TVCs - post 2

As per yesterday's post, I had meetings with the producer and DP today.

The meeting with Lisa was a little bit messy, as neither of us really had an answer to the question, "how does the role of producer function on this project?" It didn't help that we had decided to remain in the production office, where one of the other production students insisted on constantly putting in their 2 cents worth, saying that they thought it was stupid that they should have the producer title on this project. Nevertheless, what I got from Lisa was that she felt it was about managing the relationship with the client, and she agreed with me that it is about ensuring that the client gets value for money. As a result of this we talked about having Lisa involved in the treatment presentation; since we don't have a real client, this is about the closest Lisa will be able to come in terms of presenting to and pleasing a client. It's difficult to say exactly how Lisa can be involved with the presentation, given that the items listed to be presented are the concerns of the director rather than the producer, but I suppose we will consult with Sima about this. Apart from the producer's role we also talked about some of the production management aspects. We have decided that wherever possible we will do location scouting together, although time constraints may sometimes separate us. I also told her about my fingers-crossed plan to add a second character to the ad - a young child to represent the future generation for whom we are preserving the native forests. Fortunately for me, Lisa is a pretty chilled out PM who likes a challenge, and she wasn't phased at all by my suggestion. Sima has also said it seems like a good idea, so now it's just a question of whether it will get through the other tutors and the budget, which is only $150 :-( Assuming we're allowed to add the child, we also discussed the fact that our first preference would be to cast an actual mother and child, as the actress will be able to look after her own child between takes, it won't require an extra person (ie another parent) on location, and the child and mother will already be comfortable with one another and resemble one another. Assuming we not allowed to add the child, I have a young actress in mind who is quite beautiful, with a bit of a girl-next-door look, and curly hair. I like the idea of having a curly haired actress, because it makes it very easy to create a natural-looking visual contrast between her city/work persona and her bush/free persona, all in a close-up.

I also met up with Ben this afternoon to talk about roles/collaboration as well. Judging by our conversation this afternoon I think we might actually work well together, which would be a first for me. We do have differences though; for example Ben hates storyboards and doesn't like to work from them. I, on the other hand, have to draw a storyboard before I can write a shot list. If I write a shot list without them I simply don't trust it. I don't really think this will cause a problem though, as Ben's problem with storyboards is that he thinks it's a waste of time trying to make shots and locations look like your pictures. The reason it shouldn't be a problem is that I don't bother trying to make the shots look like the storyboard because I'm a terrible drawer anyway, and the only reason for me having a storyboard is purely to get a sense of how the shots flow together, and I never use it on set.

A problem that Ben identified from his previous DP-director relationships was that he did not fully grasp the director's vision for the piece, and therefore couldn't fully execute or enhance it. He noted that director's seem to assume that the crew takes the same meaning from the script that they do, even though scripts are in fact very open to interpretation. I can recognise this in my experience too, as I have sometimes had suggestions from DPs that I felt did not serve the story or the vision. Therefore Ben's comment is a very useful one, as it is something I can personally remedy by working hard to make sure Ben sees the same things in the script that I do, and therefore we can make sure we are on the same page in terms of deciding how to turn those things into images.

One request that I made of Ben is that if he feels he has something to offer then he should please feel free to jump in and interrupt me, rather than waiting around for me to stop and ask, as I am very likely to plough on ahead with my ideas unless someone pipes up with a better one. Ben said that he would not have realised that I would want to work this way if I hadn't said it, so I'm really glad we set up that meeting.

In terms of the creative side of the work, I'm really looking forward to the day in the future when a device is invented that can read and record thoughts, because I can think far more quickly than I can write. I've spent quite a bit of time analysing everything the script suggests and noting down the various ideas and concepts that come out of it. I also went into the city today, to simultaneously location scout and also see what sights, sounds and sensations I could draw from the place. It was definitely a successful trip in terms of seeing and hearing, but it was a little bit depressing in terms of location scouting, because the most impressive, most beautiful, most appropriate locations were also the ones I know we have no chance of securing. As I stand in the perfect location it's so tempting to wander off into thoughts of, "perhaps we could do it guerilla-style and not worry about permits if we just...", but of course that's impossible within the framework of a Unitec assessment. So I'm still at square one in terms of finding an actual usable location, but I do have an idea of what I want the location to actually do for the TVC.

So now I have long lists of ideas, themes and concepts that come from the script. Tomorrow we have class, so I'm hoping there will be time in that class for me to get together with the rest of the team and brainstorm these ideas with them, to see what kinds of images and sounds and styles come up for them. If you have collaborators you might as well milk them, right?