Week 9 - Low Signal Teams Meetings

This week, issues arose from the edit, such as the ‘advertisement’ feel of the film, the lack of sound design and the lack of a true focus within the interview and the B-roll. We were criticised for literal cuts, and the urge to randomly cut back and forth between interior and exterior shots. These are small things that we hadn’t thought about previously, however it did make it clear that we were losing purpose in why we were placing shots in certain points on the timeline.

Whilst most of my work involved dealing with paperwork, arranging the shoots, and developing the idea earlier on in the production, I was still involved by week 9 to make sure that the team were clear on what the focus of the film was. Whilst everything was captured observationally, it still felt as if we had lost the focus on the shop in some way. Although the lack of customers had not helped, it didn’t feel as immersive as I and Ellie had hoped. We all helped Jakub to identify problematic areas of the edit, and I think Jakub took an exceptional level of responsibility to ensure that the final edit was at the highest level it could be. I do feel sorry for Jakub however, as I feel these issues could have been avoided had I arranged for in-person editing sessions earlier in week 8.

On Wednesday, we held our final production meeting to watch the final draft of the edit, suggesting final changes. I also approved changing the working title to ‘Ride n’ Dine’ as it had a better flow to it, compared to ‘Dine n’ Ride’. As I was away from Aberystwyth for Wednesday and Thursday, I had to produce a credits list for Jakub remotely, and I also prepared the final paperwork for the film ready for Jakub to submit the final version of the film. Unfortunately, this also meant that I missed the screening of the film. However, I am pleased with what we created in the end, and it was down to unfortunate coincidence that things weren’t on our side during this process – such as the weather and the ‘plan A’ that we hoped to follow. That said, this process has made me realise that being a producer is not as easy as completing some paperwork, and the level of responsibility involved has been daunting. Having to deal with people inside and outside of the production team has been a challenge for me, as I like paperwork but don’t like dealing with unpredictable people who I don’t necessarily know. It’s also made me realise that my organisational skills are maybe not as strong as I had imagined, as I was not on top of the production as much as I had thought. However, we still produced a good film at the end of the day and working with a dedicated team who all stuck for each other really helped. Whilst our visions on the end goal were all over the place these past few weeks, partly fuelled by the fact that we are all creatives and all have differing approaches to things, we still managed to work together effectively to produce a result that I and my team are proud of.