When applying for roles for this unit, I wanted to not only consider my strengths, but also some of my interests that had thus far not been satiated. I have a natural inclination toward the visual aspects of production and knew that I would need to be in a role that I felt passionate about fulfilling in order to remain interested in the project for the duration of the unit.
The roles I applied for were:
• Pre-prod: Casting Director (Bishop, 2015), Graphic Designer (Dabner et al. 2020).
• VT Prod: VT Director, VT Prop Master/Costume.
• Production: Director, Floor Manager.
I'll go into more detail for each of these roles, in retrospect of getting them, and the learning that has already come with them.
GRAPHICS
I knew that I had the appropriate skills to help out in the graphics department, so thought that it would be worthwhile for me to apply for it, considering that I enjoyed doing it and that I felt as though I could fulfil the brief. I have previous experience working on both personal and paid illustrative projects, steering towards a hand-drawn style, rather than a more technical graphic design style. That said, I'd also worked for a printing company with an in-house design team for around a year and a half and had worked closely with them on creating our own promotional material and lending a second opinion on design for projects.
Despite having this experience, this role did highlight my limitations in regard to the work that I can produce. I'm very familiar with Procreate, a digital illustration app on the iPad, and the app that I've used for the vast majority of the visual components I've made not just in uni; for storyboards, treatments, set design, logos etc., but also for personal work, racking up (literally) thousands of hours using it and refining my knowledge of the software.
GUIDING OTHERS (GRAPHICS)
It wasn't all about the design though, and being Graphics Lead meant honing my interpersonal skills with a team of two others- assigning them tasks, offering feedback and reference material and trying to keep to a tight deadline, all whilst fulfilling my other roles and individual Graphics workload.
An example of reference material provided to the Graphics team.
A second example of reference material provided to the Graphics team.
STYLE BIBLE
Style Bible cover page (Not Final)
Style Bible opening page.
STINGS
DIRECTING
I knew after the show had been commissioned that it was something that I might like to direct; it sounded like a fun, irreverent show and one that had the potential to be visually and directorially interesting. I felt as though I had a good understanding of the idea that both Hollie and Emily had pitched, and some understanding of how this might translate to the screen. I have enjoyed my time directing over the course of University so far and I thought that this unit would provide a good opportunity to fully realise some of these skills in a different environment where you only have one shot at everything, the prospect of which was both 1. Very exciting, and 2. Utterly terrifying.
After working on fiction adaptation, I was confident that I would be able to direct and work with performers but was also very aware of the difference that the format would make- working on FA, I was self-shooting with an Actor who was willing to try different ideas on the fly, and the ability to reset and go again- As Live wouldn't offer such luxuries and I'd be required to be organised, flexible, and to expect the unexpected.
I knew that if I were to get the role of Director, that it would be beneficial to have an input in the casting- being able to choose appropriate Performers who fit the brief of the vision set out by Hollie, Emily and I, who were also reliable and experienced. I also enjoy reaching out to, and meeting new people and feel as though I can recognise those with talent and potential. I think, importantly, I understood the aim and feel of the show, and how important the casting would be to our ability to succeed in achieving it. I'm very aware that having great performers can improve a 'bad' project, but also that having weak performers can be the nail in the coffin of a potentially great project, too.
SET DESIGN
Having an idea of the set design was important for me to begin planning my shots and how blocking might take place on set to maximise the space available to us. Knowing that we had three distinct areas in which to fit, meant that I needed to plan for the best places to out the cameras in order to capitalise on coverage.
The initial idea for set designers reference.
CASTING
Using Mandy and StarNow (Which have now combined, seemingly lessening the potential pool of people) was fruitless, and although you can specify who you're looking for, it doesn't seem to affect the people who actually apply for the roles e.g. For 'Billy the Bouncer', we were looking for a stereotypical tough, tattooed, bald doorman; we got a 5ft 6 Blonde Woman apply instead. This was of course on the one hand, rather funny, and the other, deeply frustrating. Kat had mentioned that the University might have a Spotlight account that had previously been used for casting, and we decided that it was certainly worth a try, considering that we'd attracted no suitable cast via Mandy.
Spotlight was an extremely useful tool, as it allowed us to refine specific traits such as physical characteristics, as well as previous performing experience to really hone in on performers who might be suitable for the roles that we were advertising and also allowed us to create our own shortlists for individual roles. Spotlight was time-consuming though, and reaching out to people individually (47 individuals) required a lot of energy; managing emails back and forth between agents to organise auditions, or answering additional questions that they had about projects was near-constant for some time, with every check of my emails throughout the day came another question or response that required immediate attention.
Casting itself was also difficult, I was conscious of trying to create an atmosphere of energy to get the performer suitably prepped for the role we were casting for. I knew that sitting stoney-faced and hoping that the performer responded well wasn't going to work for the purpose of the programme and we really needed somebody who had interpersonal skills and could reciprocate energy and be reactive to others.
Taking 'No' for an answer was also an inevitability that I needed to be prepared for and I knew that having no budget to pay cast was going to be an uphill battle when trying to communicate through casting agents guarding the gates.
REFERENCES:
Bishop, N. (2015) Auditioning for film and television: Secrets from a casting director. London: Bloomsbury.
Dabner, D., Stewart, S. and Vickress, A. (2020) Graphic design school: the principles and practice of graphic design. (Seventh) Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
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