I also decided to take on the role of writer/director, as I did in the 'Transitions' unit last year as I enjoy having the creative control these roles allow for. That left Katie as Director of Photography and Mel as Producer - they will likely share the editing role as well, however we have yet to make a final decision on this.
The pre-production unit requires us to create a package outlining the pre-production aspects of our major project, ready for us to go into production after Christmas. We looked at some of the work from last year and we have decided that we would like to create a physical book to display our pre-production work as it felt more professional and refined than a website or other medium. Just to give us an idea of what we will be including in our own work, here is what was included in the contents page from one of the projects from last year's third year students:
- STORY:
- Synopsis
- Character Profiles
- Episode Synopses
- Script Drafts
- British Sitcom Guidelines
- Director's Statement
- TV Inspirations
- Audience
- Set Design
- Costumes / Sourcing Costumes
- Props / Sourcing Props
- Character Style
- VISUALS:
- British Comedy Filming Styles
- DOP Statement
- Test Shoots
- Equipment List
- Shot List and Storyboard
- Blocking and Camera Positions
- Title Sequence
- Channel Format & Credit Style
- Advertising and Marketing
- PRODUCTION:
- Broadcasting Overview and Channel
- Auditions
- Cast
- Crew
- Locations
- Risk Assessments
- Call Sheets
- Budget
- Schedule
We had a few ideas brewing over the summer, but I kept coming back to our transitions unit project, 'Vet-Man'. I really liked the concept back then and I had a lot of ideas for potential scenes and jokes for what could be included in an extended version. I think we, as a group, agreed that we rushed a lot of elements of 'Vet-Man', particularly casting and locations which meant the original concept was not realised how we would have liked.
A 10-20 minute piece would allow us to be more ambitious with plot points, which would involve re-writing the characters and expand the story into something much more fleshed-out and entertaining. For example, I had an idea that Dr Stewart had lost his vet license and he tries to establish himself as a 'vet in a van', travelling from place to place attempting to rescue animals but failing in the process, perhaps ending with his arrest. We would aim to present this as a darkly comedic mockumentary, but with more of a single-camera feel rather than trying to replicate the style seen in 'The Supervet' which 'Vet-Man' is based on. This would allow us to re-imagine the story in our own distinct style and push us away from the original concept, making the project more unique.We had a tutorial with Simon, explaining our ideas and he advised us to take a step back with the subject matter; to look at what sort of story we wanted to tell before we thought about specific filming techniques and even which genre we were aiming for. Stripping the idea back, I feel I can best describe my intentions as exploring an absurd and mad character pretending to be something they are not, to which the humour will derive from how the rest of the world sees them.
We made a list of TV shows and films to research to help us develop our ideas, which we will research in the coming weeks:
- The Thick of It - Armando Iannucci
- This Country
- The Office
- Mr Bean
- Alan Partridge
- Death of Stalin
- Peep Show - Jesse Armstrong
- Operation Good Guys
- Louis Theroux
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