Media Directors and Designers
Direct the artistic, creative and technical aspects of film, television, audio and live performance productions.
Day three of the shoot
You are a production manager on a short film, responsible for the schedule, the crew and keeping the shoot on track. It is day three and the shoot is already behind. The weather is turning, the budget is tight and everyone on set is looking to you. Three problems come at once.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I want to reshoot yesterday's scene because I'm not happy with it. It'll take the whole morning. I know we're behind, but this is the heart of the film. We have to get it right.
Say yes immediately, because the director's vision must come first
The reshoot takes all morning, and the scenes that were scheduled are now squeezed. By evening the crew is exhausted, and two other scenes suffer. One good scene can cost the whole film.
Say no, because the schedule is fixed and you cannot afford any delay when the budget has so little room left in it
You protect the schedule, but Marcel is unhappy and the scene stays weak. A film that is on time but flat is not what anyone wanted.
Ask what would make the scene work, look for time you could find elsewhere and propose a shorter reshoot
Marcel explains what is missing. You find ninety minutes by moving a simple scene. The reshoot happens, the schedule survives and the director feels heard.
The cables for tonight's setup would run across a public footpath, and storm clouds are coming in. I don't love it. Shall we put up signs and go ahead, or do we risk delaying?
Go ahead with signs only, to stay on schedule, because the crew has already lost time and the rain may hold off
Signs are not enough with wet weather and members of the public walking through. Someone could trip or touch live equipment. Staying on schedule is never worth a safety risk.
Stop, find a safer cable route or a way to cover and guard it, and tell the director the new timing
Bridie finds a route around the footpath and a crew member guards the crossing. The setup is safe and only a little late. Safety is a decision you make before anything goes wrong.
Cancel the evening shoot completely and send everyone home
Nobody is at risk, but you have lost a night and the crew's confidence. There was a safe way to continue if you had looked for it.
I've been on set since five and I haven't had a proper break. I'm tired and I'm getting my lines wrong. Is it okay if I take twenty minutes, or will it hold everyone up?
Tell him to push through, because everyone is tired and it is a hard job
He makes more mistakes, which wastes time in the end, and he leaves feeling unvalued. Rest breaks matter, and people work better when they are looked after.
Give him the break and quietly adjust the shooting order so the delay costs the schedule as little as possible
Quentin returns refreshed and nails the scene in two takes. The crew saw you look after someone, and it makes them trust you more.
Give him the break but make it clear that he is holding things up
He rests, but he returns feeling guilty and tense. The break helps less than it should have, and the rest of the cast notice your tone.
How it went
The day ends late but safe, with the key scene in the can and the crew still talking to you. Production management is about keeping a complicated team moving while protecting the people and the creative work. Would you enjoy being the person who makes the film possible?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The location that disappeared the night before
A fictional case set in a short film shoot at a series of locations around a regional town.
The situation
Tess was the production manager on a short film shot over five days. The key location, an old railway station, had been agreed for months. At seven on the evening before the biggest scene, the station's caretaker rang to say there was a clash and the building would be closed to the crew. Forty people were due on set at six the next morning, including actors travelling from the city. The director was already asking Tess how she planned to fix it.
What they did
Tess rang the director and the producer first so nobody heard bad news second hand. She split the problem into three jobs: find a new location, tell the crew and cast the plan and keep everyone safe. She asked the crew for ideas and called the local council, who had a disused platform at another station. She checked it for safety and access herself at dusk, wrote a new call sheet that night and rang the heads of department one by one to talk through the changes.
How it turned out
The scene was shot at the new station, a little later in the morning than planned. The director said the new platform looked better on camera. Tess added a rule for the next production: always have a second location lined up for the key scene.
What would you do?
- Why did Tess phone the director and producer before anyone else?
- What do you think makes someone calm in a crisis?
- How is a production manager's job different from a director's?