Pre-production Preperation

Pre-production Preparation and Production

For this project I have taken on the role of producer, alongside another student, in the pre-production phase. As part of this role I am tasked with keeping the team organised and ensuring pre-production paperwork is completed and ready in time for shooting.

The group began by discussing ideas for our documentary, we came up with many ideas but struggled to find one we could all stand behind which also fit the brief. We chose three ideas to pitch to the bigger group these included, how people use only fans to make a living, how it is possibly liberating for them; children’s responses to COVID and lockdown, how this has affected them and their emotions and finally vaccinated and nonvaccinated, the struggles health care workers faced trying to decide whether they should get vaccinated or risk losing their jobs. Out of all these ideas the bigger group preferred the story around the children post COVID however, we quickly realised this would be a struggle as consent from parents would be needed as well as DBS checks. After this we changed our idea so it centred round the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, we wanted to find a British family who were hosting a Ukrainian family and follow how the two families integrated together and how the Ukrainian family integrated into their new life in the UK after fleeing. However, due to the slow pace of visas being approved and the severity of the story we wanted to tell it was hard to find people who were willing to tell their story on camera and have these tough conversations. Now our idea is focused more on how the local community have helped support Ukraine e.g., by collecting donated good and taking them from the UK to the polish border.

When pitching our idea, we had to create a pitch which outlined our documentary, the approach we are going to take, potential contributors and the story we aim to tell. I helped the team build the pitch. We also had to create a one-page summary of the pitch, have a brief scrip and a hypothesis – what we aimed to show. I also did some research into the (then current and correct) statistics surrounding the war in Ukraine, these were to support the pitch by showing statistically why we should tell this story as well as helping answer any questions we may have been asked. The feedback we gained from the pitch was how to approach the topic with care as it is fresh trauma for those we intended to interview. We were made aware how big our subject was and that it may be a struggle to fit within 10 minutes. These were all things we kept in mind when progressing with the project.

After pitching our idea and gaining some very helpful guidance we moved forward with finding contributors and communicating with those we did find. I spoke to Helen, a lawyer living locally who is hosting a Ukrainian family of three. She was willing to help however, visas took a long time to go through meaning she had only just got the family over one week prior to shoot week. She felt it was best they had some time to adjust in England and therefore did not move forward helping with the documentary. We understand this is a very heavy and challenging subject to tackle and we respected the decision she made. I also reached out to Sergiu Dbs, he organised a two-van convoy full of donations and supplies which Ukraine desperately needed, he had a friend living in Ukraine and was potentially planning another trip. He was very willing to participate but was away on a three-week holiday when we were shooting so he could not participate. Another lady i reached out to was Sue Clifford who is hosting a Ukranian family she was willing to be involved but lived quite far away so we contemplated organising a zoom interview. However, after conducting our first interview we decided as a group that we thought one contributor would be enough as they had a large and moving story to tell. Therefore, I thanked her for her time and willingness to participate but let her know we would no longer need her participation.

In order to help the team stay organised I created a schedule for shoot week. This had everyone’s availability and what shoot were happening between what times. This way it was simple for anyone to look at the schedule and know what was planned or who was available to help as crew. I thought it was best to divide the day into two (morning and afternoon) as we could potentially have two shoots in one day.

To be prepared, I created a call sheet template before any shoots has been confirmed. This meant that once plans had been finalised I could quickly and easily use the risk assessment and the pre-made template to create the call sheet for the shoot. I made the call sheet for the Maidstone tunnel shoot and the interview with Susie. I also made the risk assessment for the interview with Susie, unfortunately we were unable to do a location recce before the shoot but as we were shooting at her house it was simple to complete the risk assessment. Before the shoot I helped formulate the interview questions for both Susie and Tim and the two Ukrainian girls they were putting us in contact with. As we already knew their story quite well we formed questions which would lead them to tell some of the stuff they had already told us. However, we also included questions which would cover the grey areas of stuff they did not cover massively prior to the interview e.g., how they met/knew the girls.

Production Process

As we moved into the production process I was a crew member alongside Callum for the interview with Susie and Tim. I did some camera operation and was sound operator during the interview while Callum also did some camera operation while he was interviewing. We had good natural lighting on the day so decided we did not need to set up the LED lights, the natural lighting also fit into the authentic style we were aiming for.

Unfortunately, we experienced some technical difficulties regarding sound and camera footage during the first shoot which resulted in us returning to re-shoot some of the same content again with better sound and/or camera angles. Callum and I went to shoot and we ensured we had all the correct and necessary equipment to successfully shoot the second time around. We also prepared a shot list which made it clear exactly what coverage we needed again or missed during the first shoot. We were very conscious we were using up even more of their time by shooting again so we made the shot list to ensure the shoot was as quick and efficient as possible.

What I have done for the Documentary