Film Narrative 2 Critical Reflection:
Title: Pre-Human Resources
Mara – Producer, Production Designer
Saoirse – Sound Recorder, Sound Designer, Production Designer
Duncan – Director of Photography, Editor
Gonçalo – Writer, Camera Assistant
My two main roles were producer and production designer. My duties included:
• I helped to find a location with the rest of the group then booked the room so that we were able to film there. Because we wanted to film in the Boardroom I had to book the room by emailing Zoë since it was not a room that students could book. This was quite a difficult process due to the times the room was already booked by other lecturers but I managed to work out the best dates and times that we could film.
• I also had to book the equipment for the shoot. To do this I compiled a list of equipment I thought we would need and verified with the other departments that I had everything they would need. I then coordinated the times for picking up and returning the equipment with when we would arrive and leave the set.
• I was the contact for our actors since my email was put on the casting call. I spoke with everyone interested in the roles then spoke with my group to decide who would best fit each part. Once we had found our actors I kept in contact with Jacob (Esther communicated with her friend and when they dropped out Duncan was able to find another actor). I made sure he had all the information he needed, including; costume requirements, location and shoot times.
• When on set my main job was filling out the shoot paperwork. The documents I had to fill out were the continuity log, camera report and sound report. I made templates to make this easier to do when filming. To complete all of the paperwork I had to constantly communicate with the whole crew to ensure I had the right information, as well as keeping an eye on the action in each shot to make sure to keep accurate continuity.
• As co-production designer with Saoirse we had many discussions on what costume, props and set dressing we would need and who could bring what, other members of our group also helped out with bringing materials. It was very fun when we arrived on set and began bringing our vision, that we had been planning for weeks, to life. Further into filming when the characters had progressed in their plan (around 2:23) we added more post-it notes onto the walls to show the progress in their work. This was a team effort and was very fun for everyone to put their stamp on the film. We even all wrote our names in the background like the old trademarks, can you find them?
• Some smaller jobs: Creating a Moodboard in pre-production, ordering food when on set, sorting costs so that everyone would split the money spent on food and production design fairly, submitting the script, pre-production materials, shoot paperwork and the completed film to Moodle on behalf of the group and helping out with editing.
I loved my roles on this project. I was able to explore both creative and formal production roles. I really enjoyed being able to coordinate the details that make the film possible - although it can be stressful at times when things don’t go exactly right I was able to problem solve and adapt to each situation for a positive outcome. I also had a lot of fun with production design. There was a lot of responsibility on Saoirse and I to make sure we accurately represented the groups ideas for the film and I think we did it well. Deciding on what to have in the angels office, how we would represent each character’s personality in such a small space and finding everything we needed was an exciting task.
Our film received positive feedback on aspects including; the creativity of the production design, the actors’ performances and chemistry with one another, the sound design, and the montage sequence. The comedy in the film was enjoyed by everyone and was made so great through the films structure, script and the ‘bromance’ between the actors.
Some criticism we received was about the small size of the location - which felt very restricting, the lighting, which fell flat on the background and wasn’t as cinematic as it could have been, needing to bring the set dressing further into the middle of the frame and lack of experimentation with the framing with some of the shots. Another problem that was brought to our attention was that our credits were over the final shot. This was done as we did not want to go over the 3 minute limit and thought this was the best decision, instead of cutting down some of the film. I understand how this can be quite unappealing to the audience and will make sure other choices are made in the future to best represent the film and the crew.
The audience’s reaction to the film was great. They were laughing when they should and seemed to be engaged in the plot. It was really nice to see their reactions and how much they enjoyed the film.
One class I found to be the most helpful when forming our idea and characters was with Kate Davidson at the Screen Academy. She helped us with world building, characters and character flaws. I particularly enjoyed this meeting as we were able to look at our characters on a deeper level, to get to know them so that we could accurately present them.
Our meeting with Paul was also very useful, he helped us to refine our idea and choose the more important points to focus on. We also spoke about character dynamics with him to understand how we wanted our characters to interact.
We had multiple classes with Zoë on editing and sound design, these were really helpful during and after filming and I believe they played a huge role in our film especially how the sound was put together.
The set design is my favourite part of this film. As well as being really fun to create, it represents the characters well and was a great tool for world building. The differences between the two sides of the office (messy and neat) represent the characters so well. The script was really great for this film and the film might not have been as funny or creative without Gonçalo’s writing. Everything in this film builds off of the script and comes together to make a great film.
I agree that the lighting in this film could be better. Although I think the overexposed lighting for god really works, the rest of the film kind of falls flat. The lighting doesn’t really add anything to the film and we could have used it in a more creative way. I do also believe the issue with lighting is enhanced by the colour grading which was used to bring out the almost blue, everyday lighting colour found in offices.
My group worked really well together. Everybody was invested in the project and from the first day we met and decided what our idea would be we all had a lot of excitement to see what we could produce. We worked well together throughout the whole process and were very collaborative, helping each other whenever we were needed and giving each department our ideas and contributions. I would love to work these people again and after some tougher experiences in the first trimester this team really turned my experience around and I enjoyed my time working with them.
I learnt a lot through this process. I was able to add to my previous experiences of being producer facing new experiences and challenges as well as focusing on production design which I found really interesting. Each class for this module has given me a deeper understanding of film production, including, how to mark-up a script, pre-production tasks, responsibilities of each department, sound design and editing. I was able to put all of this learning into practice when making my film.
Through watching other films, I was able to see how the constructive feedback we were given could be put into practice. Including how cinematic lighting and framing can be successfully put into practice to enhance the overall film. Through the feedback for other films I have been able to highlight common mistakes made and understand which parts of the films did not work and why, helping me to understand the details and decisions that need to be made in film production.
One aspect of the feedback that I found to be particularly helpful was comments on performance and actors (e.g. appearance and age). Previously when getting feedback it wasn’t as common for our lecturers to focus much on actors and performances so I found it useful to hear about what worked and what didn’t for each film. This will definitely help me in the future when looking for actors and how to help them perform their best for my films.
