Pre-Production | Test Shoots, Blocking and Camera Positions

I began blocking the scenes as the script grew nearer to completion which allowed us to go out and test different aspects of the script.  The most complex scene we tested was the ‘owl punch’, as this required clever use of cutting to achieve the intended effect.  We also tested a number of different lighting scenarios, which Katie will go into a lot more detail in for her cinematography section.

Testing the owl punch was particularly beneficial, as we worked out during the shoot that our initial plan for carrying out the scene did not work as well as we intended.  We had originally intended to use a combination of motion tracking and masking to cut between the shot of the real owl flying toward Tim to a shot of the fake one being thrown at him.  Once we tested this, we tried shooting it from multiple angles, which would mean we would not need to over-complicate the edit and we found that it worked a lot better than we had realised.  Relying on cuts from different angles will also allow to build the tension of the scene, where staying on one shot will limit this.  There was also no guarantee that masking would work very well due to limitations with the software we will be using.

Therefore this test shoot became vital as it allowed us to determine which method of shooting this scene would be.  Here is a very basic mockup of how we will shoot this scene:




Of the three test shoots we carried out, most were for Katie to determine which equipment to use and how the shots will be lit.  This gave us a vital chance to establish the look of the film, which Katie goes into more detail in her part of the package.

I have also blocked out each scene through rough drawings, which will become very useful during production.  This includes where the characters are, and importantly, where the cameras are positioned so that when Katie began to create the storyboard and shot list, we were both on the same page as to how this would look in the frame.  Again, this will also be very beneficial during the production period and will save a lot of time whilst shooting.

SCENE 1 - Tess' Living Room - INT.

SCENE 2 - Alleyway - EXT.

SCENE 3 - Van - INT.

SCENE 4 - Road - EXT.

SCENE 5 - Sheila's House - EXT.

SCENE 6 - VAN - INT.

SCENE 7 - Kent Owl Academy Car Park - EXT.

SCENE 8 - Kent Owl Academy - EXT.

SCENE 9 - Kent Owl Academy Car Park - EXT.

SCENE 10 - Kent Owl Academy - EXT.

SCENE 11 - Rear of Kent Owl Academy - EXT.

SCENE 12 - Pub - INT.

SCENE 13 - Pub Car Park - EXT.

We also spent a day blocking through a scene to establish how my blocking sheets translated into the actual scene.  Jack kindly offered to stand in for Tim, whilst I stood in for Tess, purely for testing our positions within the scene.  We went through the first scene, which turned out to be the most complex to block.

This was a useful exercise, as it allowed me to work out where the cameras will be positioned within the scene, so that we knew we were getting the right coverage and not breaking the 180 degree rule.  This also gave us an opportunity to visualise how the scenes would look and I was even able to make alterations to the script with the context of where the action would be taking place.  For example, as Tess enters the room, we initially saw Tim looking for somewhere to hide and then crouch at the sofa.  As we ran through this, we found it would add to the humour of the scene if we do not see Tim find the hiding place, we instead see Tess come in to see Tim hidden very poorly behind the sofa, as Jack has demonstrated in the picture below.

Overall I feel we have sufficiently blocked through the scenes to prepare us for shooting.  As the script develops, there will of course be more changes to be made, however this has laid the foundations for how we will run through each scene as we shoot them.

Pre-Production | Auditions and Casting

As director, the casting process is vital for moving forward with the film.  The cast will be responsible for delivering convincing interpretations of the characters so I needed to ensure that we filtered through each of the candidates to ensure that we got the best people for the job.  I have cast actors before but never held proper auditions before so this would be a good opportunity to gain the experience I will need to get to know and work with actors.

I have researched into what I need to do in order to prepare for and to host the auditions.  Nick Banford's 'Directing Television: A professional survival guide' has a lot of useful information for casting actors and for holding auditions.

He stresses that for screen-work, you should always "cast to type" and that if he had "a choice between actor A who looks and sounds perfect for the role and actor B who is not quite right but a much more interesting actor, then for theatre [he would] choose B but for the screen always A."  This is not something I would always agree with as I feel the actors' performances play such a vital role to how the script is delivered, but he justifies this by clarifying that on screen you can "construct a good performance in the edit", where a theatre actor needs "consistency, commitment and a professional technique which will engage a theatre audience reliably for two hours or more."  Therefore it would be preferable to have someone that looks and sounds the part over a better actor, as there will be more time to hone their performances through different takes and the editing process to cherry pick the better performances.

I also looked at a number of online videos and referred back to Nick Banford's work to work out exactly what to look for in the candidates:

• Can they actually act?
• Most of the sources I found agreed that good acting is truthful.  A character can have the most advanced and convincing make-up or prosthetics but if the actor's performance is not believable.  If you can forget that you are watching an actor, and are instead seeing a character or real person, the actor has succeeded in portraying that through their performance.
• Can they take direction?
• This is a vital factor for myself and the quality of the finished film - at the end of the day, I am the creative vision for the project and if an actor cannot take my direction for whatever reason, they are impeding on my ability to do that.  Of course every good project has input from the cast but if they ignore what I say, this will get in the way of producing the film we want to.  Throwing curveballs in the audition will allow me to see how well they can adapt their performance and their ability to do so will make my job a lot easier when it comes to shooting.
• Do you like them?
• In a professional environment, you should be able to work with anyone, whether or not you like them.  However, Banford argues that if you can choose who you work with, why would you need to put yourself in a difficult position of disliking somebody you are working with?  It is important to chat to the actors and get to know them a bit so I can determine whether I like them and whether it will be useful or a hindrance on the work I am directing.

Today we held the first block of auditions.  Mel had organised which actors were coming and when they were scheduled to arrive and have their auditions.  I was in charge of what which scenes we would run through and giving the actors direction so that they could best demonstrate their acting abilities.  We also allowed actors to send in self-tapes which saved on time and money, but meant that we could not gauge what they were like as people.

For each character I picked out the scenes with the most dialogue, the most action and the most variety in terms of emotions that the actor could convey.  I ran through each scene once - usually about two scenes per character - and gave positive feedback to their performances.  I would then ask them to run through the scene again, except displaying a different emotion or emphasising something from their previous performance.  This gave us a chance to see how versatile their abilities were, how well they take direction and how willing they were to change their performance based on my feedback, as director.

For Tim, I chose to run through scenes 1 and 4: scene 1 had the most dialogue so I could gauge how the actors delivered their lines, and scene 4 showed the widest variety of emotions which allowed me to see how the actors dealt with this.  I was also able to ask them to act through these scenes with a different tone or emotion.  For example, I asked one of the candidates for Tim to put more emphasis on Tim's sarcasm, allowing me to see their artistic range and how they reacted to my feedback and direction.

I repeated similar exercises for all the potential actors and roles, focusing on their acting abilities, how they took direction, and their likeability.  Both Melissa and I got on really well with everyone we auditioned and we felt that they all took their direction very well and seemed like they would be good to work with on the project.

As the script changed, we made some large and small adjustments to how we cast the roles:

• We found that Pete's character was not serving much to the narrative and so I decided to remove his character all together.  We had already auditioned for Pete at this point, so we decided that we would keep the actors in mind in case they could fill another role.  Initially we thought that one of them could play Sheila's friend, Mark, who appears in the penultimate scene, however as he has no lines and will only appear for a few seconds, we opted not to cast an actor at this stage.  We will choose an extra to play Mark as this will reduce costs when it comes to production.
• Tess' role has also ended up being smaller than it initially was, as I found it did not make sense for her to appear in either the owl sanctuary scenes or the pub scene.  Therefore she will now only appear in the first scene.
• Initially, Mollie was quite a minor role but as the scenes at the owl sanctuary developed, it became apparent that she needed more lines. Originally, Mollie (the real-life owner of the Kent Owl Academy) was going to play herself, as she only had one or two lines which she could deliver as she would to any ordinary visitor at the sanctuary.  Now she has more lines, we got in contact with Becky, who auditioned for Tess and asked if she would be interested in playing this role, which she was very enthusiastic about.

Here is the cast of VET-MAN:

I am very happy about the casting process.  The cast we ended up choosing consists of actors that we auditioned.  We had some impressive self-tapes, but felt that the people we saw in person were better fit to the roles.  Each of them tick the boxes of the criteria I had set out - they can all act well, they each took my direction well and they all seem like lovely people.  I am really looking forward to keeping in touch with them in the run up to the rehearsals and shoot days.