Research
The role I would like to pursue:
Production Manager:
Production managers are usually office based and behind the scenes, making sure the production is running smoothly. During pre- production, they schedule everything, even down to transport. They also negotiate costs, and budget everything. They also hire crew and contractors, and approve of bookings for locations, resources and equipment. They will have a production co-ordinator working with them throughout production, and will assign this person jobs to help them out, like paperwork, and contracts, such as call sheets, or communicating through them.
During production and filming, they will just keep doing these jobs, making sure nothing is unorganised or unprepared, such as transport, costs and locations, Production managers are mostly working behind the scenes, not necessarily with the actors on set. A production manager has to be extremely organised and have a dedicated mindset to their job.
During post production, their job is to be in charge of all of the procedures and outputs for post production. They manage day to day, the post production crew and editors. It is similar with controlling and managing the budgets and schedules, in everything that happens in post production.
Production design:
Production design is another role I am interested in pursuing in the future. All of this job is during pre production and during filming. It consists of designing locations, costumes, makeup and props. During pre production, production designers will read the script, get to know the story and go location scouting, and ringing them up asking for permission, or going to speak to them in person. They will also run this by the director and producer. During filming, they will build sets if they are able to, after designing them, and making them come to life. The director and producer have to approve of this.
They are also in charge of costume, props and makeup. This role requires very good communication skills with makeup artists and stylists, as they need to know what they are doing, when are they are needed and where. They may need to practice makeup looks or make costumes or outfits so may need to know with plenty of time in advance. They also have to communicate well with the cast, and make sure they know their wardrobe or hair for example.
Production designers are in charge of all of the visual aspects of the production or film, so everything that can be seen in the set or on the cast, is their job to organise and design. For this job you have to have creative visions, to be able to make it work and do the job properly and well.
Rick Carter- Production designer
Rick Carter is one of the most successful and well known production designers. He is best known for working on Avatar, star wars, jurassic park and the fabelmans, and many more well known films, all with this role. He has won many awards during his career life, including an academy award, a BAFTA, a satellite award, a saturn award and more, all for his work. During his study years, he studied art and spent all of his time painting. He grew up to have his first art directing job in second hand hearts in 1981 with Ashby. His second job was on the goonies, which gave him a name for himself, and landed himself a meeting with director Steven Spielberg, They hit it off and formed a close working relationship, that is still to this day. Another director that Rick has worked with is Robert Zemeckis, working on forest gump, jurassic park, back to the future and war of the worlds. All of the visuals on all of these films are exceptional.
TV drama genre research
The TV drama genre is a very broad and colossal genre in TV today, to all generations. There are many types of the drama genre. There is docudrama, which is story lines that actually happened and real life events, but although mostly true, not fully. These are played by hired actors instead of the people it actually happened too. There is docufiction, which is similar to docudrama, however the real story line is interpreted and changed slightly, which are recreated. Comedy drama is drama shows or movies, which has humorous aspects to it. Hyper drama, is exaggerated and fictional, for example maleficent or Disney movies. There is straight dramas, which are a more serious interpretation of drama, with less comedic aspects.
The top three drama shows according to IMDB are 'The night agent', an action drama, which was directed by Seth Gordon, 'Succession', a comedy drama, which was directed by Adam Mckay, 'and The last of us', an action and adventure drama, which was directed by Kantemir Balagov.
Some codes and conventions from the drama genre I would use in my own shoot are looking deeper into the characters lives, and why they are the way they are, and the way they act. Even if the drama has comedy aspects, it is still important to look further into the characters life, and include a subjective story of their life. Another thing I would include is a couple of sub plots, coming off and linking off from the main plot of the story. This gives the drama piece a deeper meaning to it, rather than a one layered story. If it is a longer series, maybe a sub plot for each character or location. Some examples of this, are pretty little liars, 13 reasons why, and heart stopper. If it is a show that has short episodes with a different story line per episode, there may be two story lines that end up joining together and make sense at the end, This is something I would include.
The role that I had been given on the shoot was the production co-ordinator and the marketing manager.
Production manager:
The role of the production co-ordinator works closely with the production manager. They work as a team to make sure that the production is running smoothly and everyone is keeping up with what they are meant to be doing. Production co-coordinator work mostly behind the scenes, with paperwork, finance and expenses. They are usually confirming locations, working out the cost, checking and doing pre-production paperwork and making sure the production stays on schedule. The specific paperwork that they do is shooting schedules, cast and crew lists, scripts and script revisions. They set up the production office, organising equipment, supplies and staff. The skills you need in production co-coordinating are problem solving, good organisation, budgeting, communication, management skills, good prioritising, and being able to negotiate. The production manager is the boss of the production co-ordinator, and that is how they affect the role.
Marketing manager
The role of the marketing manager has to come up with strategic and creative ways to promote the film, or TV show. For example, trailers, posters, behind the scenes pictures, and sneak peaks. They help identify an audience for the film or TV show and to grab peoples interest. In the real world of film, this could also include billboards. The job can also include coming up with titles for the film or show. The marketing manager has a team working with them, helping them around their role, as there are many jobs to do. The marketing manager is the manager of the rest of that department, and can issue them jobs to do on a day to day basis.
These are some of the posters, trailers and pictures that I have put on instagram to promote the film. Some of the production managing team is there working on the film in the pictures I had taken. I did a post at the end of each filming week, summing up what we had done that week.
Production diary:
Week 1:
During week one of the feature film, we were understanding the plot and story line, and getting to know it more, which is vital. We all read through the script with the actors and they got into character, helping with deciding what roles they wanted to go for as well. We did this a couple of times and got to visualise how it was going to look. Once we had done this, we decided what roles and jobs we wanted to go for. We then had to write a letter to Kelly, giving reasons why we want the role, and why we would be good at it. and a media CV, explaining all the things we had worked on in the past , and what roles we were on that shoot. This was all decided and down to Kelly. As the producer, Freya told everyone their roles, i got production co-ordinator and marketing manager.
Week 2:
During this week, pre-production paperwork and research started. We first had to research the jobs we had been given and get to know properly what they in-tail on the shoot. I first researched the production co-ordinator. I found out that this person works beside the production manager, and assists them in any way they may need, wether it is paperwork or planning and organising. I then researched the marketing manager, and this person advertises the film in any way possible, like posters, behind the scenes or trailers.
We also then began the casting process, which was ran by Megan, the casting director. Casting calls were put up for the actors to start learning their lines. We then scheduled a date for auditions to take place, which was held in the green screen room. I was there watching some of the auditions, whilst taking some pictures for the behind the scenes posts on instagram. Whilst this was happening, People were also scheduling filming dates and planning as a brief idea.
Link to pre production folder:
Week 3:
In week 3 of production, We had a cast and it was time to start shooting. we started shooting in the living room/kitchen in college, which took up a couple of hours. I went in for a little bit to see how everything was running and to take photos for the intstagram. There was quite a few people on the set on this day as it was the first day of filming, and everyone was learning how things run. We then proceeded to shoot in the green screen room, which Tamara and Bailey designed. It was turned into an office for Jess and Frank. We had pin boards up, a desk and chairs, a computer, cups of coffee, and notes everywhere. The sound and editing for these two scenes were handled by Casey behind the scenes of production. On the 9th of February, it was our first day on location of filming. We went to a gym/boxing ring in Middlesbrough, and shot the five girls training with Jess. Everyone was involved on this day, cast and crew, as there was a few extras needed.
Week 4:
during week four, We were on location for two filming days, the Gym again and the cafe. We also shot another scene in college, in Kane's car. The scenes at the gym now included Ben, the girls first trainer in the film. These shots were included in the trailer that was made by me. Again the whole crew and most cast were at the gym, as it was on location. We also filmed at the cafe, which I was absent for, however I got people to take some pictures on my behalf, that I could upload to social media, which they did.
Week 5:
Most of this week was editing, as the rest of the class doing blog work, making sure the film was polished off and the best it could be. We had the premier, which all of the film class, actors and makeup artists attended. The film overall lasted around 45 minutes including the credits and introduction. We then Had a premier at the arc for this, and we all attended. On the screen it looked amazing however some of thr sound was a but too loud, but we learned from this mistake.
I was the marketing manager in this project, so here are the posters and trailers I have made and uploaded to social media:
The link for the trailer:
Feature film link:
Evaluation
Overall, the production process ran very smoothly and there wasn't many occasions when things went wrong however there was still room to improve and lessons to learn. I think that everyone fit their roles very well and everyone handled problems well, big or small. For example when people got to the locations that they were originally going to film at and it didn't look how everyone expected, we were able to find a new location close by, very quickly and everything ran smoothly. Production lasted around six weeks and many people were casted, even as extras. Everyone who acted in it and did makeup as well did an amazing job and everyone was casted very well, and very fit to their role. Making the trailer was a fun task for me to do, and I learned a lot from doing this as I had Casey and Freya to help me. I kept posting updates on the instagram, which sometimes was difficult if I was not on set that day, however I would ask other people for pictures and videos etc.
Josh Jorgensen
Josh was the cinematographer on the shoot, which meant he did floor plans in the pre production section, which I think he did a good job on. He then worked a lot with the cameras and placement, which therefore meant he always had to be on set, which he was. Josh was punctual and never late to set. He fulfilled his role well and made sure it was done to the best of his ability. He was the director of the camera team, therefore had to have good leadership and communication skills which he did well.
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