1. A scene breakdown
2. Budget Analysis (500 words)
The budget analysis of this film is somewhat of a rollercoaster – at first look, Is Anyone There? seems like it can easily be filmed on a microbudget, but as you look deeper, hidden costs start to emerge.
One of the immediately obvious costs of this film is that parts of it takes place on a lonely country road. Though some productions do guerrilla filming, moving on and off the roads to avoid obstructing traffic, this is not advised as it is dangerous, illegal in some instances, takes longer as filming is intermittently interrupted and makes continuity harder to maintain, particularly if lights and the camera are having to be moved as well as the actor. To make filming on a public road safe and efficient, VicRoads must issue a street closure permit¹. This also means that either a traffic control warden must be engaged to ensure everyone’s safety.
Another less obvious challenge is that the entire script is indicated to be occurring at dusk. For a scene to occur at dusk, it must be filmed at magic/golden hour – which is a notoriously difficult time to time for two reasons. One is that the light rapidly changes during golden hour, so set ups can only last for a few takes. The other is that it actually lasts a lot shorter than an hour². Even if each scene was only covered by a single wide shot, this would mean a minimum of five set ups, in five different locations – which is already unrealistic to film over the course of a single golden hour. Additionally, a single wide shot for each scene would be very poor coverage. As indicated in my script report, there would need to be closer to 37 set ups to gain adequate coverage for the short, which would either mean filming over the course of many golden hours, which would threaten continuity and blow out the costs of production.
There is another, albeit minor, challenge within the set dressings, props and costumes. The props are mostly basic, and likely to be readily available, however they also need to be styled as though they are from the seventies – as this man is looking back on his own childhood. These do not pose a major issue, however it still needs to be considered that they cannot be picked up from the Reject Shop or Target. The photographs likewise need to be set in the past, which might be difficult depending on the age of the actor.
Finally, aspects of the script that work on a microbudget are the small cast (only one person), the lack of special effects and action shots, and the relatively small number of crew needed on the shoot. This all limits the costs involved in the actual production, as less people need to be paid, less food needs to be provided and potential accommodation costs are lowered.
Overall, these challenges – particularly the road and dusk filming – might seem too much to overcome for a microbudget, however with a few careful modifications it becomes again possible to film on a microbudget without affecting the integrity of the film.
3. Creative Statement
Although the original script is challenging to film on a microbudget, a few minor adjustments and clever decisions can make it creatively work on a microbudget.
Moving some scenes so they don’t all occur at dusk will create a more realistic production schedule. To achieve this, scene one should occur during the day, scenes two and three at dusk, and scenes four and five (scene four is indicated to be both in the hallway and room, so has been split into two separate scenes) at night. This reduces the total number of set ups from 37 to 8, as indicated by the script breakdown. Although this is still ambitious, if as much set up as possible is done during the day, with fine tuning once golden hour starts, it is possible to get these shots. Alternatively, scene two can be filmed at golden hour, with scene three occurring immediately after. Although this decision might take away some of the beauty of filming solely at golden hour, filming during the day and ending at night gives the audience a better idea of how much time has passed.
The final two scenes occur within the house – if they can be filmed in a closed room with no windows, the crew could work day-for-night, starting off with the interior scenes and finishing with the dusk scenes. Alternatively they can have a late call time and work into the early hours of the morning.
To accommodate these working hours, as well as address the major issue of filming on a public road, an Airbnb can be hired to house the crew for the night. Many ‘farm’ Airbnbs located just outside of Melbourne have private roads leading to the property, rather than suburban driveways. This allows location costs to be cut for multiple reasons. Firstly, it prevents the need for guerrilla filmmaking, VicRoads permits, council notifications or a traffic control warden. It is also close to the house, giving the crew easy access between locations and the ability to trail extension leads from the house, avoiding the need to purchase a generator. This also increases lighting opportunities as more power is available, and food can be home cooked by a production assistant, saving the cost of take out (and keeps the crew happier).
Most Airbnbs are very modern and may not fit the production brief. If a farm property can be found with wooden/older style furniture it may be possible to supplement it cheaply from an op shop. In addition, the production designer will need to create the book with children’s writing during pre-production, as well as source the photographs. Ideally, the actor can use his own photos. If they do not quite fit the brief – say, if the man is married to a man and not the wife the script specifies, or if he has one instead of three children – the script could be changed to reflect these differences. Of course, permission will need to be obtained from the parties in the photograph. Otherwise, a photoshoot may be required during pre-production. This could raise costs quite quickly, as wedding costuming, child models and locations will be required. Additionally, some crew will need to obtain Working with Children Checks.
4. Reflection
Through this exercise I learnt that there are often hidden costs in a script that we don’t see – and in the worst case scenario, these costs may stay hidden until production has started. One of these examples was filming on the road. In the worst case scenario, a student might not know that permits are needed, and will put their cast and crew into a dangerous situation. Somebody could get injured, or the police could get involved. Even if the student was to realise last minute that a street closure permit is needed, VicRoads takes a minimum of five business days to process an application, and it can be costly. Realising that an Airbnb can be hired to legitimise the use of a road for no extra costs might be the difference between the production going ahead or not. The realisation that filming near a house gives additional lighting opportunities was also important, as limiting yourself the least amount possible is always important.
The exercise also got me to start thinking about how many set ups would be needed to provide good coverage for a scene while writing and before actually completing a shot list. This will be particularly helpful when completing the production schedule as the time of the scenes, and therefore when they have to be shot, has already been considered in advance. Additionally, if dialogue or big print needs to be changed to reflect the time changes, this has already been done.
I think the biggest lesson from the exercise was considering how each decision while writing will affect the production schedule, and how each decision will affect the cast and crew.
