Shooting "Piss Taker" - Producer Role (Now Outhouse)

 Shoot Day (Producer)

LOCATION AND RISK ASSESSMENT

I managed to get a new location at the last minute (my uncles summer house) but obviously this meant changing the script to make sense. In the script Larry is sat in his front room when Daniel shows up. We just changed it to Larry working in his workshop. It leads out to a garden perfect for the film as it's set back from the street. The kitchen scene where he drugs the drinks were to happen in the tool shed now. Which just left the Cellar we needed to relocate. I ended up using the clearest room with no tools in for the Cellar scene as there is a little scuffle And I didn't want any accidents. I quickly assessed the Location for possible hazards. Risk Assessment - 63 Brunswick Road 

CALL SHEET AND SCHEDULE

Click here PDF

Me and Ryan went to the Location a few hours earlier on the day to clean it up and make it safe to shoot in. When tidying it up we realised there's a padlocked storage bit around the back which we could use to store all the equipment! so we did just that. I made sure Ryan got his room tone recording and some of the garden before everyone arrived. Since my uncle lives in Bradford it was arranged for Yash, Tom, Joe and Jake to meet in Leeds and get a train to Apperley Bridge to arrive around 1:15. Jakes travel was paid for for helping us out playing Larry. Me and Ryan's friend Simon who played Daniel lives around the corner  from my uncles so that was handy. That all surprisingly went to plan. Everyone was there on time.

I showed everyone where to store their belongings, where to sanitise their hands and where they could use the toilet. With my uncle being 70+ he stayed in the front half of his house with all the doors shut. Luckily he has a bathroom downstairs so coming in contact with him wouldn't be an issue. 

Yash, Simon and Jake discussed the script and rehearsed a few times. While they did this Tom checked his shot list. A storyboard wasn't done which I think could've helped a lot. I've read and heard people say storyboarding is pointless but for me when I'm planning a film I usually use a rough Storyboard to translate what I'm thinking so other people can see my vision. I find Storyboards are really useful for blocking the shots too. Here's an example I drew on my Ipad to show Tom.  

This would be the establishing shot. I thought having the light off in the room the camera was in would look cool but with light coming in from outside subtly to resemble moon light. As you can see in this edit by Yash it's pretty much pitch black making it appear almost mobile phone like. I still like it though as it focusses your eye on Larry. 

There were a few disagreements about camera angles which set us back. Basically we were trying to figure out where the scuffle could take place to not be a hazard and to have enough room for the camera to follow the action. We went with inside so we could make sure it was lit properly (we didn't have battery chargers for the Aladdin lights). 

This is the point we wasted too much time deciding on the shots. We each had different ideas and nothing was getting resolved. Because of this we had to rush the fight scene in order to wrap it up that day. 

WHAT I LEARNED

Producing is really hard. Right from the start. Locations are almost impossible to come by, especially now with the Coronavirus pandemic. I tried Airbnb and I found one place that looked hopeful from the pic but on close inspection it turned out to be a flat in the City Centre. I then thought of Storage companies. I emailed a few with no reply. One did say I'd need to get a 6 month contract, but as I only needed it for one day that was out of the question. Our friend Amber did say we could use her house again but we have used it a few times now and didn't really want to take the mick turning her house into a film set. 

I remembered my Uncle had a newly built summerhouse in his garden so asked him to see it to see if I could rearrange the script to fit that Location. It was possible so I decided to check with the group to see if it was ok that the Location is now in Bradford. Everyone agreed and that was that. Ambers became a backup.

A rough storyboard should of been done. When it came to shooting it we all had ideas but struggled to translate them to each other. 

Tom did a Shot list. Me, Tom and Yash should of sorted this out together really. The list ended up having 107 shots but Tom did say he had never done one before. He did another revised version. 

 

Another thing is I bought Coke for everyone for some reason? Should have just played it safe and got bottled water. Everyone seemed happy enough though as we all went to nearby shops for food and drink anyway while waiting for the sun to set.   

  Here is Joe's Final edit of "Piss Taker" now named "Outhouse"