Pre - production

To begin with pre-production paperwork is one of the most Important piece of a film production, it contains some important documentations such as risk assessments, location recces, and script, without these they would not be able to film because they wouldn't have the documents for the actors to follow nor the locations for the actors to go to. There are a small range of pre-production paper work that can be used to when creating a film production project, these are: Templates, storyboards and visual designs and page mock -ups.

Formats

In the pre-production process there are many types of paperwork and formats of paperwork that must be completed before shooting the project some of these are:

• Templates for scripts, written, dialogue, sound.
• Written or visual storyboards
• page mock-ups

Template - these templates are a major part of pre-production and post production as they can help the actors and crew through the process of filming, they can also be used to list the song used in the post-production such as editing is mainly royalty-free music.


Witten/Visual - written and visual pre-production documents can also lead the crew through the use of storyboards, as it creates a visual view of the scene and camera position during the post production.



Finance - Explain why finance is an essential part of film finance.

Finance is an essential part of film finance because without it finance the production might run out of money and might not be funded without pre-production paperwork. A producer can pre-sell foreign materials such as DVD's, CD, etc.

Source Finance - identify different sources of financing for film production and explain why this is an important part of pre-production. The majority of a film production's source finance comes from the BFI (British Film Institute) which buys or invests the money to go towards the idea, the BFI are a charity which is ran by a royal charter which archives movies and shows.


http://www.bfi.org.uk/sources-funding-uk/sources-funding-uk-filmmaker

Term Loans – Term loans are momentary loans that is repaid in regular payments over a set period of time, they normally involve an unfixed interest rate that will add additional balance to be repaid. These are important to pre-production as they could use this for TV shows such as ‘the crown’ to fund each episode.


This can also be used to buy or hire equipment for the production project which will be listed in the pre production equipment list. The term loan can also cover the actors and crew wages which consists on how long they work on set.


https://www.bectu.org.uk/news/2030
https://www.bectu.org.uk/advice-resources/library/2340

Crowd funding –  Crowd funding is a way of funding projects through donations from viewer or the public interested in the project, it will normally have a goal to reach before they start filming the project such as 1Million, and they would use anything more than their goal towards the extra things for the project such as transport, etc.

 Many kick-starter shows and films use crowd funding to hook and audience into funding their project, to do this they use sites such as kick-starter and indigogo to fund their films as it gives them a kit to provide their fans a way for them to sponsor and donate money to their cause.


For example, laser team was a movie project created by a YouTube group known as roosterteeth, the movie gained £1782318.41 in crowd funding.
https://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/02/24/10-crowdfunded-movies-you-simply-have-to-see/

Logistics

Explain what logistics means in the film industry and why it is a crucial part of pre-production.

Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. Without this they would not be able to calculate the correct amount of equipment for the crew and would not be able to sort out the pre-production paperwork for the crew’s hours, pay, etc.

• Time - explain the role of production scheduling in film pre-production and its importance.

 The role of production scheduling in film pre-production is setting up the dates, times and hours for crew and actors to be on screen and when and where they are needed. This is important to pre-production because without call sheets and scheduling none of the crew or actors won’t know when to turn up or when to be on set to film or get make up to suit the scene. Time is also important because they might have a deadline that they have to reach ready for the post production stages of the production project.


If there is no production schedules the project will be delayed until there is a point where the majority of actors are free and must be sure that there is a scheduling list for certain scenes, the sheet should be filled in correctly with the actors availability and the availability of the crew and the location address and  time for the arrival of the crew and cast.

• Facilities - identify the facilities a film production may need to use with reference to examples.  Explain why facilities need to be located and booked in pre-production.

 There are many facilities in film production such as a design studio, editing suites, sound suites, etc. all of these allow the crew to focus their attention on what is needed to be done without distractions, public facilities such as halls, rooms, etc. need to be booked in pre-production so they can be restricted to film crew and actors so no public can interrupt the filming or post production work (make-up, scene setup, etc.).
Facilities are very important for the whole production project as they need to hire a room for editing, filming studio, rehearsal studio, make up studio, etc. All of these can make a huge change in the quality of the film but the documents must be graphed first as a receipt with the price for hiring the rooms, and duration used. 

• Location - identify pre-production tasks associated with locations and their importance.

 Location Scouts and Location Recces fall in the same category but are a major part of pre-production work because without these jobs there won’t be able to find anywhere to shoot once the pre-production stage is complete. A location scout seeks out a number of locations to shoot a puts them in a list of locations on the location recce to put in a folder (digital folder) ready for the post production management and call sheets.

 

• Personnel - identify the personnel needed for a media production.

In a media production there are a number of personnel needed to keep a media production flowing, some of these personnel are:

• Videographer
• Storyboard artist
• Screen writer
• Location manager
• Location scout

These jobs are important to the pre-production stage as they consist of important information such as film locations, script, and scene development. There are other jobs in pre-production that order equipment collect actors and more.

A videographer’s job is to film backstage or behind the scenes to keep the audience intrigued about the production project and how they are approaching the film.  A storyboard artist’s job is to create a general storyboard based on the script given and helps the camera assistants as they imagine the scene and how they are going to approach filming and their scene. A screen writer’s job is to produce a script that the actors can use and rehearse before filming the production project, without this both the editing crew and actors won’t know what they’re doing in the production project and will hold back the production schedule and making a tighter deadline.

 http://www.listeninglistening.com/uploads/6/4/4/8/6448263/crew-roles-and-departments-guide.pdf

• Materials - identify the materials needed for a film production.

There are many materials needed for a film production that can cause delays to a filming schedule if they are not collected some of these materials consist of:

• Tripods
• Camera lights
• Shotgun microphones
• Shock mount
• Portable digital audio recorder

These materials are a necessity to a film production and could interrupt the time and money the production will have to complete the filming and post production work. Many of the equipment listed are essential in making a production project but can only be used if they buy or hire the equipment from family/friends or smaller based company's such as KitMapper. The equipment isn't cheap but can still be bought using the different types of finance such as crowd funding, term loan, etc.

 https://kitmapper.com/kit-hire/cameras?utm_source=Bing&utm_medium=Paid&utm_campaign=Camera%20hire&utm_term=1&utm_content=All%20Camera

Codes of Practice and Regulation

Explain what media regulation means and why it must be taken into consideration in pre-production.

Regulations are the rule to a filming production and neglecting these regulations means that the filming production cannot continue because it will cause health and safety risks to the crew and actors or can be sewed from the production company that they send their film or show to.

Some of these regulations depend on the watershed which changes its rules depending on the time of day such as vulgar language can be used on TV by 21:00 at night.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1738_respect/page9.shtml


The BBC regulate their broadcasted shows through this watershed which begins at 9pm to allow access to a more mature audience so they can watch shows that include vulgarity.

• Clearance and Copyright - explain how copyright affects pre-production (e.g. Mechanical Copyright Protection Society).

 Clearance and copyright can affect the pre-production depending on if they get the clearance to use other company’s songs that could affect their profit, this could lead to law sews that could delay the production project and can loose a chuck of the budget for the project.

• Legal - explain the importance of health and safety to pre-production.

 Health and safety in pre-production is very important because it helps keep the crew, actors and public safe when filming and helps avoid injury claims, law sews, etc. These issues can be avoided with risk assessments which help list the dangers of onset hazards and finding ways to avoid these issues by putting things in place to keep the production safe. However if a member of the production team is hurt and claims are made it could set the production back causing a tighter deadline to complete the production.


In planning Risk assessment the writer normally starts first by writing the name of the production, date written, and the role of whoever is writing it, from there they can start to focus on their first risk could be and writes it down in the risk box. Next the writer can think about who is at risk and writes it down in the 'who is at risk box' (this can be anybody such as the public, cast and crew). Next they will have to mention what is in place for them to avoid the risks

 

• Regulations - identify how media regulations affects pre-production (e.g. the BBFC).

 Media Production Needs to be aware of regulations in media products that they have to follow. E.g. The BBFC who regulate the age rating a movie or show is given through the content shown to the public. A production company would have to abide by the rules given to them so their product can be aired on the public’s screens. If they go against these rules their product won’t be broadcasted on TVs and could get banned within the country.

 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/harm-and-offence/watershed

• Trade unions and professional bodies - identify relevant organisations and explain how they affect pre-production.

 A trade union is a company or group that protect their interests and their rights, and are challenged through political and economic issues that can push pre-production back such as the Actors and Directors being already booked for a film shoot.

 

 http://film.britishcouncil.org/resources/membership-organisations

Learning Aim A2-A4

Describe the format of the following pre-production documents:

• Scripts – Scripts are the last piece of pre-scene design because without the storyboards location recces, etc. the scripts cannot be written because the screen writer won’t know what positions or dialogue to use.
• Storyboards - Storyboards are a gridded system that allows the crew to picture what the scene would look like during the pre-production stage of a film product.
• Risk Assessments – Risk assessments are the most important of the pre-production paperwork as it contains dangers that might occur during filming and ways to reduce these risks and action priority if incidents occur.

Explain the function of pre-production documents.  Why are they completed?

Functions of pre-production documents include:

• Developing and revising production ideas

Development and revising document must be filled and complete so that there Is a base for the production to lay upon and helps the production company you are pitching your idea can see developed the idea is. 

• Visualising production ideas

Visual production ideas must also be completed so that you have a visual representation that you can the person you are pitching your production idea to, this could be: storyboard, mind map, themed collage.

• Identifying logistics (e.g. roles to be cast, locations needed, props, camerawork, etc.)

All of these should be filled out and completed before the production is filmed as it shows that you have put a lot of thought into the production and know the locations, roles, props and camerawork needed throughout to do this this you would need location recces, casting call and call sheets, storyboards, and shot lists to complete the correct paperwork for the logistics.

• Following codes of practice/regulation (e.g. health and safety regulations)

To follow the codes of practise/regulation you need a risk assessment to put in place actions to remove the risk of injury on set, by doing this you will reduce the chance of the crew or cast being hurt when filming and makes sure that you can move on if the chance of injury is minimal.