Narration/Sound Footage

0:00
Typing sound effect The True Stars of Filmmaking
Harry Davis – Dolan

Harry –
We all know and love the Harry talking to camera.
people in front of the
camera, but what about the
people who spend hours
bringing the script to your
screen.
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Kirsty – Kirsty talking to

Kirsty Barham, production me(introduction)
coordinator.
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Harry – Harry talking to camera.

In 2022, the total spend on
film production was just
under two billion pounds,
making it one of the fastest
and most important industries
in the UK.
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Steven –
So, my names Steven Barham Steven talking to
and I’m a lead data wrangler me(introduction)
in the visual effects
department.
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Harry –
Today, we are going to go and Harry talking to camera.
discuss and speak to some of
the people who make that a
reality for you.
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0:53
Kirsty –
Um, so I went to Uni and Kirsty talking to me.
studies TV and Film
production at Leeds
Metropolitan, which is part
of – well the Northern Film
School is apart of that, and
then from there I went to the
National Film and Television
School and I studied
production management and
really I would say that’s
what propelled me into the
industry because I met
amazing contacts there, who
most of them have actually Oscar award ceremony video.
gone on to, you know, win Video cuts back to Kirsty
awards and have been hugely Video cuts back to award
successful. ceremony.

1:24
Steven –
So, I entered the industry Steven talking to me.
through a very weird way that
my dad picked up a woman who
owned a visual effects
company, so that was my in as
I emailed her and started as
a PA at the visual effects
company. But that was 12
years ago and sort of in that
time you had to have those
little weird ways to get in
or know someone because it’s
very hard to get a job in
film without knowing the
right people.

1:53
Kirsty –
I would say definitely Kirsty talking to me.
pending what department you
want to be in, specifically
for production I mean more
skills along the lines of –
they sound basic, but you
need to be skilled in them,
like excel and word and stuff
like that. So, showing that
you can use those software is
important however if you want
to go into camera or the art
department or costume, you
know to be able to show your
work and what you’ve worked
on I think would be quite
important.

2:29
Steven –
So networking is the main Steven talking to me.
thing you need to do in film
and the media industry
because you know these jobs
aren’t like advertised online
you sort of need to know the
people in the hiring
positions to be able to get
your foot in and you know Video scrolling on LinkedIn.
talk to people about certain
jobs so you know message
whoever you can on LinkedIn
seems to be the main way that
people do it or just writing
to production companies
depending on what route you
want to go down. Just putting
your name out there just
making yourself known and
reaching out to as many
people as possible is the
best way, and you know its
networking that’s what you
need to do in film.

3:08
Kirsty –
To be totally honest with you Kirsty talking to me.
the most important education
and work experience you can
get is being on set or being
in you know, and testing out
loads of different department
and going to work at
posthouse and working
somewhere like Vertigo films
for work experience and then
you can see how they see a
project right from the idea
all the way through, so- but
however I do think something
like the NFTS or Brighton
University or even the course
that I did at the NFTS it was
a really practical course
however if I think it’s like
a lot of theory I’m not sure
how much translates into the
real world of media. As
cheesy as it sounds, I think
just be yourself don’t trey
be someone that you’re not
because everyone is looking
for different people, you
know not everyone’s looking
for the most outspoken or the
most vibrant in the room, you
know each and every
production team is combined
of multiple different types
of personalities so just be
true to yourself.

4:20
Steven –
I mean if you want to put the Steven talking to me.
effort it’s very easy, you
know the main thing that
people look out for when your
working on a filmset or in
post-production facilities is
hard workers, you get a lot
of people that it sounds like
a cool job, they get the job
and then sort of just coast
along and those people get
found out very quickly. So,
if you know if you’re willing
to put the work in you know
you’ll get through the ranks
pretty quickly.

4:46
Kirsty –
Yes, I would say first of all Kirsty talking to me.
get as much work experience
as you can I know its not
easy for everyone to be able
to do unpaid work but if you Scrolling on BAFTA
can do it definitely do it, scholarship website.
and then I would say places
like BAFTA and Skillset they
offer loads of courses, and
talks that you can go too so
when you’re surrounding
yourself with likeminded
people and then as you all go
up the ladder you help each
other, so I would just say
try and get to as many of
those as you can.
5:19
Steven –
So it all depends on what’s Steven talking to me.
in the script so if there’s a
big heavy visual effects
sequence in the script say
stunt work so we’d have to
talk to the stunt team if
there’s gonna be like wire
pulls where someone’s yanked
across a set we’ll have to
then talk with stunts to see Visual effects shot.
what the stunt is we’d have Cuts back to Steven.
to talk to costume to see how
where the wires would go on
the costume because we’ll
obviously have to paint them
out, we’ll talk to the set
designer because you know
there’ll be parts of the set
if the stunt man’s being hit
against a wall it will be
soft padding so there may be
a world where we have to,
once the man hits the wall
you can see that he’s hit a
soft wall so there’ll be some
form of work involved where
we’ll make that wall look
more rigid and sort of touch
it up, it happens with fight
stuff a lot. So if there’s
visual effects involved in
any part of it we normally
talk to the production
designer for the set if its
stunts we’ll talk to stunts
if it’s a technically heavy
shot that requires that it’s
been prevised quite a bit
we’ll often have to talk to
the camera department because
we’ll previse how that camera
is supposed to move within
the space so then we’ll talk
to camera and make sure
they’re gonna move the camera
in a specific way it needs to
be done it helps us in post-
production so yeh with every
department, props you know
sometimes if the scene is a
heavy scene and the actors
running around with a sword
they’ll often have to use a
dummy sword which is like
rubber so that will often
move around and it won’t look
like a real sword we’ll have
to deal with hat a lot but
yeh every department if
there’s visual effects
involved whoever is there
will have to talk to them
about it.

7:04
Kirsty –
Well so for production it’s Kirsty talking to me.
you have to, it has to be in
you that you are
organisational based, so I
would say you know that you
are good at time keeping,
spinning multiple plates at
one time, because youre not
ever working on the same
thing, like one task at one
time, and be able to take
direction and able to work as
part of a team is very
important.

7:33
Steven –
So research is everything in Steven talking to me.
visual effects because more
often than not within visual
effects you’re trying to
achieve something that looks
real so if you’re doing
something on set that has a
lot of moving parts that we
have to get rid of its or
someone falling off a
building or hitting the floor
or a car crash the people in
post-production will research
the hell out of it they’ll
try to find every real bit of
footage they can get too to
get to point out that is what
would actually happen. So,
research is a massive part of
it. When we was on Jurassic Video of Jurassic part before
we had to research what a vs after of visual effects.
big, a large sized thing
moving through water would
look like, based on genre if
it’s a horror film you know
everything going to be a lot
darker and might be a ghost
so again it’s based on the
script you know if it’s a
sci-fi fantasy more often
than not you’re going to be
shotting on green screen with
a very small portion of the
film set but with the idea of
we’ll take over and create
the rest of it CG, yeah
dependent on the script.

8:40
Kirsty –
I think its definitely Kirsty talking to me.
important and specifically
like across multiple
departments and I mean you
are I guess what is
creativity to you, as well,
like you can be creative in
the way in which you collate
information and stuff like
that so I would say yes it
is, you just need the, you
just need to want to be able
to do things in different
ways to get to the end
result.

9:09
Steven –
So a usual day on set we do Steven talking to me.
ten hour days so its normally
a 8AM call we’ll get there 30
minutes before, we’ll prep
all the camera, all of our
gear get it on set and then Picture of Steven on set
the actors will come on do a Back to interview
little private rehearsal so
were just tinkering with our Steven on set
stuff in the background you Back to interview.
know were shooting on a green
screen we’ll put out tracking
markers you know some
photography of the set, the
actors will then go away get
in their costumes everyone
will come in make sure their
department requirements are
all done, we’ll rehearse it
with the stand-ins who are
people that are the same
look, height, skin colour and
we’ll rehearse that with them
on camera its good for
lighting. We’ll then wait for
actors then we’ll shoot and
my job would be recording
what the cameras are doing
what lenses they’re on, frame
rate everything about the
camera what its looking at,
what the visual effects will
be on the shoot, leasing with
the departments making sure
if there is a requirement for
visual effects that it is
being met so you have to
level with the departments
for that. Then just do that
about twenty times a day.

10:20
Kirsty –
Yes, so we are typically one Kirsty talking to me.
of the first departments in,
I mean hair and makeup and
locations are always, and
costume are typically a bit
before us but productions
usually one of the first in
and it varies if you’re
shooting or if you’re not
shooting but a typical
shooting day you’d read over
the call sheet seeing what’s
coming up for the day and
then were always prepping the
next day and the next weeks
so you’d look ahead at the
advance schedule make sure
that you have, if you’ve got
any animals that are coming
in or if there’s any drones,
helicopters ensuring that all
of the contracts and
everything is done because
part of the production office
you do contracts, you’re
hiring crew, you’re logging
phones that have gone out,
you know there’s so many
variables to what you could
be doing but its, yeah, just
prepping for everything
that’s coming up ahead

11:13
Steven –
I mean it will always pay. Steven talking to me
It’s worth it and it pays off
if you’re on a film that
you’re proud of, you know
I’ve done a couple films
where you watch it in the
cinema and they’re not good,
but yeah, what everyone sort
of agrees with especially if
you’re on the set side of
film its long hours, ten, you
do ten hour days you do
eleven or you do twelve hour
days, it’s a lot of work but
it pays well and then you can
afford to have a couple
months off each year but if
you put the effort in its, it
pays off. Make sure you’re
willing to work hard because
its cutthroat, you known its
freelance work so everyone’s
trying to get the same job,
network, make the right
connections with the right
people who would employ you.
You can make friends with
everyone but if you’re not
making friends with the
people who will give you work
then you know you’re making a
nice name for yourself but
you’re not going to get much
work. Yeah, just be willing
to work hard, be willing to
travel, you know it’s always
good fun when a unit goes
away for two months somewhere
and you’re all staying in the
same hotel and it’s a good
laugh, yeah just be ready to
have some fun, and work hard.

12:19
Kirsty –
I would say be sure on what Kirsty talking to me.
department you want to go in,
it’s absolutely okay to go
and try different departments
if you’re not sure if you
want to be in costume, or
locations, or in camera, go
try, get as much free work
experience as you can,
because once you know what
you want to do you will want
to go full steam ahead and
put everything into that
department. But one thing I
can say it as tough as the
film and tv industry is not
only to get into but when
you’re in there its long
hours, it is one of the most
amazing jobs, it’s fun, it is
hard but you get to do and
get to go to places that not
a lot of people do, so I
would say, definitely
definitely go for it!

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