The
Pre-Production Process
Requirements
for a Moving Image Production
Pre-production process
The
pre-production process is an important part of making any media text. Without
effective pre-production planning, there would be no organisation of personnel
and equipment, possible safety and legal issues, and no creative direction for
the media text being made. The pre-production process begins with the
conceptualisation of the media text, which is done using various creative
processes including script writing, storyboards and shot lists. Without this
step, the team would make mistakes when shooting the media text, as the script
and shots needed would not be planned and therefore would not be clear. After
the completion of the creative planning, there are many legal issues that need
to be dealt with. This includes equipment hire, props, costume and location
organisation, as well as the legal paperwork, which includes releases for
locations and talent, and also a thorough risk assessment of the production
process. These steps assure that there will be no legal problems when filming,
and that the team will stay within the budget. The production can only move
forward after the pre-production process is complete.
Types of
production
The media
text created for this coursework is a ninety second short film for a Depict!
entry. Depict! is a short film competition, where short films of any
genre can be entered to win prize money.
A common way
to distribute short media texts, such as music videos, is over the Internet
through video steaming services, such as YouTube and Vimeo. The reason why they
are used so often is because it's a free way to publish these media texts, or
to advertise new products. Film festivals and social media platforms are also
used to publish media texts (as most people have some form of social media).
Both of these distribution methods ensure that the media text will have a
larger audience.
Film
festivals are a popular way of distributing low budget films. For example, The
Blair Witch Project premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and earned $1,512,054 in its first weekend. From then, it went on
to have an overall gross of $248,639,099 (over 4,000 times its original
budget), and earning the reputation of a sleeper hit – a production which has
become successful gradually. Without the successful opening weekend at the
festival, the film may not have gone on to earn so much money, proving that
film festivals are effective methods of distribution. However, this is only the
case for low budget films, as mainstream films, such as films produced in
Hollywood, have entirely different methods of distribution. They are normally
first released in the cinema, as high budget films – for example, the Marvel
films – are expected to have a large audience, and will therefore earn a very
large profit during its release in the theatres - for example, Avengers: Age
of Ultron earned $392,471,109 during its opening weekend. After this, the
film is publicly released on DVD.
Different types of moving image
texts have different methods of distribution depending on what they are. For
example, cartoon animated shows are normally released on TV, on a channel
specifically for children. The genre of a TV show normally determines which
channel its released on, for example, well known reality shows such as I'm a
Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! are normally shown on ITV. Some TV shows
are also released on Netflix (a platform to watch TV shows and films on) a
period of time after their original release. Netflix also has its own original
TV shows, for example Riverdale, therefore gaining the company more
profit than if they just streamed other companies' shows.
Sources of finance
There are many different sources of
finance used when making a moving image production. Sometimes, the production
company can fund the production themselves, if they are worth enough money and
will earn the money back with the profit of their film. For example, Disney is
worth approximately $165 billion, and can therefore fund their
films themselves. In 2014, Frozen grossed $1.219 billion in theatres overall, proving that
Disney earns back the money they spend on their films.
However,
most production companies can't afford to do this, so they rely on other
sources of funding, for example, public money. The BFI (British Film Institute)
help production companies fund their films by using funds from the National
Lottery, who earns its funds from the public. This way, the BFI has helped fund
many films over the years, including Swallows and Amazons in 2016. As
well as the BFI, some production companies rely on crowdfunding (raising money
from a large group of people to fund a project) to fund their films. This is an
effective method of gaining the money, as crowdfunding normally takes place on
the Internet, which means more people will contribute as most people have
access to the Internet.
Some
production companies are sponsored by other people or companies that believe
the film will be a success, for example Brad Pitt has sponsored many successful
films. This means that their sponsors will put a large amount of money to the
production of the film, and will gain money from it if it is a success.
Requirements
There are
many requirements needed to spend money on when making a moving image text,
which is organised during both the pre-production and post-production
processes. During pre-production, the requirements for filming are organised,
for example the props for the media text. The amount of money spent on props is
different depending on the genre, as it may not always be necessary to spend
large amounts of money – for example, ITV's period drama Victoria bought
props from the pound store, keeping their budget to £10 million.
As well as
props, money also has to be spent on the equipment for the crew, which includes
cameras, lighting and sound equipment. As it would be far too expensive to buy
the equipment needed to film the media text, the equipment is hired out.
However, this is also not cheap, and so room must be made in the budget for
hiring out equipment. Some directors also require different lenses to shoot
different scenes. For example, in the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why, the
director Tom McCarthy and cinematographer Andrij Parekh wanted to create two
different visual looks to depict the past and present. To do this, they used Hawk V-Lite
anamorphic lenses for the past, to give a softer, more
romantic look. For the present they used Leica Summilux C-series prime lenses, as they had a softness that they could counteract with hard
lighting. Because of this, they will have had more equipment to hire out,
costing more money than if they had just used one lens.
Another large requirement that will cost the
company money are the actors, but the amount of money the actors are paid
varies depending on the type of moving image text. For example, an actor in a
feature film will most likely be paid more than an actor in a TV series, for
example Robert Downey Jr was paid $50 million for the first Avengers
film. However, there are exceptions to this if a TV show becomes huge, for
example The Big Bang Theory, in which the shows main stars are paid $900
000 per episode, following a cut of $100 000 in their salary to allow their
co-stars to be paid more and remain on the show.
The short film for this coursework didn't require
any props as it focuses on complete isolation, and props wouldn't have allowed
that theme to be expressed as well. The lighting and camera equipment used
belonged to the college, and didn't cost any money to borrow. Therefore, no
money was spent on the production of this film.
Personnel
When making a moving image production, the
make-up of a typical team varies depending on the length of the production. The
team consists of both ‘talent’ (actors) and ‘crew’ (the production team). In a
low budget short film, like the Depict!
entry for this coursework, the team would include a director, a producer,
actors, camera crew, lighting and sound operators, editors, a screenwriter and
a scriptwriter. The team would be small as it is not a large-scale production,
and so each person may have more than one role – for example, in The Blair Witch Project, the cast also
acted as a camera crew, as they filmed the footage themselves. The production
team for a low budget short would not include any extra personnel, such as
runners or make-up artists.
When making a television programme, the
production team would be a lot larger than when making a low budget short. The
budget is higher, so the team can afford to hire much more personnel, including
extras, stunt men, make-up artists, set builders, costume designers, runners, catering
and first aiders. However, this again varies on the type of programme that it
is – for example, a one-off episode will have a smaller team and a lower budget
than a full series. Therefore, some of the personnel listed above wouldn’t be
used in a one-off episode as it probably wouldn’t be necessary. In comparison,
a television series, such as Eastenders, will
have a large team to cover all aspects of the production, and will probably
have more than one person in each role to allow the filming to be completed
quicker and smoothly. Although their budget would be higher, a recurring series
means that they can reuse props and sets that have already been made, saving
them from having to spend more money each time they film a new series.
Hollywood feature films have the largest budget
and production team of all three, again having multiple people in each role to
ensure the film is of the best standard. As this production is so much larger,
a lot more money is spent on advertising the film, for example by placing
posters on buses, such as 2005s Pride and
Prejudice. This is a very effective method of advertising as millions of
people see these buses. Therefore, a large amount of the personnel in a
Hollywood film would be the distribution team. Hollywood feature films also take
much longer to make than television shows, with the work taking place over
several years – for example, Iron Man 3
took 3 years in total to make. Marvel always have large teams when making their
films, as they have lots of people on post production when editing and special
effects take place, but this is not always the case. For example, Stanley
Kubrick, the producer and director of The
Shining, worked with a small crew when filming to allow him to do many
takes.
As well as the initial team, the other people
that contribute to the production of a media text on screen include extras and stunt
men. These are both important parts of making a media text, as extras help
ensure that the scene looks as natural and realistic as possible, while stunt
men are used so the actor doesn’t get hurt, as having to replace an actor would
cost the production company time and consequently money. However, some actors
do perform the stunts themselves, which therefore saves the production company
some money as they don’t have to hire out a stunt person - for example, Christian Bale from The Dark
Knight. Off-screen personnel for media texts include first aiders and
financial contributors. The latter is essential as without financial support,
the film wouldn’t be able to be produced, and first aiders are important as
they help the safety and wellbeing of the people on set. Therefore, although
they might be small roles, other personnel that contribute to media texts are
just as important to help everything flow smoothly.
For this Depict!
task, the group consisted of only four people, and no money was spent on
production at all. Lewis was the talent for the film, which he had experience
in as he has been an actor in previous short films. He also contributed to the
pre-production and editing. The rest of the tasks were shared by the group, for
example Erin and Olivia shared filming – which they had no previous experience
in – and pre-production paperwork and editing was contributed to by all four
members. Although some group members had experience in these tasks, most of the
group did not.
Time
When
making the short film for this coursework, the group struggled with meeting the
original deadlines set. The pre-production paperwork, which included a
storyboard, shot lists, location recce forms, location releases, talent
releases, costume list, risk assessment and the production schedule, was mostly
completed by all four members of the group in the first two weeks of
production. However, problems began to occur when filming. The first problem
the group had when filming was that not all the members of the group could film
at the same time as the talent, due to lessons or appointments. Because of
this, the filming was done by Olivia and Erin respectively.
The second problem was the footage itself. The
first time the filming was completed, the footage was too dark to use, as it
took place outside in the afternoon when it was beginning to get dark. This set
the group back a week, as it had to be re-filmed in the week editing was
supposed to take place. However, due to inexperience in filming, the camera was
on the wrong setting, meaning the footage was too grainy to use. This set the
group back yet another week. The production process, including pre-production,
filming and editing finished two weeks later than it should have done due to
these errors. If the roles in the group had been organised better and everyone
knew what they were doing and when, there would have been less confusion and
the group may have been able to handle the time better. Ultimately, all work
was managed to be handed in for the final deadline, but that is only because
the deadline was extended.
In the professional media industry, not meeting
deadlines can have serious consequences. If the pre-production paperwork is not
completed in time, filming is delayed, which costs the production company more
money, as the equipment they hired out will have to be hired out for longer.
They could also lose their actors, as delays in filming could mean they are busy
on other projects when filming eventually begins. As well as this, filming or
post-production could take longer than anticipated. This could push back the
release date of the film. Delays of this nature could cause investors to worry
that the film will not be a success, which means the production company could
lose their financial support. This could result in the film not being released
at all. An example of this is a 1972 film The
Day the Clown Cried, which was never released due to its controversial subject,
financial difficulties and changes in the script.
Equipment/Facilities
The equipment and facilities used when making a
professional moving image production is normally obtained by a professional
media facility house, such as ‘The Hall’ in Oxfordshire. As well as providing
equipment for filming, they also provide studios and software to assist the
post-production process, such as editing and animation software, all within the
budget of the production team. This is convenient for them as all the equipment
and facilities that they need can be accessed all in one place.
When filming this Depict! project, the group had
easy access to the filming equipment from the college. This included cameras,
SD cards, tripods and lighting, as well as a studio to shoot the dark room
parts of the film, and editing software. The camera equipment could easily be
obtained by borrowing them with student ID cards. This was not necessary with
the lighting as it was already in the studio, in which the group needed to sign
a permission from to be able to access. The editing software was on Apple Macs
in the classroom, so it was also easily accessible.
Locations
Before filming the Depict! project, the group were required to complete location
recces and a location release. A location recce is used when location scouting,
to document the suitability of the location for shooting, including access to
facilities for the camera, lighting and sound. A location release is a form
completed by the location owner and a crew member, giving permission to the
production team to use that location. Both are important when making a moving
image production so no legal issues or complications when filming occur.
The two locations used in this short film are
Gorleston Beach and a studio inside the college. The beach was chosen as a
location as in the Winter, the beach is not normally very busy, so there were
no concerns about the equipment being stolen or damaged by dogs. Because it was
not busy, it reflected the theme of isolation that the short film portrays,
making it the most suitable location for the topic of the film. The second
location, the studio, was chosen as it was a dark space where filming could
take place without being interrupted. This was important for the film, as some
of the scenes needed to be shot in a dark space. It also had access to lighting
equipment, so the footage was the best quality that it could be. To film here,
a location release had to be completed, as it was on college property. For the
beach, however, a location release was not necessary, and instead only a
location recce was completed.
A few logistical issues occurred when filming
which had to be assessed and managed. The main issue that occurred, which set
the project back by two weeks, was the fact that it was too dark when the
footage was shot the first time, as it was filmed too late in the afternoon.
This happened because after college (at 4:00pm) was the only time all group
members were available to assist in the filming. However, after the footage
came back too dark, the situation was re-evaluated, and filming took place
during the college day when the actor didn’t have a lesson. Unfortunately, this
meant that not all members of the group could attend due to having lessons,
meaning that just two people from the group went to film. However, the filming
was still completed effectively. The second issue that occurred was on a day
when the studio room scenes were planned to be filmed, as someone else had
booked the room for that time. This resulted in those scenes having to be
filmed on another day. Luckily, since those scenes didn’t take too long to
film, not much time was lost due to this problem.
Materials
Materials
When making a moving image production, there are
many essential materials needed as well as equipment, cast and crew. This
includes make-up, costumes, catering, props and copies of the script, but how
essential these things are varies depending on the type of production. A low
budget short, for example, wouldn’t need a make-up artist, costume designer or
catering, as these are things the actors can manage themselves. The only
exception would be if costumes were needed to match a specific time period
(e.g. a period drama), but it is unlikely that a low budget short would have
this as it costs more money than the production company would probably be
willing to spend. There also would be less copies of the script needed as a low
budget short would probably have less actors.
However, for a large-scale production, all of
these things would be definitely be needed, and a lot of them would be
required. The production company would supply everything, so nothing would be
left to the actors. This would cost the production company a lot of money,
which is why it is normally large Hollywood productions who do this. As well as
all the materials previously mentioned, larger productions would also require
props, which would either be bought or hired by the production company, or made
especially for the film. It is important for production companies to decide on
a budget before this point, as these things will add up to a lot of money. Therefore,
production companies rent out props and costumes when possible, as it would
cost them less money than purchasing them. Also, if a series of films were made
– for example, the Harry Potter series
– than props, costumes and sets will be re-used each time, so the production
company won’t have to spend money on them more than once.
Legal issues
Legal issues
There are many legal requirements when making a media production, including location releases, talent releases, insurance on the actors and crew, and copyrighted music or images. Insurance on the actors and crew are important in case someone gets injured on set, because without insurance or previous safety checks, the production company will be in a lot of legal trouble. The same will happen if they use a location without permission.
Copyright protects original products from being copied or distributed by anyone other than the artist for 25-70 years, depending on the product. Materials such as music, literature, and art, including photography, is protected by copyright automatically. This means that to use any of these things in a media production, the production company must first gain permission from the person or company that hold the copyright. This often results in the user paying the owner large sums of money to use their work. When creating the Depict! production, copyright was not an issue as no branded products or copyrighted music was used.
Clearance is permission to use a copyrighted piece of work, as long as the user follows the terms of the copyright owner. In some cases, when finding music to use in a moving image production, production music (or royalty-free music) can be used, as production music libraries own the copyright instead of the composer, allowing the music to be used in media without having to pay or gain permission. An example of this is Kevin McLeod, who distributes his royalty-free music through his website, which has led to his music being used in hundreds of YouTube videos and films. Public Liability Insurance protects the purchaser from being sued from claims that come within the coverage of the insurance policy. Although this is not required, it can protect companies from losing large amounts of money. Finally, a completion guarantee is insurance set up by the production company to guarantee the completion of a film.
Regulation
OFCOM is a communications regulator in the UK. They regulate a number of communications services, such as TV, radio and phones. This protects people in the UK from scams, whilst allowing competition to thrive. The Communications Act, which OFCOM are legally required to follow, says that OFCOM have to further the interest of citizens and consumers, and promote competition where appropriate. As well as this, OFCOM set and enforce regulatory rules in the sectors which they have responsibility.
The BBC used to be regulated independently by the BBC Trust as it is a government funded organisation. It was funded by the public through public funding and TV license payments, and the BBC continues to govern and run the cooperation independently. However, as of April 3rd 2017, OFCOM became an external regulator of the BBC, and regulates the content standards of BBC's television, radio and on-demand programmes.
The British Board of Film Classification, or BBFC, is a non-governmental organisation responsible for the national classification and censorship of films shown in cinemas, and video works such as television programmes, adverts, trailers etc. released on physical media in the UK. It is also required to classify DVDs and video games.
By regulating TV and radio, OFCOM ensures that the audience is protected in areas such as taste, decency, fairness and privacy, whilst the BBFC protects children, parents and vulnerable adults from harmful or unsuitable content. However, they only have control over digital TV signal, and cannot regulate the internet. This is something which is very hard to do as anyone can upload a video anywhere in the world, but responsible video streaming sites have systems in place to tell the administrators about inappropriate material. For example, YouTube doesn’t allow videos showing violence, dangerous or illegal acts etc. Things that are illegal in the UK, such as racial hate and blasphemy, are still illegal online, but there is so much content created it's very hard to place any laws, especially since the content comes from all over the world. None of these issues relate to the Depict! project, as it doesn't break any online regulations as there is no inappropriate material.
Trade unions and trade associations
A trade union is an association of workers in a trade or profession, formed to protect their worker's rights. This is important, as without it, employers could take advantage of their staff or treat them unfairly, and pay them low wages. Because of the trade union, workers are legally required to be treated fairly and to be paid the UK's minimum wage. A trade association is an organisation made up of a collection of companies or individuals, all of which have similar interests or who work in the same industry. They act as an 'industry voice', and speak on behalf of their members to the government, agencies, regulators, the media etc.
Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT) is a trade association who represent the commercial interests of UK independent television, film, digital, children's and animation media companies. They support its members with legal and business affairs advice and support, and offer services and campaign work. The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU) is the UK's media and entertainment trade union. This includes broadcasting, cinema, film, digital media, independent production, leisure, IT and telecoms, theatre and the arts. They provide services to their members such as advice and representation on health and safety, training support and courses etc.
