Major Project: Formula Ford Shoot

Major Project: Formula Ford Shoot

Today saw the completion of a further track day and shoot for our project. For my role as producer, I think the day went very well, and in terms of footage, I think we got a lot of great material, despite some difficulties we encountered which I'll go in to later.

The first steps I took into ensuring the success of today's shoot was the organisation of trackside access. Once again I got in contact with the staff at brands hatch and arranged for our crew to be stationed trackside. This would allow us to follow Alex's camera plans more closely as well as get better quality shots as we wouldn't have to work around obstructions. 

The second success I had early on was in the organisation of crew. After the issue we had last time with first years not showing up, I decided it would be more reliable to stick to who we knew. As such not only did we have a friend of Alex's (who had also done a media course at uni so was experienced on camera) come down, but I also organised two additional camera operators (and booked out the camera's for them), namely fellow third years Alex Hargood and Katie Joslin.  

Accounting for this I scheduled the day carefully to account for their arrival. Firstly myself and the main crew arrived at Brands Hatch, got signed on and met up with Alex's contact who was helping him race today. We double checked which sessions Alex would be participating in and filmed the first set of shots on our list of Alex arriving and getting set up (as we didn't get quite as much material of this last time as we would have liked). Once I was affirmed that Cailan and the other camera operators knew what they were doing and I had briefed them on their locations and timings, it was then time for me to greet Alex and Katie.

I had scheduled for them to arrive slightly later than us so that they didn't end up waiting around all morning, and allow me and Cailan to brief the camera operators individually to avoid confusion and unnecessary crowding of the pit lane area.

Before heading over to them I made sure to distribute walkie talkies accordingly, allowing me to keep in contact with Cailan and be on top of any changes or developments on his end. I met up with Alex and Katie, got them signed on as media and then gave them each a camera plan and a brief explanation. I then re-introduced them to Alex followed by Cailan. Cailan then proceeded to give them a more detailed rundown of their responsibilities and talked them through the packs I had provided. He did a really good job of breaking down the shots and angles we needed them to get as well us instructing them a to how to work the cameras they would be using. 

After Cailan had finished his briefing (exactly on time) I took Alex and Katie to their locations and helped them set up. They seemed pretty confident and so I left them to it (making sure to give them a walkie talkie so we could keep on an open line of communication).

I proceeded to make my way back to the pit lane where I met up with Cailan and did my best to assist him with his responsibilities. But after discussion but after discussion following previous shoots I was keen to let him take the lead. This seemed to work for the morning session, and considering all the factors of the situation, we had a very smooth morning shoot.

However, the afternoon proved more challenging. Although we thought we were prepared for all eventualities we had an unexpected change in shoot, due to the fact Alex, through no fault of his own was hit (lightly) by another driver on track behaving recklessly. 

This really threw him off as well as damaging the car he was driving, preventing him from going out for his next session. The car then had to be taken to the paddock area to have some work done on it so it could go back out in the afternoon. While this was happening I informed all the camera operators that "there was an issue with the car, but that they should stay where they were until and wait for further updates".

I was unsure how much detail I should go in to, even though it wasn't Alex's fault I still didn't think he'd appreciate everyone knowing the full details of the event. I was also unsure what myself and Cailan were to do in this instance, my initial thought was that we should be filming his reactions, but at the same time, I worried it would be intrusive and inappropriate considering what he had just experienced. 

Despite my role research of what a producer should be doing on set, I was not prepared for this scenario. All i could do was remain professional, rather than try to console Alex, who wasn't ready to talk to people yet anyway, I took the opportunity to move up my schedule slightly. Going to check on our camera operators in person and updating them on what our next moves were to be.

Once both Alex and the car had time to recover, they went out for a few final laps so that Alex could re-assure himself of his abilities and that he could drive safely. I informed our camera operators of this and they were able to capture additional footage, meaning we only missed out on one track session which hopefully won't impact our edit much anyway.

Once this was complete I gathered everyone back at the pits and Alec and I thanked them for their time. I then collated the SD cards and sent our additional crew home. Myself, Alex and Cailan had a very minor de-brief but Alex wasn't quite in the state of mind to properly evaluate the day. 

Overall the day was a big success, the crew all behaved professionally, and got great material. We kept mostly to schedule and communication was effective. We did miss out on some key actually due to the events out on track so this will be something to reflect on at a later date.