Whats my General Thoughts?
To break this overall conclusion down, I'll be focusing on the key strengths and weaknesses, and then seeing what I would do to improve this pilot episode of DownStage.
What were the Key Strengths?
Here are what I think the key strengths of DownStage were:
Character Relationships & Development
Starting at pre-production, I feel by arranging a couple of camera rehearsals created an initial boost
for our production. As all of our actors were able to meet each other rather than jumping straight into production, this enabled them to bounce off each other better. For example, Marc (Giles) and Natalie (Alex) immediately created a bond which was vital for the two characters as they are commonly seen with each other throughout the narrative.
Likewise, having these rehearsals also had a huge influence on the character development. Although the actors mostly agreed that Kate's character profiles were extremely detailed and helpful, the rehearsals enabled us to directly tell them more about the characters, and how we would expect them to perform during production. A prime example of such character development would be Vinny playing Jamie. Although he was described as a joker, our rehearsals enabled us to let Vinny know how he is quite a clumsy and 'goofy' character.Therefore, I definitely feel this is a strong part of DownStage, building this relationship is vital for enabling us to visually receive what we are looking for in each actor.
Continuity
Moving on, another strength of DownStage would have to be continuity - hard work payed off by visually planning out each shot and creating a detailed shot list, as this helped us to create a consistent and reliable flowing narrative - whilst creating this final edit I believe that there are any mistakes which can be seen on camera that may effect continuity.
Likewise, the constant feedback from my course leader Simon and from Tim enabled this to happen - they generally helped to make the scenes within DownStage seem a lot tighter, enabling us to conform to this fast narrative pace that we see in rockumentaries, and more importantly to either let suspense build up (i.e. for the first half of the narrative) and to then be released during the party scene. Thus, continuity is also vital in any genre of television, and I feel that DownStage wouldn't of been able to convey this without feedback and hard work on both scripts and shot lists.
Conventional however Unique
Another key strength I've noticed is that my research has enabled me to create what I would believe to be a conventional mockumentary - it has a fast narrative pace, makes full use of a multi-shoot, has a conventional interview set-up and edit, and so on. However, despite being conventional, I also feel that Kate and I have produced something with its own USP, making it stand out from the rest. Firstly, mockumentaries are growing in popularity, giving DownStage a shot in a new market. Secondly, there is only little if not nothing regarding amateur dramatics - especially within mockumentaries that already helps to make DownStage unique. Lastly, this constant referral to the documentary crew in my opinion also is quite unique - although most mockumentaries show this, we've encountered different ways of conveying it, i.e. characters pushing the cameras out of the way.Good Branding & Marketing
To me, this is one of the key differences that I've encountered that adds to the professionalism of our production - the only other project which we engaged with social media would've been our digital news project, however it was nowhere near as engaged as DownStage. This is very helpful if Kate and I wish to take DownStage further - we were talking that we would love to create a series for it, as Kate has several ideas for an upcoming narrative. of course, this is completely down to budget and accessibility to locations and equipments, however it's always useful to encounter this incase we are fortunate enough to gain a budget and take DownStage further.
Nonetheless, maintaining a similar font through our advertising from posters and sub-titles too help to create our brand - they all link to our logo which is key to create a recognisable branding.
Feedback
One of the best advantages of being a student is the accessibility to getting constant feedback from tutorials, and additionally from professionals who come to help us with our projects - such as Tim Bentham and Samantha Adam.
As you can see from my blog posts, I have had several tutorials with Simon who has provided some very helpful feedback - the first draft of DownStage was around 32 minutes, whereas the final piece is just under 25 minutes, including the credits. This alone shows that the feedback has been taken on board and more importantly enabled Kate and I to produce something that has a tight and smooth narrative flow.
Likewise, it was great to be able to gain other perspectives from Tim and Sam as they both work in the industry and know exactly what looks good and what doesn't.
Choice in some Actors & Locations
As I've already mentioned, Kate and I were overly happy with some of our choices of actors. To me, Chipo proved to be the strongest character, which she felt confident with as she has some similarities with Chantelle herself, likewise to Marc who too played the role exceptionally well. We feel that the majority of our actors suited the roles they were playing and quickly learnt about their personalities, to help make DownStage have both funny and some serious sides to the narrative.
Likewise, our two key locations too proved to be a very reasonable choice. The school was a perfect location which helped to reflect that they are only an amateur dramatics group - showing that their
budget doesn't stretch far enough for them to be in an actual theatre. Nonetheless the school had numerous amounts of room giving us a wide range of rooms to use for scenes which aren't focused on the stage. For example, we had two rooms which could've been used for Chantelle and John's bribing scene, more than enough rooms to use for interviews, and so on.
What proved most effective is how this location almost seemed perfect to use - the lighting box proved to be a great location as we were able to have live backgrounds, getting some of our actors to walk around the stage during an interview purely to enhance the realism. In addition, we were even granted permission to use the canteen and all of the kitchen equipment, allowing us to provide hot lunches on most days of our production which is a bonus as it helps to keep our cast and crew happy. The only problem would have to be how we weren't able to control the heaters and radiators, which proved to create some sound dampening and problems. However, most of these were easily eradicated and it would be likely for their to be some kind of audio problem regardless of the shoot, unless the location is completely monitored and limited.The second location too almost seemed perfect however it did have a couple of worrying potential problems - primarily the size. One of the reasons why we chose this flat was because it was quite tight and small, helping to create more tension in the kitchen scene during Chantelle's climax of accusing Jordan of cheating on her. Worrying that it may've been too small, our test shoots and rehearsals showed that it would just about fit. The main problem we faced during these party scenes was mainly loosing time due to us having to re-think on the technical setup for each scene - the tightness of each room made it difficult for us to place lights, and gave camera restrictions for scenes in the living room as we didn't want to show the lighting in frame. However, we just managed to scrap the party scenes off without any major problems - more time would've been a bonus so we wouldn't feel rush, but there were only minor problems I faced during post-production.
Collaboration
As mentioned in my report, teamwork will and is always crucial for producing something effective, which I feel Kate and I have managed to pull off. As we were working with a cast and crew of over 20 people on a couple of our production shoots, it was crucial that we maintained communication throughout to reduce problems such as cast/crew becoming tired and bored. However, I feel that we managed this perfectly - our colleague Helen was in charge of all food and beverage which took another job off us, as well as having Imogen as our assistant producer/runner which saved us some valuable time.
More importantly, I felt that DownStage wouldn't be the same if I wasn't working with Kate - as we have different skills we frequently bounce off one another and get a completely different perspective which has proved very helpful throughout this production process. For example, Kate provided me with alternative dialogue for the script, adding ideas to the shot list, and adding to set-up requirements during production. As she was also a co-editor, this too enabled the editing stages slightly easier, as I was able to see whether what I was doing looked good. This proved very helpful during the colour grading, as when you're constantly looking and altering an image for a long period of time, it becomes very deceiving and difficult as to whether it looks better or worse!
Weaknesses
Moving on, we were also faced with a mixture of small and large problems, which are shown below.
Audio Problems
As discussed in my post-production posts, we faced a variety of audio problems, with the main ones being a phone/signal interference and a constant heater/radiator sound. Although some of these problems have been eradicated and reduced, they still remained evident in some pieces. For example, John's car scene has a phone interference which if reduced even more, it would have a high impact on the audio quality itself. This has been quite a learning curve as it may not seem that there could be any problems, so it is very important to double check on the sound to remove the problems which we were faced with. On the other hand, we generally have quite a strong and high quality sound grade, which is due to the use of having two boom poles for the majority of the shoot, enabling us to capture the range of sound we needed from all of the actors.
Lighting Problems
Likewise, we were also faced with some lighting problems. This is mainly from the scenes based in the school hall, as we had lots of naturalistic light creeping through the curtains, leaving some of our actors with large and unremovable reflections on their faces/bodies. Despite attempting to reduce this by lowering the whites and adding/removing saturation, the outline of the reflection was still evident in most shots. On the plus side, we barely faced any problems with grain which proved that our lighting set up for the party scenes were very efficient, as the kitchen and living room looked nicely lit as if it was an actual party.
Acting
Despite Kate and I being overall happy with our actors, there were also some scenes in which the acting wasn't quite what we wanted. For example, we were hoping to make Jordan seem curious, as we wanted to create hints showing that he might actually be homosexual, however this proved difficult to do with his character. We also felt that some parts were over-dramatise - Jordan arguing with Chantelle in the party scene seemed very unnatural, meaning we had to remove it.
This occurred for a couple of other scenes, which were:
- Jamie's interview saying 'he's a right catch': it seemed weak and made the brief interview look
irrelevant, despite it being a hint that the characters have everyday part-time jobs, reinforcing this
idea that they are amateur actors.
- Both of Jordan's interview. The first 'sighing' interview didn't seem to fit in with the previous
scene, as the audience are meant to learn he's fed up with Chantelle however it didn't flow
naturally. The other interview didn't really have much significance, and the idea was so that he
interacts with the documentary crew however it seems very forced and unrealistic.
- Paul talking to his mother on the phone
Some shots not working
As expected, we did face a couple of shots which didn't quite look right within post-production: they either didn't flow very well or seemed confusing for the audience. This however was only minor and we simply didn't use these certain shots in post-production.
How would I Improve DownStage?
Although the hand in is now very close and there virtually isn't enough time to improve the edit, I've had a though on how this could be improved. The key ideas I came up with were:
Controlled Environment
As probably helpful for any production with a minimal
istic budget, having a controlled environment would help to remove a lot of problems. For example, if we had full control of the school, we could turn off the radiators to eliminate the audio problems. We could alter the amount of brightness that enters the room and keep it a consistent level to reduce any light issues.
The flat could too be improved - it could simply be increased in size so that we have enough room for the lighting setup, or even have specific lights to make it look more like a low-lit party scene. However, these minor changes can be very expensive,and it would seem too expensive to choose if it's only changing minor sections of DownStage. Additionally, in my opinion, this is one of the key differences that categorises a student film from a professional budgeted film.Re-Casting
During our auditions, Kate and I were both certain that we couldn't of picked a better cast (for those who applied). However, as I've mentioned, we were faced with a couple of weaker actors (who won't be named) in comparison to our strong actors. Therefore, to improve DownStage we both agreed that we would've casted two actors different. Nonetheless, both of these actors had reasonably small roles, so fortunately this didn't create a major dampening on DownStage in general.
Better Camera Equipment
Of course, having a zero budget film meant we won't be able to have access to the best equipment out. Nonetheless, I would definitely change camera choice if I had the financial support to do so. I felt that the Sony (the prime camera chosen) generally creates quite a flat look and doesn't compete with the quality of some of the affordable cameras that our currently out on the market. Nonetheless, this was an inevitable choice as the Sony was one of the limited cameras of choice I had, and was definitely the best choice in comparison to the cameras which i compared this to in one of my camera test shoots. To conclude, having a nice 4K or UHD camera could potentially help reduce the problems with light reflection on some of the actors, and completely eradicate any chance of grain which was evident on one or two clips.
Better Sound Equipment
Similarly, I feel having better sound equipment too woudl've given DownStage a bit of a boost. The higher quality (and more expensive) camcorders may have the potential to eradicate any potential signal interference and maybe even remove low or high pitched background noises - likewise to the radiator noise we faced.
MORE TIME!
A problem I've faced with every production I have created during my time at university - having more time. I can tell that this is a problem everyone within the TV/Film industry will face, as having more time will enable more rehearsals to take place, time for interviews, test shoots, and so on. As we filmed DownStage within a week, it did feel rushed in some places, however didn't prove to cause any major problems that we had to go out and reshoot.
General Conclusion
So there we have it - my major final production has been completed and it has been a highly rewarding yet challenging experience. It has definitely provided me with a grater professional insight and has most likely been the most teaching production I have so far worked on - my script, DP and editing skills have confidently increased, however I also feel that my communication skills have vastly developed. In comparison to my first year, I never had the confidence to speak up to say try and improve a shot or a scene, whereas now my communication skills have enabled DownStage to develop.
Furthermore, Kate and I are now in the progress of working in freelance in the near future under the name of Kabs Productions - we are aiming quite general for now and have a couple of jobs lined up, including creating a music video for a nightclub branch called Indulgence.
Meantime, this project has definitely inspired my passion for the future to become a DP or camera operator - I feel that this is definitely my strongest point, and with this and editing, these two skills can be very demanding within the industry.
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