AFP 1 Pre-Production
Hi, just a short introduction, I am Yong Hao from T3A2, I played the role as the producer of The Third Occurrence in my cycle 2 group of AFP 1.
Okay down to the technical terms, the role of the producer is simply, as you all have guessed it, “to produce”. Being one, you have to produce and procure something for the group to work upon and get the things started and going. Pre Production is the stage whereby the engine start and the idea of the film breeds.
This role has been a task of huge responsibility and time management, something which I know that I am unduly poor at during my times in FSV. I have been a slacker, a lazy bum, a last minute person who likes to leave everything undone towards the very last hour during the midnight. I stepped up my game this semester, went out of my comfort zone in order to discipline myself as a producer, before I am capable of managing the group in terms of logistics. Since I am a starter as this (I have been the A.D, Director, Storyboard Artist, Scriptwriter for the past two years), I clearly struggled at times to get the paperwork done.
At the initial phase of pre-production, I had to organize quite a number of meetings. I did that as advised concurrently with my production schedule, it’s like killing two birds in one go. Before the first meeting even start, I did quite some research into a topic of my interest, Dejavu. I came up with a raw concept of the possible reasons that might explain about Dejavu. I explored possibilities such as, what would happen if everything did not happen by chance and there is an entity manipulating the time of events. What happens when Dejavu is just an occurrence and consequence of resetting the particular said day repeatedly by erasing the memories of everyone. Something that the higher entity did not for-see: the brain’s innate retention of the erased memory coupled with human’s repeated action after the reset.
On the day of the first meeting, I proposed this idea to my group mates and my director and to my surprise, they were in favor of it. What goes on in the discussion will then be a short story that will utilize this concept. We had a brainstorming session and thus we came up with the idea of an entity passing down hints to a young adult who is attempting to kill herself. We decided to use the cassette tape player as a motif to progress the bizarre events of the story. During the session, we had lots of other ideas as well but we decided to keep it for the next project. I also considered the width and length of the project, in terms of logistics, location and talent. I was glad that our idea is simple and concise whereby only one location and one talent is needed to bring the message of the film across within 5 minutes. My director, Clement, will then start to visualize the story itself as he writes the script for the script check point.
For subsequent meetings, we made use of the time to find a suitable location for the shoot. We confirmed a location, that was an empty apartment of Clement’s aunt. That’s where I made a mistake, I was so confident about that location that I called off other possibilities for the following week, I even planned my schedule around that location. On the day of the casting, I was told that the apartment has been rented to some strangers, that was where I realised the stupid mistake I made. I apparently did not think of a back-up location for the shoot. This was something that I did not make as a producer for internship. In internship, once the first location is confirmed for the corporate shoot, the agreement is signed almost immediately and there isn’t any change in it. However, this is a student short film with a basic plot line, not a corporate shoot whereby everything such as the location is given.
After the casting, I gathered my group members to finalize the script ideas and also the location. Everyone helped to source for a suitable location. I called up a couple of hotels to ask for sponsors and at some point in time, I even used my parent’s membership card to ask for a location at Marina Bay Sands. During the next few working days, I received negative replies that hotels only allow filming if the contents of filming are used to advertise the particular hotel itself. Since I had been constantly on my feet for the location, other than hotels, I sought help from my relatives and friends, pitching the concept of the film repeatedly through phone calls in mandarin and English (at times they weren’t even impressed by it). I understood the importance of pitching as it can make and break a desperate situation such as the location agreement. I finally found a suitable location at my aunt’s landed property.
I held a location survey at the landed property with my group mates. Everyone was okay with the empty fourth floor, we tested each of the eight 3-pin power supplies. I designated respective jobs to my group mates before the pre production paperwork check point. I helped to do the script coloring, the script breakdown sheets to keep track of what I need for the prop and costuming list. Subsequently, I planned a detailed budget list with the prop list and transport fees in mind. I updated my production schedule with more details such as who have attended and what did we do. Most importantly, I learned my mistake and I decided to use Aik Hwee’s house or my girlfriend’s house as a back up in case my aunt decides to not let us shoot in her apartment. On the day of the paperwork review, I collected the call sheet, the shot list, the lighting plan, the line script and the director notes from my group mates and filed them in accordance to the assignment brief.
During the review, I was told that the budget list was too detailed and some of the heading were weird. I went to calculate the budget in terms of how each group mate has to pay for each item on the list. I admit that I did that for the sake of my own understanding and convenience and hence it looks weird to someone outside my group. Mr Lau laughed and pointed it out. I learned that sometimes I can be too naive in planning a budget list and at times things were not done in a conventional way that abides to the standards of society. Si Pei was kind enough to offer a hand in re-doing the budget list and I learned the way she label the headings and the way she allocate reasonable and realistic amounts to the overall budget.
After the hectic paperwork checkpoint where the entire group has been juggling with other projects and burning the midnight oil over it, we finally had some fresh time to shop for props and decorate the empty location.
We organized a trip down to IKEA to get things that were within the budget, such as Christmas decorations and simple furniture. All of us were the art-directors of our project as we shared our thoughts and opinions freely as we went on a shopping spree. I had to take note of the prices of things realistically and most of the time I had to communicate with my director and DOP to see if the prop plays an important role in the project.
Everything went as planned and everyone put in immense effort in decorating and setting up an empty location. We had to make sure items from IKEA were handled with care so that we can return it within 100 days for monetary refund (IKEA POLICY ROCKS). Everyone in the group was motivated to set up the location as ideally as possible. The motivation ultimately comes from the story itself and how we were dying to produce it properly for the director and the DOP. I encountered problems with my uncle and aunt as they were at times disturbed by the shifting of props to the fourth floor. I had to communicate with them nicely over a nice dinner and assure them that everything is accounted for and we would be careful not to scratch or damage the walls and ceilings of the empty room. I learned that it would be dangerous if at some point of time my own relatives went back on the location agreement that they sign. I wanted to seek assurance and at the same time assure and make my own relatives comfortable with the project.
In a nutshell, I feel that the skills I have acquired from internship are useful to my school projects to a certain extent. In internship, you are answerable to the employer but in a school project, especially when you are the producer, you are the employer who is only answerable to yourself. I learned to make decisions without hesitating or escaping (I used to escape from my fears by staying inside my comfort zone, being afraid to bear responsibilities). I was glad that I am even attempting to break that social barrier by tapping the communication skills I have learned during internship. I learned that although I am an introvert, I am also potentially capable of pitching ideas even though my speech is at times hampered by poor pronunciation and stuttering. I hope to be more confident for my next project in whichever role I assume.
I need to improve on my paperwork and my budget list planning and think in terms of practicality when it comes to logistics. In other words, I need to kick off my creative juices and learn to be down to Earth and practical when it comes to paperwork. I learned that I can be quite irresponsible at certain points in time as I was busy with other projects, however that is not an excuse and I have to learn how to plan my time well and be responsible for the job I am undertaking. In producing, I was glad to have undertook that role for corporate shoots during the internship and I always referred back to the industry standard of paperwork when it comes to school projects.
Overall, I feel that our team’s synergy is brilliant as all of us are purely motivated by our passion to produce and shoot this story. We helped each other out in times of need, went out of our comfort zones to take up more tasks unknowingly. Everyone showed up during the trip to IKEA and everyone stayed up late at my aunt’s place to set up the location. We know when to have fun and when to work hard, or simply put it, we had fun while we worked hard as art directors. The nights with pizza dinners were indeed rewarding after our hard work for the set up days.
On the dark side, our group needs to improve on our time management. We need to set aside more time from our school days for meetings. I admit that I did not want to put pressure on my group mates as all of them are my friends and therefore I only planned minimum but efficient meetings. I learned that I should not be doing that and at times I need to balance friendships with work. I need to realize that as a producer, I should be constantly pushing and keeping my group mates updated. It is the reason why they often call the producer in the media industry, “the pressurizing, stress imposing devil”. As a group, we need to meet up more often to get things done on a daily basis rather than cluster them in consecutive days during the week before the shoot.
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