Location Recce and Beginning of Pre-Production Paperwork
Location Recce and Beginning of Pre-Production Paperwork
On Friday, 24th October myself, the director Arina, Scriptwriter Amy, and the Director of Photography visited the stables in Balerno for a location recce and met with the manager who will be interviewed, Nikki Ramsay.
The recce went very well, albeit very cold; it’s a great location and was great to see the horses too! Nikki spoke with great energy and passion. After this, we pencilled in 2 shooting days. Wednesday 12th for interviews and Wednesday 19th for B-Roll.
I then booked out the equipment for both days. Our team then watched some previous external client documentaries, took notes, and then had a catch-up meeting to discuss our next steps. Arina and I have begun the pre-production documentation, and we have a solid foundation to go off.
Overall, it has been a successful and positive start to the production. Shoot days set, equipment bookings completed and paid for, and pre-production well underway.
Brief Summary of the Final Week of Pre-Production
Brief Summary of the Final Week of Pre-Production
Last week, as the Producer, I was challenged in terms of completing all of the Pre-Production paperwork. I finished all the paperwork on my end. I was in charge of Production Schedules, which I had to completely rearrange to suit this project, but I was happy with the outcome.
Treatment & Synopsis, Pre-Production Meeting Minutes, Resource Requirements, which ended up being over 3000 words, Estimated Budget, which I collaborated with the director on, handled all Location, Crew, and Cast Releases, and also did the Risk Assessments and Call Sheets.
A demanding amount of paperwork, on top of filming 7 Pre-Production Meetings. I also had to combine these deadlines with moving flat and getting my car MOT’d, which really added a lot of stress and cost me a lot of valuable Pre-Production time.
I got very frustrated with my DOP for not handing a crew release in after multiple times of asking, and I eventually snapped and upset her. Torn between not knowing this was the right way to go about things, as this upset her, but I was not receiving the document after multiple times asking. Next time, I may phone or private message to avoid any fallout and tension.
Successful Interview Shoot
Successful Interview Shoot
Today was a very successful shoot. A very well planned and coordinated shoot where everyone really contributed. Even though I am the producer, I had to step in as director as she was in Ukraine, and it went very well.
It had been a little while since we all filmed, particularly documentary work, so we had a practice run yesterday, which really helped dust off the cobwebs. We filmed 3 interviews today, which we all had planned an hour apart, which was perfect for the time.
Unfortunately, the second interview had some audio issues from children running outside, and there wasn’t too much story in the questions and answers. We agreed to redo the interview later on, and fortunately, the interviewee was very happy to do it again after her riding lesson. This was crucial as this was the interview with the service user.
I, alongside the scriptwriter and DOP, discussed and added 3 more personal questions, which I think really helped dive deeper emotionally and provided a lot more depth. This rounded off a very excellent shooting day, where the footage looked and sounded very good!
Conclusion of Filming
Conclusion of Filming
Yesterday was our 2nd and final shooting day as we shot B-Roll. It was a good week of preparation as I got the scriptwriter to do a transcription of all 3 interviews and make a start on the paper edit.
I also rewatched the interviews the night before, so it was fresh in my mind for B-Roll and took notes, sound bites, and B-Roll ideas. I am glad I did this, as on the shoot, there was some good ideas missing from the reworked Shot List.
The director and camera team were hesitant to film the children in their lesson; however, I acted quickly and asked the manager of Ravelrig RDA if it was ok and she got permission granted by the school teacher. This is a vital part of the documentary, so gathering this footage was essential.
Towards the end, I decided to split into 2 camera teams to save time as we had one time filming scenes of the hoist being used and 1 team filming the volunteers in the staff room. Overall, a very good shooting day.
Beginning of Post-Production
Beginning of Post-Production
This week, as a producer, I have overseen the beginning of post-production by collating Shot Logs for my Editor. This was very helpful for entering the metadata for my editor, also. We began entering this all on Monday, and I finished the metadata at home on Monday night to save time. I also synced up both cameras to the audio. All ums, and a’s, etc., have also been removed.
This also allowed us to really begin the edit properly; however, I was slightly disappointed that I hadn’t gotten a Paper Edit from my Scriptwriter or Director, so I will push for that to be for next week.
My editor was off again yesterday, so my director of photography and I took turns in the editing booth putting some scenes on the timeline. We have an ending and are just working backwards.
By next week, I will have a paper edit collated, and I also hope to have a rough cut finished.
Middle of Post-Production
Middle of Post-Production
This week, as producer, I have been able to get a paper edit from my director to help with the edit. I also had to change my editor because the original editor never showed up. Fortunately, my Director of Photography is an experienced editor and was happy to step up!
I have stepped in as director, editor, boom operator, and camera operator, so it was nice to have a piece of mind regarding the edit. We have all been bouncing ideas off each other in the edit suite as a team whilst following the paper edit.
I also received release forms from all the participants, volunteers, and most importantly, permission from the school to use the children in the documentary. This was crucial as we can now legally upload the documentary publicly. We will push on as a team to finish this edit as soon as possible, and I will prepare to collate all of the post-production documents also.
End of Post-Production
End of Post-Production
This week, as producer we have been polishing off our edit so it’s ready for the screening. I gave Isabella, our editor, my SSD to edit over the weekend, and we reviewed the rough cut on Monday.
I mentioned that the edit was wall-to-wall dialogue and that we had to cut out some answers to allow breathing spaces. In the edit suite, we have all been together helping the editor with ideas, and I am happy with everyone’s contributions. Everyone has chipped in on ideas and opinions, such as making sure we all think the breathing spaces are the correct length, checking if the B-Roll makes sense to the dialogue, and making sure there is a strong emotional beat.
Overall, the edit has been coming together nicely, despite the challenges of losing our original editor; our Director of Photography has done a great job stepping in, which has lifted a massive weight off my shoulders.
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