Thinking of being a Producer?
We had 18 attentive attendees, with 2 guests: Adrian and June Peter sent his apologies from Rocky and the Queensland outback, whilst Glenn sent his from Newcastle with slightly wet feet from all the rain SE Australia has been experiencing. Our Treasurer Emily Rose has had to return to the 'Land of the Rose' due to unexpected circumstances and has resigned her post. The Committee is super appreciative of all that she has contributed to the Club as Treasurer, actor, script writer, pizza maker, grant getter and BMM Awards Night 2021 organiser, amongst her many other talents. We wholeheartedly wish her all the best. Emily hopes to be able to rejoin us in September when she expects to return Down Under, but as an ordinary member. BMM Inc will need to seek a replacement Treasurer from the membership. We then handed over the reins to Justin Wallace to give us his tips and tricks as a Producer Producing
Justin has been with BMM since 2010 and classes himself as an independent producer, and produced Immortality, a 37 minute pilot https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4126704/. Justin spent 9 months of pre-production before shooting: key crew resources were sound, lighting and camera. Sourced talent from StarNow, provided sample dialogue and set times and dates to audition (multiple times). Justin's approach: - Identify the goals of the production - need to perfect the art of kissing ar*e and have a streak of insanity to be a producer - do what's necessary to get the cooperation/buy-in of those who are participating, but hire the people that have similar goals - match expectations - be professional - the Internet is a great source of information, inspiration and perspiration (your resources) - be professional and organised - produce a film trailer script to generate interest - have and write log lines to share with crew - have a proper casting session A producer needs to consider all facets of production e.g. make up, catering, amenities, wardrobe, props, set decoration. Legals - location contracts, prop provider contracts, media releases, performer video release - Risk benefit to the person producing e.g. camera operator provided his own insurance, otherwise used BMM insurance. Justin's top tips:
You need to give crew and talent plenty of notice
Avoid rescheduling
If you need to reshoot, do it in a timely manner
Have a shooting schedule that is easy to read and follow
Have a shooting block so that people can commit a block of time
Keep your crew happy
Keep your crew informed of pre, prod and post-production so they feel committed and engaged
Conduct multiple rehearsals to allow crew to familiarise themselves with the set and equipment
Keep your crew small and essential to avoid standing around
Producer is responsible for scheduling on set and hold the director accountable on the day - need to understand the time it takes to change locations and get set up.
The producer in a way is the directors boss
Producer must have an eye for detail, such as what is appearing on your props, otherwise to CGI it in post may be needed
Put a Director's hat on for the achievability of the shoot, and talk to your director about what's possible
Consider how you can recognise your locations/props provided by gratis
When on set, it is the producers job to keep cast, crew and director happy
Producers job is not to please the audience, that's the directors job, but the producer has to shape the directors vision
Hire a composer to do the music
Hire a sound editor
Recognition Program Jenn provided a brief overview, but due to the absence of support materials, may revisit this topic at the next meeting. 11 Tomorrows David advised that the studio is nearly ready. Kosuke has unfortunately had to leave.
Droning Michael then showed a video on 'Droning' which was followed by a discussion on landing and some finer points of operation. Coming up on 21.07.2022:
Glenn's presentation on Directing
My Journey as a film maker: Col and either Jenn or Jonathon
Judging of the UGG Competition with the theme of Interviews.
Post written by Nigel O'Neill