Progress report - final planning for the shoot

Over the past couple of weeks my group has been putting the final touches to the pre-production in preparation for our shoot. Firstly we had to choose the locations we were going to use for our shoot and so spent some time out of class on a recce looking at possible locations. We also took photographs in order to see whether it matched the storyboard and so that we could get an idea on how the shot would look. Once we had chosen the locations we then had to draw floor plans for each. We tried to make the floor plans as detailed as possible including lights, light switches, doors, power points, fire extinguishers etc. From this we were able to more accurately plan the best and safest places to film our shots from and do a risk assessment on each location.

We also had to find an actor and actress which have caused a few problems along the way. Our first actor pulled out 5 days before the shoot and so we had to find a new actor. We did find someone but also asked another person if they could act as a standby incase anything went wrong. This turned out to be a very good move as our second actor also pulled out 3 days before the shoot so we turned to our standby. The actress was quite easy to find as she was a member of our media class and I had used her in one of my productions last year and so knew her abilities would meet our requirements. However we found out the day before the shoot that she had double booked herself. With a quick shuffle of the production schedule we worked out a way that we could film her scenes first which solved the problem.

After choosing the locations we had to inform the college through our lecturer of which rooms we would be using and when so that we could be sure they were free, unlocked for us and that the college staff new what we were doing. Whilst creating the production schedule we decided we would need to shoot over two days as we needed some night shots and wouldn’t have time before the college closed to get everything in. Our actress could only do the first day of shooting so we had to make sure her scenes were shot that day. However, as was mentioned above she had double booked herself and didn’t realise until the day before the shoot so I pulled her scenes right to the front of the production schedule and then informed the college again through my lecturer of the revisions that needed to be made in as far as when some of the rooms needed to be open. Though these problems were inconvenient we managed to overcome them competently due to good planning, clear schedules and identifiable lines of communication.

I made a list of the resources we’ll need for the shoot and then we worked out where each of these items were going to come from. In terms of props for example we needed a camera, torch, chair, rope and lamp. We also attained a wheelchair in order to help with tracking and dolly shots. The final things were the camera equipment which was available to borrow from the college once appropriate notice had been given. Each item has been accounted for and so this aspect of the shoot is also ready to go.

During the last week or so we have also made our final copies of the script, dual column script, and storyboards. With these in place all the visual and audio aspects of the film are planned and merely need to be obtained now during the shoot. Having the trailer mapped out so clearly should help the shoot to run smoothly and efficiently with no time wasting. It should also mean that we end up with a finished product that looks professional and that the group is happy with.