Zara Griffen's BTEC Media Blog: The Pre-Production Process

 Requirements for a Moving Image Production

As a group myself, Joe Wicks and Sebastian Lear made a 90 second short film for an online competition called Depict, this competition is Watershed's international short film competition that was made by brief Encounters in 1998 and has been challenging film-makers to plan and film a 90 second ultra-short piece. After the film was completed we distributed it on different social media platforms for example it was first distributed on East Norfolk Sixth Form College's you tube media channel from there on I decided to upload the video by sharing it onto my Facebook page and later on added it to my Instagram and Twitter platforms, this was something I was looking forward to as it shared my content and many views gave advice and compliments of the final piece. 

My media platform was a short 90 second film but there are many other moving image products for example, a feature length film this is where you would visit your local cinema and purchase a ticket to view. the term 'feature length film' is also to infer that its shown theatrically rather than on a television set a few examples of feature length films are, The Woman In Black (2012) This film has a duration of 95 minutes and Jurassic World (2015) This has a duration of 124 minutes. Other products are stop animation this is a cinematic process where on object appears to be moving. this works really well when bringing a certain object to life. A good example of stop motion animation are the wails and Gromit films, this became very popular and worked effectively by bringing the two characters alive. Another product of a moving image production is a television soap opera, these never have a set date to finish, this creates a fan base for the television program as it usually airs five or six days a week every week. A different form of moving image would be a channel ident this is a short visual image that is used between television channels as a logo to locate the viewer to that channel. For example, before certain television programmes on channel four there is a short visual image logo of the channel four badge.  There are others ways to distribute moving image productions other than using social media platforms for example, having a DVD or blue ray copy of the moving image product and selling it in local shops can promote the product and people will have the opportunity to buy a hard copy instead of viewing it on a social platform. Another way of distributing is having the moving image product played on a television set this way it can be recorded and series linked something that fits well with having the product played on a television set is having on demand this way if the viewer missed the viewing or forgot to record they can go on demand and watch it again even if it’s an hour later.  If the moving image production was a low budget production and the production are struggling to afford using DVD's or television programmes, then distributing on public screens will get the film viewed by many.  An example of a public screening would be Traverse Film Festival; they host a day where great films are shown on a big screen.

During the pre-production process finance and sources of funding can be very important. There are a few different sources that can help fund for a film, television and other moving image productions, for example private investors such as Megan Ellison, who had received a lump sum of money from her parents and didn't exactly know what to do with the money, During Megan Ellison's starting career in the film business she contacted Katherine Brooks who is the writer and director of Loving Annabelle (2006) and suggested in investing in the film makers next movie. From there on Megan Ellison has been a private Investor for films such as Main Street (2010) starring Colin Firth it was given a little attention at film festivals but never gained general release. However, in late 2010 Ellison invested in the Coen Brothers for the remake of True Grit (2010) this paid off for Ellison as the movie found major commercial and critical success.   Another source of funding is self-funding, this means the self-funder would have hundred percent full responsibility in the cost and the profit of the film.  An example of a self-funder is Robert Rodriguez. During the making of his film El Mariachi, Rodriguez raised money to support his idea, he raised money by being a test subject and taking cholesterol reducing drugs for $100/day for thirty days.  Now the film has made over $2 million at the box office. 

Another Self funder is Kevin smith,
 the maker of Clerks (1994) To finance the movie Kevin Smith maxed out dozens of credit cards and 
sold his prize possession of comic books making $27,575.  He then casted friends for the main roles, this saved him a lot of money and a lot of time when pre producing. 
The film was a critical financial success making $3.1 million.  During the making of my media product my end result was to enter my short 90 second film to a competition called Depict, this is also another way of funding films, usually the prize is a cash sum. Not only is it good for funding a particular film it also gives good feedback and shows your media product to thousands of people, this will then help during the future.  

For any production there are a few requirements before the filming or the pre-production phase. Although you need the funding for the films promotion other small things need to be funded too, such as Cameras and camera equipment i.e. lighting and tripods. Talent and crew, props, location, transport, accommodation, pre-production papers, costume, distribution, rights, room hire and make up. Without these requirements the filming process cannot go ahead, this would have to be one of the most important stages of film making. Although you don't need the most expensive equipment and cameras to make a good film but when employing cast and crew many do not work for free and have to be paid for even if it’s a set budget, also after employing the cast and crew a suggestion for travel and accommodations costs will be discussed. During the process of hiring camera equipment if you don't have your own, can be a difficult process white label media rent equipment to TV and film sets http://www.wlms-ltd.co.uk/,   During the process of the 90 second Depict short film I recently made. I had to follow some of the requirements that I have listed above. For instance, during the stages of directing and coming up with the initial idea, I had to think about the casting, did I hire people from outside East Norfolk College or did I use the people in my BTEC class, this was a very hard decision between my group and we decided on using the vocals of people in our class to save costs if there was any.  Luckily during the filming process, I could borrow camera and equipment from the audio visual library that college provide.

During different movie productions, the production team are very important, there is a makeup for a typical team depending on the expenses and  growth of the media production.  Noam Kroll is an L.A film maker who writes a blog post, one of his blogs state a skeleton film crew, the term skeleton being used for a low budget film as the idea that the crew are stripped to the bare essential jobs which is in order to save money for production. A low budget film would usually have up to five crew members on set. These five would be Director  of photography this is one of the most important job roles on any production they can really understand the visuals.  The second crew member would be for makeup/hair this is also a very important role when film making, making sure everybody looks the part. Another crew member would be production assistant, just to keep the cast and crew on the ball and run refreshments if needs be.  Location audio would also  be one of the five, during films fifty percent of the film is sound, if the audio is too quiet or too loud then it will spoil the cinematography.  The last member of the five would be the Gaffer/Grip  this crew member also really helps the director of photography when capturing shots and the position of lighting.  Television programmes have a wider range of crew members compared to low budget films. During low budget films the few crew members have important titles for example director of photography, but in a television programme the crew is split into different platforms depending what they specialise in. There are four main titles that have many individual workers, the four main titles are: pre-production, production, post-production and specialist editors. Under all of these sub headings there are at least thirteen job roles for individuals.  This builds up a big crew. TV crews derived from film crews with a few slight differences.  Where as the Television crew are split between four major titles Hollywood feature films have eleven major titles. These are: Director, production, camera and lighting, art department, costume department, hair and make-up, special effects, Stunts, Production sound, Post production and animation. Under all of these main titles are five or six job roles for individuals.  Low budget films, television programmes and Hollywood feature films are all very similar when involving crew members, but are more depth as the budget rises.

When creating my Depict short, the crew itself was very small, and contained only three crew members, myself Joe Wicks and Sebastian Lear. When discussing the ideas, i thought it would be hard to produce with only three crew members, but actually it worked rather well. During the pre-production stage we discussed the parts we would like, i favoured in editing, Joe picked camera work and Sebastian wanted to be the voice over, for the moving image product we didn't need any more crew members. During the pre-production and decided who did what role we focused on who had the most experience in the roles provided, and asked each other if we wanted to do something we had no experience in, i chose to edit, before the start of the year i had a few skills when using premiere pro but really wanted to focus on gaining more. Joe was extremely good with camera work and camera movement and for our short film of depression capturing good scenery we really wanted someone good behind the camera. Sebastian chose to talk because he wanted to build up his confidence when the clips got distributed through our social platforms.

Other than production crew there are others that contribute to the making of the moving media product, for instance actors and casting directors.  Although actors may not have any clue about the production aspect without them there is no media product. When engaging actors, you need to insure that you have their rights and that they sign a contributor’s release form. When employing actors, child actors also need to sign a contributor’s release form but will need a license from their authority to perform in any film. The producer of the film will need to apply for the license and the parent or guardian will provide the documents such as the child's birth certificate.  Other than actors and casting directors, behind the scenes lawyers are 
also involved. Baker and McKenzie a law
 firm in London focuses on media and entertainment clients, they help film makers to insure that everything has licencing and to provide contacts for insurance and other needs.

During the making of my Depict short, our tutors gave a set time-frame of three weeks, this was a week for pre-production a week for production and the last week for editing. During the whole three weeks I feel that myself and my group used the time extremely well and had spare time to change things if needed. Most of our time was taken by pre-production, this was worth it due to when in the process of filming we had all the paperwork to back us and our story boards and shot lists helped when making the content. During the professional media industry meeting deadlines are very crucial, not only does it take longer to release your product but more expenses are taken due to paying actors and pre-production and production crews, and the extras that work behind the scenes. Not only does it cost more to provide pay for every staff member, but if the film uses actors that are famous then they most likely are starring in your film and another big hit film. This being a struggle if you miss filming deadlines and they need to be in another country to film for another movie.  During class my group managed meet the deadlines set for the three weeks and to have the media product exported by the last Friday of the three weeks ready to be distributed on social media platforms. 

As mentioned above equipment is a very important aspect of making a moving media product. In processional moving image productions, most film makers already have the equipment so they would use their own, in some cases production companies hire equipment from a media facility house.  These are usually used when film makers cannot afford to purchase the equipment themselves, some facility houses provide crew members as well as equipment.  Although you don't need expensive cameras and equipment different companies loan equipment to save costs for low budget film makers.  
The hall is a production and media facility. Not only do they loan equipment but also provide crew and advice for film makers. Other media facilities are Hire camera these provide cameras and equipment and you pay for the camera per day.   Hire camera works by them sending you the equipment you need and then you returning the equipment on the date set. The nearest facility house to myself is white label media. The head office is based in London.  

During the process of my Depict short, a wide range of equipment was available from the audio visual library. For example, in the AVL room cameras, tripods, microphones and other media equipment was available to hire.  We obtained the equipment by using our student Id cards to insure we belong to East Norfolk Sixth Form College then borrowed the equipment for a set amount of time then handed it back to the AVL room. This saved a lot of budget.

Continuing the pre-production and deciding what locations to shoot. We picked council land, this gave us the rights to film there as it is council owned. Location recces are used to scout locations, instead of taking regular trips to the same location to view for different shot types a location recce is used to have images of each location so you can look back and see what locations can be used. A location release is the final permission for the location picked, to support your production when filming there. 

When creating our location recces, we had many different locations that could be used to support our idea of visualising depression, our first location is behind the recreational ground in Gorleston, we choose this for our opening scene this location was very peaceful and calming. We then specifically picked a few locations in Lingwood and Stumps haw, we did this because of the scenery there, both 
locations had abandoned buildings that would be very useful to us. Our last location was the North Sea. We picked this location because it was very peaceful, and worked really well with our concept of depression. As the planning and filming were commencing we faced a few logistical issues and risks that we had to inform our crew and our talent. We did this by creating a risk assessment sheet. This was filled out by myself to make sure every risk was typed on to the sheet, then signed by my tutor. After being signed by tutor and counter signed by myself, we double checked every risk to make sure nothing else could be added. Some risks were common sense but needed to be placed for protection. 

In addition to equipment, crew and cast other essentials are needed to make a moving image product. Different materials are; props and costume and the materials to make them, audio and original audio, additional audio including music and sound library's, interview materials, scripts and graphics (titles).When using certain materials 
a few financial considerations will be taken place for example when focusing on the music aspects copyright will be used on most music, to get around copy right you can contact the producer to ask to use the song or you can do an alternative and use copyright free music.  Another financial consideration is the making of costume and props; not only would you have to pay the crew for developing them but also the materials needed to make them. 

When using certain materials a few legal considerations are also involved, for example copyright, this is a major legal consideration, so that someone’s original work stays theirs. Another legal consideration is Health and Safety. Hiring a health and safety adviser for the filming is always advised in case you cannot spot something but they can, it will back up if something goes wrong.  Trademarks are also a legal consideration, making sure the trademark is used appropriately and can be seen if used. 

As mentioned above copyright is a major legal consideration, copyright is used so that your work and products stay yours. You will automatically get copyright when you create original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work including photography or original non-literary work such as software, web content and data bases. Sound and musical recordings, film and television recordings, broadcasts and the layout of published editions of written and dramatic or even musical works. You can mark the work by using the copyright symbol your name and the date of creation. it doesn't matter where you mark your work it will not affect your level of protection.  Copyright prevents others from stealing your work or distributing copies of it. It also prevents someone playing or performing your content. It also stops someone from adapting your work to make it theirs. In 1979 a film Parts: The Clonas Horror which was about a colony that breeds clones to harvest oragans, filed a copyright infringement in 2005. DreamWorks tried to have the copyright infringement removed but the federal judge stated that there was indeed a copyright infringement case and had the case go to trial in February 2007, DreamWorks discussed the case in court during 2006 for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.In most countries copyright lasts for a minimum of life plus 70 years for written or dramatic work after the authors death. and at least twenty-five years for a photographic image. You can however license how your work is used if you own the copyright. This can be done by registering your work with a licensing body for example a collecting society who will then agree licenses with you. You can also sell your copyright; this can be done by writing a document sometimes known as an assignment to show that a sale has taken place.  Other than selling or transferring or licensing how your work is used you can keep a wave of your moral rights which include to be known as the author of you work, object to how the work is used and object to work being changed.  During copyright you are responsible for defending your material against infringement. Organisations need to request a license to use work if it has copyright and cannot find the copyright holder.  With my Depict short copyright did slightly affect my product, I could not use any music as I didn't have the licencing for it but had to use copyright free instead. Other than the music I used Mark Dudley's drone cam footage, which I then credited him for on the credit sequence.

During the media products clearance is very important, this allows you to use copyright in your media product, such as archive film footage, music and consumer brands/products. It’s essential to think of right clearances ahead before production to insure that your end product can be distributed.  Public liability insurance is an essential cover for most businesses, this is an insurance that would cover you if an actor or crew member was to suffer a loss or injury as a result of its business activities and if that person made a claim for compensation. The Twilight Zone is a perfect example of public liability insurance, during the shooting, a helicopter crashed killing three people on the ground. Not only did three people pass away but also injured the six helicopter passangers. After the incident Landis, Wingo, Folsey, the production manager Dan Allingham, and the explosive specialist Paul Stewart were tried and aquitted on charges of manslaughter in a nine month trial. After a year passing the family finally accepted the loss of Morro and the children's' families recieved millions of dolards from civil lawsuits. Fast And Furious Seven(2015). Completion guarantee/insurance is used so you can guarantee a deadline so that you will not be fined. Due to the sad loss of Paul Walker the insurer Firemen's Funds and Universal pictures have made a 50 million dollar insurance claim on top of its 200 million production budget to keep Paul Walker in the picture. 

A regulatory body also known as regulatory authority
 is a public authority or government agency responsible for autonomous authority over some area of human activity. OFCOM is the office of communication and it has many different functions such as legal issues to insure the UK has a wide 
range of electronic communications services, including high-speed devices such as broadband.  The BBC trust regulates BBC and is different to Ofcom. The BBC is to serve the public interest and its main object is to promote its public purposes through the provision of information whereas Ofcom is the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries with 
responsibilities for television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services.  The BBFC is the British board of film classification, which is an independent, non-governmental body set up by the film industry in 1912, which classifies films, videos, DVDs and some digital works like computer games.

During my research on discovering the research of moving image products distributed via the internet, I found out that, Online content is much harder to regulate due to anybody anywhere can upload via the internet, this makes copy right slightly easier.  Ofcom ensure that TV and radio audiences are protected in areas such as taste, fairness, decency and privacy. But they only have control over material broadcast over an analogue or digital TV signal.  Every four to five years the BBFC carry out major public consultation exercises to find out what the public thinks about the age rating or films before they are released.  If the public's attitudes change, then the BBFC will re-think their decisions.  The BBFC have two key principles under which they operate, these are to protect children and vulnerable adults from potentially harmful or otherwise unsuitable content and to empower consumers, particularly parents and those with responsibility for children, to make informed viewing decisions. 

Trade Union is an organised association of workers in a trade, group of trades, or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests. trade unions discuss major changes to the workplace such as large scale redundancy and can negotiate agreements with employers on pay and conditions.  PACT acts as a council for independent producers and Pact staff are employed to assist Pact members and are unable to respond to queries from the general public. 
 BECTU is the broadcasting, entertainment, cinematography and theatre union. 
BECTU represents staff, contract and free-lance workers who are based in the United Kingdom. BIMA is a media association, this does four key things, support and promote the British digital industry, share knowledge and best practice, reward great work and encourage the next generation.

Reference List:

http://www.bakermckenzie.com/

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification

https://www.bectu.org.uk/home

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_un

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/

http://www.pact.co.uk/

http://whitelabelglobal.com/