FMP

Locations Manager Roles and Responsibilities:

    A location manager's role follows a sequence of activities from pre-planning to the completion stages of a production. Tasks that may be carried out include:

• assessing and interpreting scripts or story boards to get an understanding of the location required;
• meeting with the director and designer to discuss projects and working to their creative vision;
• collating ideas and undertaking research using resources such as the internet, specialist location libraries, local and regional film commissions and agencies;
• visiting and photographing locations appropriate to budget in order to assess suitability;
• making preliminary enquiries regarding access, parking and location use;
• liaising with the director to discuss and show ideas and photographs;
• collating practical information on potential locations, such as hotels for accommodating the crew and cast, and in the case of photography shoots, often booking the hotel and making travel arrangements;
• liaising with key members of the production team to assess visual and technical specifications;
• researching locations thoroughly to ensure no disruptive noises or events are likely to occur during the shoot;
• negotiating access and drawing up a contract with location owners;
• organising permissions for access, for example, with local authorities and the police;
• scheduling crew arrival dates and times and keeping all parties informed on site;
• ensuring the technical specifications for equipment, power sources and crew accommodation on site are met;
• ensuring compliance with health and safety and security requirements and undertaking risk assessments;
• distributing maps and directions to locations, often known as movement orders, to ensure all services and crews reach the locations as directly, safely and quickly as possible;
• providing all relevant support information to all services and crew;
• arranging schedules for the day with the assistant director to ensure continuity;
• managing the location on the day and resolving practical or people-related problems as they arise;
• supervising location support staff throughout the process;
• dealing with members of the public who may intrude upon a shooting location;
• Ensuring the final clearing up ('the wrap') runs smoothly and thanking site owners. 

Producer's Roles and Responsibilities:

Producers are responsible for facilitating a project and are involved in every stage of the television programme, film or video, overseeing the project from beginning to end, both in the studio and on location.

Essentially team leaders, they are supported by production assistants, coordinators and managers, depending on the size of the project.

Tasks include:

·       

• raising funding;
• reading, researching and assessing ideas and finished scripts;
• commissioning writers or securing the rights to novels, plays or screenplays;
• building and developing a network of contacts;
• liaising and discussing projects with financial backers - projects can range from a small, corporate video costing £500 to a multimillion-pound-budget Hollywood feature film;
• using computer software packages for screenwriting, budgeting and scheduling;
• hiring key staff, including a director and a crew to shoot programmes, films or videos;
• controlling the budget and allocating resources;
• pulling together all the strands of creative and practical talent involved in the project to create a team;
• maintaining contemporary technical skills;
• organising shooting schedules - dependent on the type of producer and availability of support staff;
• troubleshooting;
• ensuring compliance with relevant regulations, codes of practice and health and safety laws;
• supervising the progress of the project from production to post production;
• holding regular meetings with the director to discuss characters and scenes;
• acting as a sounding board for the director;
• Bringing the finished production in on budget.

In theory, the producer deals with all the practical and political aspects of keeping a project running smoothly, so that the director and the rest of the team can concentrate on the creative aspects.

Gregory Crewdson:

Gregory Crewdson's photography usually take place in small-town America, but is dramatic and cinematic. It often features disturbing, surreal events. His photographs are elaborately staged and lighted using crews familiar with motion picture production and lighting large scenes using motion picture film equipment and techniques. He has cited the films Vertigo, The Night of the Hunter, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blue Velvet, and Safe as having influenced his style, as well as the painter Edward Hopper and photographer Diane Arbus.

 These are some of Crewdson's photos that fascinated me. Aspects such as the empowering composition and eerie atmosphere were features that inspired me, and I knew I wanted to attempt to create pieces with a similar style.

Here are some photos that I have taken, not only conforming to Crewdson's style, but also featuring the addition of my own unique, personal influences: 

  

Concept Art

I'd like to incorporate concept art into my FMP and here are some early pieces I have created. I wish to use these as a starting point in order to progress so that I can produce authentic concept art throughout the project. 

Jeff Wall:

Wall is best known for his large-scale colour transparencies, mounted in wall-hung light boxes which combine the seductive glow of a cinema screen with the physical presence of sculpture. Wall’s works are typified by two approaches, which he characterises as either cinematographic or documentary. For his innovative mise-en-scènes, Wall has pioneered state-of-the-art film and digital techniques to compose meticulously staged scenes. At first glance they often appear to be snapshots but, on closer inspection, the multi-layered content sometimes seems too bizarre or complex to be real. Wall draws upon a myriad of references from art history, particularly nineteenth century painting. His A Picture for Women 1979 directly references Edouard Manet’s Un Bar aux Folies-Bergères whilst the iconic A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai) 1993 pays homage to Hokusai’s exquisite Japanese print. Wall also draws upon cinematic techniques by using actors as protagonists, artificial lighting, staged compositions, and a narrative technique which leads you to contemplate the unseen events leading to the moment depicted. These stunning depictions of urban life tell stories about people, their habitat and the everyday yet enigmatic way they interact.

I propose to work on the film production aspects of media, mainly as a locations manager. I will be working with a script of an existing or possibly non-existing film, using concept art, sketches and photos in order to create visualizations of the locations of the film. As a result of this planning, the outcome will be a set of photos of the film locations.  

Genre:

• Action

• Adventure

• Comedy

• Crime

• Fiction

• Fantasy

• Historical

• Horror

• Mystery

• Paranoid

• Philosophical

• Political

• Romance

• Saga

• Satire

• Science fiction

• Slice of Life

• Speculative

• Thriller

• Urban 

Themes:

Late 19th/ Early 20th Century:

Apocalyptic - Thrillers:


Apocalyptic Thrillers really appeal to me greatly due to my fascination with old, derelict and abandoned buildings and places. Naturally, I wanted to explore the possibilities of using this theme for my project. 

 Here is a shot of an abandoned Wembley Stadium from the film 28 days later. I wanted to emulate the eerie atmosphere conveyed by this shot, so I went out and took lots of photographs on a tour of Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club in London.
After doing so, the next step was to manipulate a selection of the photos in Photoshop one of the results is below. 

Project Proposal

At the beginning of the project I had elected to focus on photography and film. As I searched through the BA courses available to me through IPS, Media Business management caught my eye, (as I already had an interest in business.) Moving forward, I decided film production would be a suitable focal point. I then went on to research the various roles involved in film production such as Producer, Locations Manager etc. After completing this research, I assessed the idea of collaborating with a fellow student. This would involve acting as a project manager for their project, seeking locations (Locations Manager), directing the project etc. Having considered this option, I decided not to follow it further as I felt It would be very difficult to make it work effectively and hard to present the outcome of my role. Furthermore, after weighing up these options, I developed the idea of using photography with film production, which led me to my current idea; planning and producing a series of production stills for a film using concept art and photography.

In order to strengthen my plans, I proceeded to research artist’s related to the practices I was going to pursue. I was informed of Gregory Crewdson, someone who uses motion picture staging and techniques to produce his photographs. The effect is rather disconcerting, surreal and atmospheric and this is what really appealed to me. Eager to use this style, I went out and attempted to take photos emulating Crewdson’s style and felt the results were pretty successful.

Another artist I explored was Jeff Wall, whose photography is usually characterised as either cinematographic or documentary. What appealed to me most about his work was the way in which there is a sense of narrative with Wall’s work. The stunning depictions of urban life tell stories about people, their habitat and the everyday yet enigmatic way they interact. Both the artists’ work relate to film production and cinematography and I wish to incorporate some of the aspects that appealed to me in my project.

Furthermore, I went about researching genre and elected ‘thriller’ because I am very fond of the genre and familiar with it. I proceeded to look at ‘Victorian’ and ‘modern day’ themes and assess which would be the most suitable to use. My initial thoughts were that a ‘Victorian’ theme would be more of a challenge or risk. However, the results may have the potential to be more successful and effective. On the other hand, a ‘Modern day’ theme could be more realistic and authentic, although the outcome might be a bit safe and generic because it’s been done before.

I have practised concept art, using a graphics tablet and drawing software such as ‘Adobe Photoshop’ and ‘SAI’ and plan to create several pieces of concept art depicting the locations of the story I will choose. Furthermore, the final outcome will be a series of production stills.