Project Evaluation

Working in lockdown.

The whole industry got turned upside down when the virus hit the UK and we were told that we had to stay home.

We had to figure out how we could still work on our project as a team and create something without actually meeting up.

This pandemic has shown me a new way of working, I have been able to communicate via Microsoft teams with my crew and get footage from the script filmed with my actors.

Changes
At the beginning of the process I had in mind what scene it was I wanted to do from the script, this changed due to my actors not being able to meet.

It was important for me to get something visual, so I opted for two scenes in which I could get my actors to play off each other over facetime, I watched on various channels about how people are working in the industry whilst being in lockdown and one channel was particularly interesting, it was zoom, it was a comedy mash-up with celebrities doing a sketch show, so this made me realize that the industry doesn't stop but more or less have to adapt.


Through my research, I have learned the key understandings of a producer's responsibility and also learned that I can't be precious with written material because it changes all the time.
Communicating with the director is a major factor as well as keeping in constant contact with the crew because if they are unaware of changes it can have a devastating effect on my role as the producer and the budget. During the lockdown, it hasn't always been easy keeping in contact with the crew but we made it work by scheduling appointments on Microsoft teams and demonstrating that we knew exactly what was going to happen and although I couldn't get the actors to re-create the dinner scene it was only fair that we still planned to shoot that scene as we had prepped for it.

The final edit is the scenes beforehand and after the fact, having to change it wasn't a bad idea as we got to see and demonstrate 3 different scenes and the cost was £0 as it was all done via video that was sent to me.

Demonstrated my role.
By having interviews with producers and researching the paperwork that producers have to get through before a production I feel I have demonstrated my understanding when It came to producing, in the real world having a real budget this has been a valuable researching journey, as I did not understand that producer has extensive legal paperwork to create before the production even begins and it is always the producers that have the last say when it comes to the budget. BBC online forums have been very useful at the start of the project as they go into details of the various job roles and what it takes to be a producer.
It also prompted me to look at women producers and various organizations such as the WFTV (Women in Film and Television) which got me involved in also setting up an organization WIF&E In which I go into detail about producers in lockdown wifeproductions.co.uk. Also looking at the history of female filmmakers. 

This whole unit has opened up my knowledge and opened doors for me, I have learned how to network with other production companies and I have been able to set up a meeting to get BrotherLidge commissioned, all through the researching tools that I have achieved in lockdown and by understanding the principles of being a producer.

Learning outcomes improvements
1. The Script.
The script is never complete.
The script had to have changed throughout the process, I have been speaking with producers whilst in lockdown about their opinions on the script, I was told that there was really something there, but I needed to add more of a comedy aspect to it, This has taught me that getting outside opinions on the work before it is produced it the only way forward, as scripts can be amended a production cannot, so at the start of the process I had it in. mind that everything was solid and ready to go, however, I had to go back to the drawing board and do some re-writing, although I am not responsible for the re-write, it is a script that I know inside out.
Also, Name in the script had to be changed as I also sent out an opinion poll, and the feedback that I had received was that some of the names weren't 'Irish' enough or not 'Black Cultured' enough, I made sure that I stayed in touch with the team about all the changes that were made.
Learning from this I need to make sure that I do all my research before putting a script into production, as it may cause offense or not be realistic if small things like names, locations, and accents are not true to the culture of the characters, I must make sure that I always get opinions from professions before starting production.

2.The Budget.
At the start of any production doing a budget, a breakdown is always the start of it and it is the producer's responsibility to do so, if I was to produce the whole show and not just a scene, it would have been a five-day shoot. I got a standard breakdown of how much the production would cost so this gave me a great insight of how much productions actually cost so I was then able to mock up the production schedule and make sure that we could fit just one scene into one day, Technically this would be very tight with a very small crew but I found that having less cast and shorter days it wouldn't cost as much.
I have learned by getting the budget breakdown, I must always go through and check it with a fine-tooth comb as there where cost on there that could be eliminated and there are always cheaper alternatives options, so I must always 'shop' around for alternatives that can keep the cost down and keep me within budget. I was also told that producers raise at least 3 times as much as they need because investors tend to pull out or they may go over budget, so this is something that I definitely need to do at the beginning of any project that I produce.

3.Production paperwork
I have learned that the producer is responsible for a lot of paperwork, producing is not necessarily the most creative job but they are still involved with the creative side. I am not very good with numbers, I am the opposite so for me to develop further I have to gain more knowledge about costing things and what is the most important aspects of production, like what needs the most money, for example, I could get an amazing location yet I may not have enough money in the budget for the camera equipment which means although the location is amazing, visually it may not look as good, so weighing up the pro's and con's of production is a very important job for the producer
I also learned that the paperwork has to be readable and can be understood by everyone, so formatting the schedules, call sheets and other relevant paperwork is a must, although I have done call sheets ext: before I have learned through this process how to simplify them, this is something I will continue to do in the future.
whilst in lockdown it has been a no-budget production and the paperwork is examples but I still had the key tools to be able to produce from home and the best thing about being a producer is that most of the work is down secluded.

4. Getting creative
One part of the budget goes on media coverage and designs, so as an extra bonus, I got a designer to create a cover for me (top of the page) as if the production was to be pitched in real life. Having a visual to look at as part of a package is very important in regards to sales, it should immediately stand out as to what the show is about without having to explain, I am not completely sure that the image does that yet because I haven't had any opinions on that but I in the future I would like to present when the designers take charge of that as in reality this can cost a lot of money, in which a producer still has to overlook.

5. Communications.
During the lockdown I had many telephone, video and text conversations with various people, I spoke to the actors who were doing the scene, I spoke to producers about how they rais money (pinned in another blog) I spoke with my team about how we were with progress on the production.
To be a good producer you have to know how to communicate and what to say, I have learned that everything has to be professional and above board, Emails should be sent only if it's about official work and times of the day is important for when to communicate, this should be in working hours, as we found out with our team that certain times of the day is not acceptable to call as other things need to be done.

Overall.
The most challenging aspect of this unit is that we were unable to get together and discuss things in person, it is not that it can not be done in other ways because we had to, it's more of a personal preference to me, I am a people person and this is what I need to work one if I am to pursue with this as a career, I need to be able to adapt working on my own and being able to orchestrate from home or in an office.
Although I thought I knew BrotherLidge inside out I was surprised when reading it over and over that many tweaks had to be made, but I have learned not to be precious because things can and will change all the time and to be successful, it is the skill of letting go that will further a career path.