Production | Final Shooting Preparations: Production Design and Test Shoots

There are a large number of elements that will play into the success of VET-MAN, and one of the key principals that we have strived for since the start of the project is the realism and authenticity of the film. As producer, props, costumes and locations largely come under her role, and she has put a lot of effort into ensuring that these factors will work well as we head into production. Whilst Mel was taking on the bulk of organising these, there were some elements that we agreed to share for various reasons.

The Van

The van is integral to the entire plot so it was absolutely vital that it looked authentic and I am very happy with what I have been able to achieve with the production value that is added by having the van in the film. Since we would be using my grandad's van, we agreed that it would be best for me to be in charge of applying the decals and driving the van to and from the locations that we needed it for - therefore if anything went wrong with the van, it would be my responsibility and it saved going through renting or even buying a van which would have had a large impact on the budget. To save money, I decided to only apply the sticker to one side of the van therefore, in my blocking, I have planned to only shoot the left side of the van with the door on the side.

I expanded on the design that I produced during the pre-production unit and worked out the exact dimensions that the graphic would need to be to be printed for the side of the van. Here is the first decal I ordered:

I made a mistake whilst ordering the decal and the one that arrived was slightly too big for the van. The slogan fit in fairly well, but I did sacrifice the ellipsis in favour of a full stop, however I did need to order a smaller version of the logo. This was a blessing in disguise as it meant I could use the now-spare larger logo to put on the front of the van, adding to the authenticity of the van's design. I also ordered the phone number to go on the side of the van along with the slogan and logo:

I am thrilled with how the van has turned out and I feel it will really help to sell the authenticity of Tim's mobile vet business. I added in the line "it's a bit... small" to the script to account for the size of the van. When writing the first script, I had a larger van in my mind, but I feel that with a smaller one, that will highlight the dubious nature of Tim's vet business.

Props

We had a lot of props left over from the Transition unit, including various medical equipment, blue scrubs, face masks and more, so we decided it would be best to reuse them here to save on the budget. Mel was in charge of sourcing any props we did not have, and she has done a great job in achieving that. I sourced some myself though, again, to save on the budget we any props that we could source ourselves were preferable to buying anything that would have an impact on the budget. For example, I provided some photo frames, the printer and Katie and I put some laundry detergent, pills and herbs into small bags to look like drugs.

I felt it would be nice to have a small nod to the original VET-MAN film that we made in the transition unit. We did this by using a still of Aidan, who first played Tim, and using it as a photograph of Tim and Tess' father. Katie edited it so that it the photograph looked more aged as if it was taken in the 1980s. I am pleased with how it looks and I feel it is a nice reference that does not distract from the tone of the scene.

Practical effects

We had already prepared for a lot of the practical effects during the pre-production unit - the two main effects we had planned are the owl punch, and the blood splatter - and we were happy to use these in the actual production, also saving on the budget.




Test Shoot: Van

Again, we carried out a lot of test shoots during the pre-production unit and so a lot of this had already been done. However we had not yet tested how we would be filming the sequences inside the van, including when Tim runs over the dog, so that became a priority in the build up to shoot day 3 when we would be shooting scene 3 which takes place inside the van.

The two main issues with shooting in the van are space and safety. There is very limited space in the cockpit to allow for any cameras to fit inside with the actors and so we would either have to shoot through the windows or in the back of the van. We would also not be able to shoot anything inside the van whilst it is moving as there is nowhere for the camera operator to be safely secured whilst it is moving. Therefore we must shoot all the cockpit scenes whilst the van is stationary and we will need to utilise sound effects and visual effects to give the impression.

Ideally we would shoot the shot-reverse-shot as seen below, behind the grate in the van, however if we want to give the impression that the vehicle is moving, this cannot work. Therefore, we will need to shoot this through the windows instead so that Katie is safe when she is getting the shots, and so we can realistically portray the van as moving.

This was a valuable test to carry out for myself and Katie to establish the best way to shoot scene 3 and we will take these notes forward when we shoot this scene.