CCR #3

Hi Everyone,

I’m sharing with you the script for the my third CCR (CCR #3: How did your production skills develop throughout this project?). I hope you enjoy!
EXTRA PRODUCTIONS ON BLACK SCREEN…
Davis sits in front of camera ready to address another online q and a session.
Hi, I’m happy to be joining you again. It’s been so great getting so many questions from all of you and I wanted to answer another one that so many of you have been asking.
SCREEN: How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
Davis Voiceover:
The question was, “How did your production skills develop throughout this project?” great question!
Davis Talking Head:
I (we) had to become a jack of all trades. When there are only two people in a group, guess what? Every single part of the project falls on your shoulders. It was both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because we had complete creative control. It’s a curse because there was no one else to blame when things went wrong. I think every aspiring filmmaker should do an entire project themselves at some point. Now that I’ve gone through it, I have a way better understanding of all the roles involved, and if I ever work with a bigger team in the future, I’ll actually be able to talk to the actors and crew without sounding like I have no idea what I’m doing.
There are a few major production skills that developed at warp speed during this project:First, scriptwriting:

• Screenshot: text flashes: “SCRIPTWRITING”
• Davis talking head: I have never rewritten something so many times in my life. We went from dialogue-heavy to barely any dialogue to absolutely zero dialogue
• Davis voiceover: Instead, we had to script every single movement, glance, hesitation…everything. Even objects had to be planned to help tell the story. Every bouncing knee, every slight shake of the head, every little moment had to be intentional.
• Davis talking head: It was exhausting, but it made me realize just how much thought goes into the smallest things in film.

Second, directing:

• Screenshot: text flashes: “DIRECTING”
• Davis talking head: Alessandra and I had to direct each other, which is both great and terrible because we know exactly how to push each other’s buttons. We also had to communicate clearly with our Director of Photography to make sure he understood exactly what we needed.
• Davis Voiceover: After every shot, we checked the footage, and if it wasn’t right, we went right back and did it again.

Davis talking head: Then we have organization:

• Screenshot: ORGANIZATION
• Davis talking head: If we didn’t stay organized, this project would’ve gone up in flames fast.
• Davis voiceover: We crossed off every shot from our script as we filmed it. We grouped our shots by location and kept all of our raw footage organized so editing wouldn’t be a complete disaster later.

Davis talking head: I can confidently say that Future Us was very thankful to Past Us for not making everything a mess.
Next, we have editing:
Screenshot: "EDITING"

• Davis talking head: Having a clear shot list and script made this part much, much easier. We knew exactly where everything went, so we didn’t spend hours searching for the right clips. We also got better at cutting to enhance the story. Editing is really where the film comes to life.

So, there you have it: a breakdown of how my production skills developed. I hope this was helpful!