My research quickly led me to a number of websites which shared their opinions through personal experiences of having a similar problem. Getting real-world feedback was essential to me as it would allow me to assess our situation and draw as many parallels as possible. Larry Brody's article on stareable.com stated: "Always, always already have a backup plan, especially for people you don’t know very well. When shooting the pilot for my web series, Brains, my cameraman didn’t show up after the first day, because he lost his camera and all of the first day’s footage. Thankfully, I had brought my simple camcorder to set to record behind-the-scenes videos, and we ended up using that camera for the rest of the season." (stareable.com, 2017) The person who never showed up on our shoot was a first year none of us bar George had ever met. We all trusted that he would turn up and be professional, like the rest of the students I have worked with on this unit. This research leaves me to assess myself and realise I did not take into consideration that we could have a no-show and leave us with issues. I never made plans for what we would do if someone did not show up. Thankfully, this was not a shoot date in which the extra crew would be an essential part of the production (on a secondary camera getting on track shots) but nonetheless, I should have made further plans as this could have happened on a day in which the extras were essential.
It had crossed my mind that the crew member who no-showed may have been considering if this was worth their time after they had agreed. George had pitched our idea to the first years and we had a great amount of interest, and George chose the person who seemed most interested. I also believe that we have a very good policy within our group. Of course, we do not have the financials to pay every crew member that helps, but we provide a quality lunch and travel expenses for each member who could not be picked up by the producer. This alongside working on an exciting 3rd-year production made me feel that there was no reason to question if this was wasting their time. I fully believe that George did all he could to show our project for what it was and explain what was expected of any crew. As every shoot day was important to us I was disappointed to be let down. However, I could not let this affect me as I was out on track and could not be worrying about the crew issues at the time. I got on with my day and only after, when writing my blogs, was I able to think about the issue we had. Thankfully, on the day George did a fantastic job of getting on the extra camera and capturing a wide range of great b-roll, but in reality, we have already learned that he should not be doing this because of his role as producer. George stepped in on the day, but this should only ever be a last resort unless already decided upon before we arrive. I have complete faith in George as camera operator, but he needs extra time and plans to make sure he is happy, especially when his producer roles have greater importance.
This advice was drawn directly from the television industry, but further research into this subject had to be conducted into other areas of work due to the nature of my problem. The issue of no-showing is that it affects the rest of the crew, not just the one who has to cover the missing person. It stretches the crew beyond what they expect to be doing, meaning they enjoy the day less and also may come away with a lower quality product. My research into other industries demonstrated that no-showing is a wide problem, one which is seen across the job-spectrum.
At the time, I was not annoyed at the no-show as I was confident in the team and their ability to process accordingly. It was actually in hindsight where I found myself being frustrated, as I would never leave someone in the cold like this. Thankfully I was calm after understanding the situation and we made some great decisions on the spot to ensure the day was still productive. When researching into staff not turning up, I came across various websites which stressed the importance of staying calm in the moment: "Resist the urge to get angry right away. Remember, your employee knows the rules, so there may be a legitimate reason that they couldn’t make it to work or call to let you know. Don’t jump to conclusions and assume that they’re just doing it to be spiteful or that they’re a bad employee. That’s just a recipe for disaster. Instead, stay calm, think positive, and focus." (getsling.com, 2018) . I like to feel I am level headed and when the news was given to me I did not get angry and simply tried to understand the situation and what the crew would have to do to ensure it would not matter throughout the day. I spoke with the team at the time and we came up with a short term fix to the issue, but it is certainly one we do not want to repeat in the future. Overall, however, I am happy that I did not get angry about something I could not control, the best way to move on was to understand how the day would run and I decided on the spot how we would proceed and the day was still very successful.
A lot of the fixes that I researched had a direct correlation to someone in a job missing a day, therefore a lot of what was in my research had no impact as we could not benefit in any way from quizzing the crew member who did not show up. My best method was to think about what I would do in the future if we came across the same scenario. We have a large number of shoot dates and will undoubtedly need help so I would be silly to think we would not be needing any external help going forward.
After understanding the situation we were in, I think I did the only thing we could have at the time which was asking George to go on the camera, showing him my plans to ensure he knew he was up to speed. However, we may have been able to avoid this situation in the first place if we had asked someone closer to us to come and help. "Direct contacts you may have made in school, try to think about who might be able to help you, or who may know people who may be able to help you. For example, asking producers who hire crew often may be a good start" (pond5.com, 2016). While not always feasible, it certainly helps as a director, knowing the crew members on set. I personally feel we should have contacted people in our year before the first years, as this would have allowed us to know the personalities and decide upon who would be the best person for the job. George possibly made it more complicated for himself, but he did so to try and reach a larger number of people. In hindsight, and going forward, we will be typically using people within our year group for our project as well as friends who have video production skills if absolutely needed.
"Hiring" people we know, as well as working on detailed plans, will be my focus going forward. As a producer, George has agreed that if we ever get into a similar situation, he will be happy to be on a secondary camera as long as he gets time to read all of the plans beforehand. I feel like I've been doing a good job with my pre-shoot plans and I will continue with these and try to go into greater detail to ensure the camera operator is sure of their role. I have also suggested to George that he take a more thorough look at the plans going forward to ensure he knows exactly what would be required of him or any operators on the shoot date. This means that if George does go onto a camera in an emergency, he will at least know what he is doing. This means there is a requirement for me to make my plans slightly further in advance to ensure all crew, including George, know their roles and what shots they need to complete.
We know this is not ideal, as a producer should be able to focus on their role. But at the same time, we do not have unlimited resources and have to be realistic about the number of shoot days we have as well as the times that certain people can help us. This does mean that it is almost inevitable that George will have to help on camera at times because we will be short staffed on a few days. However, as long as my planning is done beforehand and we act in a professional manner on the day, I do not think there is an issue. Part of the challenge of this project has been helping each other with our different roles and while it has been a hard process to grasp, we are doing so in a professional way on the majority of shoots. I am happy I conducted this research as it allows me to have a good understanding of how we proceed going forward, as well as understanding the approaches needed on the day to ensure we do not let issues like these affect us. I hope this won't happen again, but further knowledge on an issue like this will benefit the whole team.
References
stareable.com, 2017 https://blog.stareable.com/solutions-to-common-on-set-problems-9250871edc90
pond5.com, 2016 https://blog.pond5.com/6343-how-to-find-the-perfect-crew-for-your-film-or-video-production/
getsling.com, 2018 https://getsling.com/blog/no-call-no-show/
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