Producer mindset

I was so excited about this project because it was an opportunity to put the teachings of the Capstone to the test, from technical skill to process. When I joined, Aly, Hannah and Steven already had the story they wanted to tell and the style defined. I loved the idea, but my immediate next thought was ‘okay, how are we going to do this?’ Enter: the Producer Mindset.

Thinking back on it, it’s always been there. Organizing and reorganizing my room as a kid, the thrill of writing and producing roof-obliterating camp skits, even leading a team through complex raid encounters in Destiny. I can compartmentalize the necessary tasks of an encounter and then explain it at both a macro level— what we need to accomplish as a team in the most basic terms— and a micro level— explain to each member what they need to focus on individually while abstracting the rest. My brain kind of works like a GPS, I continuously reorganize and recalculate the most efficient route to complete a task within a set of circumstances using the resources at my disposal. So obviously the point here is let’s do Vow of the Disciple together.

So, how could I lead a team of first-time animated filmmakers through an entire production in 10 weeks while everyone on that team is also working on another movie? Decisive organization. In game and film production, I am good at organizing— timelines, talent, and scope— and being decisive in my leadership. Throughout the production of Steep, I kept a high-level view that allowed me to advise and mobilize the team knowing how the pieces each of them were working on would fit together in the end. I ensured each member was always working on the task they were best suited for. I was confident and decisive when questions of strategy or scope came up, leaning on the solid system of film production I’d learned in the Capstone to get the film finished on time. It was so much fun to put my understanding of the system to the test and see it work.

One more interesting detail is that I actually did very little to conceptualize this movie. When I joined the project, Aly, Hannah, and Steven had already defined what they were looking to make. I loved pouring myself into supporting their idea, truly internalizing it so that the products and recommendations I made were completely in its spirit. While one day I hope to lead a team to make something out of my ideas, using my skills to support the ideas of others is something that I really love about the teamwork required in this field.

Here are some specific ways I stepped into the producer role on Steep:

• Wrote the first draft of the screenplay, co-revised it

• Created and managed the production calendar

• Sought out and interfaced with the external help we got from our capstone connections, providing initial input and feedback to each:

  • Kris James for original music

  • Blake Rizzo for VFX

  • Oliver Abate for lighting

  • Michael Raquel for shading

• Made critical decisions on scope as we approached the deadline to get it finished on time. Made decisions valuing completion over perfection

• Managed workload of each team member and cared deeply for morale

A fun story about that last point is in our final crunch weekend before the screening, I kept reiterating the mantra “we’re gonna finish the movie!” After setting up our installation for the art show Steep was shown in, we walked out and said to each other “we finished the movie…” It was a highlight moment of college.

Environment Modeling: designed to the camera

I also got to take an earnest shot at environment layout and modeling while working on Steep, which was an absolute blast. Having such clear storyboards thanks to Aly and Hannah allowed me to design the sets around recurring camera angles. I also had a lot of fun making the mountain— I started by sculpting it in Zbrush then found a plugin on Gumroad that simulates wind and water erosion. Between my experiences on Patty and Steep, I am excited to try environment modeling again, but I definitely want to do it under an experienced leader whom I can learn more efficient methods from.