Totally Maisy - Meeting With The Animator

Today me and Maddie headed to Rochester to meet with Le, the animator I used on YOLO: Europe, to talk to her about the possibility of making us a title sequence for Totally Maisy. I knew she would do a good job as I was so pleased with the title sequence she made me for my last project.

We went to the meeting with a copy of the script and a disc of title sequences we liked. http://youtu.be/Yu4AfM-aQAQ

Le really liked the idea and concept of the show and she thought that she could do a good job and I was really happy to be working with her again.

Love Always - First Shoot

Today the main section of the film we wanted to get shot was the falling in love montage between Frank and Mary. We had to get these shots today as we were planning to film at the salute to the 40's event at Chatham Dockyard.

Before we went to this event we had planned to film 2 scenes. One was where Frank takes the first letter from Mary and the other was when Mary posts her final letter to Arthur. We only had time to film one of these scenes in the end as there was so much traffic and we were trying to film around the passing cars so that the film was more authentic.


I told Dan that we had to drop the scene with Mary on her own as we did not have time to shoot it as it was already 2:30 and we needed to get to Chatham to film before the event ended at 5.

When we got to the location I was blown away by how perfect the location was. As it was a salute to the 40's event nearly everyone who attended was in costume and so we had extras that we didn't even have to dress, we had genuine 1940's transport moving in and out of our shots and we had loads of WW2 props available to us. I knew that this was the perfect place to film Frank and Mary's montage but unfortunately for this shoot day I ended up looking after the bags as everyone else needed to be with the action. This put a bit of doubt in my mind about my role but I soon realised that this was a lesson for me. I learnt that on the other shoot days I would need to make sure that there was a production assistant to take care of the smaller jobs so that I could concentrate on producing.

Totally Maisy - Casting

Today I started casting for Totally Maisy. I began by making a spreadsheet of local drama schools and performing arts colleges. I rang them all up individually and explained what I was I doing and asked if they would be able to help me with casting. They were all really nice and they gave me direct email addresses so that I could forward all of my casting information over to them.

I also decided to contact prestigious London based performing art schools as well like RADA and Britt School to see if they would help me as I want my cast to be as professional and talented as possible.

I also made a list of teen acting agencies and contacted them to see if they would be able to help me. Many of them where less helpful as I am not able to pay travel expenses. There were 2 agencies that were helpful and offered to pass on my details to certain actors and actresses they thought would be right for the part so that they could get in touch with my directly and therefore keep costs down as the agency would not be putting much work in other than passing on my details.

We will set up auditions for the for the applicants to try and find an amazing cast.

If I Was King - My Role

At our inital meeting where Maddie, Dan and Dean pitched their ideas to me I decided that producing 3 projects would be too much for me and so only decided to take on Dan and Maddie's idea and to help Dean out with contacts and casting. As time has gone on I have taken on more of a producer role on Dean's as I could see Maddie and Dan's ideas coming together but I couldn't see the same happening to Dean's. I thought that as I was crewing and casting for Dan's and Maddie's that I could add Dean's needs to the list very easily and so I began doing the same for him. Also as I created a schedule and a list of things to include in the package for Dan and Maddie's projects I already had a template there and therefore created the same for Dean's. This is where my role became confusing.

My role therefore changed from someone who was casting and helping with contacts to an assistant producer. I realized that I was taking on an assistant producer role as I began casting, crewing and scheduling things but I didn't want any part in the decision making of the project, I wanted it all to be Dean's work.

I will continue to do my best to help him and do a great job as an assistant producer on If I Was King.

Totally Maisy - Update on School Location

Today we had some disappointing news. Our secondary school finally replied and said that unfortunately on this occasion we could not use the school because of scheduled construction work which will be taking place in the school half term.

This was really annoying as we could already imagine where each scene would be and what it would look like.

I quickly made a list of local schools and colleges and rang and emailed them all to see if they would be able to help me at all. Hopefully one will get back to us and say that we can use the school.

 

Keeping Costs Down

As of course we are all students we want to cut costs where we can especially when it comes to running a production.

From working on a few professional productions I have realised that they get alot of there snacks and drinks for cast and crew from companies for free. I thought this might work for my productions and so I emailed loads of drinks and snacks companies to see if there was any way they could help me out by giving me a free sample to feed and hydrate my crews.

These are the companies who kindly sent me products to help me feed my crew.

 

If I Was King - Script 1

Today I went through Dean's script for the first time and made suggestions on how it could improved. The main improvement I suggested was to speed everything up. It was all very wordy and I felt like there needed to be more action in it. The only scene which needed the opposite doing to it was the final scene. I felt Sophie forgives Jamie to quickly and if Dean wanted this to be plausible that he needed to make it more obvious that Sophie and Jamie liked each other from the beginning. I also went through and corrected any grammar and spelling mistakes I could see and reworded any bits which I thought sounded unnatural.

I am hoping that Dean takes on some of my feedback to help improve the script as I think this changes will definitely improve the story and make the show alot faster passed and therefore able to fit in nicely with the other Channel 4 programs.