Pre-Production Paperwork
As I took on the role of Producer and Covid-19 supervisor, I had to complete risk assessments for our various locations, find and contact contributors, find and organise the locations, book equipment, and ensure that Covid-19 measures were put in place and observed.
Due to the global pandemic, it was decided that we'd try to keep interviews with contributors online where possible. A positive result of this, was that our options of contributors was widened as people had to log onto a computer rather than travel. We were able to try and contact people in different parts of the UK and world. With the recent passing of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, I had found out that all conservative members of Parliament had voted in favour of it (UK Parliament, 2021). As a result of this, I decided to contact the local MP for Rochester and Strood, Conservative Kelly Tollhurst, and try and get an interview with her. Unfortunately, she was not willing to give an interview but agreed to answer any questions we had and provide a written statement. Heather (Screenwriter) and I decided to send her some questions and provide Joey (Editor) with her response to put into graphics.
Heather and I also reached out to Sisters Uncut and Pride but were unable to get a response. As a result of this, we decided to put out a message on social media to see if we could get any responses from people willing to be interviewed and/or share their experiences. We managed to get someone (Ryan Perry) from our university course. However, we were unable to gain much more of a response so we had to rethink. I decided to contact the Wandsworth extinction rebellion branch as I knew there was a local branch. They responded and we sent a message out. We were provided with the contact details of someone, who agreed to be interviewed, but didn't reply to the times that she could do, luckily we had other contributors. Heather had managed to secure interviews with Sheamus Moores, who is part of FreeReadingUK and is very politically involved, as well as Doris Alimahdi, who used to be a project coordinator at Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust.
With regards to the locations, it was decided upon to conduct the interviews online so I made the decision of filming in the base room at Maidstone TV Studios. There was a greater chance of us being able to achieve access to this as it is a part of our university campus. In order to gain access to the base room, I completed a room booking request form, which I then sent off to the university Work Placement and Production Coordinator, Laura Coull.
As we were conducting vox pops, we thought that Maidstone town centre would be a good location for them. With Kent being a primarily Conservative supporting area (UK Parliament, 2021), we thought it would be an opportunity to get more right-leaning views than the contributors we had obtained, who tended to be more left-leaning, creating a bit more balance within our documentary. I contacted Kent Film Office with regards to a film permit and they directed me towards applying for a film permit. Once I had filled out the risk assessment for Maidstone Town Centre, I waited for Laura to sign them and then sent off a film permit application, alongside the risk assessments and insurance policy, for Maidstone Town Centre to Kent Film Office. Unfortunately, the application wasn't approved on time, which meant we were unable to use a tripod with the camera and had it as handheld instead as this was the only way that we could film without a film permit (Coull, 2021).
In order to ensure that we had the equipment we needed, I filled the risk assessments out and emailed Technical Tutor, Ferg, to ensure that we had the equipment booked out for the dates required. We were successfully able to get all the equipment that we required.
When filling out the risk assessments, I had to adapt them to ensure that they included Covid-19 protocols. Once completed, I then sent them off to Laura to be signed so that they were ready for production and so that I could print them off. I also had to complete a third risk assessment as a back up just in case we didn't get the footage that we wanted/something went wrong. The third location for this was our University accommodation.
Risk Assessments:
Maidstone Town Centre Risk Assessment
Bibliography:
Coull, L. (2021) Pre-Production Sign Off. [Online 23/04/2021].
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (2021) Elizabeth II. At: https://votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/Division/981#ayes (Accessed 02/05/2021).
UK Parliament. (2021)MPS and Lords Kent. At: https://members.parliament.uk/region/county/Kent (Accessed 3/05/2021)
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