Pre-Production Reflection

I began my pre-production through storyboarding, amateurly sketching each shot and using the distance and detail of each drawing to then determine the type of shot to utilise. The story is predominantly linear, with recurrings shots of the bathroom scene as a form of foreshadowing which I deliberately used to add tension and invite intrigue from the audience. Looking back, I wished I had been more creative with my initial storyboarding rather than choosing to focus on continuity and shots purely for plot. This just comes with gaining more confidence as a filmmaker and director, as well as learning about the importance of collaborative work. I would’ve liked to have put more effort into reaching out to my cinematographer to brainstorm and visualise the shotlist together, balancing the workload better and allowing another creative mind to be involved in the pre-production process.

Our first meeting as a group was incredibly successful, organising our house location, a music producer, cast call information and props/costume for my Art Director to source. In regards to casting, we sourced our actors through Facebook, filtering through the applications sent to find the right look and experience and finally an audition on Zoom. The audition consisted of having the applicants read lines chosen from the characters, giving different directions to measure how adaptable and flexible they were as actors. I checked availability, location of residence and dietary requirements for each applicant, making sure my Production Manager was taking notes of these. I was lucky enough to find the two actors I wanted through the first round of auditions. Because of the intensity of the relationship between the two characters in my film, I held a follow up Zoom meeting so the two actors could meet each other, discuss their boundaries, safety precautions and their general needs in order to create a safe space for them both whilst on set.

Booking the equipment brought some minor challenges as well. My minimal knowledge of sound equipment resulted in myself booking too many mics that ended up not being the right fit for our production. This was an embarrassing realisation however it was quickly solved with the help of the tech support, booking a recorder that we ended up using for the whole two days of shooting. In regards to picking all the equipment up, the lack of crew members’ presence meant that the transportation of equipment was extremely laborious. In hindsight I needed to set a standard, emphasising the importance of everybody showing up to move everything and store it safely before returning it back.