why? I choose my house, not because it is convenient, because it is situated in a quiet area and I wanted to have a complete contrast from the messed up character that James is, the house looks peaceful but that is a complete opposite of what James wants.
I will be using the kitchen, bedroom and front of the house in my shoot.
CAST.
Sgt Sanborn
William James
Connie
Picking my male leads wasn't an issue because I had already asked them when I had my first idea of what I wanted to do and they are both professional actors.
There was one issue though, in the scene that I presented, Sanborn didn't exist, but he did in the script so when I decided i was going to have that character it was before I watched the whole film... Sanborn is a black guy and my actor is white, at this point my hands were tied because my actors had already booked them days off of work and committed to my project and if I say different it will jeopardise me working with them again.
Because the film isn't surround an ethnic moral message I don't think it's a major issue at this point but next time I will make sure i do more character research before I cast.
I used Mandy for my female character 'Connie' she also sent me a self tape (below)
All my cast have received there call sheets and new scripts.
CALL SHEETS
This time I have made my call sheets easy to read and used a template from https://www.setscouter.com/?source=scs , this was an amazing tool to use, it was simple and FREE !! I did have to re-write the scripts so I could put down the exact page numbers as i was using two different scripts and it was getting confusing.
My last pre-production prep was the first time that I had done anything like that and it looked complicated, I wanted to take a look to see how I could improve, below is the call sheet for my last project.
All the information on the call sheet is correct but I don't like the layout.
STORY BOARDS AND SHOT LIST 
Below is a very poor attempt of a story board from my last project, I didn't grasp exactly what was needed so I gave up.
This time around I wanted to attempt it again, because I had lot's of visions in my head and really wanted to get them down on paper, the more I drew, The more I got confident, I am not an artist but I feel I did a pretty good job of what I want my shots to look like.
MY PREVIOUS SHOT LIST.
I had to take another look at my shot list because i missed some key shots in the last project, Simon said it looked complicated and it does! I went back to my reference material ...
I have used this book in the past, it explains more in depth about, framing, angles and movement, it also contains many story board with the examples of the shots.
I look at some different storyboards on line to ...
These really helped my to understand the shots that I wanted.
I also Learned that shots don't have to go in order and it's easier to number the shots in the script first before any story boards or shot lists get started.
I printed out a template on line, this time and wrote in pencil just in case I have to make amendments before or during the shoot.
Below are my shot list for this project.
To work out what the camera terminology meanings are I downloaded the Durham University glossary, this really helped and I am going to keep a print out in my shoot pack.
My Production Schedule will be completed next week, when i have the production meeting with the crew.
I have learned so much more since the last pre-production in regards of visualising shots and the story boarding is really the way forward.
UPDATED ON THE 07/02/19
Today I met with my actors and had them sign their actors agreement.
I also completed and sent my production schedules, I looked at some templates on line and found a PDF template from the BBC, I printed it of and created my own version as I wanted to improve on my last production schedule which looked like this ...
What wrong with this one? I feel that it isn't very clear as to specific times and it is for both days, so for this project I wanted to give a little more detail in terms of timings for each shot and allowing time to set up the next scene, so below is my new improved production schedule.
I feel like I have allowed enough times for each shot and as a director I want to keep to a deadline. It is not only important to be on time but continuity can play a big part in the time that we have.
If I was filming a night scene in the day time is going to be very confusing for the audience.
Now that my risk assessments have been signed of, I have my location, actors, props and paperwork in place for my crew, that is pre-production pretty much sorted out.
I will re-do my shot list on a printed version so its clearer to understand for my camera operator.
fantastic prep!
ReplyDelete