Unit 1: Pre Production Techniques In Creative Media Industries

Unit 1: Pre Production In Creative Media Industries

We were given the brief to make a short video for a competition for DepicT which you are challenged to make a movie but it has to be 90 seconds long (Can you do it in 90 seconds?) The winners would have their film shown at many different film festivals and many of the winners have gone on to a successful career in the film industry and one thousand pound prize money isn't too bad either. DepicT has many sponsors and supports across the globe, last year alone they had almost 600 entries from 30 different countries.

What was our DepicT idea then?

well after being grouped we were told to think of some ideas over the weekend. Now I personally thought "This should be easy it's only 90 seconds" I could not have been more wrong. I came in on Monday I went over a few with my group and a recurring trend kept coming up, we wanted to use a bench somehow. There was three of us in the group and one of the members wanted to do a chase scene. after debating what idea to go with a bench or a chase scene we settled on using both ideas and combining them. This was the best idea because we all needed to have confidence in our idea otherwise two out of the three members will be enthusiastic about it and one member would not and that would affect the outcome of the project and the whole pre and post production enjoyment. So we had our idea. Our idea was a going to be a chase scene, high tempo and fast pace. but every so often the camera would have a cut to a bench. The reason for this would not be clear until the end when It will apprehend the criminal running away as a strange twist the bench would also have a voice

Other types of media forms exist within the creative media industry?

the creative media industry there are many forms of media. from the basic film and radio to the the move recent forms to come up internet and the use of websites. Film has existed since around 1895 and was called "The Lumiere Brothers" which shocked audiences due to people not knowing what it was. The movie had a scene where the train came towards the screen. many viewers ducked due to the lack of knowledge into film. Since that day film was a hit and it has progressed to where we are today. Radio is another form of media, radio has been around longer than film since 1860 in fact. Radio was a way to relax and here about important news like in WW2 to transmit important information to citizens. now it is used more for music and entertaining and broadcasting accidents on the road. Now the Internet and the use of websites is a fairly new medium to show media and it now a new media for in itself.

Through the use of the internet we can now catch up on programmes we have missed on television which ten to twenty years ago would never even been imagined a few examples of this are, BBC iPlayer, 40D, ITV Player and many more.

Funding

There are many sources of funding in the media industry, The national lottery has a funding system in which they fund films called the BFI ( British Film Institute ) The BFI is a leading body for film in the UK, with responsibly for funding film development and production; training and exhibition. and plays a vital role in support UK film world wide. Recently the BFI has redistributed 'The Shining' 

Another source of funding if you have the money is yourself. If you have the cash to fund your own film which most likely you won't but you can save a lot of hassle. You can also get a load to make your movie. At the moment in time getting a load is tough bushiness but if your lucky and they see some sort of potential then a loan is a life saver, but loans are risky and if your film doesn't make it in the box office then you have a lot of money to pay back a film that didn't make enough money to pay back and genuinely failed in the box office was 'John Carter'. but If your film is good enough and you make enough you will pay back your loan and therefore the bank might be more likely to lend again due to its success.

Sponsors and Product placement is get a valid and effective way to funding in your film. Brands of food, drink and even clothes will pay big money for there product to be placed into your film because they know how many people will see the film and can potentially boost there own sales. A good example of product placement with movies is James Bond. He used to drink martinis but now due to product placement in the new film he drinks Heineken beer. not just any beer it has to be Heineken.

Private investors and high net worth individuals can also contribute to your funding in a film. a example of such a person/persons are the Ellison Family and in particular Megan Ellison who is a billionaire that has funded and created such films as 'killing them softly' with Brad Pitt. Some people believe that Megan is ruining the movie industry. I found a very interesting article where they talk about why people like Megan are ruining the movie business here.

Actually raising the money yourself through donations or sponsored events such as runs or swims etc. If your from a middle class background in this day and age the chances of you getting a billionaire investor into your film is highly unlikely and the chances of a loan being thrown at you by the bank in the current state of the economy it won't happen very likely! Entering into competitions also can fund your movies if the prize is cash of course. but sadly that method is hard due to the number that may enter into a competition.

Requirements

When in a professional industry you have to make sure you spend your money wisely and there are many thing you can spend your money on,

• Equipment - whether you are hiring or buying gear you need to invest into cameras,tripods,boom mics,lighting etc.
• Clearances and copyrights, paying a artist to use their music or paying a landowner money for allowing you to use their land
• Talent cost - paying your actors and even crew, the more well known the actor/actress is the more money you will have to fork out to pay him/her for their time. but the more famous your talent the more popular will be.
• Crew payments- paying for all your crew members fairly, because at the end of the day they won't make as much as the talent but they are responsible in making your film good and without them the film won't be good.
• Transportation (crew and equipment) - for a film like 'Skyfall' for example you may have to go to different parts of the world to film. So transporting your crew and equipment overseas will cost you money depending on where,  not just over sea but by car if you are staying in country.
• Hiring venues - hiring editing facilities where you can edit and complete your post production process. Or even hiring locations or buildings with technicians on hand

We didn't really have to spend too much money if not any. We spend a little cash on catering when we over ran into lunch other than that we did not spend any money.

Time

our time frame for our production was around two weeks, that included planning and pre and post production. My group did not meet the deadline set luckily we were not in a professional industry because in a professional industry if you do not meet deadlines it means it costs more money because you need to keep actors, production team for longer than their contract states also not meeting deadlines can make a lot of people angry on set making their work quality decrease in some cases. A film called 'Heavens Gate' was directed by Michael Cimino had major setbacks due to cost, time overruns, negative press and rumours arising about overbearing Michael Cimino's directing style and is now considered one of the biggest box office bombs of all time. it received negative reviews and made less than 3 million from a estimated 44 million budget. completely destroying Ciminos reputation. The article where I found this information is here

We had a selection of equipment provided that was payed for by a booking system that the college had. In a professional environment you may buy your own gear (camera,tripod,dolly etc.) If you have the cash but many less known film makers rent or hire equipment for a period of time some problems with that is if there is damage to the equipment you will have to pay so being careful with hired equipment is a must.

As for crew and people we had access to it was only the three of us which was easy to manage for the most part and saved money on hiring camera crews, sound technicians and editors for when we have finished. I personally believe in a tight crew when editing, if you work with the same people the work ethic is stronger and you will be more comfortable when editing because it can be very stressful.

Personnel

Our group size was three. two played the main role while one manned the camera, I would liked to include our own recce photos but sadly they are on another mac at this moment and had a small role that you will not see in our production due to technical issues when importing our clips onto the macs.

Experience and skill can affect a production in many different ways. Having experienced crew members is high on the list because If they have been a cameraman for many films then they know what to do and will make less human error on the flip side having someone new to the game means they will be nervous nines times out of ten so human error is more likely eg, forgetting to press record or maybe hold a boom mic so it is in frame. Lack of experience was very evident in our production due to the amount of human errors we made such as forgetting to press the record button etc. Skill also is massive when talking about a production, the best and most popular talent or actors enhances the viewer count. for example a film with me in it will not make as much money as a film with Tom Cruise even if I do a better job as playing the role. because people know what Tom Cruise is like.

Cost can be affect by the amount of personnel you have in your film for example the more crew members you have increases the cost but also may improve the film so a lot of it a balancing game, do you want more people for maybe a better film but costs more or less people but may decrease how good the film actually is. 

We had a few resources (equipments, props, costumes etc) We had crew t-shirts that we wore to show the general public that we were filming which can be a huge problem when filming. you wear the crew shirts to show that that man running down the street with a gun is in fact acting and more a real man with a gun! we also had a camera and a tripod and options for dollies or shoulder mount from the equipment point view and also we had Apple Macs with Premier Pro loading onto them for editing.

When deciding who to have in our group we had no input. The groups were chosen by our teachers who did it at random which was a interesting experience. So we didn't have any input like in a professional environment where the casting director and the director will decide who goes into their films. To ensure the availability of our talent was easy for us. Due to us having lessons which were allotted for filming getting use three together was simple and required little to no effort like in the professional industry where you would need to contact many people and make sure all of them can make it.

Facilities

Equipment that was required for our production solely were,

• HD video cameras
• tripods and a shoulder mount

Equipment need for post production for our production

• USB cable that fits the cameras we used
• Apple Macs with Premier Pro installed onto them.

As for facility houses and studios where we could edited we had the classrooms which were perfectly fine for editing but sadly due to everyone being in the same room we were prone to distractions but we still got it done but after the deadline. As for outsourcing we didn't have any unless you asking Sean or Ellie for help with something. Outsourcing is where you call on another company to a specific role for your films, a lot of films with high amount of special effects will do but some have their own inside special effect groups like Lucasarts they have there own special effect team. A few special effect teams that outsource themselves to big films are MTFX, Act3animation. The film 'Prometheus' used ten different special effectt teams to make sure the film looked good enough! click here to see a full list of special effect teams used.

Financial considerations to take when securing facilities are, making used you lock up. At times you may have ten, twenty and even thirty Apple Macs, cameras and props etc. so a break in would be fatal to your film so making sure you invest in a strong working security system is a must. Also planning how long it should take to plan, film and edit your films so you know the exact time you will need to rent these spaces to optimise how much money you save and making sure you don't go over otherwise cost you dearly. Considering if any personnel are going to sleep or stay overnight at your facility is another. Making sure you have life insurance on all crew members incase the building is not structured properly. Also noise, making sure you are not near residents that will not appreciate noise that you may produce.

Locations

Recce, A location recce is where you scout to find a location that you think you want to shoot at and work out whether its the right location for your film. A location release however is a form and a legal document that you provide a landowner of the place you want to film, shops etc. 
Our locations, We wanted to do a chase scene as said earlier on, so we need a open area that did not have many people so we had freedom to film. But we wanted to have the runner steal something. So we decided on using a shop, but the shop had to be near our open area otherwise continuity would be poor. Once we did a recce we found our perfect location and shop. luckily the shop owner did not mind us filming so once she signed we were sorted. We picked out location specifically because it had lots of different dynamic objects to film with and fit what we wanted to portrait. 
We had a few limitations when filming our depicT project. People on camera was a risk in which we had to fill out a risk assessment form to assess the risks that may arise when filming for example one of ours was cars on the road because one of our shots was a road crossing shot. We also put on our risk assessment that we wore crew t-shirts to show the people were filming.

Materials

In film there are various types of materials available to you. Resources done byyourself, archive footage and library materials that can come in many forms eg, sound files, video footage, edits on a black background to chroma key out (muzzle flashes) props, costumes.

Material made by yourself can include anything, from making your own sound effects or making your own video effects and even making your own costumes a great example of where a company made there own gear is when 'Doctor Who' did not have a strong fan backing it had little money and therefore had to make their own sounds that they still use to this day, for example the cyber mens walking sounds was done,

click here for a video on it.

Archive material is footage that is most of the time old and can be used in various mediums, documentaries use this alot. an example of a film which uses archive footage is 'Senna' this film uses full found footage leading up to his death which is very powerful to watch because it is real footage.

Library material is material that is stored in a huge library of sounds or video effects. Most of the time when you make a movie you use a huge variety of sounds that when you finish are placed in a folder and over time these folders build up until you have a library of different sounds that can be tweaked and reused. Sound library's can be anything from gunshots to footsteps. and video materials is the same thing but a collection of different video effects a good example of some is the picture above but also a pack of video effects that contain blood,muzzle flashes,wall hits etc. called 'Action Essentials'

The script you use in your film is also a material that you will use when shooting. But the internet is one of the newest ways to get copyrighted sound and video effects for your films so you could build your own effect library, YouTube or any websites can provide this infact my own sound library contains free sounds from YouTube.

The most important thing when using any media related material in a film or short film you have to make sure that you have written permission from the owner of the material, and a contract has been signed to say so! 

If you ask permission from a person/persons to use there material then you have to be prepared to pay them for it to make it fair. they spend time making a song of a piece of video effect then hey want to get some revenue out of it otherwise it may all go to waste.

Contributors

many different contribute to a media product.

• Specialist and experts - this applies for many things. If you are doing a documentary then you will need to find experts on whatever you are doing.
• Talent - the actors themselves contribute to the film and bring the script and character to life by performing them to the best of their abilities.
• The public - the public can contribute immensely, if you make a film that you want to be the next big thing then it isn't going to get there without people watching it and telling their friends about it.
• extras - extras play essentially you in the film, they add the realism to the world that the director wants to bring to life. They are playing the watcher within the film for example 'The Avengers' without any extras would just be strange because they play the citizens.

a contributors biography is information about a particular persons experience, skills and qualifications it provides information before a casting director or anyone hires them to see if they are trust worthy etc. Think of it is a film cv.

Legal Issues

Clearance is authorization permitting access to files of documents and copyrighted material. You will need clearance for many things such as using a deceased person's name within a film, clearance to use a certain soundtrack. If you ignore clearance in all aspects of a production then you are breaking the law and can face court and fines, so making sure you have clearances is key. Copyright affects media production hugely by allowing or not allowing a sound track that can potentially change the mood of a scene. It affected our production also, we made our chase and in post production we found a perfect soundtrack to go along side it but sadly we need copyright permission to use, we sent a email but sadly no reply so instead we found another song that was not as good but we had permission.

Public Liability insurance is the type of insurance where a crew member or acting is injured in a making of a film then this insurance would pay the compensation and any legal expenses also. Completion Guarantee is a form of insurance offered by a company which sometimes independently finances films to make sure the producer will complete and delivered based on the script, cast and budget.

Regulation 

Ofcom is the regulator body is a group of people that is responsible for having authority over some areas of human activity. they basically make rules that the director and crew has to stick to. Ofcom are an independent regulator company that make sure the UK has a wide range of television and film that at the highest quality.

ASA or Advertising Standard Authority is a group that regulators advertising across every type of media. That act on complaints received by anybody about adverts they may be misleading or harmful/offensive.

PEGI or Pan European Game Information is a rating system established to help european parents to make informed decisions when buying computer games

The BBFC or British Board of Film Classification is independent non profit media content regulator that protects the public especially children from content that that may cause harm or risks

Our DepicT video can related to a few of these, our videos may content blood or gore that the BBFC would have to make sure kept away from children. and PEGI although do videos game would classify some videos with a age rating due to the gore or due bad language and use of taboo words within out prodution

Trade Unions and Trade Associations 

A trade unions represent people who work. By represent they may come and have a meeting with a manager on your behalf/behalfs talking about problems that you may have arisen while working. They protect you in the workplace making sure your work area is safe. and statically union members earn more members than non union members.

PACT is a trade association representing and promoting the commercial interests of independent films, television and digital media companies. There offer comprehensive support for members about legal and business affairs.

BECTU is a independent trade union for those working in broadcasting, film, theatre, entertainment and all media areas. They provide personal advice on health and safety, they negotiate pay and conditions with employers.

a trade association is a non profit organisation formed to provide services for it's members. such as health and safety, environmental and technical standards.And they can monitor your businesses international legislation

BIMA or British Interactive Media Association is a group that inspires future talent and hold a competition for schools called the 'Digital Challenge' where they have to make a product. And has a mission statement to encourage the next generation. 

ELSPA or Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association is a rating company that does what PEGI does only they deal with anti piracy and codes of practise because piracy destroys the business and will kill the industry if it continues.

TIGA is a trade association representing the UK's game industry there members are game developers and publishers from many companies. There vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to game business. They do this government bodies and voice in parliaments in scotland and westminster.


My video,