Studio Production: Sourcing and creating props for the shoot

As VT Producer, one of the important parts was having to stick to a tight budget and know how to spend efficiently. Our budget for props and costume was £15 which is not a lot considering we had very big plans to cover the walls in lots of posters and create a really cluttered space. the first step was to create a prop list of everything that we needed; 

Saskia created the prop list but it was a joint decision by all the of us (Ellie, Saskia and I) for what should go on the list.

“cutting too many corners at the beginning then finding out you were wrong…comes with massive overspend, and no one is happy.” (Lewis, 2000:54) So with this information, We made sure to put every little detail on the list. We then broadcasted this list various times on social media between peers to see how much items we could gather together without spending a penny. Needless to say it really worked and we managed to get most things on the list from eachother. We even saved money on the blow up doll because some students had previously used bought one for a shoot the previous week so we were able to use it free of charge. One thing that couldn't be on the list because it needed to be made was the makeshift posters that would be placed all over Norman's walls. 

I volunteered to sort this out because I knew exactly how I wanted it to look.  All I would need to do is get Norman to send me some selfies of his face, where I would then print them out in different sizes. I would then print out a range of different sized posters that would allow me to manipulate the face of them. Below I documented the process of this; 

First I made a list of possible films on the google drive to see if anyone would be able to print them off with the help of Helen but no one was able to in time. I came to the uni and asked Helen to help me print some as I knew she was able to print them for free. I was desperate to stick to the budget so I made the most out of this printing opportunity. It turned out that a few mistakes were made and I eded up with duplicate posters which was great because that meant we would have more coverage over the walls. 

After finding the right size head to fit the poster faces, I begun to precisely cut and place them over to see what they would look like. After I was happy with the positioning, I then stuck them on and begun to vandalise the posters so it wouldnt have the original names (copyright)

With Saskia's assistance, we begun to place the posters on the wall. We knew it would make more sense to scatter them so they'd look messier and the walls would look much fuller. An old white board that was left by previous students was cleverly put to use in order to fill the room. This was not planned, in fact a lot of the set dressing was not planned. We ended up bringing many more random objects from our rooms in order to fill the gaps. We realised the room had been looking a lot emptier than expected so we made the most of what we had. 

In the trailer script, the idea was for me to have a 50 shades of grey DVD which I would've then vandalized by sticking his head over the cover. However, the person who was meant to give me the DVD was unable to do so on the day so I had to improvise again by creating my own norman front covers. Which in my opinion worked even better because it gave it an even more home made feel which is exactly what we are going for with the trailer and Mockumentary. 

I was really pleased with the final outcome of the props because it just goes to show that when you put in the time and effort into the small details it can make the most difference. Ive also learnt through this that some things are a blessing in disguise because when I thought I wouldn't be able to get what we wanted, we ended up with something better. 

Next steps; Shoot Days and Edit days!!