Production Roles - Miss Miller

Production Roles

It is important that we allocate different people specific roles within our thriller production so that each member of the group can concentrate on their specific areas and so that one person doesn't gain the stressfulness of trying to focus on a large group of areas. There is also less of a possibility that there will be silly mistakes made in our film as there will be a different person responsible for each different element. We also need to allocate the different roles because different members of the group will have different experiences with one of the elements and may have a strength in it so would therefore be a more sensible option to allocate them this role. Some of the main roles necessary for creating a film are producer, editor, director of photography, MES Co-ordinator, actors, director, screenplay writer and screenplay editor. The producers role is to oversee all of the material from conception to completion and may be involved in the marketing and distribution processes. The role of the editor is to be in charge and determine what the final content of our film will look like, they will edit all of the content once the filming has been finished. The director of photography will be in charge of filming the sequence and looking after the correct equipment and camera, they will be mainly in charge of controlling the different camera techniques. The role of the MES Co-ordinator takes control of ultimately everything in the scene, they have to cover everything included in the bracket of Mise-En-Scene, including things such as costume, make-up, props, lighting, setting and positioning of characters. The role of the actors is to play/act the specific characters and roles given and to follow the narrative. The director is officially in charge of how the filming goes and is mainly the manager of the sequence. The screenplay writers role is to provide the narrative of our sequence and to ultimately create and develop the narrative in the process. The screenplay editors role is to edit parts of the narrative that they believe don't work as well and suggest alternative ideas on how to make our narrative more convenient and successful.

We decided as a group as to who we would allocate the different roles during the process of creating our opening thriller sequence. We made these decisions by discussing why we believe that certain members of the group would be a good candidate for the role due to their previous experiences and enjoyments.

Me

We decided that I would be allocated the roles of Screenplay Writer and Music Producer. We decided that I would be screenplay writer due to the fact that the group took my individual narrative as the main base idea and narrative that we have included in our opening thriller sequence. We decided that it would be best for me to take this role as by having used my idea for our sequence it was undeniable that I would know the most about the narrative and the kind of idea and atmosphere I wanted to come across. I would also have a much better understanding of the narrative compared to Kane and Malu as the main idea was based on my own individual narrative with a few added ideas from my group members Malu and Kane. It is a benefit for the group if I am being assigned the role of screenplay writer because I can provide a clear analysis of how I want the scenes to go and for which cinematography I would like to complement it with which is therefore easier in the editing process. This will also provide a strong development in our process as I can help Malu who is the director of photography on which shots should be used and for what amount of time so that the narrative and screenplay will work perfectly together.

My group also decided that I would be allocated the role of Music Producer. We decided to assign this role to myself as I enjoy the more productive side of the process. This is because I enjoy finding the most conventional sounds and seeing what works well with the different shots and sequences we have provided in our opening sequence. Also due to the fact that my individual narrative is the base idea of our production I can find the appropriate sounds of which I first imagined would work successfully within the film. I looked back on previous posts that I had created and watched some short thriller clips that I has analysed within them. I took inspiration from these sounds to look and search for to include in my own thriller production. Once I had downloaded many different sound effects and added them into the parts of the film where I thought they would work best I could play around with it and physically listen to what sounded good and see if it sounded like anything that I would expect to hear in a thriller film. This helped the group when editing as they didn't have to worry too much about the different sounds that would be included as they knew that I had looked closely into the different elements of sound so that it was used correctly and conventionally in our opening thriller sequence.

Malu

We decided to give Malu the role of Director of photography and MES Co-ordinator. We decided to give Malu the role of director of photography (cameraman) because she has had previous experience with cameras and filming so would have a better knowledge on how to use it successfully compared to me and Kane who have had no previous experience with cameras. Malu is responsible for filming the different shots and the condition of the camera. Malu takes the camera equipment home and provides us with it when we film and also in lesson to edit the content we have filmed. We feel this is also a good role suited to Malu as she is sensible and we can rely on her to remember the camera and equipment at all times when we need her to.  The role of director of photography being assigned to Malu is ideal for the group as there is minimal mistakes made due to Malu's experience with cameras than there would be if myself or Kane was assigned this role. Also as Malu has had experience she will know how to create successful and conventional camera shots and techniques that we can include in our own thriller sequence which will make our production conventional to the thriller genre and hopefully work better.

We also assigned Malu the role of MES Co-ordinator. We gave Malu this role because we decided as a group that as Malu also has been assigned the role of director of photography that she will be seeing the footage through the camera lense and can decide and recommend suggestions to what she thinks looks good and what doesn't. She can determine what elements of mise-en-scene is better suited to the different shots in our film. We also discussed the fact that the actors wont have a good as perspective as Malu would have with having the advantage of seeing everything through the camera and seeing a wider range and view of what is going on.

Kane

We decided to give Kane the roles of producer and director. We decided to give Kane the role of producer because he is generally a very organised and well structured character. He is very organised and can easily put together a sensible film schedule and planning notes for us to follow whilst filming our production. He is very good at finding the right people to film in our opening sequence and can put together a meeting location and specific time so that everyone is there and ready to get on with our filming. Due to Kane's past experience in media GCSE he can easily clarify what needs to be done in order to make our film successful. He made us rewarding schedules and arranged for people outside of our media group , class and school to take their own time in being actors for our media film. Kane also makes sure that everything is running smoothly and in time, he has the overall say as producer into what he thinks will work best and most conventional to the thriller genre.

We also gave Kane the role of director. We gave Kane this role also due to his organised personality and previous experience in media GCSE and directing before. Also due to Kane being the only male in the group we feel as though he will be stronger minded and help everything to get done in time and keep everything running in order perhaps better than what me and Malu could achieve in this role. Kane has a clear mind when it comes to what elements he wants to feature where in our film and what he thinks will come out the best in our final piece. He knows how to control the situation in order for everything to flow smoothly and what order the scenes and different shots will go in which is a benefit in case Malu the director of photography may become confused. Kane has ensured that all key elements have been include in our film and he has made sure the positioning of our characters is correct before filming to limit the amount of mistakes and retakes we have to replay. Due to Kane having these roles it has made the filming and editing easier for myself and my group because there is someone in the group that we can rely on to take charge and control and make sure everything is running correctly and we are heading in the right direction. We also have the ability to know someone is overseeing everything we do and making sure we are creating a successful opening thriller sequence.

Me & Kane

We decided that me and Kane will be given the roles of actors in our production. Although we have used other people from outside of school as background characters our initial main characters for example the victim and antagonist will be played by myself and Kane. We decided this as a group because we believe that myself and Kane have confident personalities and we are clear on the precise characters we would to portray in the film. We discussed that me and Kane will be able to act confidently in front of the camera and depict different emotions and facial expressions whereas Malu felt as though she may be to shy to do this herself and wouldn't feel as confident as we may do in front of the camera. I have taken the role of the antagonist and Kane has taken the role of the victim as we know exactly how we want the audience to feel and sympathize with these characters as our main focus is on these two characters based around our narrative. This makes it easier for our group when filming and editing because we can ensure the roles will be played properly and that the correct emotions and expressions will be used so that the audience can understand our narrative properly.

All of us

We decided as a group that we would all take the role as editors. We decided to make this decision because it would be more ideal if we all contributed so that we could all share and contribute ideas to come up with a sequence that has good use of different techniques and skills that have come from all of us. This way we can all decide what we like and dislike and suggest alternative recommendations on how to make it better. Each of us are responsible for including and creating various editing techniques at different parts of the sequence depending on what the particular scenario is e.g. montage editing for the chase scene. In this role we thoroughly discuss what different techniques and elements we think will have an impact on the audience and what will successfully work overall. This made the filming and editing easier for us as a group as we could all rely on each other to give good feedback and helpful ideas on the things we can improve and what works well so we can develop it. Also due to the fact we was all working together on this role is was easier and less stressful as if their was one person allocated the role and therefore has the pressure of editing the whole production and producing something that the rest of the group aren't happy with. It also limits the chances of us making mistakes as we have three opinions and if outnumbered we can take a majority vote and try to accommodate with the third person so that all members of the group are happy with the final editing technique.

In conclusion I believe that all members of my group worked extremely well in their allocated roles and put limitless amounts of effort into them to try and create a successful thriller clip. I believe that I worked well in my allocated roles because as we began filming we could start to see our narrative piecing itself together and working well to fitting into the thriller genre. I also managed to download different sound effects and background music from the internet onto a memory stick and successfully upload them onto our final cut pro programme where we edit our final piece. From there I managed to fit the different sounds into the correct places so they flowed smoothly and complemented our different shots well. I believe Malu worked well in her roles as well as she managed to film the whole of our thriller production and using the correct shots and techniques that we had discussed and included in our storyboards. She done this with making very few mistakes and also handed out feedback and recommendations to what she felt would look better from seeing it behind of the camera. I also felt as though she worked well in her role as MES Co-ordinator as she told us what things in the scene she felt worked well and what didn't so we could make improvements before we started to film the shot so that we didn't have to waste time in re-filming scenes that we didn't like after we watched back over them. I think Kane worked very well in his roles as producer and director. I think this because he sustained an organised and confident character which kept the whole group in order and control which ultimately helped us to get our filming done and in the best condition. By Kane giving direct commands towards the group it showed that he had a clear vision and understanding of exactly how he wanted the sequence to look and this was a confident trait that he upheld throughout the process. I also think that myself and Kane worked very well as our roles in acting. This is because we put a lot of effort into getting into our characters and portraying the exact emotions that we had discussed to make an impact on the audience and to help them build a relationship with the characters. I think we done this successfully as we wasn't shy and was confident throughout and kept in character throughout all the scenes in front of the camera.
As a group I felt as though we all worked really well together in our editing role, this is because we found it easy to infer different ideas into the group and suggest alternative options instead of arguing over what we wanted as an individual and try to creating something that worked for all the members in the group. We managed to create various feelings and effects just by the way we edited the sequence and created numerous relationships between the audience and the characters. I believe that if we were to do anything differently next time it would be to allocate more than one person to a role as we found that by working as a group we came up with better and more developed ideas and the particular part we had created worked successfully and we all enjoyed it as individuals.



Bettie: Music Producer
             Screenplay Writer
            Actor
           
Malu: Director of Photography
           MES Co-ordinator

Kane: Producer
           Director
           Actor

Kane & Bettie : Actors