I'm Afraid of You (Daniel Martin)

FIRST YEAR FILM

Content warning: references to depression and suicide.

My first short film with the National Film & Television School! I was assigned to the project as the Production Coordinator and I worked closely with the Producer, Toyosi, and Production Assistant, Nell.  'I'm Afraid of You' follows the other person in a relationship after a failed suicide attempt by their partner. When Nell and I joined, the film was already in pre-production. 

The crew had a rough idea of locations but were yet to confirm them. One of the key issues was sorting a road for the first two scenes, which involved action vehicles. The road needed to be private in order to secure approval from the school (for safety reasons); however, many of the private roads were reluctant to let us film. 

We had tutorials with Jordi (a producing alumni) to review our work, pre-production meetings with the crew, and sign off meetings with the tutors. My first responsibility was catering. The initial budget was £6/person and I began reaching out to different catering companies and local restaurants. Unfortunately we had to reduce the budget to £4 and eventually settled on NFTS's catering, Blue Apple (£3.25/person). It was very simple to liaise with Mark, the Head of Catering.

I also coordinated the tech recce with the tutors: I communicated with the crew and tutors and made the movement order (Nell did the call sheet). We pencilled our location for the road, Hall Barn (a private estate), the evening before tech recce. 

Another of my key responsibilities was transportation. I was unfamiliar with the transportation plan spreadsheet but quickly came to grips with the layout. I did a draft and then was hit with our first logistical issue: train strikes. Coordinating transportation for our London based cast and crew was initially daunting. The school asked us to create a proposal and budget for putting these team members into accommodation. However, in our final pre-production meeting (the Friday before filming), they rejected the accommodation plan and requested that we re-work the transportation plan. We decided to do pick ups from Amersham Underground Station and Slough Station where necessary. Our team demonstrated great resilience and problem-solving to resolve the situation.

Nell and I also supported Toyosi with various bits of pre-production as needed. We were a great team and communicated seamlessly. 

Filming was very fun, which none of us expected given the subject matter of the film. Our production team was very organised, which meant that we did not have much to do on set. The shot list was very ambitious, and the crew needed more rehearsals because we were shooting on film – they often fell a bit behind. The set was very small and often closed because of the sensitivity of the scenes; our production base was outside in the driveway. We were responsible for craft, catering, and transportation during filming. I also had a few bits of paperwork to complete (these responsibilities were shared with Nell): the wrap note and daily production report for the tutors, and preparing the movement order for the next day.

The fourth and final day of filming was the most complicated. The HoDs watched the rushes from Kodak and learned that some of the film was damaged (it was not loaded correctly). We had a slight cushion Thursday morning and managed to reshoot one of the scenes. However, the afternoon was scheduled to be scenes 1-2 in Hall Barn with the action vehicles, and we had a hard wrap time. The second part of the day went very well: we got the shots during golden hour! Our Level 3 Grip, Emmett Cahill, built the rigging for the shots. We had two shots where the camera was rigged outside a window of the action vehicle transporting the cast. For the third shot, the camera was rigged into the boot of a 9 seater and the Cinematographer, Ciara, was strapped in alongside it. The 9 seater was driven by Emmett with the boot open (key crew rode inside this vehicle watching on monitors) to capture the action vehicle driving behind it. I was the behind the scenes photographer for the day and got to ride in the 9 seater to take photos (which was such a cool perspective). 

After filming wrapped, I assisted mostly with expense forms. 

A few weeks after wrap, I was informed our reshoot application had been approved. The turnaround for the shoot was very quick; I was working on the Generation Gap quiz show and was unable to help with much of the pre-production. Because the shoot was scheduled for a Sunday, we needed to find external catering; I went with a company recommended by another PM which was curries for £6/person. I also asked Gail's to give us their leftover pastries from Saturday for breakfast on the Sunday – Nell collected these.

On the Sunday (29 October) I missed my train due to tube delays. I bumped into the Writer, Tracey, at the station and coordinated a pick up for us at High Wycombe, where the actors would be collected at the same time. 

There again wasn't much for production to do during filming. We managed the craft table and kept on top of our last few bits of paperwork. I went to pick up lunch with the 2nd AD. By lunch, which we delayed by 30 minutes, we were a few scenes behind. At our scheduled wrap time we still had two scenes left to complete. We went into grace (an additional 15 minutes) – and then continued filming until 20.40. This resulted from a lack of communication: the crew had not been told we were going into overtime and had no idea what was happening. The Producer had told the Director and Cinematographer that we were not permitted to go into overtime but the 1st AD nevertheless allowed them to do so. He was also telling Nell and I a different schedule to Toyosi. We completed the film without any serious issues; however, we also learned how displeased the school were by our unapproved overtime. I'll be sure to ask tutors for permission if we find ourselves in this situation again.

It was disappointing to end the shoot in a situation that caused tension between various crew members but I nevertheless really enjoyed the shoot and working with this team. 

The school does various screenings of the film where the tutors give their feedback to students from different departments. I went to attend the first one; however, my train to Beaconsfield was so delayed I only caught the last two minutes of the film. The end was changed (for the better) and even just from the short bit I watched I can tell the new footage is so much better. The tutors' feedback was very constructive: they made suggestions for the score (which just had placement tracks), suggested how to change the tone of certain scenes but rearranging shots, and discussed how different endings would change the meaning of the film. It was a collaborative and productive discussion, and I enjoyed learning how the school teaches filmmaking – I used to think it was an innate talent that couldn't be taught. 

I can't wait to see how the film evolves to the final cut through this collaboration. I know it will be a very moving story.

Note: photos are a mix of BTS photos taken by myself and stills from the original shoot by Cinematographer Ciara Rigney.