Pre-Production Essay
Types of Moving Image Production
For our assignment we had to make a DepicT film which is a short film that is only 90 seconds long. The 90 second DepicT we made was for the DepicT! contest which is Watershed's international short film competition. There is a couple of ways that we distributed our 90 seconds DepicT, Firstly we published it on our YouTube Channel then we also uploaded it to the DepicT! Contest.
There are many types of moving image media products such as; Animation (For Example, Moana, How to train your dragon, etc), Documentaries (For example, Planet Earth II, David Attenborough's Rise of Animals: Triumph of the Vertebrates, etc), Music Videos (For Example, KSI - Down like that feat. Rick Ross, Lil Baby & S-X (Official Music Video), W2S - KSI Sucks (RiceGum & KSI Diss Track Offical Video, Etc), Films is another example of a moving image media product but there are many type films and different lengths, such as feature length films which are the longer films that are around 2 - 3 hours long, for example The Lord of the Rings film series. then there are shorter films that are around 1 - 2 hours long, the sorter films tend to be comedies such as 'Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery' or Narrative films like 'Dunkirk'
Distribution Methods
There are many ways to distribute film products for example using YouTube and Social Media however these methods are very popular and cant be very effective but they are not guaranteed to reach your target audience. Other ways to distribute film products is playing them at film festivals. Film festivals play a group of films to an audience that pay to be there and watch them. Film festivals are growing in popularity and their are many major festivals that lots of people go to such a Sundance and Cannes Film Festival.
The more popular method of distribution is through distribution companies, there are many distribution companies such as Lionsdale, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox and more. These examples are the large big name companies that distribute the more popular films. They take your film and with a cost will send it to cinemas and film festivals for the film to be played. This method is the more popular method however is one of the more costly methods.
Sources of Funding and Finance
Films can be self funded by the film creator(s), the quality of the film is reliant on the amount of money that the creator(s) have for their budget. Self funding can be a good boost to a career and could make the creators a lot of money so they can have more opportunities to produce higher quality film products. An example of a successful self funded film would be 'The Blair Witch Project' The producers of this film self funded everything, such as all the equipment and all the marketing. Most of the budget was spent on the marketing for the film. The producers budget was around $60,000 USD which is a fairly low budget compared to other horror films and films in general. However with this small budget they managed to make the film which was 81 minutes long. From the $60,000 USD the film made around $248.6 Million USD from Box Office.
Another source of funding is going to a individual investor who could could fund or help to fund the film product. The idea would have to be pitched to the individual investor to gain their interest in your idea and convince them to fund it. It could be the other way round an individual could approach another and pitch them an idea and give them the funding to make that idea. Having your project funded by someone else might not be ideal for the creator, every idea has to be ran through with the individual who fund the project and the choice is up to them as its their money that is being spent. Also if the director has a disagreement with the individual who funded the project or does something wrong that they don't agree with they could fire the director and hire a new one.
Another method of getting funding for a film project is public funding. An example of public funding is the British Film Institute (BFI). The British Film Institute helps funding films that they believe have a high potential in succeeding and make a lot of money. The British Film Institute uses lottery funds to help fund upcoming films, they spend around £26 million a year funding potential films.
When using other peoples money or other companies money to help make a film the investors get a chunk of the money the film makes, they get the money they spent and some of the profit as well.
Another method of sourcing funding for a film project is crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is when a company raises money from a large amount of people who contribute a smaller amount of money. Crowdfunding is typically sourced via the internet on website such as 'Kickstarter'. Kickstarter is a website in which a company can pitch an idea onto the websites and people can decided if they want to pledge money and back the idea. Kickstarter can be a very successful way to source funding but not guaranteed. For example a board game was pitched on the website and the company was looking for around £40,000 funding but made over £1 million funding. On kickstarter people may decided to pledge money into an idea because the company offers somesort of gift in return for example the game mentioned before there was multiple amounts that could be pledge and each amount had gifts in return and one or more copies of the game once it was out.
Product placement is another method of sourcing income funding for a film project. Product placement is when a company pays the film makers to use their product in your film and have their logo in the film. An example of product placement is the film Zombieland, in Zombieland one of the characters constantly wants a Twinkie which Twinkies are seen and mentioned in the film a numerous amount of times, this is because the Twinkies company had paid the makers of Zombieland to include their product in the film so that they can get advertisement through the film. Product placement can be a great source of funding as there is no worries to paying the company funding the film back as the money is paid for their product to be in the film. However if its overused the film makers could risk ruining the film.
Requirements
For the DepicT project i had we needed a camera, tripod and a slider. If we were to include speech we would have needed a boom mic and other sound equipment but we decided to not have any speech in. We needed to get some lights for the lighting to make the film look how we wanted it to look. We also thought about having cgi so we might of needed a green screen but we also decided not to go with that.
A companies budget has to be spent on a lot of things, such as equipment like cameras, tripods, sliders, boom mic, and more. Other stuff the budget would have to be spent on is actors. camra crew, lighting crew, other crew members, caterers, accommodations and facilities. The company would also have to spend the budget on a filming location as they might need to use someones property and have to pay them to use it or they might have to spend money on building a set to film in. The budget would also be spent on make up artists and animators and editors who put it all together.
Personnel
For a low budget film the personnel would be limited to the least as possible to save money, they would have a director and actors that are trying to build up their career as they would be cheaper than more famous actors. They would also have a small camera crew or just one person. A low budget film is more likely to be posted to online websites such as YouTube and be free to watch.
A television program production would typically have more higher paid actors in with a larger amount of actors and bigger crews, they would have higher end cameras and maybe runners. A television program would be broadcasted on television at set times on set days, Some are daily and some are weekly.
A high budget / Hollywood film would have a large personnel with top end famous actors and would have a large crew. They would have top end equipment for the best quality production. The film would be advertised widely on television, posters, adverts, etc. The film would be released in cinemas but first would have a premier where famous people and the actors could see it before the public can. Once it has been in the cinemas for a while they will release the film on DVD and Blueray.
In my small group we split up the task between us, my role in the group was to be one of the actors and help with the filming and editing. We all worked on creating the storyboard but we had one dedicated person to draw as they were the better drawer in the group. We had two people doing the paperwork while the others went and looked for potential location to film and take location photos.
Time
Time is an important part of creating a film because there is loads of deadlines that each member of crews have to reach, different members have to meet different deadlines. Our project was finished on time with not much time to spare, we spent a lot of the time filming but we had some issues with our filming location and had to change location half way through. If deadlines aren't met within filming products it could be fatal to the company as it could cost them a lot of money because they would have to hire equipment for a longer amount of time costing them more money and some of the actors might have another contract with another company and might not be able to act for the film until finish with the new contractor.
Location
A location recce is when a member of the group scouts for potential locations that could be used with in the production for scenes or photo shots. A location release is paper work that states that you / the company have the landlords permission to use the location to film on the set dates and times that would have been discussed with the landlords. If i location is used to film without the landlords permission to film the consequences would be high, there could be legal action taken against the company and maybe a fine to pay costing the company money. My groups location was a room within the our college, we had a location release sign so that we could film in the location for the set time we were in there.
Legal Issues
When producing a film all the material would have to be checked for any copyrighted material. Having copyrighted material in a production without the correct permission or payment would be illegal and legal action would be take place against the company which could cost the company a lot of money and could even make them bankrupt. The script would also have to be checked to make sure it doesn't have any copyrighted material in it. A couple of examples of what types of stuff can be copyrighted, music, pictures, any sort of visual image.
Public liberty insurance would be needed for the company. Public liberty insurance means that if any member of the public was to get hurt during the process of filming the company can not be help accountable for the injury.
Completion guarantee insurance would also be needed. Completion guarantee insurance is when the company or investor pay for this insurance and if the project is not finished and the investor can not get their money back the insurance will give them the money instead.
Regulation
Ofcom make sure that people get the best from their broadband, home phone and mobile services and keeps and eye on TV and radio. They help to stop people from getting scammed or conned. The BBC is regulated by Ofcom.
The BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification. The BBFC is an independent regulator who help to choose what age ratings films, videos and websites should be.
Trade Unions
Trade unions can be very useful for protecting workers. Workers have to pay to be a part of a union. Trade unions help workers if the workers feel like they are owned money from an employer or haven't been payed because the employer has gone bankrupt. The union used there law suits and lawyers to make sure the worker gets the money they deserve.
The more popular method of distribution is through distribution companies, there are many distribution companies such as Lionsdale, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox and more. These examples are the large big name companies that distribute the more popular films. They take your film and with a cost will send it to cinemas and film festivals for the film to be played. This method is the more popular method however is one of the more costly methods.
Sources of Funding and Finance
Films can be self funded by the film creator(s), the quality of the film is reliant on the amount of money that the creator(s) have for their budget. Self funding can be a good boost to a career and could make the creators a lot of money so they can have more opportunities to produce higher quality film products. An example of a successful self funded film would be 'The Blair Witch Project' The producers of this film self funded everything, such as all the equipment and all the marketing. Most of the budget was spent on the marketing for the film. The producers budget was around $60,000 USD which is a fairly low budget compared to other horror films and films in general. However with this small budget they managed to make the film which was 81 minutes long. From the $60,000 USD the film made around $248.6 Million USD from Box Office.
Another source of funding is going to a individual investor who could could fund or help to fund the film product. The idea would have to be pitched to the individual investor to gain their interest in your idea and convince them to fund it. It could be the other way round an individual could approach another and pitch them an idea and give them the funding to make that idea. Having your project funded by someone else might not be ideal for the creator, every idea has to be ran through with the individual who fund the project and the choice is up to them as its their money that is being spent. Also if the director has a disagreement with the individual who funded the project or does something wrong that they don't agree with they could fire the director and hire a new one.
Another method of getting funding for a film project is public funding. An example of public funding is the British Film Institute (BFI). The British Film Institute helps funding films that they believe have a high potential in succeeding and make a lot of money. The British Film Institute uses lottery funds to help fund upcoming films, they spend around £26 million a year funding potential films.
When using other peoples money or other companies money to help make a film the investors get a chunk of the money the film makes, they get the money they spent and some of the profit as well.
Another method of sourcing funding for a film project is crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is when a company raises money from a large amount of people who contribute a smaller amount of money. Crowdfunding is typically sourced via the internet on website such as 'Kickstarter'. Kickstarter is a website in which a company can pitch an idea onto the websites and people can decided if they want to pledge money and back the idea. Kickstarter can be a very successful way to source funding but not guaranteed. For example a board game was pitched on the website and the company was looking for around £40,000 funding but made over £1 million funding. On kickstarter people may decided to pledge money into an idea because the company offers somesort of gift in return for example the game mentioned before there was multiple amounts that could be pledge and each amount had gifts in return and one or more copies of the game once it was out.
Product placement is another method of sourcing income funding for a film project. Product placement is when a company pays the film makers to use their product in your film and have their logo in the film. An example of product placement is the film Zombieland, in Zombieland one of the characters constantly wants a Twinkie which Twinkies are seen and mentioned in the film a numerous amount of times, this is because the Twinkies company had paid the makers of Zombieland to include their product in the film so that they can get advertisement through the film. Product placement can be a great source of funding as there is no worries to paying the company funding the film back as the money is paid for their product to be in the film. However if its overused the film makers could risk ruining the film.
Requirements
For the DepicT project i had we needed a camera, tripod and a slider. If we were to include speech we would have needed a boom mic and other sound equipment but we decided to not have any speech in. We needed to get some lights for the lighting to make the film look how we wanted it to look. We also thought about having cgi so we might of needed a green screen but we also decided not to go with that.
A companies budget has to be spent on a lot of things, such as equipment like cameras, tripods, sliders, boom mic, and more. Other stuff the budget would have to be spent on is actors. camra crew, lighting crew, other crew members, caterers, accommodations and facilities. The company would also have to spend the budget on a filming location as they might need to use someones property and have to pay them to use it or they might have to spend money on building a set to film in. The budget would also be spent on make up artists and animators and editors who put it all together.
Personnel
For a low budget film the personnel would be limited to the least as possible to save money, they would have a director and actors that are trying to build up their career as they would be cheaper than more famous actors. They would also have a small camera crew or just one person. A low budget film is more likely to be posted to online websites such as YouTube and be free to watch.
A television program production would typically have more higher paid actors in with a larger amount of actors and bigger crews, they would have higher end cameras and maybe runners. A television program would be broadcasted on television at set times on set days, Some are daily and some are weekly.
A high budget / Hollywood film would have a large personnel with top end famous actors and would have a large crew. They would have top end equipment for the best quality production. The film would be advertised widely on television, posters, adverts, etc. The film would be released in cinemas but first would have a premier where famous people and the actors could see it before the public can. Once it has been in the cinemas for a while they will release the film on DVD and Blueray.
In my small group we split up the task between us, my role in the group was to be one of the actors and help with the filming and editing. We all worked on creating the storyboard but we had one dedicated person to draw as they were the better drawer in the group. We had two people doing the paperwork while the others went and looked for potential location to film and take location photos.
Time
Time is an important part of creating a film because there is loads of deadlines that each member of crews have to reach, different members have to meet different deadlines. Our project was finished on time with not much time to spare, we spent a lot of the time filming but we had some issues with our filming location and had to change location half way through. If deadlines aren't met within filming products it could be fatal to the company as it could cost them a lot of money because they would have to hire equipment for a longer amount of time costing them more money and some of the actors might have another contract with another company and might not be able to act for the film until finish with the new contractor.
Location
A location recce is when a member of the group scouts for potential locations that could be used with in the production for scenes or photo shots. A location release is paper work that states that you / the company have the landlords permission to use the location to film on the set dates and times that would have been discussed with the landlords. If i location is used to film without the landlords permission to film the consequences would be high, there could be legal action taken against the company and maybe a fine to pay costing the company money. My groups location was a room within the our college, we had a location release sign so that we could film in the location for the set time we were in there.
Legal Issues
When producing a film all the material would have to be checked for any copyrighted material. Having copyrighted material in a production without the correct permission or payment would be illegal and legal action would be take place against the company which could cost the company a lot of money and could even make them bankrupt. The script would also have to be checked to make sure it doesn't have any copyrighted material in it. A couple of examples of what types of stuff can be copyrighted, music, pictures, any sort of visual image.
Public liberty insurance would be needed for the company. Public liberty insurance means that if any member of the public was to get hurt during the process of filming the company can not be help accountable for the injury.
Completion guarantee insurance would also be needed. Completion guarantee insurance is when the company or investor pay for this insurance and if the project is not finished and the investor can not get their money back the insurance will give them the money instead.
Regulation
Ofcom make sure that people get the best from their broadband, home phone and mobile services and keeps and eye on TV and radio. They help to stop people from getting scammed or conned. The BBC is regulated by Ofcom.
The BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification. The BBFC is an independent regulator who help to choose what age ratings films, videos and websites should be.
Trade Unions
Trade unions can be very useful for protecting workers. Workers have to pay to be a part of a union. Trade unions help workers if the workers feel like they are owned money from an employer or haven't been payed because the employer has gone bankrupt. The union used there law suits and lawyers to make sure the worker gets the money they deserve.
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