The importance of teamwork in filmmaking
As a student who is learning the art of filmmaking, you tend to learn how important certain aspects of films are. One such aspect is teamwork. Without teamwork the production of the film will not go as planned and the production could be completely halted and delayed if there is not any of it. During the production of ‘Unscripted’, there were many hiccups whether it had to do with the pre-production process or even whilst filming the movie. The whole crews patience and understanding was tested on set.
As the producer for this production I had to interact and work with all the departments and make sure everything was done in a specific time and also everything was communicated well. At first the production process was slow an as we were all brainstorming for an idea to come to us for our horror film. We had watched horror films and we all got inspired. Whilst an idea was being formed, I created a group trello which is an app in which you are able to set cards and tasks for each person. First our scriptwriters came up with a story which took a while to develop but deadlines where met and the pre-production process went as smoothly as possible. Every team member worked with me so I was able to deliver results to them.
Budgeting each department was easy as everyone was specific when it came to the requirements of what they needed. What I found difficult in the pre-production process was the casting. There were many issues when it came to the cast not showing up for rehearsals and there were also issues with crew members being late. After speaking to everyone on being punctual to meetings and to practices I started to see the crew work more efficiently together. Not only did we have those issues but we also had to find last minute additions to the cast as some didn’t show up to any rehearsals so we had to move to another cast member.
When it came to being on set, we had a terrible first day experience due to the lack of teamwork and communication. On the first day, things that could have gone wrong a hundred times over. There was a huge mess up when it came to scheduling scenes. The main problem was that we didn’t have access to the location before a certain time so the crew had to figure out the lighting and camera work and where each scene would take place. Many people in the crew were experimenting on their own and that cause a lot of confusion.
Not only was the experimentation a factor that slowed us down, everyone on the crew had a different version of the script. This set back the production immensely and the first day we barely got any scenes done. After the cast left we had a crew meeting with our lecturer and we devised a plan for the next day. The entire schedule was changed and the next few days went very smoothly but was extremely tiring. We had to make up for the first day but we all were patient with each other and made sure to communicate throughout. Everyone was finally on the same page!
