Risk Assessment

Before being given permission to use the equipment, we must be sure that we fully understand the risks we will be taking in accordance with the locations we have chosen, and understand the repercussion's should anything go wrong. In order to establish this, we created a Risk Assessment that applies to all of our shoots, therefore letting both the University know that we know what we're doing. Once we had it made, we got a member of staff to check and sign it, therefore giving us permission to use the equipment.

Initial Schedule

Having secured everything we needed for filming to begin, we discussed and decided amongst ourselves which days would be best for filming, and Amelia made a basic Schedule, covering everything we would need to do filming-wise over the next few weeks.

Workshops

Throughout the course, there have been multiple workshops available for us to attend, of which should help us to gain a better understanding of how to both book out and use the equipment, along with the basics on editing. While I and other members of my group had previous experience in filmmaking, it was still beneficial to us to attend these workshops.

Not only did learn the fundamentals as to as to how to book out the equipment, but we also gained a better understanding as to how to use the specific equipment that we would have access to during the project. We were also given the chance to practice using it, of which helped later down the line when we were on set, therefore reducing set up time and allowing us to keep punctual.

Choosing the Music

One of the key elements of our film is the Music that will be playing over the top of it for the majority of it's duration. It is a decision we made in early pre-production as we felt it would minimise the risk of having poor sound quality when it came to dialogue or sound effects, therefore making the whole thing seem more professional. This however, came with a tough decision - what piece of music to use.

For obvious reasons, we couldn't simply pick a song from our favourite artist and plaster it on top of our piece, as it would infringe copyright. Plus, even if we did try to gain the rights to use it, we haven't got the time nor the budget to accomplish this feat successfully. We therefore turned our attention to the internet, and such websites as AKM and Audio Jungle, where you can purchase music for small prices to then use however you see fit.

In terms of the type of music we wanted, I was dead set on getting an instrumental piece, preferably consisting solely of Piano that had a Sad, Somber and almost whimsical feel to it. The tempo couldn't be too slow however as I still wanted it to have almost a sense of urgency, as if time was running out, again linking back to the theme of the film.

Amelia and I spent the majority of an evening listening to countless tracks online, but not many seemed to fit what we had in mind. Some were too short, others were too long, some were too happy, others too sad etc. In the end, we managed to narrow it down to three pieces that we felt could work in the film that weren't too long or too short. However, rather than simply picking our favourite, we decided to consult Sophie, as she was the one that would have to come up with a dance for it. In the end she said she liked a piece simply entitled 'Sad Piano'. This piece of music is therefore the one we have chosen for our film.

Auditions

Once we had a script, the locations and the title, it was time to find a cast, or more specifically a protagonist for our film. In order to do this, we booked out the Parkwood Dance Studio and set a date for the auditions. Then it was time to market them.

In order to spread the word, each of us reached out using social media by setting up an event and sharing it with our friends, [A], on top of this we also used word of mouth to spread the event through our own friend circles. We also specifically asked a few people that we knew enjoyed dance, or had done similar things to this before.

A - Event page on Facebook for the Auditions

On top of this, we also got in contact with multiple dance-based societies in the University, including the Musical Theatre Society and Kent Dance Society, in hopes that they would tell their members and someone would be interested.

By the time the auditions came by, we had two people that had officially signed up, which isn't as many as we hoped, but we were still happy that we had anyone at all auditioning. We asked those who wanted to audition to prepare a short dance piece to a song of their choice, and also told them that we'd be asking a few questions, just to try to understand them better as both Dancers and people.

After having watched and recorded both auditions, we went away and thought about who would be best suited for the piece and ultimately decided on the second person to audition, Sophie Beard. We felt as though her chosen song and dance style matched the kind of character we had written for the film. It was evident while watching her that she was passionate about what she was doing, and had clearly put a lot of work into it. She also came across as very expressive while she danced, a quality that would be very useful for the kind of scenes we wanted to film. Below you can find a video of her audition.

After telling Sophie the good news, we got her to sign a basic consent form that would allow us to legally use her image for our film:

Location Ideas

In terms of ideas for locations, there were plenty of places around Canterbury that we felt we could use for the various scenes within our film, however the restriction of only being able to film on campus forced us to think harder. In the end though, we feel as though we have been able to locate and secure ideal spaces for our piece.

One of the most important areas is that of the rehearsal room where the dancer is shown to be practicing, in which about half of the film is set. Around campus there are plenty of rehearsal spaces for Drama and Dance, and so it took little time to find one that we liked, the Parkwood Dance Studio in Woody's [A]. Not only was this ideal, with the mirrors running along the entirety of one of the walls like we wanted, but it was also within walking distance to the house we'd be using for our protagonist's home, [B, C & D], and the alleyways/paths we wanted to show them walking down, [E&F]. Securing these spaces will be simple enough, the house belongs to Kg, a group member, the streets are for public use and the rehearsal room requires one of us to go to the School of Arts reception and book it out.

A - Parkwood Dance Studio, Woody's

B - Parkwood House - Outside

C - Parkwood House - Hallway

D - Parkwood House - Bedroom

E - Parkwood Pathway

F - Parkwood Alleyway

As well as these locations, there was one more space that we wanted specifically, them being the Aphra [G&H], and it's conjoining storage room, of which we unfortunately couldn't take a photo of. This too will be simple enough to book out, another visit to the School of Arts reception in Jarman will allow us to gain access for two separate shoots, one for each space. The two spaces will be used for the final scene where the Dancer is about to perform for the judges, and another flashback scene where we see them practicing.

G - Aphra Studio 1

H - Aphra Studio 2

Once we had decided on our Location's, we realised that a couple of them would require us getting permission, and so we printed out some location forms and got them approved and signed:

'Black and Blue' Storyboards

After having received the script from Elliot, I started drawing the Storyboards for the film. Storyboards are a vital part of any pre-production, as it gives the very first, albeit crude, visual representation of your piece, and so I took it quite seriously. Below you find photo's of each page I drew, along with captions that somewhat explains what should be happening aurally, visually and narrative-wise for each shot. I didn't go into too much detail however, as I knew things were subject to change, and I didn't want to limit ourselves exclusively to what I'd drawn when it came to filming.