1. Production Management requirements:
Paying my crew and actors and catering for them: Without a crew, I will not be able to make my
documentary. I will have to hire a crew consisting of cameramen, sound technicians, lighting
technicians and more. I may also need actors for reconstructions or presenting the documentary.
This will all cost me money, not to mention the fact that I must cater for my team during working
hours, and (if they live too far away) pay for accommodation during filming.
Scripts: I will need scripts so that production team know what they are doing during filming. For
example, so the cameramen know how they are shooting specific shots during filming. Another
example would be the presenter of the documentary; they would need a script to know what they
are supposed to be saying.
Transport: When switching from location to location (which happens often in documentaries) I must
be able to organise transport for moving my production team and equipment from one filming
location to another.
Finance: A finance sheet must be made listing all the expenditures during making this documentary.
That way the production manager can know exactly what the end cost will be and will also allow
them to see where money is being spent unnecessarily.
Budgeting: As production manager I have to successfully budget where I can during the making and
marketing of the documentary to avoid unnecessary expenditure.
Locations: It is the production manager’s role to make sure that all the locations required for the
documentary are available for filming. This also includes making sure each location has the correct
and necessary applications for the production team to be able to use. This includes plug sockets and
power supplies for setting up electrical equipment. A health and safety form must also be filled in
one ach location to make sure it is a safe location for the production team to film at.
Organising the production team and Interviewees: As production manager it is important to keep
all the team well informed of when and where filming will be taking place, this is to ensure that none
of the crew are late or get lost on the way to a filming location. The same applies to interviewees,
the production manager must ensure that the interviewee is aware of the date and location of
where they will be filming.
Scheduling: It is of the most importance that the production manager keeps everything up to
schedule. This will include all kinds of things such as dates for filming at certain locations, dates for
attending marketing events (press events) and most importantly keep up to date towards the
deadline.
Shooting scripts: It is important to have shooting scripts so that I and the production team can know
exactly when we are filming and specifically what we are filming.