The Pre-Production Process

Type of moving image production (media forms) 

The main forms of media are film. television, radio and print media. The type of media product which we were given to create as a class was a short film. It was a 90 second short video which could possibly be entered into the DepicT short film competition. We distributed our short films to YouTube, we did this by exporting them from Premier Pro and then uploading them on to the website. Distributing is a way of getting a video out there onto the internet where everyone has access to it.

There are also other types of moving image media products as well as short films. There are a large amount of media products, some of which being: animation, adverts, television, feature length films and music videos. Within television there are different methods of distributing a product. Most relatively new televisions include interactive features, for example on demand or even apps like Netflix which you have to pay for monthly. However Netflix isn't the only service which provides you with access to multiple programmes and movies, there is also LoveFilm, BlinkBox, and Hulu. Although television isn't the only way to view these services, they're available on consoles as well as the internet which could be accessed via computer/laptop, iPad/tablet or certain mobile devices. Another distributing method is through DVDs or even Blu-rays which include formats that allow the video and audio to be stored with greater definition than on DVD.

Furthermore there are alternative platforms, one of which is distributed mostly via cinemas. This is when a play or event is recorded and broadcast at certain cinemas for people to watch who possibly live to far away or are not able to go. An example of this is that a few weeks ago there were showings of the play Macbeth which was performed at the Manchester International Theatre. National Theatre Live have used this idea to provide people with theatre but in the form of a moving image media product.

Finance and sources of funding

Most films rely on a source of finance to be able to afford all of the elements to make the whole production, from the cost of the make up to the costs of purchasing/hiring camera equipment. In Britain one of the main sources of finance is the UK lottery. The UK Lottery was once distributed by the UK Film Council, set up in 2000. In 2011 the council was abolished, passing on many of its functions to the BFI (British Film Institute) including the UK Lottery. Although the lottery can't provide every British film with an investment, it is calculated that they have spent £160 million towards British film since 2000 and grossed an amazing £800 million at the Box Office. However in America there are more opportunities to gain a larger investment, especially if you have a legendary director and an A-list cast. Some films can receive millions of dollars of investment, some investments being public whilst others, private funding. Also it is not unheard of when an actor or director invests capital to a film of which they believe will be a success, for example Ben Stiller is known to have invested Ayoade's Submarine.

Although, not all films consist of big budgets and large investments. Few successful directors begin their career creating films with their own savings which most likely wouldn't be a large amount. An example of this is Robert Rodriguez. He needed $7000 for his first film El Mariachi, due to having problems with getting the money together he resulted in participating in medical research studies to be able to afford to shoot the low budget film.

The success of a film does not necessarily rely on the budget. For example Paranormal Activity became an international hit grossing an almost $108,000,000 but only having an estimated budget of a phenomenal $15,000.This goes to show that to create a good film you do not have to have a lot of capital.This links in with the classes DepicT short films, we were given a £5 budget for each group which was helpful if certain props or costumes were needed. Even though it wasn't a significant amount of money we were still able to create a professional media product.

No budget film making is also a well-known term used in the film industry. Mostly, directors starting out in film-making have very few options available to them. No budget film making is producing a film with very little or no money at all. Prime examples of this are Kevin Smith's Clerks and Christopher Nolan's Following.

Requirements

When creating a film, programme or any other moving image media product you will have a number requirements which need to be made for you to be able to create the product. Requirements will vary from the least important things such as accommodation to the extremely important things such as camera equipment. Below is a list of the requirements a moving image media product may need:`
Camera Equipment - Canon DSLR
Cast/Actors - Robert DeNiro/Bradley Cooper
Crew - Production Manager/Casting Director
Costume - Period clothing/Sci-Fi clothing
Props - Guns/Chair
Facilities - Editing Suite
Food + Drink
Location - Studio
Accommodation - Hotels
Transport - Car/Plane
Merchandise - T-shirts/Figures
Advertising - Posters/
Distribution - Cinema/Telly

Similarly, as a group we had requirements which we had to obtain for our DepicT project: These included costumes which consisted of hoodies, a blazer and a fleece. Also props were a requirement which consisted of an apple, comic, lunch box, wallet and a packet of Maltesers.

Personnel

Every film must consist of 'talent' (actors) and crew (the production team). The make-up of a typical team for a moving image production in a low budget short should be a minimal amount. It should include:
Director
Camera-man
Talent
Sound Technician
Continuity/Editing Team

However some of these jobs can be done by the same person for example a member of the crew could be the director and the editor. This is due to personnel accounting for a large amount of cost, especially if your 'personnel' consists of people such as Steven Spielberg, Adam Sandler or Ryan Gosling. The Blair Witch Project famously known for its low budget still managed to have around 80 crew members that worked on the film, from music assistant to accountant. Although that may seem a lot, some blockbusters such as The Avengers and Avatar can have up to a thousand

Similarly every television programme must consist of talent and a crew. The make-up of a typical team for a moving image production in a television programme usually consist of around ten/fifteen roles. Some of the jobs that may be included within a television programme crew are:
Producer
Director
Writer
Set Designer
Make up/Costume
Talent
Audio Engineer
Video Engineer
Videotape Engineer/Operator
Camera Operator
Production Assistant

Again it is possible and not unheard of that two jobs are done by one person, usually if the programme is low budget. An example is Eastenders a programme watched by millions across the country only has a minimal crew of only 13 plus talent. This is most likely due to the soaps success, it has the capital to hire crew members that are completely professional and results in there not being any need for more crew than there needs to be.

The make-up of a typical team for a moving image production in a Hollywood feature film include an extremely large amount of crew member, from assistant make-up artists to 3D modellers.

Due to their large budgets and extremely high expectations, Hollywood feature films have a number of different roles. They can afford to pay everyone and still come out with a large profit. For example Sam Mendes' Skyfall had a budget of $200,000,000, the film grossed $304,360,277. This left a profit of around $104,000,000 even though they had to pay the hundreds upon hundreds of crew members involved.

Within our DepicT groups we also declared different roles of which we would carry out. These roles included:
Writer
Director
Camera-man
Editor

To begin with we discussed the types of shots we would include in out short film and the overall narrative so we could all agree the best scenario and what would create the best project. The chosen story was originally my idea so naturally I had a clear vision of the film and what would happen in it., this led to me becoming the leading director of the project. Once we had decided on the narrative and characters we all agreed on who would be what character within the 90 second film so we could all have a role. As I mentioned previously sometimes in low budget films some members of the crew are given more than one role,  we decided this to be a good idea as it would give us all experience and different jobs which I feel proved to be successful with us all becoming better at editing and being the camera-man. Before this project, neither Bruce, Lucia or myself have had any real experience of creating or editing a film. The only experience known was mine and Bruce's previous acting experience which helped when we changed roles to become the talent.

Although the cast and crew play a vital in creating a moving image production they are not the only contributors. Some others contributors may include:
Catering Team
Production Paperwork Team
Researchers
Composers
Property Designers
Costume Designers
Make-up Artists
Accommodation

Without these other contributors the production crew will most likely not be able to succeed in creating the moving image production. Its not just the people in front of the camera and the production crew that make the film, there's lots of different elements of it.

Time

The time-frame which we had to complete shooting the 90 second film was a little bit more than 4 hours. Within this time we had to shoot every scene and make sure we had enough footage to use and manipulate when completing the post production process; editing and fixing the continuity errors. I feel that we were able to use the time that we were given well. Once we had shot a scene, we went about to the classroom, imported the footage onto our computer and began to put together what we had achieved so far. Doing this after every time we shot a different scene sped up the post production process for us. This enabled us to spend a longer time on editing and making the moving image product a more professional piece whilst still having shot the short film with little time to spare.

In the professional media industry if deadlines are not met it could be the difference between getting a contract deal and not. Also it could result in losing fan-base as they count on you meeting deadlines, for example Scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street. It was set to be released in November of this year but it has been pushed back to January next year. This could result in a decrease of fan-base as Scorsese has failed to meet the planned deadline, however, with him being such a well-known and trusted Director, Scorsese won't suffer if he's films are late. Although, if an invoice is late or is failed to be sent in time, it could mean a Director could go without work for a long time or even the end of their career. Overall, my group met deadlines comfortably and were successful with completing all tasks given to us within the time-frame.

Equipment/Facilities

Fortunately we were lucky enough to have equipment available to us for our DepicT project. This was helpful because if we needed a certain piece of equipment we may not have had to go and try to obtain it, the college would provide it to us, this saved us time and money. The equipment which was obtainable via the college were:
Video camera
Tri-pod
Green screen
Lighting equipment
Crane

Locations
As a group we planned to shoot a scene outside Gorleston Library, we also planned to shoot a scene outside a house in Gorleston about a ten minutes walk from college. To do this we had to email the local Police, informing them of when we were planning to shoot some footage and at what time just so that they were aware and no trouble would come from it; this is a release. We also did Recces of the destinations. A Recce can really help you discover what camera angles should be used, the right place to take the shot and what time would be best to shoot the footage. Unfortunately however, when it came to the day of shooting the short film it was raining which meant that the camera equipment could be at risk so we therefore decided to change the destinations of scene so that the narrative would still make sense.

Overall, we overcome this obstacle and still managed to create an overall decent 90 second short film. The situation which we had to overcome is a great example of how things can go the wrong from what you want however you have to find a way to get around the problem and continue shooting the rest of the film. Not only did we do a Recce at the two locations mentioned we did another for the scene involving the geek character and the young girl. I felt doing this Recces helped us really understand the importance of the pre-production process and to really prepare for the production process so you just get on with your plan rather than still making decisions when shooting.
Logistics also played a big part in our choices of location. We decided we would shoot local as we did not want to have to worry about travel as it could leave us with less time to actually film. Also for example we picked at time of day which wasn't as busy as it could have been a big problem if we'd have gone down to shoot and there was someone sitting on the bench which we were planning to use. Like this, people within the film industry also have to consider logistical issues and if so how they were to be overcome for example if Edgar Wright was planning to shoot a scene of Shaun Of The Dead outside where it was a clear sky and on the day of shooting it is pouring down with rain he would have had to of shot a different scene, change the scene, or just simply wait for the rain to stop. In our group however I don not feel like there were any real logistical issues apart from the weather.

Materials

The various types of materials you may need for a production in addition to the equipment, crew and cast are:
Money
Soundtrack
Transport
Accommodation
Food and drink
Props
Costume

However, there are financial considerations to take into account, for example the amount of money you have. A director may want to have Adele sing the soundtrack for his new film however her price to do the soundtrack may be higher than anticipated.

Another thing to take into account is copyright. Using a Soundtrack without receiving permission from the producers and the artist, can result to breaching the laws of Copyright and facing penalty charges.

Legal Issues

When making a film there are legal considerations to take into account, when using certain materials in a media production you have to be careful you do not copyright. Copyright is the ownership of intellectual property for example when you buy a car and sign the paper work, that car is yours. No one else can you that car without your permission similar to copyright. The owner of the property may prevent anyone else from using it without the permission of the copyright holder. Copyright is taken differently around the world as it is a global concept therefore its interpreted differently in different jurisdictions. In film copyright is a bit more complex as there is not one single creator of a film. Copyright exists in the following sections of the film industry:
Artistic
Dramatic
Literary
Musical
Film
Sound recordings
Broadcasts and cable usage
Performance
Published editions

Connected to copyright, performing rights royalties are paid to a songwriter, composer or publisher when their music is played in a public space e.g radio, television, concert. Similarly Mechanical rights are paid to a songwriter, composer or publisher when their music is reproduced online or as a physical product. For example recently there has been a lot of controversy over the famous and well known song 'Happy Birthday'. Film maker Jennifer Nelson was producing a documentary movie about the song but was told she would have to pay $1500 and enter into a licensing agreement with Warner/Chappell, there are a number of arguments for and against the situation and whether the song belongs to the public.

The law of copyright slightly affected our DepicT production. Instead of using certain audio which is copyrighted we had to create or find our own audio provided by the college to fit with our short film. I also noticed that within the film we have a number of brands exposed including Adidas and Nike.

Clearance; this is when you require a written permission to use every actor and everything that features in your film, from people to road signs.You must also gain clearance for your location, content, music and script.

Public Liability Insurance; this is a type of insurance that covers injuries from a broken finger to death to any persons on or around the location of the setting for the production. Also for example if a member of the public was unable to get to work and get a days pay due to filming, the insurance will cover it.

Completion insurance; this is often used in independently funded films to ensure that the prodcuer will complete the film to the agreed standards, and eventually deliver the media product to the distributors. Its a form of insurance that is offered by a completion guarantor company, the fee of the insurance will usually be based on the budget.

Regulation

OFCOM stands for Office Of Communication. It is the government-approved regulatory and completion authority for the telecommunications, broadcasting and postal industries of the United Kingdom. This means its function is to choose what moving image products are displayed and at what time depending on what channel.


BBC is however not under the regulations of OFCOM. The British Broadcasting Corporation was licensed in 1922 and later became an independent corporation whose activities are overseen by the BBC Trust and managed by Tony Hall (Director General of the BBC) who was appointed by the Board. It is also under regulation of the media regulators. Therefore this is different to OFCOM as BBC have their own regulations which they follow rather than following the Office Of Communications.

BBFC is the British Board of film classification. Its sole function is to decide what age rating a film shall be for example new film Vendetta starring Danny Dyer has been regulated as an 18 therefore meaning only people of the age of 18 or higher are legally allowed to watch the film

Trade unions and trade Associations

A trade union are a group of collective bodies that represent certain industries and band together to achieve a certain goal, for example Sean Offord my media teacher is part of the teachers trade union.

PACT is the UK trade association representing and promoting the commercial interests of independent feature film, television, digital, children's and animations media companies.

BECTU is the UK's media and entertainment trade union; sectors covered include broadcasting, film, independent production, theatre and the arts, leisure and digital media.

A trade association is an organization founded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. A specific trade association which i have found and am intrigued by is 'The Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund'. They are the leading UK charity for cinema, film and TV proffessionals, supporting those in times of need, and running charity fundraising events including the annual Royal Film Performance. The London based company provide dynamic support for those facing personal and career challenges or illness, injury, unemployment or finances. They also aid talent entering through their industries tthrough the John Brabourne Awards.

Bibliography:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Low-Budget-Short-Film
http://faculty.colostate-pueblo.edu/samuel.ebersole/handboo k/crew.html
http://www.creativeskillset.org/film/knowledge/article_5097_1.asp
http://www.prsformusic.com/Pages/Rights.aspx
http://www.ctbf.co.uk/about-us.php