Logistics
Tent
I am planning on taking my 3-man tent on the 2 days of Principal Photography, i.e. my main filming days. This is to protect equipment not in use for the current shot from the rain, which is possible for both days. It also provides a convenient way to save me from having to take all the equipment that I am not using for a particular shot to each part of the wood. My parents have agreed to come and sit outside the tent to keep an eye on all the equipment. This features in my Risk Assessment.
Umbrellas and Picnic mats
I have 2 large golfing umbrellas that I am taking. They will to protect equipment in use, if we have light rain. If the rain gets heavier then all equipment will be put in the tent. I am taking 2 waterproof picnic mats to protect any equipment that I put down from any damp on the ground)
Transport
Although this wood is only a minute from my house, where I am planning to set up filming base is a 10-minute walk. As part of my Risk Assessment, I arranged for my Mum to transport the equipment in her car to a second access point closer to my filming base. On Day 1 this will be all the equipment that we are not using for the Opening Sequence shots where Sam is walking in the woods. We will carry the Opening Sequence equipment since we will be filming in locations on the way to my filming base. On Day 2 all the equipment will be transported in the car.
I have also made transport arrangements for my cast and crew. This meant confirming which people are being brought by their parents and confirming they all know the correct start and end times and where we live. Also, I arranged for my Mum to do one transport run home for 2 members of my cast/crew, with correct masks, sanitizer and windows open. I have asked everyone including my parents to do Covid tests for safety.
Food
During my research, I found one video where it was discussed that half of their $8000 budget went on food for the cast/crew. Their logic was that a happy cast/crew is a hard-working cast/crew. This was also echoed in another video, where various directors were asked, at a panel interview, what the most important thing to get right on any shoot was, and one director immediately said “Food!”. The other 3 on the panel agreed, and they had a long, serious discussion about it, in which they all agreed with the idea that you want to keep your cast/crew happy, since you are often asking them to work long hours in unpleasant conditions. I had asked my cast/crew about any food they were allergic to, did/didn’t like, and I had looked at the Tesco Website to get an idea of a food budget. From this research, I allowed £20 and I got biscuits, cakes and crisps that were all individually wrapped, like Penguins, Chocolate Mini Rolls and Kettle Crisps amongst other items. I got individually wrapped ones for Covid Safety, so that we weren’t all putting our hands in same large crisp packet for example. I had done the same thing for both Test Filming days, with a budget if £20, and I found that I had enough food left over from the first Test Filming Day to cover the second Test Filming Day too. I also took disposable plates, bin bags, hand sanitizer and kitchen roll.
Blankets
The days were forecast to be rather cold. I have some light fluffy blankets that I will take. We used them during filming for our Jousting Sequence in our New/TV show, and everyone liked them. [Update – they liked them so much and it was so cold, that my Dad went back home and got 3 more]
Covid – Tests and Sanitizer
I have asked everyone including my parents to do Covid tests either the night before or morning of filming. I have hand sanitizer, and we are all in the same Covid Bubble at College. I didn’t include my parents in the head count for Covid Restrictions since they will not be with us, they will be guarding the tent. Although I have asked my Dad to be backup to take some Behind the Scenes photos and footage, I am happy that he will be far enough from us, will have done a Covid test, and also is still within the headcount of 6 people if Harley can’t make it.
Budgeting
Budgeting was interesting. The only thing that I was anticipating spending any money on was Food, as I explain above. So that is £20 x 2 to include 2 days Test Filming and 2 days Principal Photography.
Transport was all covered, since because our 90%Bloopers group were all helping each other out, our parents were happy to give us lifts. Otherwise, I would have had to budget for travel expenses.
I did some research into budgeting, which us how I found the videos on YouTube about Food being so important. To be honest, I had already had experience of that while I was filming my Year 1 Interactive Neo Noir Crime film at my Dad’s work. This was before all the Covid Lockdowns. It was my usual 90%Bloopers Group plus a couple of other friends who are good at acting. My Cast/Crew were all very pleased that they were able to use the free coffee machine at my Dad’s work. I also bought plenty of Dominoes Pizzas for lunch both days, and for the night that they were staying over at my house in between the 2 days filming my Mum kindly cooked us some great dinner. It was 2 long days filming, starting at 8am the first day and filming till 8pm, and similar the second day. They all commented on the food and drinks machine. I also took along lots of snacks. They all said how much they enjoyed the weekend.
The Food costs did add up for my Neo Noir, despite having a discount code for the Pizza. But it was totally worth it. Even so, I was still surprised to learn that half the $8000 budget went on food.
Having said that, another interesting budgeting thing I learnt from those videos is how to save money when you are making an independent film on a limited budget. I had already had an insight into it when being a runner for Director Damian Power in January this year. He was borrowing as much filming equipment and props as he could, so that he could focus his budget on things that he couldn’t borrow and that were vital. Sam (the other Runner, Level 4 course) and I got frequent messages asking if we had a tent (I did, same one I am using for this project), a backpack (Sam had one), camping chairs (I had), wooden skewers (I raided my Mum’s camping box), paper plates (same). I even went into our garden and sawed a branch off one of our trees to be sure of having a stick for a character to pick up off the ground and use as a walking stick, and I took a load of dry wood, firelighters and newspaper for a fire that was in the script.
Damian was also inventive – he needed a white “drone” to appear to be crashed, so he made it out of white wire coat hangers, since he was aware that it would not be seen that closely – another important point.
In the videos, they talked about borrowing costumes from friends (we always do, and I have done for my Year 2 FMP), same with props. They needed a garage. It was a bit stressful since a downside of relying on friends is that if they are suddenly not able to provide something then you have no come back. They ended up going through about 4 different garages and even a couple of days before filming they had no garage. So sometimes you do need to actually hire a location. I can see why, on big budget films, hiring locations or items with a proper enforceable contract is important.
Another area that I didn’t have to budget for is actors. In an Independent low budget film this could also be a significant cost. One thing that is guaranteed to make a film look amateur rather than professional is using actors who are not the correct age for the characters. I noticed this in my Interactive Neo Noir Crime film. Ideally the Inspector would have been an older, maybe middle-aged person rather than one of my fellow students. I was lucky that the actor was a very good actor, and I am really pleased with the outcome. However, when I was looking at the Year 2 FMP film that Samuel Sellers produced (to a distinction standard) it was made more believable by having 2 older actors, who he recruited from a local Amateur Dramatics Group.
Hiring actors obviously puts the cost up and is also trickier during these Covid times. Our tutors made a point of telling us that yes, we should be ambitious, but we shouldn’t make unnecessary problems for ourselves and that we should be aware of current conditions. This came about due to a discussion about how many locations was a sensible number. 3 was suggested as a good compromise, which was good since that is roughly how many I have – the area of the wood that Sam starts off walking through, the area where most of the dialogue takes place and the bench at the end. Again, a factor in choosing a public wood is budget. Although it does mean we have to share the location with the General Public, their dogs and other wildlife.
Regarding the age of the actors, I have already discussed how I wrote the script to be appropriate for any age, sex, gender, race, religion. This means that I was able to cast actors within my 90%Bloopers Group who were also age appropriate. The video talked about saving money by using your actors’ own clothes for costumes if appropriate. This is unlikely to work if you are filming a period drama, like Samuel Sellers was doing, and he had to buy and hire certain items of clothing and hats.
If I had continued with my “2 incompetent robbers” idea, then I would have incurred some costume costs. For instance, the balaclava type masks the robbers would wear. I had already asked around and no one had any of the particular type I wanted. I would have needed to source a guard’s uniform, and at one point I had my robbers disguising themselves as cleaners in overalls, which I don’t have. Regarding props, I had already bought 2 trilby hats of specific colours that James Bond wore, blue and brown, at £30 each. I already had a green one and a grey one. However, I was always going to add them to my collection anyway, but I would have included them in my budget for that film since I did have to buy them.
My research helped me to think of ways to save money. This is not just at the point where I am gathering props, but way before that in the choices that I make much earlier in my planning stage. By taking the option of making my characters match the ages of my available actors (out of my 90%Bloopers group) I instantly simplified costume costs.
This Year 2 FMP and all my film projects so far on this course have been good practise in finding creative ways to make the most of a budget, which is good practise for when I want to start making independent films on my own budget that can be submitted to film festivals.