Professional practice: Changing our plans

Due to the enormity of the production of a multi-cam shoot, my commissioner and I have decided to change the shoot. I will still produce a promotional video for him and his partner for their website http://www.acoustic-duos.co.uk

We are looking to book a professional studio to film which can offer us a nice backdrop for our shoot. this will add more to the video we produce and give the film an overall more professional finish.

Major Project: Writing the Voice Over

As we have had people auditioning for the part of Narrator/ Voice Over, I decided to write some samples for them to read to us during their audition. I looked at voiceovers for other mockumentary style programs such as 'Twenty twelve' and 'The Office'. I found that the narrator nearly always takes on a serious role and is used as if they were talking about a real documentary which is focusing on serious issues. I quite liked the idea of the narrator contradicting every visual we see, up-selling the situation for something it really isn't.

I also like the idea of using a lot of statistics and figures within our VO's. This makes it very factual in reference to the visuals we are seeing. I did some research for some facts and figures about tea and coffee which i thought would be suitable for Margo's. I found some useful numbers which I was able to put into my VO samples, and also came across a great find - 'Warburtons Great British Breakfast Report'. This had some great statistics that we can use for our VO's and also some funny and unusual facts about british breakfast habits. This is perfect for the feel we want to get across from our narrator.

Here are some of the VO samples which I wrote for our applicants to read at their auditions...

"In 2012 us brits spent £730 million on coffee. This morning, Guy is about to serve just one of the 400 billion cups consumed on the planet each year."

"Guy has known Mandy for over 5 years. He moved from London last year and has been working in Margo’s ever since. His dream is to become a West End Superstar and graduated from Drama school with a degree in the Creative arts and specialized in Theatrical dance."

"Mandy has owned Margo’s for the last 7 years. She has two children, Charlie who’s 23 and Jessica who is 21. She lives at home in Kent with her husband Ian and their two cats, Winston and Boyce."

"Sophie started work in Margo’s back in May. She is currently studying for her degree in social economics and is predicted a first. Her favorite food is macaroni cheese and has been a grade 6 piano player since the age of 14."

"Statistically, Liverpudlians are the biggest toast eaters in the UK, people from Leeds are more likely to eat porridge for breakfast, and Londoners eat more fresh fruit in the morning than anywhere else. It’s 9.43 at Margo’s and Mandy is already onto her fourth loaf of bread, her 9^th bottle of milk and has already finished off a whole jar of apricot jam."

After hearing the many different styles and accents these could be read in at the auditions, we have found someone suitable for Margo's who has a great voice. Both Melissa and I agreed that we had found our VO artist as soon as they left their audition. 

Major Project: Margo's Casting & Contracts

This week, Melissa and I have been casting for our characters for 'Margo's. We have held auditions at the Studios for two days and seen people for for each role, including the VO.

We found all of our applicants through Casting Call Pro which a great way to find actors for films. From our advert, we received lots of applications, and it was left for us to decide who we invited to audition for us.

Mel and I made mutual decisions on each role, and we knew exactly the people we wanted after the auditions had finished. We have now been in contact with each applicant to inform them that they have been given their role. We are now in the process of sending out their contracts to them.

Here is one of the contracts which has been drafted to be sent to our actors. We decided to do this to ensure that we are not let down at the last minute, both parties know exactly what we are doing and what they are signing up for and what we should expect from each other as being part of the shoot.

Profesional Practise: Meeting my Clients Needs

I have met with my client for lunch today to discuss our ideas about our shoot. So.. heres the idea. We have a full 8-piece band, available to hire for events and functions, who are dressed in full 'Star Wars' costume. each member will be a different character and the will perform well known songs.

This idea came about by the director of 28 Events, adam, and is something that he has hoped to do for a long time. We have discussed that I will produce a video to promote and advertise the band online. The video will be about 5 minutes long and will consist of a montage of different performances within the band. Adam has asked for a comical yet serious video which I'm sure I will be able to produce for him.

I am going to shoot this with three cameras, and record just visuals, not sound. This will be recorder in a sound studio and synced during the edit. This will be quite a complicated shoot but I feel comfortable that we can fulfil the client's needs.

The venue and date are still to be decided as my client is extremely busy with other projects, however, I have reminded him that this is key so that the planning process can begin and that I can ensure that the equipment I need will be available on that day.

Major project: casting for 'Margo's'

Melissa and I have called ourselves "Salt&Pepper Productions". We are using a production company name to work under as we believe that it is more professional when casting.

So we have now started our casting process for our show 'Margo's'. We have done this via casting call Pro and our advertisement was published online last week. Since being published, we have had over 50 applicants across the three roles advertised and also for our voice over.

We are well and truly chuffed to bits with the amount of applications we've had and have already contacted all hopeful applicants. We are now in the process of organising an audition date and inviting them to an interview for the roles. We will provide them with a short section of the script which we would like them to perform for us, but will ask them to do this in small groups so that we can establish who will be best suited for which role.

Here is the screenshot of the email which we sent to our applicants...