The Pre-Production Process Requirements for a moving image production

This assignment is going to be about the different processes and aspects of Pre-Production and what is expected to be in a moving picture production.  The 90 second short film we made is for a website called "DepicT!". We distributed it via YouTube, it is currently on two channels, my personal one and the the colleges one.

Type of moving image production

There are many other different types of moving image media, not just 90 second short films. Other types include; Feature films, TV programmes, web series, music videos and adverts. These all have unique ways of being distributed for example feature films can be distributed through any source of media. They can be shown at film festivals, at a cinema and on the TV. TV programmes are traditionally shown only on TV, however more recently they have been shown online too.

Finance and sources of funding

There are many ways to fund a moving image production, the first way to fund it is private capital where you use your own money to create a low budget film. An example of this is Robert Rodriguez who made a low budget film with only $7,000 of his own money which went on to make $2 million. This shows that not all films need to have a large budget. Another way of funding is through private investors, An example is Megan Ellison. Through private investors Ellison managed to get a budget of $2 million which still isn't that much in the film industry but it managed to assist in the production of her film. The two ways I just stated are the main ways however there still are other ways that can be effective, such as bank loans, grants/funds or bursaries, competitions, Crowd funding and if none of those work you can always sell the rights to the film before it is even made.

Requirements

The budget in a moving image production needs to be spent on a number of things such as Transport for your cast and crew if they don't live nearby where you are shooting especially if you aren't paying them, you cant expect your cast and crew to pay for their own transport. If the cast and crew are professionals and are hired you may have to pay them for their time, so that would mean you have to put some money aside from your budget to make sure they get the right pay and that they stay for the entire time you are filming. However, your cast and crew could be made up of volunteers or friends which you don't have to pay. Another thing you might have to spend some of your budget on would have to be props, because some scenes could contain a prop such as a gun and that would mean you have to invest in a prop gun. Props shouldn't take up more than 1 - 5% of your budget because you can add in some visuals with CGI. If you want music in your production copyright could be a problem, there is always free to use music as long as you mention where you obtained it from in your ending credits or the videos description but if you want to use songs or music that has been copyrighted you may need to pay a small fee to stop your video getting a strike or being completely banned because you haven't payed for the copyright. You can always make your own music if you are capable but most people would either pay off the copyright fee or just use free to use music. When using an area you may need to acquire clearance for the area which could cost you some of your budget too, this is why it is best to film places where you are known or to film in areas where you don't need to pay for clearance. Last of all equipment is obviously needed to make a moving picture production so that you can film and edit the final cut. Unless you have the equipment already you wont need to spend any of your budget on this.

In our DepicT! short we never had a budget as the majority of our equipment and props were already supplied. We never had any need of a budget because the college already owned all the equipment we needed such as the lighting and the camera with tripod and slider. Luckily all our props were supplied to us too, we didn't have any need to buy a rope or a desk as the college already had them. The cast and crew were friends so we had no need to include payments towards them and we didn't need permission or clearances for the location as it was a room withing the college.

Personnel

The three main moving picture productions are low budget, a television program and a Hollywood feature film.  A low budget short can have anything from a 1 person crew to a 10 person crew, Since it is low budget it doesn't need a large crew because the budget wouldn't be able to hold any more people. A low budget crew really only needs a director and cameraman with some actors, not too big of a crew is required. even though a low budget film has less people working on it, they can still turn out better than a Hollywood feature film which has a larger budget. A Hollywood feature film normally contains a crew of about 500+ people to help make it better and more professional. A television programme would normally contain a crew of any size between the other two, it always depends on the budget. sitcoms have a smaller crew than programmes such as The walking dead or Game Of Thrones because they are easier to make than the thriller series that have a large budget.

In our very small groups we allocated one person to film and the rest of us had to act in the film, this was hard because it meant we only had two actors. All we really needed was two actors because our film was based in a secluded area and there isn't meant to be anyone else around. Rhys was on the camera and he has had a fair bit of experience behind the camera, acting however i have not had any experience apart from doing a bit of drama in middle school. Tia who was the assassin hasn't had much experience either.

The  main crew aren't the only people that contribute to the production.  Without the cast the production cant be made, the cast are the reason they turn out so good. also apart from the main crew there are others that make the film good such as makeup and hair. make and hair are very important in films because the actors need to look the part for their role and if they don't the film doesn't make sense.

Time

When we produced our DepicT! film we only had 4-5 weeks and there were three separate deadlines we had to meet. The first deadline was our planning, this took longer than we wanted it to only because we were trying to find ways of making our idea work and we had to try and plan it in detail. The filming was tedious because we had some members who weren't in. we decided to completely re-film within a day and we managed to produce a good enough film than we would have before. Our editing process was quick which meant we were able to meet the final deadline. If we were working making film professionally and we don't meet a deadline we would either get fired or they might bring in other people to help finish it sooner, some rare cases the entire budget could be cancelled and the investors could pull out. luckily we did end up meeting all of our deadlines.

Equipment/Facilities

In a professional moving image production normally you would buy or rent your equipment. you can do this from a facility house. The nearest facility house to the college is Epic studios in Norwich (as far as I am aware). On hire a camera a Sony RX 10 III  is £58 a day, this is a nice compact camera and is good for shooting small clips and short films like what we did. However, a Sony HXR-NX70E is £63 a day for a larger but more powerful camera plus it is rainproof and dust proof. Depending on what type of production you want to make either of these would be good enough however the HXR would be a lot better value. The equipment we used in our film was easy to obtain because the college already had it ready for use. We needed a camera, tripod, slider and a mic boom. 

Locations

When thinking about your locations you must produce a location recce and a location release. These are vital, because without them you might not be able film in your chosen location. An example of these can be seen on my earlier blog post. When we were looking to find a location for our DepicT! film we decided we wanted an office like room in order to make it look like an important person was getting killed, this is also to show that the victim is at work. We chose the college since it has some offices and we might have been able to use them. We did have some risks about our final location as the room we finally decided to use had some broken lights and wires everywhere. A risk assessment of where you are filming and how you are filming is required and for an example i suggest you look at my previous blog for that too.

Materials

In addition to the cast, crew and equipment there are other materials that are required to make a moving image production. For a production you would normally need props and costumes. If these props aren't already supplied you can easily purchase some at the risk of losing some of your budget. For example we used a rope and a desk with small props here and there and we were lucky that they were supplied. if they weren't supplied we would have had to go out of our way and try to find some money in order to purchase the items we needed. Costumes will also be needed depending on what type of production you are doing. normally you can just wear the normal clothes you wear but occasionally you might need a different costume. Again if these aren't already in supply you would have to spend some of your budget in order to obtain such costumes. 

Other things you may need for a moving image production includes; visual footage, original ideas and music. It is obvious that visual footage is needed otherwise it wouldn't be a moving image production. However, original ideas are compulsory. When creating a film of whatever genre you decide the main idea it to avoid stereotypes. Although sometimes they may work, it makes the film look cheap and ideas you might obtain from larger films might be copyrighted. Music is a big problem when it comes down to copyright. Most films use their own music but on the occasion other music might be included that is copyright claimed, in these events a section of the budget must be used in order to air the film. if you are using free to use music you must credit where it came from. If you do not credit where the music came from you are violating the Creative commons copyright, this can result in you getting sued.

Legal Issues

When using certain material in a media production you must make sure it doesn't break copyright. This is shown in the ofcom broadcasting rules. When making the production you must make sure that if it has adult content and graphic violence then it must be shown on TV after the watershed. If something is not shown after the watershed the show/film could be banned from airing in that country. In the UK the watershed is after 9pm, and then the adult TV programs start. Copyright is a way to stop people stealing names, brands and other things that belong to you, copyright is also classed as an intellectual property as it is something that isn't an item but an idea. In theory i can copyright this blog post in order to keep others from using information or ideas in the post. Another example could be me copyrighting the DepicT! film we made. All i have to do is place a copyright on that video and no one else can use it.  Copyright can affect many things, it affected our final short film because we couldn't find appropriate music for the film without violating the copyright terms and services.

It is required by law that you have clearance for the area you are shooting. Clearance is when you have been allowed to film and have access to a certain area by whoever owns it. An example would be if we decided to film in a cafe for our film, we would be required to get permission from the owner of the cafe in order to film there. This may result in us paying for our time in that location.

When making a film it is important to have public liability insurance incase an accident occurs while filming weather it would be a car crash or someone falling over. Without this you as the film maker can be sued or taken to court, because the person who would be in the accident would want some kind of compensation after the accident has occurred as it isn't their fault the accident has happened but the person behind the risk assessment.

A completion guarantee is normally offered by a completion guarantor. It is offered a a a form of insurance that is often used in financed films to guarantee that the producer will complete and deliver the film to the distributor. 

Regulation

Ofcom is a company that regulates the TV, radio and video-on-demand sectors, fixed-line telecoms, mobile and postal services. they make sure that uk citizens get the best out of they communications services and that they are protected from scams and shard practices. Ofcom operates under a number of acts of parliament, including the communications act 2003. The BBC is regulated by the OFT, the European commission and Ofcom. The BBC is also regulated by outside bodies. Although Ofcom still regulate the BBC the way the BBC is regulated is different from the way Ofcom regulate. The BBC is regulated by a number of different companies whereas Ofcom is a regulation company in their own right. The British board of film classification (BBFC) is an independent, non-governmental body which has classified cinema films since its set up in 1912. It has also classified DVD's and videos since the video recordings act was passed in 1984. They give the films their age rating base on what the films include.

The association for television on demand regulate the new set of on-demand services , which broadly mirror Ofcom. It is a lot harder to regulate online videos because anyone from anyplace can upload their content to the internet. Most responsible sites have systems where an administrator can be contacted when something inappropriate has been uploaded. For example youtube doesn't allow any obscene content such as pornography and violent or illegal acts to be uploaded on a persons personal channel.

Trade unions and trade associations

A trade union is an association of a organised workers in a trade, group of trades, or profession,  formed to protect and future their and interests. They protect the integrity of its trade, improving safety standards, achieving a higher rate of pay and benefits such as healthcare and/or retirement.  The producers alliance for cinema and television (PACT) is a trade association company in the UK that represents independent television, animation and feature films etc. The BECTU also known as the broadcasting entertainment cinematograph theatre union is also a trade union based in the UK which work in broadcasting and interactive media. A trade association or an industry trade group is an organisation that was founded by businesses that operate in that specific industry.