We've been set the task of producing a 10 minute short film to enter into two of the UK's best film festivals Raindance, and Exposures (which is solely for students).
We're in groups of 6 and each have our specific roles - my role is as the Producer. At first we held many group production meetings, where everybody had an input in developing our concept and, afterwards, our script. After all pitching various ideas, we began developing an idea that Nick (our chosen Director) put forward and once we had a layout we were all happy with, Nick and I began writing multiple drafts of the script. I really enjoyed the collaborative effort, even with all the arguments, disagreements and the moments of awkward tension that came with them. After about 8 drafts we had a script we were all happy with and, already far behind schedule, we began moving forward with the pre-production process.
Finding actors was a frustrating process, mostly as it moved slowly and not a lot of progress could be made until we were settled. Both the 2nd and 3rd years of both the Broadcasting and Film courses were casting for films at the same time, and it was difficult to get responses from Dartington actors, so we had to be a little more creative in where to find others. Eventually we found an actor suited to each of the three parts and by then we were ahead of schedule and getting quite confident about our situation.
We should have foreseen bad luck in the shape of scheduling conflicts with two of (who we thought were) our ideal actors, causing them to have to step back from their commitment to us. It was now approaching the end of term and the majority of the group were going home for up to a month, we were under pressure to find new actors and schedule auditions and rehearsals in time to film the first week back.
Although difficult, we ended up finding actors we were happy with and were free to work around our (delayed) production dates. However, the actors we ended up with are younger than our original cast and script characters, so a few adjustments had to be made to the script.
We only found the last actor at the end of last week. So we now have our first full rehearsal next Wednesday, another rehearsal scheduled for the following Wednesday and then we're (hopefully) set that weekend to film - two more weeks behind schedule and dependent on plans working out with the campus shop (our location). In the meantime we have to organise test shoots with fake cigarettes/CGI smoke, gather costumes and a large amount of props (including producing fake newspapers and CCTV cameras), begin the sound and CGI design, film and edit a fake TV news-report and find a second location and build a green-screen window there.
Although paperwork and planning has never been my strong-suit, I am enjoying the role of Producer. Being able to be heavily involved with the creative aspects of the production as well as shepherding its progress through contact with the group and its individual members is something I'm both enjoying and learning from. Although keeping the entire group in contact with each other and up to date the whole time is more of a difficult task than it seems, being in charge of the organisation and scheduling isn't as bad as I initially thought it would be.
It's also been useful and almost enjoyable being in charge of correspondence with locations as well as searching for actors and organising casting auditions and rehearsals, contacting local theatre groups and organisations and responding to all the replies as the main contact of the group.
Mostly, I've enjoyed the scriptwriting process. From the workshops to working collaboratively with Nick and the rest of the group to develop a concept into a strong script has been both informative and enjoyable, as writing and the technique involved is something that really interests me. I feel proud of what we've ended up with.
Now to just make the thing...
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