Major Project: Pitching to 1st Years

Major Project: Pitching to 1st Years

After chatting to Simon and Laura about my role as producer on this project (and understanding the scale of the film and the importance of delegating responsibility). I took the initiative to prepare a pitch to get 1st year students involved in our project. 

After our recent shoots (the racing licence shoot in particular) I found myself really struggling to reach my full potential as producer when I have to be on a camera, and going forward I'd like to avoid this wherever possible, which Simon agreed with.

As such a big focus for me in regards to future shoots will be ensuring we have enough crew to help us be as efficient as we can be. It will take some of the pressure off of Cailan as well as myself since he can delegate some of the shotlist to additional crew, since he as good as he is, Cailan can only be in one place at a time. My research tells me that finding crew is also a part of my key responsibilities as Producer. Ideally third years or competent external colleagues are who we would like on a shoot. But it often comes down to who's available and how easily they can get to a shoot and fulfil the requirements of the shoot. As such when those options aren't available (due to schedule clashing or whatever else) then it could be a good idea to seek help internally within the lower year groups of the course. 

Although less experienced, 1st years are a resource we have easy access to and have more open schedules, and their location being based at the studios with us would allow for potential briefings and collections of equipment and personal to be more easily arranged.

To get first years interested and involved in our project I liaised with the other lecturers on our course to find an opening in one of their lectures/workshops where I could speak to the year group.

After establishing this I immediately got to work on preparing a presentation to show/pitch to them which you can read bellow.

I made sure to outline early on in the pitch exactly what the project was and what it was we were looking to recruit (camera operators mostly). Before going in to the specifics.

In my pitch I went over the locations we would be visiting and made sure to stress the uniqueness and scale of our project. Highlighting some of the opportunities they would get by joining this project. Being a documentary I explained that this would also be very useful for their upcoming units and give them experience that would provide a head start over other students.

I then broke down the more specific details of the project such as how many crew we were looking for and the dates they would be required. I pitched with confidence and enthusiasm and successfully gauged the interest of the room (fortunately public speaking is something I am quite good at).

I left room for questions but my pitch seemed to answer any quires people may have had. I ended the session with a more open and friendly tactic. I had pre-printed my contact details on some business cards that I left with the group, and rounded off my pitch, not by asking for names, or a show of hands or anything. But by saying that if anyone was interested, I would be easting lunch in the base room and they could come and approach me individually to have a more private, relaxed discussion. 

I am pleased to say that this idea took off really well and I had multiple 1st years approach me and express interest. I took down all their details and followed up with them that same evening (something I've learned from research and experience is very important).

Unfortunately that is where the success of this idea ends. Since almost all of the volunteers either had, scheduling clashes, were un able to physically get to our shoots, or simply changed their minds and stopped responding to my messages.

The two people that did follow through and I kept in touch with proved to be unreliable backing out at the last minuet (the day off a shoot). As such going forward I will stick to resources that are closer to hand (such as other third years).