Intro
In this statement I'll be looking at all the areas of the Pre-Production Process and how I had a creative input on each of them. This will cover; Initial ideas, Final Idea, Structure, Synopsis, Why Now?, Target Audience, Advertising, Budget, Locations, Contributors and Scripting.
Initial ideas
Our documentary went through 4 different iterations before it came to where it is now.
America
Our first idea was to travel to America to meet Desmond is Amazing and his mother as well as 'Drag Queen Story Time', the idea was to talk to them about the importance of teaching children and allowing them to explore and understand gender and sexuality.
To ensure that we could film in America I got in contact with carnet companies early as we weren't sure how long it would take to go through.
To ensure that we could film in America I got in contact with carnet companies early as we weren't sure how long it would take to go through.
I was also in contact with a contributor named Desmond, his mother was very eager to be involved with the filming.
After a meeting with Jemma we decided it would be financially beneficial for the doc to not go to America as we would be able to get more contributors, as well as not needing carnets for the UK.
Drag Kids UK
We then decided that our idea would work well with the same concept just in the UK. We tried to contact both Jamie Campbell and Lewis Bailey who have both been on TV about their Drag.
Not only did we not get any responses, we decided as a group that this concept was becoming more and more unoriginal as more kids were going on national TV talking about doing drag.
LGBT representation in the media
Looking into how mainstream media often misrepresents LGBT people in their stories, it would use people such as Youtuber NoahFinannce to show how people are trying to change that.
As part of this idea I got in contact with London Pride to film there as was able to get press access for us.
As part of this idea I got in contact with London Pride to film there as was able to get press access for us.
Due to no response myself and Jemma both decided that this was no longer a viable idea.
Drag Queens in Education
Looking art how Drag is being brought into education to teach about gender and sexuality. We'd be following companies who go into schools to teach kids about the LGBTQ+ community. I was in contact with a Nursery who were using Drag Queen story time in their eduction system.
From there we met some teenagers who are breaking into the Drag scene and experimenting with the boundaries, this then become our idea that we ran with.
Our current idea started as looking at straight male Drag Queens who are breaking the boundaries and we would use a panel of 'straight' people and Drag Queens to give their opinions. Through multiple production meetings with Jemma and Gavin we changed the structure of the narrative multiple times to make it more of an observational doc rather then 'infotainment'. We ended up with our final structure and format.
Final Idea
Our final idea is now to follow our lead contributor Tanya on her journey from Cornwall across country to take part in a drag show with two other Drag Queens. This'll be in front of an audience of people as well as an 'Expert' who will talk about her experiences with drag and what she thinks about where drag is heading.
Format
After discussing as a group we were eager to go with a Documentary for this subject as is both a format we all enjoy making as well as being the best to share the subject. This format also allows for Tanya to lead the narrative, this combats the issue of bierasure that occurs very often in the media.
It was decided that the best format for this subject was to be an observational documentary with Tanya leading it and an occasional voice over. This way it allows the audience to connect with her rather than having to hear the information through the filter of a voice over/presenter, it's more personal to this way.
Structure
After confirming what our documentary would be about and that we wanted it to be an observational documentary. From there myself and Jemma sat down to work out what we wanted the structure to be.
It follows two timelines that culminate together at the end in the form of the Drag performance.
Tanya's timeline follows her for the three days before her performance, these cover her life with her brother and father in Cornwall, her trip to Kent and her performance. It allows us to arrive in Cornwall, meet her and her family and leave Cornwall within three days of filming.
The other has interviews from the other contributors, these get intercut where relevant into Tanya's timeline. Towards the end the audience and expert will come in to watch the show that will have Tanya's, Oliver's and Sapphire's performances in it. The audience will get interviewed after to see their thoughts and opinions on whether they think Zodi's drag is as valid as Oliver and Sapphire's.
Tanya's timeline will be linear and intercut with the interviews from the other contributors, this allows suspense for Tanya to be built.
Synopsis
'Rewerked' is a documentary that looks at stereotypes within the Drag community created through the media and general public. It focuses on 18 year old Tanya, a non-binary Drag Queen breaking all the rules in society, as she prepares for one of her first performances. It features interviews with Tanya's family and what they think about the Drag community, as well as interviews with other Drag Kings and Queens from a wide age range. It'll include personal anecdotes and misconceptions witnessed and experienced by the interviewees. The documentary will culminate with a performance from Tanya and end with interviews from everyone about their opinions of where Drag is heading and how it's changing.It'll be intercut with interviews from our 'panel' of other Drag Queens with a range of experience between them as well as interviews with Tanya's brother and Father.
Why Now?
This kind of documentary is needed now for multiple reasons:
- There are still stories of families becoming outraged that their children are being taught by Drag Queens and exposed to people who don't follow gender conventions. MassResistance Organisation Director Arthur Schaper told Church Militant about the event, "This is adult, perverse, sexually explicit entertainment." A pamphlet produced by MassResistance argues, "Drag queen story hour teaches even the littlest children that biological sex means nothing, that sex is just 'assigned at birth,' that people can be any gender they want, and that 'it's ok to be gay.' These are all lies." - ChurchMilitant By having a doc like this it shows that young people are using their own education and choices to be any gender/what ever they want.
- Popularity in the media around Drag Queens is on the rise with shows like 'RuPauls' Drag Race coming to the UK on BBC 3, and brands like Lush are team up with Drag Queens to help promote branding.
- In politics things like the Gender Recognition act are being changed and debated.
- Stars such as Ezra Miller are coming out as non-binary or sharing their sexualities showing they don't fit into a certain box.
- It's something that a lot of people are talking about even in religion, God has no gender, Britain’s top Christian cleric said this week, joining other religious leaders who have tried in recent years to shift away from the idea of God as male - TheTimesOfIsrael
Overall the issue of gender, sexuality and the way people express it has been brought into the public eye and is a divisive topic. Our doc aims to bring two groups of people together and educate people who don't understand.
Target Audience/Target Channel
The target audience of "Rewerked" is 18-40 year old, men and women. This demographic is chosen as:
- Our chosen platform of BBC 3 often put their videos on Youtube, 37% of 18-34 year olds binge watch on youtube -omnicoreagency. This implies that our targeted demographic is likely to see our doc.
- Other social media platforms like Facebook have 84% of their users aged between 30-49, while Instagram has 59% of their users aged between 18-29. This is where we share all behind the scenes and other images that are able to be seen by or target audience.
There's an interest from the demographic about the subject of Drag as show's like RuPaul's Drag race "with the show becoming the number one non-sports cable program among the coveted 18- to 49-year-old demographic" (Rupaul's made Drag mainstream, VICE) indicating an interest in the subject matter.
"Rewerked" will be aired on BBC 3 as it meets with multiple parts of the channels remits:
- Our content is innovative as it's a new angle on a subject that has been reused repeatedly, and features a new and up coming talent from the UK on the rise.
- It uses multiple platforms to share content and builds an interactive relationship with its audience -BBC 3 Remit, this is done through using social media like Instagram and Facebook to promote behind the scenes as well as Youtube, and Vimeo to share the video.
- It targets an audience of 16-34 year olds which is what our target audience is.
As our doc is a stand alone product it fits in with BBC 3's desire to have singles with a distinctive voice or personal story at their heart -BBC 3 Commissioning it also satisfies the need to cover issues that dominate young minds - work, drugs and alcohol, relationships, identity - BBC 3 Commissioning.
Our subject matter is one that BBC 3 would air as its new and an unheard voice from a genre of television that is becoming over saturated. It follows a personal story at its core and has an important message behind it, due to the vast age difference between the different contributors it has a 'character' that any member of the audience can relate to.
Advertising
For advertising I wanted to keep it as online as possible similar to BBC 3 itself being online. Because of this I wanted an active presence on both Instagram and Facebook.
Through Facebook we can share our page with other pages like ours and spread publicity through that. The page shares the behind the scenes process during pre-production and donation links for our go fund me.
For Instagram Gavin as DOP wanted to post on there which I thought would be a good idea. Our instagram through the use of hashtags is gaining a following too.
Our instagram shares photos from events like our poster photo shoot and any other behind the scenes that would be better suited on there.
Budget
At the start of the project we each contributed £500, this then amounted to £1500 at the start of the project. I calculated through the use of a spread sheet what a rough estimation of costs would be. Your film’s budget isn’t aspirational. It should encompass everything you will actually spend on the film, not what you hope to spend. With this in mind, envision each step along the way and the coinciding costs. Initially, with the goal of spending as little as possible (10 Lessons Learned While Making My First Short Film Budget). After going to the RTS futures talk they suggested using sponsorships for extra money, I emailed multiple companies and charities to see if they would be able to help unfortunately non could.
To ensure everything was being kept track of and spent correctly I put it all into a spread sheet:
Some of the major factors that can affect the cost are; shooting costs (kit, crew, locations, talent and any possible graphics), food, music, distribution and accommodation.
The only bit of kit that we need to pay for is a camera as all other kit is either being rented or borrowed from other sources. After discussing with Gavin the DOP what he wanted I then told him what was actually possible through our budget, he then spoke with Jemma and from there we were able to get a kit list that we weren't paying for. Do you HAVE to have original underwater footage that you capture in far-off waters, or can you get by with licensing some stunning underwater footage from a stock house? (How to create an accurate documentary budget). Our crew is all students so we don't have to pay any a wage their travel is covered, all locations are close to where the crew live except from Cornwall and only three members of crew are going there. For locations we are using Tanya's house and a theatre all of which we don't have to pay for. Contributors aren't being paid but all food and travel is being covered.
For music I got in contact with a music college and advertised our need for music, I received a lot of replies from composers and people who have already made music that they'd be happy for us to use.
Doing it this way means we don't have to pay for the music but we also receive a lot of choices.
The Graphics would be done by students so wouldn't incur an extra expense, our poster is being made by a student too so we don't have to pay for that. After spending a bunch of money to make your film, it deserves to have strong marketing materials to go with it. A good website, postcards, a well-designed poster will cost money (not necessarily a lot) but they will help you create a cohesive visual identity for your film, making it more accessible to festival programmer and eventually an audience. (10 Lessons Learned While Making My First Short Film Budget) in terms of distribution it would be shared through Facebook and Instagrams. Our documentary has a website that also promotes it.
Locations
For locations Jemma wanted a theatre as the in the theatre world Drag isn't seen as an unusual thing. With this in mind I began looking at different theatres in the area and whether they aesthetically work with Jemma's idea. I decided and Jemma agreed that older looking theatres would be better then some of the newer designs.
Multiple theatres either didn't reply or were too expensive, Simon suggested emailing the Tom Thumb Theatre about whether we would be able to film there.
From there I was able to plan a recce date to go visit the theatre to see if it worked for our doc. In the RTS futures talk and speaking to some of the professionals there they suggested not paying for a location so, we offered the owners of the theatre a promotional video in exchange for using the theatre.
This theatre is where the performance from Tanya, Sapphire and Oliver will occur in front of the audience.
For our GVS we looked around Margate and took a look around Cornwall via google maps to plan out possible GVS.
Cornwall
*Images from google maps*
Margate
*Images from google maps*
The other location we would be using would be Tanya's house, she sent images of her house so that we could partially recce it.
Schedules
The schedule required me to find out when Tanya's half term was, from there I could find potential people to work on the doc with us and other contributors could work around that date too. I discussed with Jemma what she would want to film each day if she could choose, from there I made up the dates and length of filming as well as making filming targets for us.
I have 2 different schedule, one being a monthly one the other is a filming schedules.
"Add 10% That applies to the number of days on the schedule and to the length of each individual day, because there’ll always be something that crops up: setting up or breaking down the set taking longer than expected, a sudden rain cloud halting production for half an hour, an actor wanting to experiment, or simply forgetting to budget time for lunch and breaks" - (New York Film Academy)
Month Schedule
to ensure that crew are keeping to deadlines and I wouldn't double plan anything I created a monthly schedule that the entire crew could access.
Schedule
Our schedule factors in filming, food times as well as travel times.
Filming targets are in this version of the script and were done with collaboration with the Director to make sure that everything is possible and logistical.
Risk Assessments
For our risk assessments I looked at the photos of Tanya's house, and during the recce for the Tom Thumb theatre. I created a table that has all of the risks and possible harms for the locations we are filming in.
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From there I was able to create the risk assessments for filming.
Contributors
Our contributors are;
- Tanya aka Miss Zodi who will be our lead contributor, the documentary follows her journey to performing in a drag show
- Amy Redmond is our drag expert who is heavily involved in the drag scene
- Oliver Lewis was our 1st confirmed contributor after Tanya, he's been doing drag for many years and will be performing with Tanya and Sapphire. Despite being the same age as Tanya Oliver has had years of experience so will provide good interview responses
- Sapphire Stone is another Drag Queen who will be performing with Tanya at the show. Sapphire had already worked with us on Steal the Style so we knew they worked well
- Tanya's brother and father will also be used in interviews, this will allow the audience to relate to Tanya as a 'character'
- The audience that will watch the performance will be interviewed too after they see the show for their thoughts and opinions
Over all these contributors provide a new view on drag as well as being young and relatable for an audience. I've been involved in the 'casting' process with Jemma by Skyping interviewees and keeping in regular contact with everyone.
Contracts
I did research into how to create effective contracts this way I could send them to contributors and they'd be easily understood.
Scripting
Scripting for the doc is being done by myself and Jemma, when asked one of the producer's I researched said that scripts are Not really applicable. In documentaries, we don't have scripts. When we do documentary drama, we stick quite religiously to the scripts as the dialogue has already been pre-recorded. Instead we made an AV script and as we are doing an observational documentary instead of noting everything that everyone says it has the narrative journey that needs to happen. From there we have a list of questions that will be asked and this allows for any tangents in conversations to happen. When filming has happened it will be transcribed to aide editing and means the footage will be used in the best possible way.
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