CCAD Closed

Today I was supposed to be filming Charlottes Wool Room. I received a text off Peter Silk informing me that the college was closed today. I called Charlotte and she told me that the filming has had to be cancelled. So I am just sat working from home working on my files and annotating scripts... I was lucky to have managed to film on Saturday because the weather is a lot worse now!

Production day...

A few days ago it started snowing but nobody anticipated that it would get as bad as it is now especially because the weather has been quite good for weeks. It wasn't until the night before that I had a bad feeling that the weather would affect the day. It was something nobody could control and it was too short notice to make any changes so I decided to see how it goes. In the morning when I was getting ready for a day of filming I received a text from Nadine. She confirmed what I was dreading. The snow in Newcastle was even worse and she didn't want to risk it. She was very apologetic but I assured her that it was understandable and that safety and returning home at the end of the day was far too important.
I was annoyed about this situation but it was unavoidable. I called Peter Silk my Director and explained our position. We couldn't work around it without a MOTHER character. I suggested all the possible solutions that I could think of which were to cancel and re schedule, find anyone to play the mother or to film half today and half another day. The problems I had with re scheduling or filming half another day were that we already had all of the other actors and locations in place and we might not be able to get them all for another day. Peter was in favour of re scheduling however. In the end I asked my mum if she would play the part of MOTHER and she said yes. My mum is not an actor but my plan was to see how the day went and if it didn't go well then at least we could have said we tried and then it would have went to plan B, re-schedule.

After this bad start to the day we managed to get to our first location and I explained to everyone what had happened. I was recording the sound as well as filling in the production log and being a producer obsessed with my schedule. After that everything seemed to be going well. Until 4pm. This was the time we were meeting one of our actors called Becky and her dad at Teesside University Library. When we arrived the security informed us that the Library had closed and the staff had gone home due to the snow. The lady who organised the location for us did not call us to let us know. Kass and I went in the Student Union and asked if there was a room in the university that we could use because of what has happened. They finally sorted us out with another room. We went to set up. I explained to everyone that we have to quickly set up so that we continue to run to schedule.
In the end we finished about ten minutes before I said we would. Everyone on the crew mentioned that that was the most stress free, flowing production they have been on. I wish I could agree with the stress-free part! But I am really please about how the day went! And I am happy that the cast and crew enjoyed it!! It makes me feel that the hard work and decisions I made paid off.
Also we don't need to re-schedule because my mum was actually good. The MOTHER part wasn't that much of a big part so everything worked out in the end.

I don't think I could have done much to prepare for something like this. It is not often we get snow so it was a big shock. I am just glad everything ran to schedule for the first time!

Now just to film Steve talking on Wednesday. And edit before Christmas.
Thanks crew!!

filming live project tomorrow

These past few days I have been finishing off paperwork for my live project because we are filming tomorrow.
I found a Nathan. Who is now called Becky because he is now female.
Kassim has helped by contacting people for me so I could concentrate on other things. This was a big help so thank you Kass!
Everything is ready. So hopefully tomorrow will run smoothly!
My mam has kindly made about 70 sandwiches so the cast and crew of eight people are going to be very full!
I am looking forward to it but I am nervous too. I think I have prepared well enough though.

I also emailed my specialism proposal last night. I want to produce Jordans climbing documentary and co-produce Sophies film. I am hoping my proposal was good enough!

lots to do...

I have about 6 to do lists right now so I have been very busy. The good news is that everything is falling into place for my live project which we are filming this Saturday. I have all of my locations (apart from an exterior shot of a school, but that can be filmed another day). I have nearly all of my actors apart from a NATHAN. But I am working on that. I have to make the actors packs, gather all of the props and costumes, and fill out the forms such as risk assessments, location information, release forms etc. But it is looking good. Hopefully it will keep going this way.

As for multi - camera. I heard today that our main actor has dropped out! This is really annoying news but these things happen so us producers are going to have to find another actor. I know Sophie and Jess have been working hard on that today, hopefully I can help tomorrow. I have a lot of work to do for this module too but thanks to my lists I can see what there is to do and there is not a greater feeling than crossing things off my to-do list! (at this moment in time)

Contextual studies and professional studies are going okay. I am not too worried about them because I have been working on them gradually.

As for Specialism, our proposals have to be in by Friday. So I need to think carefully about this.

update

yesterday I was in college all afternoon.
This morning I had my sound presentation
I then had to leave slightly early with Peter Silk to go and meet my Live project client in Hartlepool. It was a good meeting because we got feedback, a prop and we then thought about how we could get around the amount of actors / extras Peter originally wanted.
I then arrived back at college and started looking for actors. I text Jordan asking him if his younger brother would be interested.
That is all I have done so far but its only afternoon still..........

weird week... but...

...I have emailed my live crew a Production schedule. Most of it contains work that must be completed by me as Producer but they have it. It is going to be a very tight plan, but I am confident I can do an efficient job in the time available. These next few weeks are going to be crazy but I am looking forward to it.

this week at college...

We had a run through of the entire script. We had a technical rehearsal. We had a few meetings which I have typed up and filed. I went through folder work and what needs to be in there. I had a meeting with Peter Silk about the script, we went through actors, locations, props and everything else. I came up with a schedule and I put dates down for filming and editing. I put it on the wall so everyone knows when I intend to film. I need to arrange a meeting with the client. We're emailing actors for multi-camera next monday. I got some feedback on my logos. I have a lot of work to do this weekend. I want to arrange a meeting with some industry professionals for primary research but I do not know how realistic it will be to get in touch with someone who will let us interview them. But I think it is worth trying anyway. Especially for the PA role!
I still need to do my contextual studies presentation. We went to the RTS awards in York on Tuesday night which was a good night!

I went to college early today, did research, some organising for Live, we watched auditions, had a script

read through, I got feedback for my logo designs, I put dates down for filming / editing live.

Logo ideas

I have been coming up with some logo designs for my company. Here are a few...

Reel Tees Productions?

I originally wanted my company to be called Zeus Productions (my brothers tortise was called Zeus) so I looked on Companies House and it looked like that name was available. However, I googled it and there was an existing film company with that name. I didn't want to risk it just because it was not on Companies House so I thought of some new names. Reel Tees was the best one I came up with and it hasn't been taken but I am still not sure. I am going to think about it for a bit before I make a decision.
I have spent nearly all day doing work for every module. I am almost caught up already which I am feeling happy about!

Contextual studies

EXAMPLES OF SOUND USED TO CREATE MEANING OR IDENTITY WITHIN THE TEXT RELATING TO GENRE
I am half way through my presentation planning. I want to choose texts that are unpredictable. Jaw's is the film people usually talk about when it comes to sound and I don't want this. I have so far a Korean comedy film, a sci-fi film and a fantasy film. The presentation is on Wednesday, we have to keep them to 30 minutes so I have to keep this in mind when I lay it out. I am thinking of making it more interesting and adding some TV series in but this isn't a definite decision yet.
I don't know if I am filming tomorrow yet. I am waiting on a phone call. I wish I had more notice and an idea of the plan but I will have to prepare for it regardless of whether or not it is going to happen.

this week...

Some of the things I have been doing these past few days... I had a meeting with my Live crew. We had a run through of the western script (I was Sound, PA then camera), we had a Technical Demonstration on Edit 7, we had the second auditions, watched the camera presentations in Contextual Studies, had individual meetings which I sat in on, had a talk about the specialisms, did research, come up with ideas for my company name and logo for Professional Studies, started on my Contextual Studies presentation, had a Multicamera meeting, spoke to my live client, typed up all of my notes and diary, filed and got almost everything up to speed. I still have a lot to do but I am happy with the progress this week.

College

It's good to be back at college. There isn't much time before we break up for Christmas and I have so much work to do. We had the second auditions this evening for the multi camera module. We had a few meetings today with Live and Multi-camera crews. Yesterday Andy and I were having a talk with someone from the Evening Gazette about BBC Blast. These next few weeks are going to be crazy but I am looking forward to it.