The Pre-production Process Essay
The Pre-production
Process
We created our short-film, Performance Anxiety, for the DepicT! Short-film competition. The
brief was to create a short-film with a maximum duration of 90 seconds, we then
distributed our short-film by submitting it to the official competition
website, if we were one of the top films it would be displayed on their
official website. The other way we distributed it is through the college’s BTEC
Media YouTube channel. There are many other forms of media production and
platforms which they can be viewed on. An example of a form would be a feature
film, this can be distributed and viewed through many different platforms, for
a feature film this can be viewed through the cinema, TV and streaming services
(Netflix, Disney+ etc.). For example, the film Whiplash (2014) was created for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, it
then went to a very small-scale cinema release in Canada and USA which
eventually led to an over 500 cinema release, finally, now it can be streamed
on Netflix.1
Moving image productions need to secure funding, this can
happen in many ways. For example, the BFI (British Film Institute), BFI invests
in upcoming and talented filmmakers to help them get started in the industry,
the funding for this comes from The National Lottery. Other ways of securing
funding for a media production are through grants, streaming companies (e.g.
Netflix has a huge budget to spend on their ‘Netflix Original’ feature films
and serials), crowdfunding, through a company (e.g. if you have been paid to
create an advert or music video), private investors, or it could be funded with
your own money. For example, Kevin Smith, writer and director of Clerks (1994), funded the film entirely
through his own money. He raised funds for the film by selling his comic book
collection, borrowing $3,000 from his parents and maxing out ten credit cards
to £2,000 each and finally from the insurance from his car being lost in a
flood. It ended up costing $27,575, however, the film grossed over $4 million
in theatres.2
The list of things funding can be spent on in a moving image
production are cast, crew, location (some locations don’t want any money for
being used in a production and public spaces don’t require any payment),
transport (the amount for transport can depend on the cast and crew size,
amount of locations and amount of props/equipment), food (again, depends on the
size of the production, smaller productions may not even offer food), props,
equipment (this is either bought or rented) and finally hair and makeup. In our
short film we were allowed to use our location for free (The Drill House
Theatre in Great Yarmouth), we all had a bus pass (however, if we hadn’t it
would’ve cost somewhere around £5 each to get to our filming location) and our
equipment was borrowed from the East Norfolk Sixth Form College library.
A media production is made up of talent and crew, the amount required depends on the size of the production. For example, a short film requires a smaller amount of people (this may mean talent have to multirole and crew may have to perform multiple jobs), a TV programme would require more talent and crew, potentially having more writers and multiple directors, even within TV programming the makeup of crew can change completely (live broadcasts or comedies may have a multicamera setup, this requires them to have multiple camera operators, whereas a serial drama may require a few directors and writers but may only use a one camera setup), and finally, a Hollywood feature film would require less crew due to the shorter duration when compared to a serial TV drama. This screenshot from Glass Onion (2022) is solely the crew who worked on the makeup, which shows the scale of productions (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11564570/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm ).
The time frame for our production was 6 weeks (2 for
pre-production, 2 for shooting, and 2 for editing). In a production it is vital
to stick to the deadline given, if a production goes over deadline, it could
cause the production to go over budget, it could conflict with other
commitments (e.g. an actor needs to be on another film set the next day or crew
members need to be working on another production).For example, The Abyss (1989) directed by James
Cameron went 140 days and $4 million over budget, this, however, turned out
positive as the film grossed over $89 million worldwide (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Abyss). However, we managed to meet all the deadlines
set for our production.
For a moving image production, you need to obtain the equipment used to make the production. There are many ways of obtaining the equipment. First, you can use the equipment you already own, people tend not to do this as equipment can be a huge investment to only be obsolete within a few years. The most popular method of obtaining the equipment is renting it through a media facility house. An example of a media facility house is, White Label Media Solutions Ltd, they are an equipment house in Norwich.
on we obtained our equipment from the East Norfolk Sixth Form College library, where we borrowed it for the days required for production and it was returned when
we finished. This was at no cost to us, as the college lends out their equipment for free.
hing required is a location release, after the recce has been completed and the final decision is made on the location considering the pros and cons of a site, the location scout will then go to the location and have them sign a location release. The release outlines how many days the crew will be there and how many people will be there and most importantly grants them signed, legal access to film in the property which cannot be reversed. However, if this is a public space (e.g. the park or beach) the location release would not be required, a recce would still need to happen to find the best site. With a public space the police may need to be notified for scenes using any prop weaponry, or anything else that may concern a member of the public. For our production we didn’t have a lot of choice for location due to the specific requirements for the performance equipment. Due to the nature of the production, we only used one location as it was centred around the idea of a performance. We ended up setting on The Drill House, Great Yarmouth, this was due to the facilities they have and the availability. For this location the risk assessment was important due to the specialist equipment. We had the location manager with us to overlook the equipment use and help, if we required any. (Redacted version of the recce we used for our production pictured)
Moving image productions
require materials other than cast and crew, some of these are research and
sound. Research, this is especially useful for stories based off real life it
is also useful for fiction productions. For example, in the feature film Gravity the team had to research the
real effects of their story, they interviewed NASA scientists so they could
make it as true to life as possible (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_(2013_film)). Other ways of gaining research would be through artefacts, such as
diaries and newspapers or through interviews (however this may be too costly,
or there may be no time for it). Sound, lots of types of sound are required for
a moving image production this may be music, special effects and foley, these
are the main types of sound. With music there are different ways of getting it.
First is it can be composed specifically for a production; this was the case
with our short film. We couldn’t find any music which we thought would fit, one
of our peers said they would compose the sound for us (kindly, he let us use
the music for free, however, in most projects the composer will ask for a
payment). Second is already made music, this could be licensed from the
artist’s label. This would all be part of the part of the financial
considerations for a production.
Productions can sometimes
face legal issues; this can be to do with copyright. To ensure that these
issues don’t come up there are things that must happen. For example, permission
is needed for every piece of media that is used in the production, if there is
no permission it could end with the owner of the material suing the production
company (some factual and informative programming may not be required to get a
license due to the fair use policy). In the UK copyright protection is
automatic, you automatically get copyright protection for the following:
original literacy, dramatic, musical and artistic work (including illustration
and photography), original non-literary written work, such and software, web
content and databases, sound and music recordings, film and TV recordings,
broadcasts, the layout of published editions of written, dramatic and musical
works. “You can mark your work with the copyright symbol (©), your name and the
year of creation. Whether you mark the work or not doesn’t affect the level of
protection you have.” (https://www.gov.uk/copyright). Copyright protects people from copying, distributing, renting,
performing or adapting your work, without your permission. “In most countries
copyright lasts a minimum of life plus 50 years for most types of written,
dramatic and artistic works, and at least 25 years for photographs. It can be
different for other types of work.”. Copyright works differently in different
countries, for example in the USA copyright needs to be applied for. The time
limits for works created before January 1, 1978, depend on the laws in effect
at the time. However, works created on or after January 1, 1978, follow
different rules protecting the works for the authors life plus 70 years, or for
two or more authors, 70 years after the death of the last survivor (https://lac-group.com/blog/comparing-uk-and-us-copyright-protection/). To avoid copyright in our production we got our music composed for
us, we got our SFX from a copyright free source and we used our own original
script (not plagiarised from another source). Examples of terms and examples to
do with copyright are: clearance, this is the permission given directly to a
producer (this could be location, music, SFX and talent), public liability
insurance, this is a fund of money that is the insurance
for any accidents that may occur on set or to cover any legal issues the
production may encounter. For example in the film Rust(unreleased) “On October 21, 2021, at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Bonanza
City, New Mexico, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot
and director Joel Souza was injured on the set of the film Rust when
a live round was discharged from a revolver used as
a prop by actor Alec Baldwin.” This has led to the suspension of
the production and legal action being taken on Baldwin and David Halls (First
assistant director) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_shooting_incident), completion guarantee/insurance, this is a guarantee from a director
to a studio that the production will be finished on time and on budget, if a
production goes over budget it could cause the film to lose money (this could
cause studios to avoid using that director again). Talent may have other
contractual obligations on other film sets, making them unavailable for filming
days or reshoots.
Regulatory bodies
influence productions and as is in their name, they regulate the content that
can be shown. An example of a regulatory body is OFCOM (Office of
Communications). The BBC however is regulated differently, here is a quote from
their website which explains this “BBC World Service is not
regulated by Ofcom. Instead the BBC is responsible for setting its overall
strategic direction, the budget and guarding its editorial independence for
World Service. It must set and publish a Licence for the World Service, which defines its remit, scope, annual budget and main
commitments, as well as "objectives, targets and priorities" which
are agreed with the Foreign Secretary.” (https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/governance/regulation). The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is an
independent, non-governmental classification board for films, since 1912.
Although, the BBFC and OFCOM regulate TV, cinema and home video, there is no
legal regulation for products distributed via the internet. Things which are
illegal in the UK, the incitement of racial hate for example, are still illegal
online. However, content is made all over the world and it is difficult to
enforce the law (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6166814.stm). Online video on demand (or VOD) follows different regulations,
the body which regulates them depends on the country the servers are held in.
For example, OFCOM regulates almost all VOD services, this is, except Netflix,
as it's servers are in the Netherlands (https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2022/does-ofcom-regulate-netflix). However, VoD services do not need to show any age ratings
for their TV and movies, Netflix, for example, use their own age
classification. VoD services may still choose to follow a classification by BBFC
or any other national equivalents.
Trade unions are
important in any workplace. “A trade union is a group of employees who join
together to maintain and improve their conditions of employment” (https://www.unison.org.uk/about/what-we-do/about-trade-unions/), trade unions can help to bring significant change to
society, some of these are, the national minimum wage, improved worker safety,
equality and holiday and sickness entitlements. Pact helps to fund and grow the
UK indie production sector, they offer tools and support. They have funded over
£3.3bn since 2020 (https://www.pact.co.uk/about-us/what-we-do.html). “Bectu is the union for creative ambition.” Members of
Bectu work in the non-performing roles of live events, broadcasting, film and
cinema, theatre and the arts. Bectu negotiates pay and working conditions,
benefits and services and holds networking events and career developments.
Bectu is politically independent, this allows them to speak the truth and make
sure their members voices and interests are heard (https://bectu.org.uk/about/who-are-bectu-and-what-do-we-do/). A trade association is a non-profit organisation made up
of a collection of companies with a common interest. They act as the industry
representative and represent the views of the members. For example, the UK
Cinema Association (UKCA) represents the cinemas in the UK, here is a quote
which explains it, from their website “This includes lobbying and working with
Government at all levels, with other sectors of the film industry, particularly
distribution, as well as working with others to promote the value of cinema to
the wider public. In addition we provide advice and support to individual
members on interpreting and adhering to legislation and regulation, and in
dealing with day to day operational issues as appropriate.” (https://www.cinemauk.org.uk/about-us/ukca-overview/)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiplash_(2014_film) 1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerks_(film) 2
http://www.wlms-ltd.co.uk/resources
3
Comments
Post a Comment