Learning Aim A: pre-production Report
UNIT 4 PRE-PRODUCTION PORTFOLIO REPORT
Pre-production is an essential part of film production, it
is crucial that these documents and procedures are done to industry standard as
this will impact the level of success the production achieves. The better,
higher standard of preproduction relates to a higher success level because the
production process will run more smoothly, with fewer avoidable problems. Whereas
the unorganised, incomplete pre-production will severely impact the success
rate. I have been approached by the County Council to create a report that they
intend to send to community media organisations, in hopes to receive funding
for future projects. In this report, I
will be talking through essential parts of pre-production to ensure funding is
received, evaluating documentation and procedures and what successful methods
have already been used in productions such as the ‘One Mile Away’ documentary
and the feature film ‘Whiplash.’
FINANCE AND BUDGET
To create a successful film, a budget is needed, therefore a
source of finance is required. Below is an example of a sources of finance
chart which outlines the different ways of obtaining a budget with there own
advantages and disadvantages. In the media industry, it is important to have
many choices trying to get a budget, this is because each project is different,
and it is essential to pick and apply for the right method that is most
suitable for an individual production.
In my opinion, due to the small community scale of the
requested production, crowd funding or self-funding are viable options as a
source of finance. Crowd funding is receiving funding from online investors,
whilst this sounds easy and pain free, the time to reach a desirable budget could
be a long wait. However, due to small scale level, the budget isn’t going to be
extortionate, so using this method has a small risk. Furthermore, by using
online programs like ‘Kickstarter,’ producers must give a brief description of
the idea, people with similar ideas may receive funding if they describe the
idea in more depth/detail. Again, due to the community scale of the
organisation, the ideas aren’t going to be as good as a blockbuster film,
therefore this is only a small risk with choosing to use a crowd funding
scheme. On the other hand, the online investors don’t require any money back,
meaning you can maximise an already limited budget and there is no start up
fees. Penny Woolcock (director of ‘One Mile Away’) used the online program
‘Kickstarter’ in order to finance her documentary. Over several years she
accumulated £20,000 and then gained further funding from Creative England,
Barrow Cadbury Trust, and Channel 4 to top up her budget. For her, it was a
successful decision to use ‘Kickstarter’ as she got enough money to cover
everything in her production process. I would advise a small media production
organisation to create a chart like this to weigh up options for future
production investment, this way they will have a clear layout of each finance
option. However, alongside advising using a crowd funding scheme, I would also
advise using a small portion of self-funding. This is the easiest and safest
option to produce a film as you know where the money has come from and nobody
else needs to be repaid. But there is the risk of bankruptcy as creating a
production can be expensive. I would advise a small-scale community media
organisation to use a combination of self-funding and crowd funding to finance
the project.
MANAGING A BUDGET
Once securing finance for the production, it is vital that a budget document is made, this will outline the main areas to spend the budget. Below is an industry standard budget plan that explicitly says areas that money is needed. It is essential to complete this piece of pre-production documentation as without it, money would be spent unnecessarily, this is an important document to complete regardless of the intended audience or scale of production.
In order for the small community level production to happen,
this can be used as a template with adjustments to the cost and quantities. In
the ‘category column’, different aspects of production are listed, this are not
extensive and can be tailored to any production. Budgets are very different for
a small-scale community project compared to a Hollywood production from
companies like Paramount etc, this means that expenses are going to be very
opposite. For example, ‘World War Z’ a production by Paramount had a budget of $269
million, an unimaginable amount of money for a community level production.
However, they used filming locations around the globe, flew on a private
aircraft and had over 1,500 people on set daily. These are things that aren’t
even considerable for this small-scale project. Even with an enormous budget,
they still managed to spend even more, this means that they didn’t have an
effective enough budget plan in order to organise the finances and keep them
from spending in excess. When arranging budgets, it is crucial that locations
are close and easily accessible therefore I would advise community production
teams to pick an appropriate location within proximity, this makes it
accessible for potential reshoots, it is cheaper to get to via transport
(public or own), this also minimises expenses for hotels etc. It is also
important to take into consideration the detail put into the budget, it is key
that you highlight areas where spending can be minimised or needs improving.
Another tip I would recommend is keeping small amounts of petty cash for each
day, this can be used for unthought of things e.g., if a wire becomes unstuck
from the tape (therefore unsafe as a trip hazard) tape can be bought using the
petty cash. Once a budget plan has been completed with a familiar, user
friendly, clear layout to an industry standard, production stages will be
organised and easier to manage, this will increase the success level of the intended
production. Having planned an effective
budget and high-level management of this, helps a film to succeed as it keeps
spending on track and prevents risky overspending.
LOGISTICS
When producing a media production, there are lots of
logistical elements that are potentially seen as insignificant and may be
forgotten about, these are detrimental to the success rate of the film and the
safety of all the cast and crew. These can be found in the following documents:
action plans, call sheets, production
schedule, shot lists, contingency plans, and location recces. Without these
documents, production stages will be challenging and unorganised which will
have a severe negative impact on the success level of the production. Furthermore,
logistics can be all about planning and extra detail that is needed to make the
production the most successful it can be, this means taking into consideration,
the time of year you start to produce your digital media product in as certain
seasons/times have certain connotations, locations you choose to film and the cast
and crew you employ to help you.
LOCATIONS
When planning a media product, there are legal processes
that need to be completed appropriately and professionally, for example a
‘location recce’ and ‘location permissions.’ A location permissions
form/clearance is an essential part of pre-production planning as when
it is granted you are given legal permission to use this
area/land in your media product. When considering a location, it is important
to think about how easy it is going to be to obtain those permissions. For
example, if a low budget film wanted to film in Buckingham palace, this is
nearly impossible and would just be a waste of time when waiting for a reply. I
would advise a small media organisation to choose locations wisely and
effectively, somewhere that getting permission is easy such as someone involved
in productions house or a public area. This is because, you will not be wasting
time during the production stages. Location recces are also a very important
document to have completed during pre-production stages, this is because it
gives an outline of all the basic things to note about the location which could
help/hinder production. A location recce needs to be completed for each
location used during filming. In order to fill out a location recce, a visit to
the desired location needs to be carried out and make sure there is the
necessary things available there for production to run smoothly. This is things
such as electricity hook ups nearby in order for lights to be connected etc,
helping the production stages. If the location recce isn’t done properly this
means that
CAST AND CREW
The cast and crew have a great impact on the production
process, from being in the film to being transported around to locations, sometimes
when media products aren’t organised properly (lack of preproduction planning) this
can be very difficult to manage and have a knock-on effect towards the film sending
it spiralling and not completed to the highest standard. It is essential that
it is made clear to everyone involved the production, where they should be for
what time and what they are doing, this is the same for deadlines, they need to
be completed on time (if not before) to help production run smoothly. For example,
in ‘World War Z’ the script wasn’t completed to its deadline, this pushed the
predicted release
date back, after someone else was employed, they didn’t meet
this deadline either which pushed the release date back further, after a 3rd
person was hired and completed the script, the film was released over a year
later than planned. By having not met deadlines, the film ended up having three
different writers for the script, this could’ve left the film being disjointed
and confusing for audiences with continuity errors but as this was a Paramount
production, this would have been finely checked over. If deadlines had been met
by the cast and crew, the film would have been able to be released on its
original release date and could’ve potentially succeeded more. However, for a
small media project group, cases like these would lead to a jumbled,
disorganised plot therefore deadlines need to be met and the work needs to be checked
through thoroughly. Furthermore, due to the scale of the project, this could
mean that people can be doing multiple jobs at once or over the whole
production process, this can also mean that details are usually overlooked and
tasks aren’t done thoroughly, this is even more of a reason to leave time to go
over everything and keep the whole project organised.
CONTINGENCY PLAN
Contingency plans are a key piece of preproduction work, this provides a backup plan for any event that is likely to go wrong within the production stages, this can range from a cast member dropping out to not getting permissions for locations. This is an industry recognised document that needs to be done thoroughly in case something was to happen, there is always another plan/altered version that means the production can still go ahead. Below is a user-friendly layout that can be tailored to fit any future productions. Without a contingency plan, the production company won’t be well prepared for potential risks and how to do deal with them. This can be detrimental to the success level of the film, as without it, preproduction would be disjointed and unorganised.
Below is an example of a clear production and postproduction
schedule, this highlights to everyone on set what production activities will be
taking place over the filming period. It is essential to create a production
and postproduction schedule as it is provides a rigid plan of deadlines and
tasks that need to completed. This example is spread across six weeks, and each
week is highlighted in a different colour, thus making it a more organised and
understandable layout to cast and crew. Without this key document, there is a
high possibility that tasks could be missed out, not completed fully, or taken
too long to complete. By creating a spreadsheet or timeline, like this example,
production activities can be ticked off and done in a logical order.
CODES OF PRACTICE AND REGULATION
When crafting a media production, it is vital to have all of
the appropriate documents especially legal requirements and regulations as this
makes sure everything is done lawfully and safely. Before beginning filming, I
would advise a small community media production company to research into copyright
laws and location permissions, plan for a risk assessment and create consent
forms for anyone involved in any part of the whole production. It is also
essential that any weapons or explosives being imported are declared to the
authorities, yet due to the small scale of this production team, this shouldn’t
be an issue.
LOCATION PERMISSIONS AND CONSENT FORMS
it is a legal requirement to have gained permission to use a
location that doesn’t belong to you in a media product, this is why it is key
that you obtain a location permission form from local councils or the landowner
so you cannot be sued or fined for using a certain location. It is also vital
that you do this for each location being used. For example, in the production
“Monsters” many locations were used without permission, this can result in a
disruption to filming processes as extra time will be spent trying to find more
locations or gain the right documents. I would advise a small media group to find
a suitable close location that can be accessed easily and thus would be easier
to gain permission to use. I wouldn’t advise following the methods of examples
such as ‘Monsters’ as they didn’t choose the appropriate way to film in the
chosen locations, if caught this can be detrimental to the success of the film.
Furthermore, when using a chosen location, if it is a public area, it is likely
that members of the public will be there, if they are in a scene or shot, they
need to be notified and have given consent for their faces to be shown. For
example, in the documentary “One mile away” lots of people were filmed in the
background of shots therefore, the crew decided to blur out faces to keep
identities disclosed and this stopped unnecessary time being wasted on trying
to get permission and consent off everyone. This is a successful way of using a
limited amount of time efficiently and I method I would recommend when filming
certain types of productions. Depending on the genre and plot of the
production, this may be different because the result may look odd if only some
of the backgrounds are blurred out, this is an issue that producers need to
think about. All cast and crew need to sign cast release forms for consent
otherwise this will pose some challenging obstacles in the production process.
RISK ASSESSMENT
A risk assessment is a required legal document that is
crucial when planning to film a media production, this document needs to be
well thought through and detailed to ensure the safety of the cast and crew and
equipment. A risk assessment helps to outline potential risks and therefore
prevents them as action can be taken to minimise the likeliness of the risk
happening. An example of a potential risk is wires being unsecure to ground,
which pose as a trip hazard, this can cause injury to the cast and crew, stop
filming and/or break equipment. To avoid this, make sure cast and crew are
aware of the wires below them and stick them down using strong tape. By
ignoring the rules and regulations, people can be injured, and this can push
production stages back which means that the release date of the media product
will be extended. It is important that rules and regulations are adhered to
ensure the safety of the cast and crew but also to prevent any equipment being
damaged because of something that could’ve been prevented.
PRE-PRODUCTION DOCUMENTATION
Before production can begin it is essential that
documentation has been completed, this is because the project will run smoother
as the crew understand the concept of the film and the different aspects behind
the production. It is crucial that the following documents and the ones that
have been previously stated in this report are completed to the best of the
production team’s ability. These documents are the scripts, storyboards, call
sheets, location recces, risk assessments, cast release forms, budget, shot
lists and contingency plans.
There is also a conventional process that media producers
should follow as some documents cannot be done without others. This order
should be adhered to by every media production especially a small community
media production team because, this way no element of the pre-production
documentation can be missed or not completed.
Documentation should be kept during production and postproduction,
this way if any problems occur whilst filming then the documents can be
revisited. For example, if there was a problem which required reshooting
certain scenes or slightly changing ideas, the script and storyboards and call
sheets can be revisited and adjusted to fit the new changes. After an initial
idea for a media production, it is vital that producers do research surrounding
projects that are similar, then they must create a proposal which explains what
the media producers intend to do. Once this has been finished, producers should
then create a treatment which includes extracts of storyboards etc. Next
producers should seek funding and write a pitch which can be sent to production
companies etc. Lastly, once funding is secured it is time to beginning planning
the entirety of the project. Some pre-production activities take longer than
other, for example crafting drafts of a script will take longer than creating
cast release forms and location recces.
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