Major Project: Evaluation
Now that the project is over I can look back and reflect on each part of it from a critical perspective.
The pre-production phase of the project was mostly done before I came on board, as a result, I had a somewhat m=limited impact on the construction of this. Which although is annoying, it cannot be helped. Due to this, however, I did feel somewhat lost at the start of this project when it came to my role as producer. It was meant to be my job to arrange contributors, locations, etc. But much of this had already been done by Alex.
However, although it took a while, he came to understand my perspective and desire to commit myself fully to the role. As such he helped me to find more things to be involved with in the pre-production stage. We agreed on additional contributors that would be good to speak to, as well as committing to ones we had planned for but hadn't actually contacted yet. So i committed myself to reaching out to each of these individuals to arrange filming interviews with. I had some success here but it wasn't instantaneous. Some of the contributors we had planned for like Billy Mounger, just didn't have the availability to be in our project, or cancelled last minute like Katie Millner. So undeterred I continued to find and reach out to alternative contributors that we got on board. Such as Abbi Pulling or Bobby Trundley from team Brit (who unfortunately didn't make the cut).
I also was put in charge of arranging locations such as the Diary Room, which i did successfully despite the difficulties we faced such as having to re-shoot or move plans. As well as getting trackside access for the majority of the time we were at bands hatch (although there were some miscommunications at the start).
I was successful in setting up our budget and assisting with the fundraiser. Keeping a regular check on how much money we had coming in and going out of this project. I kept this up throughout the production as well, but did make a few rounding errors which lead to us being slightly over budget. But i learned from this and made sure to account for my mistakes so that it didn;t cause an issue.
I think my scheduling during the pre-production and in the the production was very effective. I allowed for location scouts, test shoots, team meetings, edit days etc.
All of which was effectively communicated and arranged with the team, even if there were last minute chnages.
During the pre-production I also kept a close eye on Alex's script. Monitoring and giving concise feedback on any changes.
Although Alex was initially apprehensive to implement my suggestions, it often transpired that these were the exact same suggestions Simon was making, thus proving the validity of my opinion and leading to the implementation of chnages that I think really helped the script.
I also spent a lot of the pre-production phase researching. I looked in to many, many other documentaries as contextual research that informed our documentary. As well as gaining an understanding of the role specific skills I would need in this project.
Looking back though, I would have liked to have done more research in to pre-established producers and editors so that my roles were even more well informed when it came to decision making.
In to the main production phase was when I really hit my stride. Unusually production was the longest part of our project and there was a lot to do.
Before each and every shoot I would create a call sheet, schedule and risk assessment. As well as collating my director's camera plans, shotlists and any storyboards. Making sure everyone wen tin to every shoot knowing exactly what to do and with all the relevant paperwork.
As producer during the production phase, I certainly struggled early on to find my place, and strike a balance with my crew. Even though I was a "creative producer" I wasn't used to being so passive during a shoot.
Often my desire to help and make an impact during a shoot would becoem a detriment. There were countless times when I got in Cailan's way, or got on his nerves by tring to tell him what I think he should be doing (which was different to the plans he was trying to work from). I was also quite unclear on what my responsibilities were as producer, when Alex was in front of the camera. There were times when Cailan would "call the shots" and times when I would. There were times when Alex would have a heavy influence on what we were filming/how we were filming it, and times when he said he could't give guidance as he was a contributor. So there were occasions when I would have an issue and try to ask him for a solution, but he would not offer assistance as he was not the director at that time, but then question a decision I made in his absense.
It took a while but we did eventually find a healthy balance. I came to repect cailans role as D.O.P, helping him where I could but staying out of the way until I was needed. Only telling him what to do if it was relevant to the plans and shotlsit layed out by Alex. Over time communication between us became more and more effective.
For each shoot i also tried to arrange for the most effective crew to be used. If i felt we needed additional camera operators i would plan this in advance to try and get people to come and help. I managed to arrange this for all our large scale scenes, but this wasn' always possible for other shoots though.
The main issue I had in the production phase was the amount of role overlapping. There were times when I had to be on camera, or even shoots where I was the main operator due to Cailans absence (fortunately not during any major sequences) which I wasn't entirely comfortable with and certainly produced mixed results.
I also found myself adopting a considerable amount of the D.O.P's responsibilities. I filled out all the risk assessments. I drew up lists of all the equipment we would need during a shoot. I arranged every single equipment booking with Ferg. I collected and returned all of the equipment every single time. I transported the majority of the equipment to every shoot and often I was the one setting it up or packing it away. Which unfortunately took time and attention away from my responsibilities as producer/editor at times.
But overall during the production phase, after working on my role with Alex, Cailan and Simon. I think i did an effective job as producer, briefing everyone on et, obtaining permits and consent forms, arranging locations often at the last minute etc.
The post-production phase was also one that required a lot of time and effort. Looking back I am really greatful for the support I received from Cailan. Without his help the edit would not have been as successful as it was.
Although Alex did make siginificant effort in places during the edit phase. I certainly did not feel quite the amount of support from my director as i would have liked. I think certain parts of the edit took longer to get right or change, because I did not have enoguh support from Alex at times, both physically and in terms of decision making.
There were days when I could have really used Alex's instant opinion on something in order to get it right, but I didn't have access to it as he couldn't make it in to edit with me.
So although there were times when I felt i needed a little more support in the edit, these occassions were very limited and I had Alex's hlep for most other days during the post production which was a huge help. There were times when he would watch my edit he would try to take away my creative control and dismiss any justification I tried to bring for my ideas. But this is only because he felt so passionately about the project and had such a clear vission, that it was tough for him to come round to other perspectives initially. But thankfully the majority of the time we were able to reach an agreed solution.
I ended up with an edit I am proud of and had a lot of impact with. But it still felt like i was somewhat restricted with my creative control over the edit due to Alex's attachments to the source material.
I certainly wasn't perfect either though as i also got attached to the material that I edited which made it very difficult for me to cut anything. At the start of the post production I also got very overwhelmed and behind with eh edit and had to bring Cailan on board to help which was a tough decision to have to make. But I eventually found my stride and pulled out some really nice sequences that eventually came together to form a coherent film.
Looking back although I gave cailan consistent feedback on his edits, i was not as self-critical of my own work as i probably needed to be. But I was able to utilise various editing techniques and practices that I researched at the start of this project which I'm pleased about.
The final part of the post-production process was the grade. Considering this was something I had never done to this scale before, and something I had struggled with in the past. I am really pleased with how the grading went. I had a clear vision for the grade and was able to put it in to motion.
I went for an orange warm tinted grade based on my research, that highlighted the struggle and intensity of this journey. The grade is also effective in dawing the eye to the film to increase audience engagement.
I feel like I effectively acted on the feedback and advice i received from Nathen Cawes, my group and the peers i got to look at my grade. It wasn't that easy but certainly went a lot smoother than I was expecting. I successfully matched up almost all of my shots, even the more difficult ones now seemed to share a pallet with the rest of the film enhancing the immersion. Some scenes needed less work than others, simply needing more of a filter than anything else and for other sequences, `i had to manually grade each shot, but managed to do this in a prompt and timely fashion.
I had a limited time to put together the grade so although it's not completely perfect, I am very happy with what I produced in the time I had.
Overall there were many challenges that I faced on this project. I was thrown in to a role I had never done before, the scale of our project was absolutely insane. We filmed so much and went outside our comfort zone a lot. There was significant pressure throughout and a fair bit of role overlapping. But all in all I think it helped to create a really effective documentary (even if it has a different ending that what was first planned, I think it works better).
Communication on this project was good but there were many occasions where it needed to be so much better as it lead to disputes. But we came together in the end to resolve every issue we encountered, even if it often meant compromise.
It was a tough journey where i ended up doing a lot more than I ever imagined. But I am really grateful for the support of my team, and I think we've produced a documentary to be proud off!
The pre-production phase of the project was mostly done before I came on board, as a result, I had a somewhat m=limited impact on the construction of this. Which although is annoying, it cannot be helped. Due to this, however, I did feel somewhat lost at the start of this project when it came to my role as producer. It was meant to be my job to arrange contributors, locations, etc. But much of this had already been done by Alex.
However, although it took a while, he came to understand my perspective and desire to commit myself fully to the role. As such he helped me to find more things to be involved with in the pre-production stage. We agreed on additional contributors that would be good to speak to, as well as committing to ones we had planned for but hadn't actually contacted yet. So i committed myself to reaching out to each of these individuals to arrange filming interviews with. I had some success here but it wasn't instantaneous. Some of the contributors we had planned for like Billy Mounger, just didn't have the availability to be in our project, or cancelled last minute like Katie Millner. So undeterred I continued to find and reach out to alternative contributors that we got on board. Such as Abbi Pulling or Bobby Trundley from team Brit (who unfortunately didn't make the cut).
I also was put in charge of arranging locations such as the Diary Room, which i did successfully despite the difficulties we faced such as having to re-shoot or move plans. As well as getting trackside access for the majority of the time we were at bands hatch (although there were some miscommunications at the start).
I was successful in setting up our budget and assisting with the fundraiser. Keeping a regular check on how much money we had coming in and going out of this project. I kept this up throughout the production as well, but did make a few rounding errors which lead to us being slightly over budget. But i learned from this and made sure to account for my mistakes so that it didn;t cause an issue.
I think my scheduling during the pre-production and in the the production was very effective. I allowed for location scouts, test shoots, team meetings, edit days etc.
All of which was effectively communicated and arranged with the team, even if there were last minute chnages.
During the pre-production I also kept a close eye on Alex's script. Monitoring and giving concise feedback on any changes.
Although Alex was initially apprehensive to implement my suggestions, it often transpired that these were the exact same suggestions Simon was making, thus proving the validity of my opinion and leading to the implementation of chnages that I think really helped the script.
I also spent a lot of the pre-production phase researching. I looked in to many, many other documentaries as contextual research that informed our documentary. As well as gaining an understanding of the role specific skills I would need in this project.
Looking back though, I would have liked to have done more research in to pre-established producers and editors so that my roles were even more well informed when it came to decision making.
In to the main production phase was when I really hit my stride. Unusually production was the longest part of our project and there was a lot to do.
Before each and every shoot I would create a call sheet, schedule and risk assessment. As well as collating my director's camera plans, shotlists and any storyboards. Making sure everyone wen tin to every shoot knowing exactly what to do and with all the relevant paperwork.
As producer during the production phase, I certainly struggled early on to find my place, and strike a balance with my crew. Even though I was a "creative producer" I wasn't used to being so passive during a shoot.
Often my desire to help and make an impact during a shoot would becoem a detriment. There were countless times when I got in Cailan's way, or got on his nerves by tring to tell him what I think he should be doing (which was different to the plans he was trying to work from). I was also quite unclear on what my responsibilities were as producer, when Alex was in front of the camera. There were times when Cailan would "call the shots" and times when I would. There were times when Alex would have a heavy influence on what we were filming/how we were filming it, and times when he said he could't give guidance as he was a contributor. So there were occasions when I would have an issue and try to ask him for a solution, but he would not offer assistance as he was not the director at that time, but then question a decision I made in his absense.
It took a while but we did eventually find a healthy balance. I came to repect cailans role as D.O.P, helping him where I could but staying out of the way until I was needed. Only telling him what to do if it was relevant to the plans and shotlsit layed out by Alex. Over time communication between us became more and more effective.
For each shoot i also tried to arrange for the most effective crew to be used. If i felt we needed additional camera operators i would plan this in advance to try and get people to come and help. I managed to arrange this for all our large scale scenes, but this wasn' always possible for other shoots though.
The main issue I had in the production phase was the amount of role overlapping. There were times when I had to be on camera, or even shoots where I was the main operator due to Cailans absence (fortunately not during any major sequences) which I wasn't entirely comfortable with and certainly produced mixed results.
I also found myself adopting a considerable amount of the D.O.P's responsibilities. I filled out all the risk assessments. I drew up lists of all the equipment we would need during a shoot. I arranged every single equipment booking with Ferg. I collected and returned all of the equipment every single time. I transported the majority of the equipment to every shoot and often I was the one setting it up or packing it away. Which unfortunately took time and attention away from my responsibilities as producer/editor at times.
But overall during the production phase, after working on my role with Alex, Cailan and Simon. I think i did an effective job as producer, briefing everyone on et, obtaining permits and consent forms, arranging locations often at the last minute etc.
The post-production phase was also one that required a lot of time and effort. Looking back I am really greatful for the support I received from Cailan. Without his help the edit would not have been as successful as it was.
Although Alex did make siginificant effort in places during the edit phase. I certainly did not feel quite the amount of support from my director as i would have liked. I think certain parts of the edit took longer to get right or change, because I did not have enoguh support from Alex at times, both physically and in terms of decision making.
There were days when I could have really used Alex's instant opinion on something in order to get it right, but I didn't have access to it as he couldn't make it in to edit with me.
So although there were times when I felt i needed a little more support in the edit, these occassions were very limited and I had Alex's hlep for most other days during the post production which was a huge help. There were times when he would watch my edit he would try to take away my creative control and dismiss any justification I tried to bring for my ideas. But this is only because he felt so passionately about the project and had such a clear vission, that it was tough for him to come round to other perspectives initially. But thankfully the majority of the time we were able to reach an agreed solution.
I ended up with an edit I am proud of and had a lot of impact with. But it still felt like i was somewhat restricted with my creative control over the edit due to Alex's attachments to the source material.
I certainly wasn't perfect either though as i also got attached to the material that I edited which made it very difficult for me to cut anything. At the start of the post production I also got very overwhelmed and behind with eh edit and had to bring Cailan on board to help which was a tough decision to have to make. But I eventually found my stride and pulled out some really nice sequences that eventually came together to form a coherent film.
Looking back although I gave cailan consistent feedback on his edits, i was not as self-critical of my own work as i probably needed to be. But I was able to utilise various editing techniques and practices that I researched at the start of this project which I'm pleased about.
The final part of the post-production process was the grade. Considering this was something I had never done to this scale before, and something I had struggled with in the past. I am really pleased with how the grading went. I had a clear vision for the grade and was able to put it in to motion.
I went for an orange warm tinted grade based on my research, that highlighted the struggle and intensity of this journey. The grade is also effective in dawing the eye to the film to increase audience engagement.
I feel like I effectively acted on the feedback and advice i received from Nathen Cawes, my group and the peers i got to look at my grade. It wasn't that easy but certainly went a lot smoother than I was expecting. I successfully matched up almost all of my shots, even the more difficult ones now seemed to share a pallet with the rest of the film enhancing the immersion. Some scenes needed less work than others, simply needing more of a filter than anything else and for other sequences, `i had to manually grade each shot, but managed to do this in a prompt and timely fashion.
I had a limited time to put together the grade so although it's not completely perfect, I am very happy with what I produced in the time I had.
Overall there were many challenges that I faced on this project. I was thrown in to a role I had never done before, the scale of our project was absolutely insane. We filmed so much and went outside our comfort zone a lot. There was significant pressure throughout and a fair bit of role overlapping. But all in all I think it helped to create a really effective documentary (even if it has a different ending that what was first planned, I think it works better).
Communication on this project was good but there were many occasions where it needed to be so much better as it lead to disputes. But we came together in the end to resolve every issue we encountered, even if it often meant compromise.
It was a tough journey where i ended up doing a lot more than I ever imagined. But I am really grateful for the support of my team, and I think we've produced a documentary to be proud off!
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