Production | The Brief and Feedback from Pre-Production

Unlike our previous projects, we were beginning our final unit with the majority of the pre-production work already completed.  Simon gave us feedback from our pre-production work to help us with moving forward onto our final major project.

He praised our idea as being fresh and original, and for being achievable in the time frame we had.  He also complimented the script for its strong middle, but argued the beginning and ending needed more work, which I will go into further detail shortly.  Simon also appreciated that most of the practicalities for the shoots were worked out, such as Katie's lighting plans and the owl punch 'stunt' in particular.

There is still a lot of work to be done, particularly with the script.  Whilst the middle holds up well, the beginning and end fall flat and need a lot of work to bring them up to par with the middle of the story.  The dialogue can be clunky at times and humour is lost as a result of this - I need to include funnier lines in order for the script to work as a comedy.  Tess is unimportant at the minute, she needs to be more of a threat to Tim's goals.  Simon suggested that I paint her as more of a success, like the 'golden child' compared to Tim to create a more believable rivalry between the two.  Luke's character also needs to be more in touch with the original character profile I wrote so that the story makes more sense and we get a better idea of why Luke is following Tim.  Some more specifics include: the dialogue in the pub scene needs to be more crisp and funny, there needs to be more consistency with the tone and characters, and I need to make it clearer that Tim has drugged the owl's food.

Separate to the script, Simon suggested that we need to work out the logistics of the scene where the dog gets run over.  He suggested that we could change the location so it makes more narrative sense - Tim and Luke are lost, so maybe a country road would work better than a suburban road.  Simon also advised that we get more runners on board to help with the art department, camera and sound so that we can concentrate on our own jobs during the shoot days.

Whilst the bulk of the pre-production work had been completed in the previous unit, there is a lot of work to be refined and completed before we get into production.  The next step for me is to get at least two more drafts completed - one for the script read-through and rehearsal, and one before the first shoot day.  More drafts would be preferable so that the finished script is as polished as it can be.

I will continue to carry out research into specific aspects of the project as we approach production which I will integrate into the relevant posts as opposed to dedicated posts on my inspirations as I have already done this in the previous unit. I will also be referring back to the research I have carried out in the pre-Production unit as it is still just as relevant here.