I hold new appreciation for anyone who has a career in catering because it was a huge task. Trying to plan what kind of food to have that would be quick and easy to prepare and also the quantity of food to purchase to make sure that everybody had enough food to keep them going. Our cast and crew combined were a large group of people to cater for and we faced a few challenges while filming in Lorneville as unlike Omaui there was not a kitchen to be able to cook and prepare food in and our budget which was not huge by any means of the imagination. At Omaui, we used the YMCA Omaui Adventure Camp Hostel as our base which had kitchen facilities as well as a huge dining area and toilets. Scones, fruit, scroggin, vegetable soup and mince with vegetables were much needed hot filling meals for our night shoot at Omaui. While filming at Lorneville, sandwiches, scones, fruit, scroggin and BBQ sausages, meat patties, bread, onions and $5 pizzas became our meals as these were the easiest things to prepare and serve especially with having no kitchen facilities. I definitely do not want a career in catering ever!
YMCA Omaui Outdoor Adventure Camp - Home Base
During the Omaui film shoot, I fulfilled a number of roles. I was the Project Manager, Caterer, 3rd Assistant Director, Costume Assistant, Runner, People Wrangler, Producer and when something did not run right or needed to be fixed, I was the "on my feet" problem solver. The problems that we had on this shoot were not really major problems and were reasonably easy to solve. I enjoyed the experience of a night shoot and have learnt that a night shoot comes with all it's own logistical issues. In saying that, we managed to pull it off without any major problems and got all the shots we needed.
Lorneville Woolstores
The Lorneville film shoots were a little different to those shot on location. All of the the set elements, costumes and props were able to be transported and stored at the woolstore weeks in advance of shooting, so logistically the shoots here were simpler. The only things that needed to be transported to the location were cast, crew, catering and camera and lighting gear. I fulfilled all of the same roles from the Omaui shoot as well as helping with set dressing. This shoot was different because we didn't have to contend with or worry about the weather and also because everything was filmed in front of the green screen. Setting up each scene took longer during these shoots because everything needed to be thought out carefully to lay out the set pieces to make everything seem believable. One the last day of shooting, hearing the words, "That's a wrap!" was a great and fulfilling feeling, leaving everybody with a sense of achievement and relief that this phase of the project was finally complete!
Screen shot of a post from Physical Realm's Pinterest page
As well as filming and organising logistics for the film shoots, I continued my role as External Producer by posting on all of Physical Realm Studio's social media and also making sure that PledgeMe was going well. We slightly exceeded our PledgeMe goal by just over $100 which was not a bad effort at all!
I found the film making process exciting, enjoyable and interesting. The list of jobs I performed during this process were Project Manager, External Producer, 3rd AD, Caterer, Costume Assistant, Set Builder Assist, Set Dresser, Runner, Prop Maker and just general problem solver and people wrangler which I guess is a part of being a Producer. Pre-production and production of Bones of Essimer was a fun experience which has made me realise that my niche is being a Producer. I love everything about producing from marketing and budgeting to logistics and people wrangling. I have decided that because I love producing that next year I will be heading back to SIT to study for a Graduate Diploma in Film as I feel that to become a good Producer that I will need an understanding of film as well as animation and as I am an animator, all I need now is to learn some things about film. Even though I have had to learn very quickly and use my common sense to learn how to make a film, I definitely feel that I could benefit from learning and gaining a lot more knowledge about film.
We are now heading into the post-production phase of the project. This is where I will jump back into the animation team and help with modelling, compositing and visual effects. I am looking forward to the change of environment and getting back in front of a computer to do my part in this final phase. I am relieved that I have completed my Media Culture, Research and Screenwriting papers now as we have met the end of the first semester. The second half of the year will have it's own set of challenges that we will face as we race towards graduation. Physical Realm Studio has all the post-production of Bones of Essimer to do including getting things ready to be taken to Armageddon in Auckland and organising a launch party for the premiere showing of Bones of Essimer, the animators are taking the second half of their advanced animation paper and we all have our personal projects to think about and create before the end of the year. I am creating a cartoon web series for New Zealand children between the ages of 9 and 12 years old, that has 100% kiwi (New Zealand) content as in this country, we do not show anything with kiwi content in it on television for this age group and in actual fact a majority of the shows that children watch in New Zealand are American shows. I look forward to starting my second semester and can not wait to show everybody Bones of Essimer and my own web series idea! Bring on second semester!!!!!
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