Aaron Stevens and Dr. Darl Larsen, Department of Theatre and Media Arts
When two other film students and I received an ORCA grant to research stereoscopic 3-D and make a film using the information gained, we were not prepared for the full scope of this project. My original goal as a producer with this production was to research production models that were best suited for low budget and student short films in 3-D. However, I soon found that there was very little, if any, precedent to go off of. Therefore, I decided to move forward using the education and training in producing I’ve received at BYU, my own experience as a producer, and mostly trial and error efforts.
The pre-production / research and development phase of our work was probably the one we focused on most and where the majority of our ORCA funds were spent. (However, the majority of my own grant was reserved for the production phase.) That situation is pretty typical of most film productions since you want to plan everything thoroughly so that there are no loose ends when you move into production. Looking back, I must admit we placed more emphasis on research and development than on the pre-production. By this I mean, we were so eager to create a working 3-D camera rig that we spent most of our time and money performing experiments with different rig prototypes and developing formulas for creating the most effective 3-D images. This created some early problems. Because most of our ORCA funds were being spent on research, we clearly needed to raise more money for the actual production. However, because we were so focused on experimentation the script was being neglected. Without a script that could be broken down for cost assessments we had no idea how much money we needed to raise. Also, there was some convolution in responsibilities with the addition of two other producers. While we certainly made mistakes, we could only operate according to the amount of information gained and our current level of experience from previous film productions.
As far as we were concerned we believed we were doing a fairly good job preparing for our film. We held several production meetings where we would devise fundraiser ideas, discuss progress made with the script, and highlight important upcoming items, such as location scouts and allocating set construction materials. One creative fundraising idea that we came up with that allowed us to incorporate some of our 3-D research findings proved to be a minor success. We were able to set up a green screen at an Independence Day celebration and photograph people in front of it. In exchange for a donation we created a 3-D patriotic portrait for them using Photoshop. It was a lot of fun and a great opportunity to let the local community know about our project; as well as create some excitement for 3-D filmmaking.
During our preparation period we set several Production dates for when we would actually shoot our film, but due to various scheduling conflicts and the need for more preparation time we continually set the dates back. One of the most important lessons we learned about film production is that some of the biggest obstacles that present themselves are ones that cannot be anticipated or avoided. We were caught off guard by several of these types of problems as we neared our production dates. These dilemmas also seemed to be magnified by the fact that they were preceded by a period where things seemed to be working out for us quite well.
Originally, we had a fairly decent location, which was given to us for free, a lot of enthusiastic volunteers who wanted to help out, and several good leads on some serious donors. A few weeks before our production was set to begin, our location was taken away from us and given to a paying client. This caused us to have to set the production dates back until we could find another location. While it was unfortunate, it was a great opportunity for me to move into action doing what I love to do best as a producer, resource acquisition. I was able to contact the owner of the old Circuit City space in Orem and worked out a deal to be able to shoot there. It turned out to be the perfect location. Its vastness and diversity allowed us shoot all of our scenes at one place, but not for free. Once we solved our location issues we ran it to more problems. Many of the people who committed to help us build sets could no longer devote their time, and set construction was our next major priority. In fact, it proved to be just as intense and expensive as our 3-D research. This was because the sets were engineered to facilitate the 3-D look of the film. Much of our paint and lumber was donated or discounted, but it still added up to quite a bit. A good portion of my ORCA funds paid for set construction materials. After attempting to recruit more people, we decided to forward with the low number of volunteers that could help. Everyone worked hard long hours, but we were able to get the job done.
There were some aspects that did work in our favor though. The producer’s assistant and I were able to allocate meal donations from Noodles & Co., Gandalfo’s, Papa Murphy’s Take & Bake, and BYU catering. While this certainly saved us money we were still short on funds. The potential donors never worked out and there was no time left. Our production dates had been set in stone by the Department of Theatre and media arts to avoid scheduling conflicts with other projects. In the end we resorted to using our own funds.
As we moved into production we finally had a script, but it was about 20 pages, which is quite long for a student film. This meant we were looking at a very full production schedule every day so that we could get all of our shots in within the time allotted to us to use the TMA department’s equipment. The busy production schedule often led to situations where we were working 14 to 16 hour days. Yet, we were still unable to fit it all in, forcing us to extend our production period. This caused production costs to rise because we ultimately exceeded the TMA department’s deadline. We incurred further expenses having to rent equipment from a local rental house.
In spite of all of this, our persistence prevailed and we were able to complete all of our shots before our location rental period expired. Our production is currently in the process of post production where we the film is being edited and the 3-D effects are being applied. We are set to show the film at a science fiction forum this February.
In all, the experience was full of highs and lows, and my production knowledge is much greater for it. I have learned some key practices that I will adamantly hold to for future productions. Probably the biggest thing I learned about was the importance of having a finished script early on. I now know that a finalized script is crucial to how the rest of the production will go. With it, the producer can break it down to identify production needs, work out a reliable production budget and schedule, and create a polished pitch with a tangible product to present to potential donors. While there were many complications and headaches associated with accomplishing such a big project, there were also plenty of positive highlights as well. I enjoyed working with my friends, and I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience that will be extremely useful in my future career. Most of all, not only did I get to do what I love most, which is producing movies, but I helped produce BYU’s first 3-D movie!