Final Evaluation
As a follow-up to my Production Designer and First Evaluation posts, I decided to write up a new, final Evaluation as I feel like I can now look back and be more reflective about the time leading up to the shoot. The other two posts are more specific to researching my role and the way pre-production went, whilst this is more of an overlook. My role was very much pre-production based, working with the Producer and DOP to create the set, gather props and get everything ready so that the Camera Team could get to work without any issues.
Our group had a very slow start in October, due to the fact we had issues meeting up at one certain time. Because of this we went back and forth with our ideas for a while, and at one point the Art Department and the Director came together to brainstorm and create a presentation that would portray our idea because there was still too much uncertainty. I made an Art Direction powerpoint, Anike wrote a quick script draft and Emily helped gather our ideas together. I think this was an issue because nobody wanted to step up as ‘the leader’, therefore there wasn’t anyone making the final decision, hence why Emily, Anike and I temporarily stepped up to clear it up.
From early on I knew our DOP Lois and Director Emily wanted an eerie, dark atmosphere, so I looked into films by David Lynch, such as Blue Velvet and Rabbits, as well as found that Babadook (by Jennifer Kent), Hannibal (by David Slade) and 10 Cloverfield Lane (by Dan Trachtenberg) also had a similar odd look that we were interested in. I wrote these down as visual influences and started to work on a Set Design whilst communicating to our Producer, Director and DOP. There were some issues with getting the script finalised, so I had to start working on visuals before being able to read the actual script, hence why instead of envisioning the look from what I read, I had to come up with it by creating a thorough list of emotions we wanted to achieve.
We wanted it to be dark, old and empty looking yet with colourful memories attached due to the presence of a child in pre-film timeline. I also suggested we use balloons instead of meat bags due to cutting down on the ‘gruesome’ and instead focusing on the ‘eerie and ambiguous’.
After this the pre-production went quite quickly. Pip was wonderful within her role, and clearly assigned specific paperwork to everyone. I made a Studio Design sketch and a Budget list for furniture, smaller props and make-up, whilst also doing my best to source them for free so that we wouldn’t spend too much on anything. With Pip’s help, we decided to gather money from our group so we could purchase the props as neither of us could afford to spend it individually. This also went quite quickly, and soon Pip, myself, Brodie and Jen found ourselves in Homebase purchasing paint, rollers, other build-related necessities. The build itself was quite fun and we did it very quickly and without any major issues. Pip, Anike and I also purchased the wardrobe for the actors as Grace wasn’t around for most of the time, so possibly missed the fact we needed to get the costume muddy/slightly coloured as when she brought in her wardrobe the Friday before shoot, she told us we couldn’t make it dirty.
At the same time, however, we needed to order helium because we were advised to have it on-set so we would be able to inflate the balloons if anything went wrong. The balloons supplied by Emily turned out to be too small when we inflated them, so we had to quickly order some bigger ones. This is where one of our main issues came from – the bigger balloons needed more helium, but when they came on Friday before the shoot, we thought the helium cannister would be enough to fill one up for the shoot. However, when I got there on Monday morning, the helium canister had been tampered with as half of the helium had escaped it, thereby not being enough to keep the balloon up. I quickly found the closest party shop, and with the help of Emily’s car, Pip, Emily and I were on our way to Aldershot. This pushed our filming schedule back by about an hour, although during the day we managed to catch up at one point.
I felt very disappointed in myself as I still believe this is my fault, although I still don’t understand what could’ve happened to the helium as it had been properly closed as per instructions after the test balloon.
Despite this setback, everything else went according to plan. I worked very closely with Pip and there weren’t any issues with getting the set up and dressing it as we successfully sourced everything we wanted. I enjoyed my role thoroughly as it was exactly what I wanted to do, and except for the accidental helium problem, everything went smoothly. Because my role was very much pre-production based, I was able to use the rest of the time to watch the camera team, actors and sound recording, so I feel like despite not participating in the actual shooting of the script, I learned more about the value of every role and importance of team work (because if one person doesn’t do what they say they will, everything crumbles like dominoes!) It was very valuable, as well as stressful, but it definitely taught me more about the skillset and mindset a person needs to make a shoot work from beginning till end!
