Pre-Production Report
Throughout
this report I will be evaluating essential pre-production work and the
processes that will take place as part of a highly achieved creative media
production. Pre-production is the process that is taken place before a movie is
produced or published into the media. The purpose of pre-production is to make
sure that during a production there has been all necessary research to be able to
make an enjoyable production that will be published and be a success within the
media. If something has effective pre-production planning it will be most
likely achievable within the media however, if something was poorly planned in
researching and pre-production, then it may be disappointing and may not make a
profit within the media. Within this report I will be looking back at other
media productions that have been both successful and unsuccessful within areas
of the production. The three productions and case studies I will be looking at
is previous productions I have studied within this project. this include 'One
Mile Away', 'World War Z' and "Monsters'.
Financing and Budget
A
main section of the pre-production process is the financing and budgeting. When
looking at a budget you need to plan everything to the amount of budget you
have and apply the money sensibly, such as you may need more money for your
cast crew and locations, than you will for costume, so make sure that you are
setting it out evenly and correctly proportioning each section of the
pre-production process. When you assemble your budget, you must make sure to
stick to the amount you have set and not go over budget as it could cause
future problems. Some ways of acquiring funding are; crowd funding, event
funding, government funding, private investments, tax reliefs or incentives and
big studio investment
An
example of a media production which was financed through crowd funding is the
documentary ‘One Mile Away’. The producers used crowd funding by opening up an
online web page from the company Kickstarter where you could pledge a certain
amount of money to the producers to be able to make the media production. The
website where you were able to pledge money for the media production was https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/313414227/one-mile-away.
By doing this the producers raised a total of £21,033 from using this crowd
funding idea. 'One Mile Away' also received funding from Britdoc of £5,000 and
some funding from Barrow Cadbury (the Cadbury foundation) of £10,000. This
method was successful for the production of ‘One Mile Away’ as it meant that
the producers were able to have more money and have a higher budget which the
producers needed due to filming for a long range of time and having to pay for
accommodation and so worked out to be successful for the production and for the
company. This method can be successful for producers working on small-scale
media productions which a local company or however would not be a suitable
choice for people working on large-scale movie productions. Using this funding
method means you would not have to pay back any of the money that people have
pledged to you and the company as they are giving it to you like a donation. I
would recommend this to a local council or small community media organisations
as you will only need a small budget and would be small-scale media productions
which means that crowd funding would be a good option for the funding of your
creative digital media production of this scale.
Another
popular funding type is big studio investors which produce large and popular
movies around the globe through the media. An example of a big studio investor
is both Paramount and Skydance which funded the production of ‘World War Z’ and
allowed it to have a high budget that it needed. This production had a original
budget of $190 million. This was successful for the ‘World War Z’ production as
it meant by having two large studio investors funding them the producers had a
high budget which the producers needed due to it been a large cast and crew, a
range of locations and a large amount of costume and make up to be able to build
the apocalyptic image that the producers were wanting to create. However,
having your media production funded by a large model company isn’t always the
best way to have your media product funded as if you are only making a
small-scale media production as you do not need a budget that large for such as
small production. This funding model would not really work for small
organisations such as local councils or small communities who are making media
productions as they are small-scale and do not need a budget this big. Big
studio investors wouldn’t want to invest in small scale media productions as
they only need a small budget and do not make a large amount of profit tor
money so a large big studio investor wouldn’t want to fun such a small-scale
production. You would also have to make sure that you make a large enough
profit as you have to pay back the big studio investors the money that they had
previously gave you for your production.
Another
way that you can have funding for your creative digital media production is by
having a bank loan of the budget that you need. An example of this type of
funding would be ‘Monsters’ as they were funded by having a large bank loan of
$500,00. This was successful for the production ‘monsters’. This however could
be ineffective for somebody who needs a large budget as it would not provide
them with enough money and a high enough budget. However, on the other hand if
you are working on a small-scale budget you would be able to get a loan but, if
you are only making something on a small scale it may not profit a large enough
amount to be able to pay back the bank and sort the financial situation you are
left with in the end. I would not recommend this to a local area or a small
community group making productions as you are not always certain you will be
able to pay back the bank loan you have taken.
Financing
and budgeting is a main part of the pre-production process and is needed to be
able to complete the media production. To be successful you should make sure to
evaluate all options and ways you could use your budget. Always plan out your
budget before starting pre-production as then you can make sure you do not go
over budget. By planning out where your budget is spent it means that you do
not end up going over the budget you were set and allows a more successful
production. However, you should make sure to always have a contingency plan or
to have a small amount of the budget left over in case something goes wrong
within the production process itself, such as menial tasks and assignments.
Here
is an example of a successful movie budgeting plan: http://bookkeeperla.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/budget-575.jpg?w=300
When
you are researching, and looking at your financing and budget you should always
look and evaluate all possible paths and ways of funding that you could take
when planning out your media production. You should do this to make sure you
are exploring all options and you make sure that you have chosen the best
option for your creative media production and to make sure that it will be
successful for you in the future and you will make a profit instead of losing
money in the media.
Logistics
Logistics
are another important part of the pre-production process. When looking at
logistics producers must look within areas such as the deadlines and resources
that the producers will need to plan out when making a media production. The
resource area of logistics may include things such as; crew, cast, facilities,
cameras, catering, location, equipment, props and costumes. These elements
should be considered by a producer when making a media production.
Here
are some successful example of camera wok http://nbfilmcoop.com/sites/default/files/prodforms/shot_samples.jpg
All
media productions use logistics however they are planned differently such as
the filming of any documentaries. An example of a documentary like this would
be the filming of ‘One Mile Away’. As within filming there is planning put in
place however it would have a space of lee way either side of the deadline as
the media producer would know that in a documentary you do not always receive
the amount of footage you want on a certain time, so they must make sure
deadlines are flexible. This is because when making a documentary, you do not
know that if the footage collected that day is useable to be placed within the
media production. Also within a documentary are less likely to be looking at
props and costumes as it is evolved on real life situations and will just work
with the everyday lives of the people in the production. Documentary’s such as
‘One Mile Away’ need other areas of pre-production to be considered more than
others an some of the areas and resources may include things such as the fact
you would still have to receive permission to film in certain locations such as
‘One Mile Away’ had to receive permission to film in Birmingham, you also need
to make sure you have permission to film certain people and the cast and crew
of the locals who live there during filming and would also have to have
permission for the location.
However,
if you are filming a movie on a scale as large as ‘World War Z’ then everything
is needed to be considered. Deadlines will be placed, and a schedule will have
been needed to be able to plan out accurately when you can have all the cast
and crew. As you will not be wanting to pay more for people to be there when
you do not need them. You also must look at all resources needed such as the
props and costume as the producers will be wearing certain clothing to be able
to play a certain part such as all the props and costume needed including
special effects makeup. This would have been important to the production of
‘World War Z’ as there would have been a high need for the makeup artists to be
able to use special effects to make actors look like zombies to make the
apocalyptic theme and make it seem more real. Also, special effects would have
been needed to make the marks, scars and bruises on the main actors (the
family). The producers would also need
to seek permissions to be able to use certain areas and locations which is very
important as if this is not done then you may not be able to film your movie or
could end with a fine if you do not have permissions for that place.
A
large amount of your budget would most likely be spent on your cast and crew.
Not on many people but more on the quality of acting you are having within the
movie. As if it is a documentary such as ‘One Mile Away’ you do not have to
spend a lot of money in this area as the people you use will be local to the
documentary more than likely unless it is like the blue planet which involved a
large section of the budget to be spent within the cast and crew area as it was
filmed all around the world. Whereas if you are creating a film such as ‘World
War Z’ a large amount of the budget may be spent on cast and crew due to
needling a lot of actors for the movie due to it been an apocalyptic themed
movie and there for a lot of people and extras were needed to be able to be
zombies within the movie. When budgeting the movie ‘World War Z’ it wasn’t very
successful or effective. This was due to there not been effective planning in
the pre-production area beforehand. Due to them not planning out their budget
effectively the producers ended up running over budget meaning that the movie
was delayed due to the need of raising budget and finding more funding to
produce ‘World War Z’.
Within
this pre-production process ‘Monsters’ was not conventional and did not conform
to regulations. This is because the producers did not get the permissions that
the producers needed to be able to film in certain locations. Although not
caught and were not fined in the end it was a very dangerous move and could
have meant that the movie could not have happened or been produced. This was
due to risks taken planning within pre-production.
Codes of practice/regulations
Another
important part of pre-production is the codes of practice within the media
production and all the regulations that go with it. This includes things such
as if a music has copyright or royalties, location release or permission, cast
extra releases, MCPS or PRS, health and safety, unions forecast and crew
(equality/BECTU) and risk assessments.
Within
media production having risk assessments are very important in case something
happens. A risk assessment it is testing out areas for not just stunts but all
risks to make sure no accidents happen.
This includes having insurance for all the members of your cast and crew
that are in your team. An example of a
movie that would have had a large amount of risk assessments take place would
have been ‘World War Z’. This movie had a large amount of risk assessments take
place and insurance over every member of its cast and crew due to there been
many stunts and dangers within the movie. This consists of things such as
explosives and jumps to and from helicopters. There would have also needed to
be insurance from the travelling and filming in different countries in case
anything happened or there were any medical needs. There would have also been a
need for many risk assessments to take place and insurance for all cast and
crew of the ‘One Mile Away’ filming team as due to it been filmed in an area
full of recent shootings and stabbings meaning it was a dangerous place to film
and one of these acts of cruelty was caught within the filming of ‘One Mile Away’
so, a large amount of insurance was put in place in case of any incidents and
accidents within the filming. ‘World War Z’ and ‘One Mile Away’ are both
successful in risk assessments and were both well prepared and covered in case
of any incidents or injuries during the making of the film or documentary.
However sometimes risk assessments aren’t always 100% successful such as within
the filming of DeadPool 2 there was an incident where a woman lost her life due
to a risk assessment not been completely accurate. So, you must make sure to
always have a safe and correct risk assessment take place and to have it check
multiple times to be safe and avoid an unnecessary risk.
Here
is a successful example of a risk assessment
https://image.slidesharecdn.com/filmproductionriskassessmentform-120206083058-phpapp02/95/film-production-risk-assessment-form-1-728.jpg?cb=1328517285
Another
important section of codes of practice and regulations is health and safety.
This is the fact that you need and must always have a member of the health and
safety representative local in case something goes wrong during the filming of
the production. It is a good idea to always to have a first aid kit nearby in
case it is ever needed if an accident occurs on set. There for if an accident
did occur then a first aider or advisor is quick to access for help if it is
ever needed while the filming or production of a creative digital media
production. By having a member of the health and safety it means that you
always have quick access for medical attention when it is needed and means that
if something goes wrong it can be fixed almost automatically and at a fast
speed meaning that it becomes successful in the health and safety sector. A
member of the health and safety system may also be able to help in risk
assessment to see if something is safe or unsafe for certain actors in case of
medical terms or to stop a stunt if they believe it is too dangerous and if
something goes wrong with a risk assessments there is a member of the health
and safety department to be able to give immediate help and attention. Meaning
that an incident such as during the filming of Dead pool 2 will be less likely
to occur again.
Another
important section is to check if any music you are using has copy right or
royalties. This will be if the music is owned by somebody. You must make sure
to know if the music has an owner. If it does not have an owner then you are
free to use it, however if the music is owned by either a person or a company
you must get in touch with whoever owns the music to make sure that you can use
it within your creative digital media production to make sure that you are not
fined and that you are not using something with copy right. If you do not check
this and you use something that is owned with a copy right on the piece of
music your production could be unsuccessful as you could be fined taking away a
section of the budget or taking away profit from what you received due to the
production. If you make sure that you have checked, and you know you are safe
to sue the music or you have permission, then your production could continue
and flow nicely without any delay or fine involved meaning that the digital
media production is more likely to be a success and contain music enjoyable for
audience without anything of poor planning coming from the pre-production stage
and making it a success within the media. For example, during the production of
"One Mile Away” one of the actors would only take place if his music was
used within the production. By having him as an actor it allowed them to use
his music and have permission and access to it without it having copy right or
royalties.
Her
is a successful example of somebody given permission for use so there is no
copy right involved http://preview-templates.biztreeapps.com/thumbnails_size/460px/26311.png
Pre-production documentation.
This
area consists of a range of things such as; storyboards, script, location
Reece, props, costume, makeup, risk assessment, production schedule, shot list,
edit list, call sheet, release forms and very impotently a contingency plan
(plan B). These make up the pre-production documentation and process step by
step.
One
of the most important stages in this process is to create the perfect script
for your creative digital media production. A script is the analogue that is
written for actors before production. This is because this can affect the area
you may want to film in or the costume or make up of certain characters or
people within the digital media production and may also affect some of the
shooting of the film depending on what the characters are talking about within
the script. You must make sure to always
check your script multiple times to make sure you have created the script you
need to make the creative digital media production the way you want it. The
rest of your production runs along what happens within your script so make sure
that you are successful with writing your script and there for the rest of the
pre-production schedule can be successful. You also must complete a script
breakdown where you split the script apart to make it easy to understand and
for people to look at the only section the producers need and are involved in.
You must also remember to time your script to make sure that it doesn’t go on
for too long and to make sure it is around an average movie length of 2 hours
as if it becomes too long people may not want to watch it and it may not be as
successful as you wanted it to be. An unsuccessful example of not been well
scripted is the production of the movie ‘World War Z’ as due to the script been
wrong the first time it had to be re scripted which meant that the budget had
to be raised to pay for this which then not only delayed the production but
also made it go over budget.
Here
is an example of a successful script write. https://www.dmakproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Screenplay-script-.jpg
Another
thing you must look at during the production documentation is the location
recce. A location recce is having the permission to use a certain location when
filming and making a production. You must always make sure that you have a
location Reece as if you have not been given permission for a location and you
are found there you can be fined a large amount of money for not having a
location Reece in place for the filming or making or that media production. The
filming of ‘Monsters’ is a bad example of a well panned out production as it
did not have any location Reece’s put in place before the start of the filming.
The cast just travelled around locations filming in areas without been given
any permission meaning that the producers could have been fined a large amount
of money for using a range of locations the producers had not been given
permission for. This means that although the production was successful and
raised a profit of $4.2 million. it
could for been unsuccessful and a very large risk as it meant that the
producers could have lost out on money and could have ended up paying more in
fines than there budget itself meaning that the company and creators could have
been in debt and the production may not have ever been created. So, make sure
that you always have a location recce in place so that you have no risk of
fines or losing your production and to make sure that your production runs
nicely and is a very successful production.
A
very important part of a production is to always have a contingency plan. A
contingency plan is basically a plan be you need in case something goes wrong.
You must have a contingency plan as if you don’t and somebody cancels or pulls
out of the production you have nothing to fall back on and then it ends badly
as it means you cannot continue with the production and therefore it becomes an
unsuccessful production and pre-production plan. This has happened to a company
called Skystorm as when the producers were doing a production of a small
proportional video their location pulled out at last minute and the producers
were left without a place to film and this was due to unsuccessful planning and
not having a contingency plan you can resort to in case this happened. The
producers however were lucky enough the producers had their own studio the
producers could make a scenery in and was still able to create their
promotional video but not to the standard the producers were hoping and
therefore the production wasn’t as successful as the producers hoped it to be
and wasn’t very good at been promotional.
So therefore, make sure that you always have a contingency plan in case
of something going wrong, so you have something to fall back on and so that the
production can continue as it should and be successful.
Pre-production process
The
pre-production process consists of a range of different actions and stages
within the process such as; create a script, create a budget, finding a
location suitable, then have a script breakdown, get cast by having an open
casting day, create a shot list, storyboard out the production, time your
script, create a shooting schedule, then get crew and gear. You must make sure
that you do this process cleverly and effectively otherwise the actual
production of the creative digital media you are creating may not be highly
achieving in the long run and the effectiveness of planning, both good and bad,
will show within in the media production you have made during publication.
One
of the main areas within this is the production schedules. A production
schedule allows you to keep things on track and is basically having a plan to
work from so everything is done perfectly. You must make sure to do this
accurately. This involves looking at when you have access to locations and
access to all the cast members you need to make any production that day. You
must do this very carefully as if one thing is wrong it can ruin the entire
production schedule and plan and make the production take a bad turn. This
involves looking when cast and actors are free, when a location is free for you
to use, when you have access to facilities, etc. you may not film all your
production in the order of the movie and may split it up in case some actors
you need you do not have access to on certain days and therefore you must move
things around and just place all of the shootings you have completed together
during the editing process at the end of the production. So, make sure you
always have a production schedule in place to make sure that the media
production is well planned and is efficacious. A bad example of using a production schedule that
wasn’t followed effectively was the production of ‘Monsters’. There was a
production schedule put in place however it was not stuck to and did not work
effectively. Such as he gave himself two months to do all of the editing and
special effects however, after 8 months none of the big scenes had been edited
and there was still a large amount of work to be done meaning the production
schedule was ineffective.
Another
important section of the process is getting the cast members that you need for
your digital media production. You can do this by searching around for the cast
you need by opening a casting day which is open to all public to come and
audition for a part within the movie. By having an open casting day for extras
and cast it allows an easier way for you to get the cast and crew that you need
for the creative digital media production you are making. By having a casting
day, it allows a range of different people to audition and allows you to make an
easier decision on who you want your cast to be. A disadvantage of this could
be that too many people turn up or not enough people turn up to fill your cast
positions. An example of this would be ‘World War Z’ which had a large open
casting day which had a large number of people turn up. (around 3,000) as the
producers needed many actors and extras, so this was very enjoyable for them as
it meant that the producers had many people to be able to cast for the zombies
to be able to make the apocalyptic theme the producers needed for the movie.
So, this is a great way to be able to get the cast you need as it allows you to
audition different people and get the number of people you need for your cast
easily and will mean that the casting in the pre-production process was
successful. This is good for if you are working on a small budget as it does
not coast a large amount as the most you will have to pay is for the use of a
building to have the open casting day. However, having an open casting day mean
that professionals may not attend as they would prefer been contacted
privately.
Another
important section of the pre-production process of your creative digital media
production is to create an effective shooting schedule. A shooting schedule is
when you are going to film certain scenes and areas of the movie, so you always
keep on track and have a plan. This will allow the production of your creative
digital media production to be more efficient due to it been well planned and
having very successful planning behind the making of the actual production
itself. As the planning and research is the most important stage of making any
production as without planning it would mean that there would be an unorganised
production. An unsuccessful example of this would be ‘World War Z’ as they had
to do a large amount of re shoots during the production which did not only mean
the movie was delayed and budget had to be increased but it also meant that a
shooting schedule had to have changes made to it and be re-made to fit the time
they had and to re decide when different shootings for different scenes would
take place.
Here
is an example of a successful shooting schedule https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfrx4_Vd-doFO8vuhINkQ47TkLVqsiiqHQnfbRTKFxU8qUfAFANz0Mbp5O9-X8IyGFeWP5ookKdikiqt4yky-3fcUTbKx5_xJH65uRyj91yYBsdT2hL72nq0SOxhsd7vpfLajyRV38Mb2p/s1600/shooting+scedual.png
Recommendations & Conclusion
In
conclusion, there are many steps and things you must consider within the
pre-production stage to be able to make and build a very successful media
project and if one element or stage within the pre-production process is done
ineffectively or disappointingly then it could affect the entire creative
digital media production in the end.
The
key ideas and messages to be taken from this report is to make sure that your
planning and research is always done carefully and successfully. Some areas
within the process can be more important than others but it is important you
spend time and plan it very carefully to make sure that nothing goes wrong and
there is no poor planning within pre-production and so that the creative
digital media product will be a large success and a satisfying media product
for the audience to watch. If you do not do all the pre-production process
carefully and it is poorly planned, then the product of the media production
could be unsuccessful and disappointing in an opinion from the audience. This
means due to poor planning you end up with a under achieving finish which only
has a marginal impact on the media and is just passive to the audience and
isn’t surprising or interesting for the audience to watch or see.
All three case studies used
all have strengths and weaknesses to their pre-production however, if you plan
carefully and make sure to complete all elements involved in the pre-production
process you will be more likely to be successful within he production of your
digital media project and will mean you are more likely to be profitable.
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