Pre-Production Assignment - Neil 23/11/18

Kaine Moore

Financing

Financing is a crucial requirement of a media production as money is usually the main source which is used to produce a film. For example, Cast and crew need to be paid wages for playing their part in the film whether that be acting or even costume designing. Facilities may need to be hired in order to set locations of the film such as different buildings or even vehicles. Equipment must be purchased or hired by a production company in order to help make a better quality film such as cameras, tripods or lighting equipment to raise the quality of the recordings. Transport is likely to have to be payed for in order to travel to different locations as many scenes within the film will be located in different areas otherwise the film isn’t likely to be very successful if the action is all centered around the same location. Clearances are also likely to have to be payed for within a film as the use of soundtracks could be copyrighted therefore a clearance fee would be payed in order to be able to use specific copyrighted songs.

Public Funding

Public funding is finance that is provided by a publically funded agency such as BFI Film Fund who is the lead agency of film in the UK. On the BFI website it states that “The BFI Film Fund has a number of funding strands, investing over 26 million of lottery funds per year to support film development” This shows that the BFI are strongly invested in the film community and are willing to support the development of film with a big yearly investment which will provide opportunities for improved film production and distribution activity in the UK. Overall the total publc funding for film was 414 million in 2014/2015 which means that BFI alone invested 6.28% of the total public funding that year.

Private Funding

Private funding is the money that is invested into the business form investors and this money is only normally invested by investors if the film production has proven that they have the ability to make a profit and this may be shown by the film production using a profit and loss account. An example of private funding is equity financing which means having investors invest their money to the film production for a return of a percentage ownership interest in the film and a sum of profits that are made from the exploitation of the film. Crowdfunding is used to collect small investments from a large number of people through private donations that are made through the internet. The Oscar winning directors The Coen Brothers struggled to raise $750,000 for their first film Blood Simple from 1984 therefore they resorted to private funding so that they could raise enough money in order to afford the film costs. Altogether The Coen Brothers gained around 65 private investors which most of them contributing $5,000 to $10,000 which helped the film to gross just under $4,000,000 at the box office which meant that The Coen Brothers were able to release their film thanks to many private investments.

Timescales

Time management is very important for a pre-production as time should be planned out so that it suits different crew members to make sure that these times work for them as they may have other commitments in their schedules if a timescale Is not planned out carefully. Shooting at certain areas could mean that the film takes longer to make as shots will have to be reset or cameras could malfunction or not be able to be used due to bad weather conditions which could cause the film to become over budget and over schedule.

Facilities

Many things should be taken into consideration during the pre-production stage of a film such as what materials and equipment will need to be used in order to create a successful film. For example, costumes must be provided for the production of a film as they are essential to help bring out personalities of characters within a film especially for a horror film. Also, props are of big importance for a pre-production as they can be used to help the actor to play the role of their character more effectively as these props could be part of their character or could be what the audience remembers the character by for example Freddie Krueger with his metal clawed glove on his right hand which is his main asset in films and is what the audience are most likely to remember him by along with his burned face or brown fedora.  Also, set design is important for any film that is being produced as it presents a specific place that a scene is taking place for example a horror film is more likely to have a dim lit set and the set design will be very obscure as it will more than likely have to seem unusual to the audience and mysterious.

Locations

I expect most of my recordings to take place in the photography studio within the college as the lighting can be controlled in the studio and also props and items can be taken into the studio to be used for the films for example, costumes or weapons dedicated to a character such as a knife or hammer in the case of a horror film. Also, I wish to record some clips of the film in an outside area so that the film can have more variety and seem more realistic when based in area that could be recognized or look familiar to the audience. A set back to recording outside is the weather as bad weather could mean that shooting the film may have to be rescheduled till a later date because if shooting was still to take place during bad weather there is a risk that the cameras could be damaged along with other equipment that may be used. Another issue could be the access to cameras as there is a limited amount to be used therefore if other students are using these cameras I will have to reschedule to a different day to record which could have a negative effect on the film as the rescheduled date may not be preferable because the weather could be predicted to be bad on this day or actors may not be available on the rescheduled date. In addition to this the distance of the set could be an issue as certain actors may have problems with travelling to these areas and the costs of travel could be expensive therefore the set may need to be charged which isn’t preferable for the film as any changes could jeopardize the look and realism of the film.

Lastly, health and safety concerns must be addressed as this could cause a risk to actors who are on set therefore they must be aware of these concerns before proceeding to shoot the film and if there is a serious health and safety concern this could mean that a change of location is imminent as the risk of recording would be too much to consider so yet again this could be a big issue as a change of location will mean that the film will not turnout how it was originally planned.

Personnel

Before the preparation of shooting the film I must consider the skills of the actors so that I can make sure to assign them to roles for the film that they could excel in based on the skills that they already have. Also, I will make sure to identify every person that took part in the film and helped out in any way whether that be advice or providing equipment.

Additional Materials

Scripts and storyboards are essential to a pre-production as they contain the basic plan of the movie and without these a movie will never be professional or structured. Also, props are important to be used in a pre-production as they can be used to give the film a more realistic look as they can show what time zone the film is set in or show the cultures that are presented in the film judging by different items of clothing or objects that are present on set.

Codes of practice/regulations

Health and safety and risk assessments should be taken regularly to see whether the set is safe enough to proceed to work at. It is best to take these assessments so that the actors and crew can be assured that they are safe to carry on filming and producing. All clearances for copyrighted material such as music for backing tracks or even photographs/art.

Formats for pre-production processes

Writing a proposal is very important for pre-production as this shows a brief explanation of your film and shows the structure in which the film will be presented. Also, a proposal considers a target audience which will give the crew and actors a better idea of how the film should be set out and what it should or shouldn’t contain. A proposal helps to put together ideas and goals for a project and then eventually pitching these to investors in order to gain money to then use towards the production of the film.                                                                               

Master Scene Script

A narrative description will be used to engage the readers interest as it will help to move the story forward and tell the story as the viewers are watching the action. Timing is very important for the shooting of the film therefore the time length of the film should be understood before the filming begins by counting one page of screenplay as 1 minute of time on screen for example so that the time frame of each scene can be calculated and taken into consideration when the filming starts to take place.

Some conventions of MSS

For my master scene script, I will make sure that the sluglines and character names are in capital letters and I will write down V.O. for voiceover and O.S. for offscreen.

Shooting Scripts

Shooting scripts will be used during production of the film as they will contain information on the different camera angles and editing transitions that will be used at certain points of the film. Scene numbers are used in a shooting script to indicate the beginning of a new scene.

Storyboarding

Storyboarding will be used to help visually translate the plan of the film to the crew as it shows separate shots that will be present on a screenplay of the film.

Shooting Schedule

A shooting schedule will be used to show the plan for each day of shooting and will help to organise the shooting script by using time schedules that will show when different scenes and edits will take place. A shooting schedule will make the planning of the film more efficient as it will help to focus on different scenes and shots that will be recorded at different times.

Other Paperwork

A location release form will be filled out to make sure that I have permission to shoot at different location that are owned by other people. I will make some location scouting templates in order to collect important information that I will need to get some further understanding about the different location that I will be shooting at. Risk assessments will have to be taken at every different location so that I can point out any possible risks that’s hould be taken into consideration before shooting takes place. I will also use sound templates to indicate where certain sounds will be used in the film. Finally, I will have to make sure that copyright clearances are taken into consideration to make sure that I have rights to any material that is used in my film.

The functions of pre-production

The scripts that I write will be proof read multiple times and possibly redrafted if there are any faults or mistakes that I notice. Proof reading is essential as it will allow me to amend and improve my original ideas in order to make my script more enhanced and professional. Furthermore, this will help me to manage the pros and cons of the film and then making amendments to the cons in order to make sure that my film is shot near to perfection.

This will mean that certain ideas that I may have had originally can be changed or altered to be replaced with a better or more unique idea that would benefit the film. Also, locations could be changed after considering the health and safety risks or even after finding a better and more suited location for the film.

The purpose of pre-production

Public liability will be taken into consideration and the college will have the public liability insurance set for the production work that will take place to make sure that members of the public won’t be negatively affected or at risk by the shooting of the film at a certain location. Permissions will need to be in place for privately owned locations, copyrighted materials, and health and safety procedures to ensure that the filming that takes place is allowed. Also, contracts will need to be shown of those who are working on the film whether that be actors or the location manager. Filming licenses must be obtained before the shooting of the film and permissions must be approved for street filming otherwise the shooting of the film won’t be allowed to take place. During a compliance audit, independent consultants will check on the strength of compliance preparations that have taken place before the shooting of the film is allowed. In addition, auditors will review many things such as security policies and risk management procedures to further check on how the people involved in the film have managed to fulfill any legal responsibilities that have been taken into consideration before the shooting of the film has taken place. I will make sure to make my target audience obvious with the film I create and therefore have a target for the age range of my film as I would like the BBFC to provide a suitable age rating to my film that allows me to reach out to my target audience.