Pre-Production Log/Production Schedule and Gantt Chart

 Pre-Production Log 

The following is a chronological sequence of events that corresponds to the paperwork on the following pages in this document. 

Date	Action taken
25th of January	After being shown the client brief with all the wants and needs of the client, I started forming ideas for the promotional video, so I crafted 3 Ideas and a pitch for my client. I also began a budget estimate for the video.
5th of February	I had a meeting with my client where we went through my ideas, ultimately they went with my idea for a comedic, horrible histories style video using humour to engage and explain the product app. They granted the idea a budget of £1100 for me to use, I then contacted people I had worked previously on productions to form my crew (people who I know are capable), as I granted our roles on the production and set up a meeting to create a production schedule.
12th of February	Had a meeting with my crew and client, we created a production schedule to ensure we can get the most vital of tasks for this production ordered for easy and regular completion. I created a storyboard for the promotional video and a shot list, I also began researching shooting locations for the production and sorted a date for me and my grip Aarna Fonner, to do a Location Recce.
16th of February	Contacted our film locations and conducted a location Recee, we have decided on which locations best fit our budget and are easy to travel to. We inspected and assessed the filming location health and safety risks and evaluated the requirements to make it as safe as possible and sorted out preferred times for shooting with its manager. We concluded our inspection with the gathering by marking optimal camera placements for the day of shooting, with test footage. I also constructed (with the oversite of my client) legal contracts for our staff and crew to ensure their payment and protect us from lawsuits (In case of accidents during the production).
18th of February	Meeting with Client and staff to ensure we are all on schedule and can continue as scheduled for our shooting date. Set date for auditions for talent and have sorted the various arrangements for transport to the location and food cost for them. And created an equipment list from test footage (including props and costumes) for my crew to procure for the shoot.
23rd of February	We then conducted an audition for our main actor where we decided on Mark Laden and for our extras. Went through the contracts with them and payment, however, we decided to open up auditions for local volunteers who wanted to work as extras for free.
25th of February	Planned out a contingency plan in case of problems while shooting.  I also confirmed permission to use the music I intended for the scene. To protect me from copyright laws by contacting them through email, ended up purchasing royalty-free music.
1st of March	Final meeting before the shoot to go through times were expected to shoot for and insuring, we all knew when and why we were on set for our filming times. And confirming responsibility for set elements that we were individually brought to set.  Compiling all contact data of people on set, who will be required on set for each day of shooting, etc.
2nd of March	After Renting our equipment and arriving on set early to set up our trailer, we filmed as much as we could for our film however allowing us to get our interior shots of inside the store and the crossing and we were able to get extra b footage to use in post-production. We then filmed the second set of exterior shots, however, there was an issue with bystanders during our filming as they were interfering with the shoot, we managed to complete it without compromise.
3rd of March	Filmed interior shots, location during filming there was a lot of rain causing some issues with sound quality and ended up having to avoid shooting near the windows to keep continuity between the exterior and interior footage.
6th of March	Had my editor send a draft to my client in case of last-minute improvements, I also paid the royalty fee for the music within the footage, however, my client had no improvements other than missing links so we ended up using some of our B rolls to fill the requirements.
10th of March	After going through it with my editor and completing their feedback with them to the best of my ability I had him send them the final product that hopefully satisfied all their wants/needs.

 

Production Schedule  

Title: AncesTee Promotional Video  

Director: Rory Robinson 

Producer: Billy Moss (Client)

18th of February  

Action	Date Started	Date completed
Brainstorming Ideas, Reasaching Conventions and Planning Pitch	25th of January	4th of February
Pre-production meeting 1, Pitch with the client making improvements to my Idea and hiring crew	5th of February	12th of February
Pre-production meeting 2, deciding our roles and Finalising the Idea. Story Board, Shot List	12th of February	15th of February
Production Schedule, Location Recce and risk assessment Test Footage along with Filming permission and Cast/Crew Legal Documents	16th of February	18th of February
Pre-production meeting 3 Equipment List along with Prop and Costume list	18th of February	20th of February
Auditions for Cast	23rd of February	24th of February
Created a Clear Contingency Plan, and Copyright Proof the Music	25th of February	27th of February
Pre-Production meeting 4 Confirm final details & I also Gathered Contact Details, Creating Call Sheet	1st of March	15th of March
Filming Day 1 (Exterior Shots)	2nd of March	2nd of March
Filming Day 2 (Interior Shots) Contingency Shoot (If needed)	3rd of March	3rd of March
Post-Production (Editing)	6th of March	10th of March
Rough Cut	6th of March	8th of March
Final version completed	10th of March

Gantt Chart

Created an online Gantt Chart for me and my crew to tick off as we were going through the creation process, this was to keep everyone in on the process as we went through each week of production. Everyone could edit it through teams and we could keep posted as the live document was edited. Letting us know in real-time the progress we were making.

Evaluation of Pre-Production Log/Schedule and Gantt Chart

My use of documentation in organizing and breaking down how my production was created through the weeks of pre-production, production and post-production and how these documents help me and my crew keep on schedule for my client's deadline.

 My Pre-Production Log allowed me to go through each week of the production in extreme detail and how this can be looked back on by my client and crew and the progress we have made each week. Showing how we are on track for the deadline. However, if I was going to improve this I would include links to the documents and pieces of work from each of these weeks so they can be easily found.

The Production Schedule went through the order me and my crew planned to create the promotional video from pre-production to post-production as it established the time frame around the production and allowed it to be updated with each completed body of work, keeping us on track for the deadline keeping us on track with the client and under budget with sticking to are assigned shooting days and times. If I wanted to make this better I would combine it with a Gantt Chart for visual aid and better time management from my crew.

Gantt Chart was an online document that could be edited by my crew when they completed tasks and informed them of important dates/deadlines for a piece of work vital to the production, without we could have possibly lost track of when certain tasks needed to be done. I would in future production have the Gantt Chart sorted into each day of the week so it's a more accurate depiction of work completion and assign certain colours to my crew to better highlight their completed work.

Overall my use of these documentations helped my production keep on schedule and without it, the whole production could have descended into chaos by losing the order of the timelines for the client, it could be better improved via more specific and accurate changes to highlight peoples workflow however during the course of this production it kept me and my peers on track.