Ghastly Solutions (working title still?) is our web comedy series that is about to go into production in the next few weeks. But it’s been a long time coming, and the idea has bounced around and morphed from something very vague into something about to be made.

It started with concept material that we all shot in groups based on either location or character. We edited them together and sent them to the writers for inspiration for their script. From talking with the writers the footage highlighted the ‘corporate’ look that RMIT has, and how it tries to be cooler than it actually is, then this morphed into the comedy/office idea, which then somehow also included all these supernatural creatures.

Then the writers came up witch characters and a script each to pitch to us, the media students. We then broke up, adopted a few writers and chose which script drew us in most, and was most do-able given the time restraints. My media group chose Anthony’s script, as it was a great introduction to all the characters and the scene in general, it was also quite short and concise so it wouldn’t be too big of a job for us to attempt to pull off. To save time, we decided that we would also play the characters, me as Arabella, Gaby as Liz, Ben as Dalv and we pinched Monty from the writers team to play Duncan. We believed we didn’t have enough time to find talent, and we were also concerned about them pulling out at the last minute which is something we just didn’t have time for. So we decided that we would be fine to fulfil our crew roles as well as our acting ones. We all agreed on using DSLR cameras, as we are all very familiar with them and can therefore use them to their greatest extent, and because this is a web series that will be viewed on either laptop or phone so we don’t need to be using iMax camera’s or anything. We arranged to book out cameras, lighting, boom mics, tripods and sound equipment for our two day shoot in week 5 and into the mid semester break, when everyone was free and we could use any space in RMIT we wanted. We allocated crew roles, including two directors (which i’ll discuss later).

Day one of shooting was a little doomed from the start; our directors had blocked out the scenes we wanted to shoot in a room completely different to the one we ended up using. So that meant all that work was a bit of a waste, and we had to adapt to change all the intended camera shots and angles in this environment we weren’t prepared for. On top of that, the room we did use wasn’t good, the lighting was unflattering, and didn’t resemble an office at any capacity. Whenever someone left a room on that floor, the mics picked up the slamming doors from all the way down the hall which was a real nuisance to work with. The air conditioners in the room were exceedingly loud, creating some very ugly white noise. In terms of crew, people tended to jump around roles, the intent was to help each other our but it got very messy and people were unsure of what they were doing and there was no hierarchy or system, no one was keeping the rest of us in check and moving things along, which is why this first shoot took so long to get done. Having two directors didn’t really work, both were asking the opinion of the other, which is great for pre-production but not so good for shooting when you have time limits for equipment etc.

Day two of shooting was in a new room, with alot more space for movement of equipment, and the sounds of slamming doors could no longer be heard, but of course this last minute choice of location also had alot of drawbacks. the lighting in this room was odd, it was very uneven due to the lighting rig hanging from the roof (which we couldn’t use of course). This room also lacked a likeness to an office, but I think we were all frustrated by this point so no one cared. Again people jumped around crew roles, as we tired to decide camera shots and angles we needed to meet the script requirements. Although this shoot day did go by quicker, the quality of what was produced was really no better than the first day.

Our final version of our pilot was not a success but (according to the panel) not a total failure. No there was no decided aesthetic, no props, no storyboards, no locked in crew roles and a lack of attention to eye line and ensuring the cameras were in focus; but we made all those mistakes so we don’t make them again when we move on to produce the web series with a new cast, and rearranged crew. We are all on the same page after making the pilot together, and we want a better standard of quality and I think now we know what it takes to get our content to that point.