Unstuck Production Diary

I've decided to start a production diary for a short I'll be shooting later this month. The piece is being collaborated on by a few IT users :)

I've not done something like this before, and am unsure if people are interested in this (if there isn't much of a response I'll stop posting), but anywho. Please feel free to give feedback on what i'm writing (is it too long? is there stuff you want to know?) as well as the film itself.

Unstuck Production Diary #1 - The Challenges of Co-Writing

Unstuck is a short film about a bouncer, known only to himself as Detective Duffy. Duffy has a hard-boiled detective fantasy, and the film follows him realising his fantasy (kind of) with disastrous consequences.

The idea for the film had been floating around in some form for the best part of the year. Aimee (associate producer, art director, and more) and I decided to write something about a flatmate of mine who has a peculiar fascination with spies. The earliest iteration featured dual protagonists and followed Duffy's quest to find an art thief.

Fast forward several months of talking about the idea, I sat down to actually write something. I don't consider myself a writer, and it was difficult. I wrote half a dozen versions, none of which I liked.

At this point I enlisted the help of Ish Ferris, who is a much more talented writer than myself. Ish lives on the other side of the world to me, which created an interesting, albeit not unusual in this day and age, writing dynamic.

Over a period of a few months, more than 100 emails were sent. Eventually I wrote the first version of the new script, based on our conversations.

Ish hated it.

Well, maybe not hate. But in his own, words he was concerned that we "were working at cross-purposes," that we had different visions for the story.

Challenge #1

Despite talking extensively over several months, we hadn't really communicated with one another. Neither had quite understood what the other wanted.

Of course, this didn't halt things. Film is by definition is a collaborative median, and the ability to deal with creative differences is vital to success.

This minor altercation restated the importance of effective communication from a director. It doesn't matter how creatively or technically gifted you are; you can have the best film in the world inside your head, but if you can't communicate your ideas effectively to your collaborators (I find it can help to think of everyone who works with you as a "collaborator," rather than someone working for you) the film will fail before it even begins.

Thankfully after more discussion, Ish and I were able to clarify the direction we wanted to take the film.

Challenge #2

Ish lives in a time zone 12 hours different from my own. This presents an obvious challenge.

Happily (for the project, not for his health) Ish has an odd sleeping pattern. Despite this, time zone differences did make progress frustratingly slow.

To overcome this, we did on a few occasions have to arrange time that we could both be online.

Challenge #3

Aimee has only been involved in film previously as an actor, and didn't feel confident being involved in the script writing process (despite being a better writer than myself). This created an slightly odd dynamic in which Ish and I co-wrote, while Aimee gave feedback. I acted as a kind of middleman between both.

The process went something like this:
Aimee and I 'created' the basic premise and characters > Ish and I expanded on that > Aimee and I expanded on that > I wrote a new version of the script > Ish and I discussed > Aimee and I discussed > Ish wrote a new version of script > Repeat.

In writing, this sounds messier than it was. It was made easier by the online screenwriting program WriterDuet, which provides a free platform for collaborators to give feedback on specific parts of the script, discuss ideas, and see script revisions from each user.

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From left to right: The first lines of the first and latest iterations of the script.

Collaboration, especially online, is a rewarding but at times trying process. It requires strong communication skills and good organisation, and can generally be a strange workflow. But the script we have now is something all of us are proud of. Most importantly something that has excited cast and crew members - it's hard to explain how exhilarating it is to hear someone else enthused about something you've created.

Tomorrow we have our first table read with our cast, and what a talented cast we have. More on that tomorrow.
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Unstuck is a film being produced for entry into the New Zealand Tropfest Competition in 2015. Director, Jonathan Mines, is keeping a regular production diary here. More updates can be found on Facebook and Twitter.
 
As the founding father of Indietalk production diaries, I approve this thread and will be following it eagerly.

Good luck Jonathan (not the President of Nigeria...)!
 
Unstuck Production Diary 2 - Good Casting Problems

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Nick, I get a lot of name puns, but that's my favourite so far :lol:

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Unstuck Production Diary 2 - Good Casting Problems

When we put out the casting call for Unstuck we didn’t expect such a strong response. Given our tight schedule, our casting call only gave half a weeks notice, and as such we were worried about a potentially low audition turn out.

However we ended up having to double the time we initially had booked for the audition space and it still wasn’t enough. Frustratingly (due to budget and time constraints) we could add another audition time, and a number of people had to do video auditions.

Despite Unstuck not really being a Noir (there are other genre references, and all genre stuff is filtered through the perception of the protagonist, Duffy), it seems my one mention of “Noir” in the audition notice drew most attention. I did explain the genre stuff to candidates in giving them material to prepare for auditions, and this only stimulated their interest. It was really validating to hear people excited by the concept.

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Unstuck Casting Call

On previous projects, I’ve typically worked with small casts and actors I’ve been personally met before. As such, this was my first real audition. And auditions can get tiring. After about 2 and a half hours, I realised I should have bought something more substantial than a block of chocolate to eat.

Auditions are intense. We only had 15 minutes with each person, which didn’t give much time for introductions or chatting about character and the project. It didn’t give us much chance to experiment with different performances. I settled into a routine of having people perform their audition part(s) without any direction. I would then change their performance in some way, before having them do the polar opposite.

It’s tough on an actor, and it doesn’t achieve amazing performances. But what it does is test the actors ability to respond to direction and gave me a chance to see their acting range.

On the second and final day of auditions, we had one candidate cancel their audition time. As such, Aimee and I were expecting a 15 minute break to discuss previous candidates. But a confused looking woman (Sophia) walked in, looking around. We stared back at her, similarly confused. After a Sergio Leone-esque stare off, Sophia asked if this is where Unstuck auditions were occurring. I stammered out something resembling a “yes”.

We had asked applicants to book an audition time, and she hadn’t (later we found out this was due to the casting website hadn’t allowed her to apply for some unexplained reason). As such, we hadn’t given her any material to prepare. However, after about a minute of reading the script she was ready.

Sophia blew us away and we decided almost instantly that we’d be casting her (although she wasn’t quite right for the main female role).

The rest of our casting decisions were pained over. We had a number of very strong applicants for each major role.

Of course, that was a great problem to have. When it turned out one of the actors we had wanted to cast as Ivy couldn’t be available on our shoot dates, I was almost relieved that the decision between her and another similarly perfect actress was left to circumstance.

We narrowed down the lead role to 2 very different actors. The first I knew through a web series I was editing, and I was confident that he would nail the role. The second was a very unconventional Duffy. He bought a kind of sympathy to the role whilst similarly making him uncomfortable to watch - however we were concerned about his versatility as an actor.

I would like to say I had been brave enough to cast the unconventional Duffy, but I wasn’t. After our first table read I felt more comfortable with the decision I’d made: the actor we do have is incredible, and has such a strong screen presence that will make him a compelling character to watch.

Casting is a difficult process. It hurts turning away people that we liked. It hurts realising that some people drove hours to audition and we can’t offer them anything. But ultimately we had to put the film first.

Whilst the problems we had were fantastic problems to have (for the film) it wasn’t a process I enjoyed.

We had our first table read last night, which validated the casting decisions we had made and eased any anxieties. But it did present some new challenges. More on that soon.

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Unstuck is a film being produced for entry into the New Zealand Tropfest Competition in 2015. Director, Jonathan Mines, is keeping a regular production diary here. More updates can be found on Facebook and Twitter.
 
Great commentary on casting sessions! Been there, done that, and approached the interactions with the avtors very much the way you did.

Great observation too about people reacting to the word "noir" - sometimes it's hard to guess what will trigger a reaction.

Good luck, and I look forward to reading more.
 
Great observation too about people reacting to the word "noir" - sometimes it's hard to guess what will trigger a reaction.
On a similar note, Sophia (who's a professional actress and by all means doesn't need the role we're giving her) became interested in the part after reading the word "confabulations" in the casting notice.
 
Production Diary #3 - Rehearsals

Running on a tight schedule, we didn't have as much time for rehearsal as I would've liked. In the end we had 3 sessions:

-A table read and general discussion about the script and characters

-2 rehearsals.

I'll talk briefly about my approach to each of these sessions and what I learnt from them.

Table Read

The table read (really just people sitting on my nearly broken couches in my damp flat) was a good chance to get to know everyone. I talked briefly about the script, my vision for it, and any answered any questions the cast had.

We then did a read through of the script, which I made notes of. I didn't give any direction or ask for any form of performance from the actors (although some actors naturally performed their roles anyway).

This was simply to get everyone familiar with the script and for me to iron out any immediate issues. I became aware of at least two bits of dialogue that I wanted to rework having heard them read out loud.

I also encouraged the actors to contribute to and question the script - and so some of them challenged parts of the story. This is a mutually beneficial task.

Firstly it forces me to justify my creative decisions where I may have glossed over the issues of a certain idea - and as a result a couple of moments have changed. Secondly, it helps the actors understand the script at a deeper level - rather than just reciting their lines and performing their actions, they are actively engaged in analysing and de constructing the script and their characters.

Before we finished, I asked each actor to think about a few questions for each character, centred around what sort of person they sort the character was, and their relationship with other characters.

This helps the actor think about their character more critically, to create a backstory for them and to ultimately become the character on screen. Without this they may simply be reciting lines and repeating actions without really understanding what they're doing and why they're doing it.

(It should be noted that a lot of actors will do this without being told)

Rehearsals

We started rehearsals having a quick chat about the questions I asked of each actor, before moving into the actual rehearsal.

I split the actors into two groups. Each actor has to essentially play two characters - their real character, and their character as Duffy imagines them. This calls for a strong acting range.

Despite the demanding performance required, most characters don't have much dialogue - which makes rehearsing difficult.

To solve this, and to rehearse the full range of emotions, I split the actors into two groups and gave them sections of the script to work from and expand on. Essentially they had to use the script as a starting point to improvise a short scene (but one much longer than scripted).

This was more effective than I thought it would be. The actors discussed their characters, and how they would interact with one another, and ultimately we ended up with some really impressive performances in a short space of time.

I would give the actors direction and bits to work on, but they essentially created the characters themselves.

However, not all actors can be treated equally. Despite them all responding well to improv, each have different approaches to acting, and need to be directed differently.

One actress is a professional by day (having worked on some blockbuster movies), and another has worked with directors far more accomplished than myself.

As a 19 year old uni student, this knowledge makes you question yourself as a director. I treat them as I would any other actors, but it is always a lingering thought in the back of my mind. But in order to direct effectively, actors have to trust you, and trust that you trust yourself (which I do - for the most part) and so it is important to push any insecurities to the side.

Both actors are very strong, and i've found the best way to deal with them is to let perform how the read the script (I've also given them each a bunch of clips of other performances to consider) and then make minor refinements.

Contrarily, for the others I've 'man-handled' them a bit more. I start with the same approach, but the process is more akin to a building rather than a refinement - we slowly add bits to their performance.

Overall, rehearsals are a vital and rewarding process. It helps the actors build relationships with each other (having time to just chat to each other is really good) and is an environment that allows experimentation with character that we wouldn't have time for on set. It helps us build characters that are far more complex than they are on the page, characters with real back stories and real emotions.

We begin shooting tomorrow, so hopefully it'll have all paid off!

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Unstuck is a film being produced for entry into the New Zealand Tropfest Competition in 2015. Director, Jonathan Mines, is keeping a regular production diary here. More updates can be found on Facebook and Twitter.
 
Looks like you've got the important stuff well in hand. Don't sweat it. Just be ready to roll with the punches when they inevitably pop up, but if you're well prepared (as you seem to be) it will all be good.

On a less structure note: feeling physically ill from stress.

This happens to me every time I make something. Albeit, I generally get sick right after the shoot from just running myself into the ground mentally and physically.

Just do your best to get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, and don't forget to eat! High protein and high-carb snacks/meals will help you out a lot. Try and stay away from junk food. Also, those 'take 5' moments are for you, too! Don't just use it as catch-up time where everyone gets a break but you.

Break a leg and HAVE FUN!!
 
Thanks for the support guys :) your messages basically were what I was planning to say in my motivational debrief, as I know a few others have been feeling the pressure.

However I never want to produce a film again. I suddenly have so much more respect for producers
 
Slow update, had my first day off from shooting yesterday and got the first real sleep I'd had in quite a while. Here is the entry from the first day of shooting.

Production Diary #4 - Day 1 of Shooting

I started the day by being half an hour later to set than everyone else.
People being late to set infuriates me, and me being late to the very first day was a pretty terrible start. Already behind schedule, my 1st AD, my DoP and I decided to reshuffle the schedule for the night.

I spent most of the day wanting to throw up and unable to make myself eat, partially due to stress, partially due to nerves.

I had gotten up early in the morning to make sure everything was organised. Turned out it mostly was. I went to location (an alleyway) to let a few locals know that we’d be filming, and got a few release forms begrudgingly signed. I also informed the police we would be filming. Despite this, our filming on the location was a bit of a legal grey area, which didn’t help the horrible feeling I had in my stomach.

We were scheduled to start at 6pm, and with the sun setting at 8.30pm we fought a losing battle to get key scenes shot in daylight hours. With the light fading, I resigned myself to the fact that a key fight scene would have to become a night scene. We only had a small generator and not a heap of lighting gear, and our schedule didn’t allow for us to shoot the preceding action at night. Shooting at night was a pretty big issue.

With full credit to my talented and very hard working DoP, we have a usable fight scene, despite our lighting issues. Our colorist is confident he can pull of a small section of day-for-night (making a scene shot in the day appear as if it were night). I desperately hope he’s right - though budgeting and time constraints didn’t give us any other choice.

The actual scene came out really well, thanks to some really strong work from our stunt co-ordinator (and actress) and the actors. It was apparently so convincing that one passerby rushed in to save the actor being attacked, despite there being a full film crew standing beside them.

I didn’t realise at the time, but part of the realism came from the the actor being attacked deciding he wouldn’t fall safely to the ground. His dedication was incredible (and really exemplifies how dedicated and awesome my entire cast and crew have been), although once he told me this and showed me his bruises I felt horrible for making him do the scene 30 times. At a later date I’ll write an entry about the fight scene, as it was an interest process both practically and ideologically.

To top of the issues we’d had thus far, the catering I’d organised just completely ignored the dietary requirements of certain cast and crew members.



Only 2/3rds through the shoot and already due to finish, we then needed to move locations with more people and gear than we had cars, a problem I had somehow not foreseen. I called a minivan and told a number of half truths about how much we’d be taking with us. Thankfully the driver was really awesome (something we didn’t find on later days).

Once on location, we managed to wrap the final scene within an hour. Despite being brief and not a particularly pivotal moment of the story, it stands out so far as being my favourite visually. This was thanks to Aimee’s awesome friend who waited around with her car (which was being used for the scene) until we arrived two hours late. It also couldn’t have happened without everyone’s new favourite grip (shout out to Tomo), who squatted in a hilly busy holding a 800w light for the best part of an hour.

I got home just before midnight. By the time Aimee and I had finished organising the next day (mostly preparing food and getting the right gear and props out and ready to go for the morning) and backing up the footage, it was 4am.

We reluctantly awoke at 6am for the next day of shooting - a far more successful day by all means.

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Unstuck is a film being produced for entry into the New Zealand Tropfest Competition in 2015. Director, Jonathan Mines, is keeping a regular production diary here. More updates can be found on Facebook and Twitter.
 
Nice! You survived! Congrats on completing the first leg of photography!

The problems you encountered sound pretty par for the course, and it seems like you took them in stride and didn't let it derail the project. Pat yourself on the back, dude.

How much more shooting do you have? In my experience things only get smoother/faster/funner as the cast and crew work together more. So keep up the good work :)
 
Well we have actually shot days 2 and 3, I just hadn't had time to write about anything yet, so I'm staggering the shoot day entries. Last day of shooting tomorrow night.

Things do get better
 
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