Transition: Evaluation

Final video

Pre-production

In the pre-production it was my job to make the script as we didn't have a script writer. I took a transcript of the actual clip and changed it to work for us. I added characters, British locations among other things that would make it a closed narrative.

I also put out an add and cast our actors, I kept a line of communication with them both and collaborated with them about characters. Due to the late filming times I had to book a hotel for both actors too.

Also I filled out risk assessments for kit, as well as creating the call sheet and schedule for the day. These were all sent to cast and crew to make sure everyone knew what was happening.

Production

During the production I was on hand for the DOP and editor if they had any questions or wanted an opinion on a shot. I made sure actors knew what was going on and when something would happen, I also went through blocking and script readings with them. While the filming was happening I kept a track of the takes that were good and bad, I was also reviewing footage between scenes to see if we needed to do any retakes.

Post-production

During the post-production I was on hand during the edit to give my opinion and any feedback I had.

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Over all I think me, Gavin and Jemma worked well in a team, we collaborated and listened to each other equally. We were able to produce a good piece of work that we can all be proud of. We were good at communicating our thoughts to each other and were respectful of each other's. We were also able to quickly change our shoot location after finding our original one had already been scheduled by another group.

There were times however where communication outside the group wasn't as good. As we were hiring some of the kit there was a miscommunication with dates and we had to use a new camera. I should've involved myself more in the process so that I knew what was happening. There was also a lack of clarification with our actress who had practiced the lines in an American actress, however when I confirmed we wanted an English accent she was able to do so effectively. 

What I'd like to improve:

• Confidence within my role, I'd like to be more confident in what I am doing as the producer. This would come from research and practice but I think it would fix the few issues we had.

This has been a really good learning opportunity and I enjoyed my role as producer a lot.

Transition: Producer statement

Casting

The original casting of the episode "AKA Start At The Beginning" is the show's regulars, Krysten Ritter and Eka Darville. 

For our remake I wanted to set the scene in the UK, this required having two actors that could help sell the location. 
Before putting an ad out for actors I already had a rough idea of how I wanted them to behave, I wanted Jessica to be bold and brash while Malcolm would be the quieter and subdued character.
This is due to their histories, Jessica having a lot of emotional trauma she uses sarcasm and wit as defence mechanisms, and Malcolm's ex drug use-age meaning he prefers to stay in the background and not draw attention to himself.

Advert posted on Mandy.com

Due to the emotional nature of the scene I will be looking for someone who can cry on demand, the effect of an emotionally closed of character like Jessica crying will be really useful in the scene. I'll also be looking for actors who resemble the characters in some way either in looks or personality.

Location/Set design

The original location for the scene is Jessica's apartment.
To allow the scene to become a self contained narrative I added two other locations in the script, the hallway and path outside. The apartment is now Jessica and Malcolm's flat, I took inspiration from Sherlock and had Jessica trash the flat out of frustration.

The scene will look as though it's been trashed, there will be over turned sofas (due to Jessica's strength) as well as the typical crushed cans (due to her job as a PI Jessica has multiple energy drinks, this will be in our set and has been referenced in the show itself) etc.

The original location was going to be in a basement, however due to a conflict in scheduling with another group we aren't able to use this. We've changed to a student house, this further allowed me to take inspiration from Sherlock and set up the house to look like flats. We have numbers that will go on the doors to add to the realism.

Script

The script has been adapted from the original. I made a transcript of it, this allowed me to edit/change it so it would become self contained.

From there I edited slight things like adding in "Southbank" to establish the country we're in as well as changing the character Whizzer to Dan.
By doing this I was able to alter the story line by having it as Dan bringing the ashes and him being the reason she leaves the scene, so she can find him.
This was inspired by the original scripting where it's Whizzer who knocks the ashes that had already been brought into the scene.

Transition: Edit feedback

Jemma's I our editor for the project, through out the different cuts she came to me and Gavin to get our feedback.

Rough cut

Link to rough cut

My feedback:

• In the title sequence it would look better if Jessica landed on the floor on the beat of the music after jumping off the wall.
• The footage needs to be graded 
• The music at the end is slightly too loud, it's hard to hear the dialogue
• The dialogue for Jessica is slightly out of sync

Fine cut

Link to fine cut

Link to fine cut 2

My feedback:

• The footage is still very dark
• Sound is echoey in places

Transition: Schedualing

As well as the call sheet I also created a schedule for the day, this not only allowed everyone else to know what was happening but it also meant that I was able to plan the quickest/most efficient way of filming. I could also see if we were over running on a scene and what I could do to try and make sure we didn't over run on the shoot.
I sent these to the actors before filming and I also gave them a copy on shoot day, as well as sat down with them to see if they had any questions about anything.

To save time as we went during breaks or set ups the footage was uploaded on a computer, I went through it with Gavin and said if anything needed to be reshot or not.

Transition: Call sheet

To make sure everyone was up to date with locations and phone numbers etc. I created a call sheet, this would mean that everyone was on time and knew what they were doing.
We had originally planned to film on a different day however due to crew members having other commitments we were able to move the filming day back.

Transition: Blocking

Set dressing

The main set and only one that needed dressing was the living room in the house. 
The idea was that Jessica had been triggered by the ashes "Dan" had brought over, she then trashed the flat out of frustration. We wanted to show her superhuman strength as well as have everyday objects that hinted to her personality. Therefore the sofa is over turned, there is a pin board where she is tracking Kilgrave and empty alcohol bottles because of her addiction.

Through out the test shoots I made notes on lighting, character info or set design on my script to make sure I had it on the day of filming.

Day 1 30/04/18

After the set was dressed, we had to wait for the lighting to get low enough to start filming.
Gavin set up the lighting outside with the intent of having harsh lighting. He then experimented with the camera he had which allowed him to get to grips with it. We all then reviewed the footage to see if we liked it.






Day 2 01/05/18

It was decided that some of the lighting needed to be changed to make the footage watchable, the master shot needed a key light on Jessica's face, the ash needed to be light in a way which meant it could be seen but also wasn't blocked by moving actors.

We also blocked through the hallway scene, this shot required a lot of trial and error. As I was the stand in Jemma and Gavin tested out the look of hallway lights with the assistance of a handheld light. I was able to review the footage with them and it was decided that we needed street light, this was done by putting one of lights outside with a diffuser.




For the exterior scene we shot on the path outside the house. Gav used a rig to get the long steady shot that Jemma wanted for the edit. In this scene you can hear Jessica from outside trashing the flat, however Malcolm doesn't yet know it's her. 
Gav and Jemma blocked through this in multiple ways, they came to me with what they came up with and I thought this was best for the scene. 

Test Footage Link

Transition: Casting

For our remake of Jessica Jones I knew I wanted it set in the UK, this would make it easier for external filming with the British iconography rather then trying to find somewhere that looks like America. We therefor needed actors that could help sell the location of the scene.
I put out an ad on Mandy.com for both Malcolm and Jessica's roles early in the project and received a lot of applications for the roles.

After going through showreels, I consulted the rest of the group on who I thought would work for the roles. In the end we went with Gemma Simons and Sam Topper, they were both really enthusiastic about the production and were already big fans of Jessica Jones. 

Link to Sam's Audition video

The intention I had for their personalities were I had wanted Jessica to be independent and strong (similar to the original character intention) compared to Malcolm, I wanted a juxtaposition between the two of them.
I found that Gemma and Sam gave these things in their performances of the characters.


After this I kept in regular contact with them about their roles: what they'd need to wear, what to expect on the day, I sent them call sheets and scripts whenever there was an update. On the day of filming they were given phone numbers for the crew to contact when they needed us. I also ran through scripts with them and the schedule for the day so that they knew what was happening at certain points in the day.
Due to the late finish of our filming (1 am) I booked a hotel for both actors for the night from they they were able to travel home in the morning.

Over all I think the choices for the characters were good, the actors worked really well with each other on their first meeting and we were able to collaborate with them about how they felt the character's would behave in certain situations.

Transition: Locations

The original location for the scene is Jessica's office/apartment.
For our remake I knew I wanted Malcolm and Jessica to be living together, unlike the original where Malcolm's office is in Jessica's apartment. The original idea was to have the main action take place in a basement without much light and very isolated, however due to a scheduling conflict with another group we went with a student house. 
I developed the idea that Jessica and Malcolm are flat sharing, this not only allowed us to use the living room but also the hallway and land outside the house.

As well as this location we used a hallway and the path out side the house, we were able to create the effect that they were in a block of flats rather then a student house.

Transition: Risk Assessments

Before filming I did a risk assessment to allow us to take out kit, I took recce photos before we filmed/dressed the set and after.
The biggest risks on our set were, the over turned sofa, broken glass and the rubbish that was on the floor. This was all required to make it look like Jessica had completely trashed the place out of frustration, the over turned sofa is from her superhuman strength.

Our location was a student living room, we had planned to use a basement in another house however a scheduling clash with another group meant we had to rethink. This worked in our favour however when we were able to make the actual house look like a block of flats.

Transitions: Shoot day

Our shoot day was May 3rd/4th, the day started for the crew (Myself, Jemma and Gavin) with getting kit from London and doing final printings, corrections and blocking without actors.

I took continuity photos of the set before anyone arrived for when we had to reset. While I did that Gavin went to London to pick up a camera that he had hired and a Ronin-M Gimbal, he was able to set this up and practise with it before we started filming.

The call time was 5 O'clock, myself and Laura picked up both actors and brought them back to the house. We then introduced everyone to each other, I sat down with Sam and Gemma, I ran through the schedule for the day and any script changes that happened which they'd need to know about.

The shoot was going to be a night one from 5pm-1:30am, so I had to make sure the hotel would be ready for Sam and Gemma when they arrived.

5:00-7:00

The actors arrived, after going through the schedule with them we then all sat down and blocked through the script with them. Gavin lead a script read through while I made notes, after Gemma and Sam  got to grips with their characters we left them to rehearse while we blocked what we wanted in the title sequence.

7:00-8:00

While had lunch and waited for the lighting outside to get right it was an opportunity to tell Gemma and Sam what was going to happen, as well as allowing Gav to set up the camera.

8:10-8:30

The title sequence was shot in the back garden of the house, the idea behind it was that Jessica had broken into the house of some one she was spying on and taking pictures due to her job as a PI. This was done on the Gimbal in a series of short shots, that in the edit would be tied in with titles.

8:30-9:00

The outside scene with Malcolm walking to the flat was shot quickly and in few takes. It was done at this time so it was dark enough to work in.
Jemma did the sound and Gavin was able to get the shots with out any cars going through the background.
I made notes throughout filming on what takes where good, what scenes we had and was able to use the notes I had on my script from the test shoots to help set things up.

9:00-1:00 

Gav did all the Gimbal shots first, this saved time during set ups and de-rigs. He got a master shot and close ups. While he was then setting up the kit for the rest of the shoot, I looked through what we had and made notes on what needed redoing and also was able to note down what scenes we had done.

The opening shot was then done on a slider, the rest done on tripod (this was the 1st half of the interior scene and the hallway scene). The final shots got were handheld, these were pickups of closeups and whatever I had said previously needed redoing.

1:00-1:30

Set was de-rigged and actors were taken to their hotels for the night after we wrapped. All the footage was uploads and reviewed.

Transition: Script

Transcript

Before I re-wrote parts of the script I wrote a transcript of the clip so that I had all the dialogue written down in front of me. This allowed me to be able to refer back to the original dialogue at multiple times and assisted me in the script writing.

Script draft 1

From there I was able to make the 1st draft of the script. I made some slight changes to allow it to be a self contained narrative, for example the superhero Whizzer became Dan a drug addicted friend of Jessica's.

The idea behind my rewrite was that a friend of Jessica (Dan) had come by scared for his life, he'd brought Jessica's families ashes as an attempt to get her on side but it had the opposite effect. We later find out that he has been in an accident and Jessica suspects this is linked to the drugs he has in his bag.

Draft 2

In the second draft there were slight line changes, a prescription drug that was in the original transcript was changed to Meth as this would 1. fit the character and 2. be a more familiar drug to an audience. I had decided that it would be based in England as this would allow us to film outside without needing to have any American iconography.

3rd Draft

Final draft

The final script had one line change in which Malcolm recognises the name Dan from the news, he is the one who tells Jessica about the accident. This is then the trigger for her to snap back into work mode and try to help her friend. During filming there was also ad-lib from actors which we encouraged as we wanted their interpretation of the character as much as mine.

Over all the scripting for the remake went fairly smoothly, it defiantly helped having a transcript and when we blocked through scenes I was able to take notes on what sounded right and what didn't. As well as this with blocking I got to hear feedback from the rest of the group on what they thought and whether they thought it was true to character. All of this made the scripting process a lot faster to work through.

Transition: Producer Research- Peaky Blinders- Podcast with Peaky Blinder Producer

Interview with Simon Malony

Link to podcast

Simon started on the show as an Assistant Director and became the series producer in the second series.
In the podcast he explains the role of a producer, these include; enabling the role of the director, to bring the show in on budget and on time, to liaise with all the departments and the exec producers. YOU NEED REALLY GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS. You need to think on your feet, and have a good understanding of the industry. He started his careers as a 1st AD, they would schedule the show, saying what order it would be shot in, and run the show from the studio floor letting everyone know what is happening.

Transition: What does a Producer do?

As my role as Producer I did some research in the general role to help me understand what I would need to do.

Key things a producer needs to be able to do:

• Be good at motivating people
• Have good communication skills
• Work well underpressure
• Have a good creative vision
• Be good at problem solving

(1) Producers have the overall control on all aspects in a film production.
They bring together a production team to work on the film.
The are often the 1st people to get involved in the project and their responsibilities span all four phases of the production. Producers secure the rights, choose the screenwriters and story edit team.
In the pre-prod it's the role of the producer to bring together the key members of the creative team including; the Director, Cinematographer and Production Designer among others.
They also approve locations, studio hire, the final shooting script, production schedule and budget. **More time and money spent in pre-production can reduce time and money wasting when the production gets underway**
Once filming beings Producers are responsible for the day-to-day smooth operation of the production team. They're in constant communication and consultation with the Director and other key creatives, on and off set.
They'll approve all script changes and cost reports. They are also the 1st point of contact for all production partners, investors and distributors.
During post the Producers need to liaise with the Director and post production department. The Producer will deal with the finance and distribution companies in planning the marketing and distribution of the finished film.

(2) Some of the roles a Producer has are:

• raise funding
• read, research and assess ideas and finished scripts
• commission writers or secure the rights to novels, plays or screen plays
• build and develop a network of contacts
• Liaise and discuss projects with financial backers
• use computer software packages for screenwriting, budgeting and schedualing
• hire key staff e.g. Director
• pull together all the strands of creative and practical talent involved in the project to create a team
• maintain contemporary tech skills
• organise shoot scheduales
• troubleshoot
• ensure compliance with relevant regulations
• supervise the progress of the project from production to post production

• hold regular meetings with the director to discuss characters and scenes
• act as a sounding board for the director
• bring the finished production in on budget

As producer in my production I will be writing the script, casting actors, finding locations, filling out risk assessments and liaising with the rest of my group throughout the production. This research helped me understand my responsibilities and how they effect the rest of the crew and the production itself.

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(1)- Creative Skill set Producers -creativeskillset.org/job_roles/757_producer

(2)- Prospectus TV Producers - www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/television-film-video-producer

Transition: Producer research

Russell T Davis

Russell T.Davis is a Producer and Writer known for specialising in controversial topics.

He was the Producer of "Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go Do Something Less Boring Instead?" ('73) showing different things kids could do rather then watch TV.  In 1992, he began producing for Granada Television for the show "Children's Ward", it was here that he also began to break into working for adult TV.

His producer credits include:

Banana (2015)

Cucumber (2015)

Tofu (2015)

Torchwood (2006-2011)

The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007-2010)

Doctor Who (2005-2010) - Davis is responsible for bringing back the series, and making it the success it was after it went on hiatus.

Transition: Show research

Jessica Jones is a Netflix series starring Krysten Ritter as Jessica. It follows her life as a PI in Hell's Kitchen New York. The character experiences serious PTSD and emotional trauma causing her to be highly sarcastic, her superhuman abilities given to her by a lab are super strength and having previously tried to be a superhero she now lives alone and hidden from the world.

Casting

Jessica Jones is a character who's parents and brother died in a car crash when she was a child. She was taken by a clinic who gave her ability to have super strength, she was under the influence of Kilgrave for a few years until she broke free and is now a PI. Jessica is now a sarcastic, alcoholic who lives alone in Hell's Kitchen - Krysten Ritter, an American actress known for roles such as "Don't the B**** in apartment 23" 

Malcolm Duccasse, is a ex drug addict who in the second series works for Jessica. He was also under the influence from Kilgrave however Jessica helped him escape - Eka Darville who has also starred in "The Vampire Diaries"

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Our casting will be 2 characters, male and female from the UK to help sell the idea the we are in the UK.

Locations

There are multiple locations in Jessica Jones including: Jessica's Apartment, Lawyers office and Kilgrave's home.

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For our remake the location will be Jessica's apartment within a block of flats, this will be done in a student house.

Scripting

The series uses voice over regularly, initially this allowed the character of Jessica to be set up quickly and easily, however now it helps the audience work things out them self.

Lighting








The use of lighting is there to heavily connote character intentions, lighting changes when someone like Kilgrave comes into shot the lighting changes to show his character is evil.
The colour is symbolism of Kilgrave's purple body in the original comic. 

Producer

Aïda Mashaka Croal

Aïda Mashaka Croal has been the producer for "Luke Cage", "Jessica Jones" and "Turn: Washington's Spies". She was also the supervising producer for the episode we decided to remake "AKA Start at the beginning".

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This reseach helped me understand the look and appeal of the Jessica Jones series, as well as how I can make the remake we do fit in with the series as much as possible.