Production Management Evaluation

I believe overall my Product Management assignment has been completed with great success. From the planning stages all the way though to post-production everything seems to have run smoothly.

I had initially come up with the idea for 'Left and Right' earlier on in the year whilst we were working on our Thriller assignments. I didn't like the idea of not being able to do individual Thriller projects, and having to share the 5 minutes out within a group, so I sat down and scripted 'Left and Right' within a few hours over one night.
I showed the completed script to Dan Creed the next day and received some excellent feedback in regards to the layout of the script and the storyline itself. Providing several corrections with the format of the work, but nothing about the story or dialogue itself; deemed realistic for the story.

The concept of the film revolves around the idea of slowly built paranoia and the uncertainty and surreal emotions one experiences after a dramatic event that comes completely out of the norm. Events you aren't used too and eventually become so dominant, unusual and immediately prominent in your everyday life that they never seem completely real or real at all. Unsure if it ever even happened.
For example, the number 'infinity,' the concept of 'infinity' exists but it's a number no one can imagine, or really get their heads around on a realistic scale how large the number is. This is the same theory except 'infinity' is Michael being beaten up for his money; an event larger than his mind can comprehend.

That must have been around January/February time and I was, as expected, unable to use the script for the Thriller assignment. The project sat dormant for a very long period of time. As the Product Management assignment was presented to us, there was no real questioning what I was going to do for mine, the only thing I needed was a client looking for a short film.

A quick Google search produced several results I could choose from, including my initial selection 'Syncthink Films' providing a professional brief as required. I was slightly put off by this selection once I noticed the finishing date (12/06/09) was only 2 weeks away and I realised this was an unrealistic proposal.
I eventually found BigStar.tv, another competition offering a $1000 (£600) award and an extended deadline giving me over a month to complete all stages of production.

Storyboarding was a fairly easy process to complete as I'd already written the script with locations/actors and camera angles in mind, it was a simple case of sitting down with the script and a pencil and spending the rest of the night drawing away.

I took this simplistic approach towards all of the paperwork. As I'd completed the script months before the assignment was handed out, I found myself with more time than everyone else to complete the extra verification paperwork needed before production could begin. This included the initial Treatment form, all of the location risk assessments, Call sheets for each actor at each location and obviously the script. Other such paperwork such as logging forms and shot forms couldn't be completed until after production.

Filming began after the actors were all given a weekend with the script to get used to their roles and learn their lines. As with the pre-production stage, the production time also went extremely well, with one very evident hiccup at the very end; dan being accidentally injured in the last take I took.

Other than this there was no problem whatsoever between the Monday and Wednesday 08/06/09 and 10/06/09 filming period. Despite only being given 40 minutes to film on the Monday the majority of the scenes 2/3/4 were filmed very quickly indeed, concentrating on various corridor scene interludes and scene 5 on Tuesday.

This rapid production schedule could have only been achieved with the help of considerate and hardworking, good listening actors, who shared the same spur of energy and dedication I had towards making the project as realistic as possible; making filming a very quick and relatively hassle free process.

The only major problem I encountered throughout pre-production/Production and post-production was Dan Glynn's accident in the fight scene filmed in the closing hours of day 3 (Wednesday) After hitting his head on the wall after being thrown into it as required, the state of my product management was literally hanging by a thread as all of my paperwork was taken away immediately after the accident for evaluation (I suspect risk assessments were the tutors main priority)
I was uncertain for several days if I would even be allowed to begin the post-production stage after the film potentially being deemed far too unsafe due to real life injury on set. Luckily a few days later my paperwork was given back and after a review of the footage I was told not to use the footage of Dan hitting his head, thus turning it into a snuff film.

Post-Production was clean and again, a relatively quick process with a few inevitable bumps along the way. After the beginning drag of having to log the footage (had to be done twice after Avid Liquid started overwriting the footage previously logged) it was all a matter of putting the correct clips in the correct order in the timeline.

There were many new techniques used in the film, camera wise and during post production. I had never used different camera angles to this extent before, a requirement to keep lengthy conversations up to pace and interesting for audience. Using a mixture of close ups, low angles, Mid shots, Long shots and high angles to represent different characters and their dominant or subpar status' in the film. keeping a realistic shake on the camera as I held it in my hand rather than place it on a tripod to represent the paranoia, a crucial element to the understanding of the film. Filming a fight scene and creating fake, realistic looking blood and blood splatter (Golden syrup/red/blue food dye/coffee and water mixture)

Also the use of audio was new to me including having to create the entire score myself due to copyright. It was definitely more prominent, making me appreciate it a lot more. getting rid of an audio track or repeating sections etc can change the entire atmosphere and mood to a piece of film instantly.

One shot in particular which seems to receive a large amount of praise involves Michael walking into the meeting room holding a cup of water. Instead of using a normal front Mid shot I decided to rest the camera on the actor's arm and focus in on the cup in his hand as he walked towards the door, giving the impression the cup is floating across the corridor.

The majority of scenes stuck very closely to the original storyboards and script, but during the 3 days scenes 1 and 5 changed considerably. It was decided upon to include a speech in the 5th scene before the final outcome and the fight scene changed completely from the original storyboards. They were changed as seemed fit on the day of filming. I found when actually on set, initial ideas don't always tend to work as well as imagined, requiring rewrites, something that happens in the industry a lot.

Every project brings new challenges to the table. After thinking you know everything on creating a film, you start a new project and find new obstacles you never thought you would have to encounter, coming your way. I now have a much larger gratification towards the audio in any film and I am now more wary about the future and predicting further problems and ideas I can make a success in projects to come.