Requirements for production

Types of production

We produced a 90 second internet short for the online short film competition DepicT! (http://www.depict.org)  As part of the ‘encounters  international film festival’.  Depict offers film makers, directors actors and editors a chance to show off their talent in 90 seconds by producing an animation or film. Usually the film will tell a story but depict do not state what it needs to include, meaning pretty much you can do what- ever you like. In creative industries many types of media platform exist but in example the main three are Film, whether its box office or low budget film making any movies. Number two is Internet, The internet offers anybody the opportunity to become famous as long as they have an original idea such as internet comedian Ray William Johnson (www.youtube.com/user/RayWilliamJohnson) . Now available is internet episodes such as eastenders spin-off ‘E-20’ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00k0b4b) .Finally TV is the third type of media to exist in creative media industries, From sky to digital and even BT vision there are now literally thousands of TV episodes screened every day.

Finance and sources of funding

For film makers production cost can make or break a film, luckily there are many way in which you can obtain money to cover production costs: Lottery funding is one way in which film makers can get money. Block buster ‘The Kings Speech’ directed by Tom Hooper used lottery funding given in BFI hand-outs , The British Film Institute, (http://www.bfi.org.uk/) are a place filmmaker look to for money as they give out lottery hand-outs to films in which they believe are going to be successful. Investment can also be gain from high NET worth individuals ‘The Merrill Lynch capgemini’ World’s Wealth Report 2009^[3] defines HNWIs as those who hold at least US$1 million in financial assets and ultra-HNWIs as those who hold at least US$30 million in financial assets’ (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-net-worth_individual ) They invest in films with their own personal money to try get a return and profit once the film is produced. An obvious but not the first choice for film makers due to the UK’s current climate is to ask the bank for a loan to cover the movie costs. Alternatively if your rich you can pay to produce the film yourself or like film director Robert Rodriguez did for the film El Mariachi and earn money to fund the film yourself. Although it was classed as low budget, Robert let doctors perform experiments and done drug trials to earn money to pay for the film although this isn’t recommended. Sponsorship is another way to gain money in production as well and is most popular method used in the film industry. Product placement is the main use of sponsorship is product placement where a brand or product is put in a film and used by famous actors in order for it to gain consumer interest. For example James Bond used to be a ‘Martini, Shaken not stirred’ kind of guy but now to gain sponsorship he drinks beer brand ‘Heineken’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMj93N6f5TQ) .

Requirements

The requirements for money to be spent during a media production are on : Equipment such a camera or editing software unless you own both but then still a dolly may be required or even cranes for ‘jib’ shot. Hiring talent is going to be a huge cost unless you have friends who are willing to star in the film for free, the more famous the talent is the higher price that is going to be paid, but have big names does draw in audience. Once the actors have been hired the cost of insuring them against accidents has to be paid for. Also just incase you own some expensive equipment may want to get that insured as well against accidental breaking. The crew cost will be a majority from paying from make-up, camera operators and even catering for the talent and crew. Props and outfits for each scene will have to be paid for and planned in pre-production, You might even need to hire out cars or something for stunts ie. Like in James Bond. Travel and transportation from planes, hire cars or even petrol for your own car will cost a fair bit especially when you have to move the actors and crew – following this when on location a hotel to accommodate everybody on set will have to be paid for also. If special effects are wanted to be used in production then a company may wanted to be hired such as ‘Industrial light and magic’ ( http://www.ilm.com/ ) ,who have made special visual effects for such classics as Jurassic Park and even George Lucus’ Star Wars,  to produce them or even do the editing.

Time

In our class our group managed to meet the deadlines set by are tutors Sean and Ellie to finish production of the 90 second short by Wednesday the 24^th of October. However if you do not meet the deadline in a professional job a serious of consequences will occur, firstly all facilities and location will have to be hired for longer including paying for crew, so a lot of money will have to be paid in order for extra time. In one case a director named Michael Cimino made an error when directing ‘The Deer Hunter’ (1978) and the budget ran over and over, the total cost ended up being $15 million. As a consequence of this Cimino did not work professionally for the next 20 years as no one would hire him due to his track record.

Offered to our group was editing software of a professional standard (adobe premiere pro ) and Apple mac computers to edit it on which is a favorite machine to use for editors at a professional standard. We also obtained a camera to film it on and props including the DVD ‘Nosferatu’ and even make-up (blood and latex for scars). The make-up was brought in via people in our group but the rest of the equipment was hired from the AV resource office located near our classroom in the our sixth form. The equipment can be hired out for periods of time as and when we needed them by booking them out using a student card issued at enrolment in the sixth form. In a professional industry equipment has to be bought like computers and editing software or cameras to film unless they already own what they need and or the film is low budget so basic equipment can be used. The people used in our production was literally the original group of me, Jack and Connor, no extras or extra camera operators where needed as Connor was able to film each scene without assistance. The short only needed Me and Jack to act in it so no actors where used and Connors multi talents helped us greatly when it came to editing as he has already had experience using the software.

Personnel

Our group including myself has a total of 3 members: Me, Jack and Connor. Connor Filmed the Short and also contributed, as with all of us, with the editing. The storyboard helped Connor who had never filmed before, understand what type of shot was needed and the camera movement in the scene. Jack, who regularly attends acting classes, played the part of a ‘Halloween zombie’ so his acting skills came in handy when performing the scenes as with his experience he understood what was needed for him and made himself a more believable zombie. Never acting before, I stepped up to the roll of acting in our production. Jack who has classes, helped me play my role in the short and gave me tips continuity when acting like breaking the 4^th wall (looking at the camera).

Having more experienced actors or camera operators in a professional production will directly affect the cost. Simply you get what you pay for, experienced actors will understand what is wanted of them but only if the director is good director and he can’t direct rubbish camera operators. And by hiring professionals will make the cost sky rocket. To sum up, it is a battle of continuity with the camera work and acting VS the price of the cost by paying for professionals. Cost can be affected by personnel as the more employees the greater the cost, whether it’s paying for extra catering or insuring them on set. Luckily in our production Jack had a costume to wear when playing the zombie and I only had to play my role in my normal clothes so as far as costume goes it was free. The editing software was supplied to us via the college along with the camera and therefore the only thing we paid for a group was the fake blood to cover jack in as a zombie. When we were told our groups right from the word go Connor said he would film and Jack, who already acts, wanted to act in the production and so did I. Pretty much we all knew what we wanted to do and the way we picked made everything work perfectly. Being in the same media set, we made sure we all turned up to every lesson on time to give us the best amount of time to film the production and edit it.

Facilities

Post-Production is everything before filming so, in post-production you will need story board as they plan out what your going to film and how it all fits together giving both director and camera operator guidance.  A Facility house and studio are places in which props can be stored and gives editors a place in which they can edit the film. i.e. http://www.screenyorkshire.co.uk/ . Outsourcing is contracting in another companies services to help out. In media this could be contracting editors to actors from acting companies such as (http://www.guru.com/find-freelancers/Freelance-Actors/0B7-TBH86F?gclid=CKidh7jRt7MCFUfJtAodOmYA2w) this could be anything from freelance workers to companies to help out in your production. Luckily we didn’t have to outsource in our production as we was capable of doing everything in a shared workload between the 3 of us our group. Financial considerations have to be done when securing facilities like the price in which you would pay for the facilities as in the equipment available also how long do you need to hire out the facilities for a period of time and obviously, the longer you hire out a place the greater cost is going to occur.

Locations

A location recce is a sweep of the area in which you plan to be film in. Apart from looking around, you can take pictures or film to really plan what scenes will happen where. Location recces are useful as if you wanted to show someone in group what the area was like you have photographic evidence to show them and gives everyone an idea of what happens. Also it can help when comparing the areas to the storyboard. A location release is a signed document from the land owner giving you permission to film there. It can be signed by the manager of the grounds but only if the own says it is okay. If you are filming on public property then permission from the police will have to be acquired, as if your running down the street with a fake gun they wont take a chance so you need to let them know the dates and time of the filming. If individual member of the public are caught on film the you will need a talent release which, when signed, allows you to have them as an extra. If there’s groups more than around about 10 then it is over looked as a crowd. Are whole video for depict was filmed round Connor’s house as that was the only place in which we had a living room setting for the start. Potentially we could of used any outside location but we stayed around Connors house to remain continuity. We wanted the short to be filmed at night, like in most horrors to create more suspense and frighten the audience but due to limitations (having to film in the lessons) we were unable to do so. The risks involved a number of things, firstly me having to jump over fences so there was always a risk I would hurt myself on the landing and also damage to Connors mums property. We done a risk assessment before filming to ensure we had identified what could potentially go wrong and how to minimalize the risks.

Materials

There are lots of materials available to filmmakers. Firstly the could create original material products which you have created yourself to not infringe copyright with material previous filmmakers may have (such as musical scores). Achieve are a place in which you can find lots of specialist material which are specific matters. ‘Who do you think you are?’ the TV programme uses archived material such as birth and death certificates to find out about someone’s past. If you are using a media product check it is not copyrighted or if it is make sure you get written permission from the owner or a contract. The financial consideration when using copyright is how much they may or may not want for the product. sometimes can be found for free this is called royalty free products i.e. musical scores and sound fx (http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/?lid=79898917&pcrid=6182810230&property=RFM) this is un-copyrighted free music.

Contributors

 Contributors are anyone who was involved in the creating of a media text. People who contribute to a media text are actors, unless the text is animated, specialists, people who edit the text unless you are able to do so yourself ect.. A contributors biography is information on a person before you hire them this could list they’re previous work and shows you how good it is.

Legal Issues

Clearances in the media can mean various things for instance it could mean clearance to film in a particular location from the land owner (also known as a location release) or clearance badges for the crew to let them onto the location or set. Also you need clearance from the owner for copyright from the owner as said in the previous paragraph. If you do not get clearance for a production then people can be authorized to shut down what you are doing or if it’s a media product (http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2011/10/26/221633.htm)  such as a score being used in a film the makers can be sued. Copyright can get you sued for millions and by not getting copyright clearance it means that a certain soundtrack can be removed as in our video, we wanted to use a dub step remix of Danny Elfman’s this is Halloween, but as it was infringed with his original score we was unable to use it, so instead we had to use stock music from the macs.. copyright free of course.Public liability insurance protects you from ‘injury or death to anyone on or around your property.’ (source: www.houseweb.co.uk/house/glossary.html) in the media this is to protect insure the whole crew and everyone on set. Completion insurance which sometimes is reffered to as delayed completion is insurance which prevents having to pay extra money to hire out locations or sets for longer if there is an accident and the work isn’t completed  on time.

Organizations

Ofcom govern the UK’s media industry and according to the sire ‘the UK has a wide range of electronic communications services, including high-speed services such as broadband;’ (source: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/what-is-ofcom/) The ASA or the advertising standards agency decipher through adverts to see if they are appropriate and if they should be on before or after the watershed on TV (9pm).PEGI The Pan-European Game Information determine what age rating a video game should be based on the graphic content of the game. The BBFC decide what age rating a film gets before going onto DVD or the cinema based of the content of the film from U (universal) to 12a (12 year with adult supervision) can contain moderate violence but not showing of weapons or graphic details and past that they judge the film on the content of how gory or violent a film is to select a suitable audience. This would probably give our video an age rating of about 12 as there is aspects of blood and horror in the chase scenes. A trade union is group of people, obviously from the same trade, who have got together to protect the integrity of the trade thus getting higher pay. Their job is to include negotiations of work pay and work standards mainly.

Pact, is the offcial negotiator of freelance workers conditions. They set the benchmark for the pay in which freelance workers should get minimally, Their working conditions, ie. for how long they work in different locations, which is especially important for actors. Pact set the working hours and breaks during work for meals, ensureing everyone is comfatable in the enviroment and able to continue working, making sure people are not over worked. Pact agreement of 2003 was renewed so that they can now NOT interfere with minimal pay.

BECTU is the broadcasting entertainment cinematography and theatre union. Basically it is the trade union of the media sector and negotiates pay and conditions for anyone involved inside the media industry. Trade associations connect individual businesses and business groups to work together for common goals, so connecting actors and directors of any part of anyone involved in making media texts together. BIMA is the British interactive media association and their job is too try get school kids involved in the media industry before they make their choices to enable them to be the best they can be in the industry by having completions and such.