Pre Production Proccess

Pre-Production Process

Type of moving image production (Media forms)

I produced a short 90 seconds film for the Depict competition. My short film was about two brothers, one being extremely tall and the other being short. Me and Toby Middleton thought of this idea and that it would be a humorous way of showing a negative side of being small. The film was about basketball, which is stereo typically for taller people, so therefor the smaller character does not fit in playing this sport with his brother. The film straight away starts off with a use of humor when Toby moves out of the way and i remain stood there looking clueless. The short film is about the brothers playing basketball together, and i (the smaller character) could not keep up with Toby's (the taller brother) abilities whilst playing basketball, i get annoyed and end up falling over, running out of the hall, throwing the ball and then end up loosing it. I use being small as an advantage and am the only one who can get into the tunnel to receive the ball. The way we managed to fit this film in just 90 seconds was by using short frames and quick cuts for a fast paced, speedy film. Depict is a competition which can be found online. My short film will also be added onto YouTube under 'enbtecmedia'. We have distributed our video to YouTube so we can possibly get feedback off the public.

There are many other types of moving image media products such as; Stop motion/animations, Channel ident, Television programmes, adverts/trailers, online videos, feature lengthened movies music videos, DVD's/Blue rays, on demand, downloads and cinema.

Example of an online advert - HTTP://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4jwTtGLZEg

Finance and sources of funding

There is a wide variety of ways to fund for a film. You can self fund for a film, Private investors for example Megan Ellison who funds for many films, many films have also been funded through a kick starter i.e. '' Blue like Jazz '' by Steve Taylor, '' The Reincarnation '' by Jennifer Fox and '' I Am I '' by Jocelyn Towne. There are also ways such as competitions, BFI Funds and also loans from banks.

Requirements

There are many things you have to consider whilst creating a film, pretty much everything you use has money involved when filming, you need to think about:

• Props - A lot of films may not use many props but even if they do, the props are very cheap and nothing exciting, whereas with an action film there are weapons which may coast quite a lot to either buy or hire.
• Talent/actors - The money you spend on an actor is dependent on how well known the actor is, if you are going to hire an actor who is really known and big in Hollywood films then the price is going to be considerably more than if you where to hire a less known actor who has only appeared in low key films.
• Travel cost/accommodation - When filming you may consider going abroad to film at more exciting locations so therefor you have to think about budgeting for flights, taxis and living. You need to stay somewhere if you are going to film far away so therefor you will have to pay for either a hotel or a b and b, unless you take food and drink, you are going to be spending money whilst out there to get everyday needs.
• Costumes - Every character in a film has there own costume, this is going to be a big impact on the budget dependent on the film, if it is a casual film where the setting is at home then maybe the characters can wear there own clothes so it looks more natural. Where as if it is a more serious film where there is action or just business type scenes then outfits such as suits, or army wear would have to be considered.
• Distribution - To enable your film to be viewed my members of the public then it may be quite an expensive route for the film to be played at cinemas 

When we started planning our film we got the budget of £5 from the college, this money was given to us to pay for things such as props, costumes etc. but the budget of our film only came up to 27 pence and this way just for petrol to get to the railway and back, this money we were not able to claim for as it wasn't part of our budget. For our group, money wasn't an issue for things such as; camera equipment, editing etc. as the college provided us with it all. At East Norfolk you are able to hire out cameras and other equipment such as tripods, steady cams, lighting etc.

Personnel

In a low budge short the crew/cast is going to range between about 5-10 people, a television programme will have a slightly higher range of people helping with the filming, editing etc. A Hollywood feature film will have considerably more people due to the fact everything is done to high quality, there is more than just one person editing/filming and everything is thoroughly planned out and the film has more in depth planning compare to a low budge short.

Crew and cast for:

Proximity (2013) Low budget short - HTTP://www.imdb.com/title/tt3389706/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

Scrubs (2001-2010) Television programme - HTTP://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285403/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Ant-Man (2015) Hollywood feature film - HTTP://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478970/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

In my group for the 90 second Depict task there was only four of us. Me and Toby done pretty much all of the paperwork, but Matt and Tasha did have a few ideas which we considered when planning the film. When it came to the practical work, Me and Toby were the actors and Tasha done the filming, when Matt decided to actually turn up to lessons he contributed with the filming as well. It was a struggle working with Matt as he never really turned up to the lessons so therefor we had more work to do individually. The reason for our film idea is because of the complete opposite in height compared to me and Toby. The head of sports helped out with our film as he gave us permission to film in the sports hall, without permission we would of had to use more time searching for a location suitable for our film.

None of our group had decent experience in the roles allocated to them. Me and Toby had both acted before in the previous media project but we haven't had any teaching on the correct ways of acting, as far as i'm aware, Tasha hasn't had any experience with filming and she was also absent when filming for the last media project.

We were given one week to film for our Depict but due to the weather some of the days we were unable to film. The teachers allowed us a couple of extra days so we were able to complete the filming. After filming the last scenes at the railway Toby accidentally deleted the footage so therefor we were really short for time.

Time

The time given was more than enough for filming but due to the fact of Toby deleting the footage, we were really pushed for time. Luckily we managed to get back to the railway and film again what was missing in the last lesson of allowable filming time. Time was a struggle but we managed to complete all the tasks for the deadline given. Although we managed to complete what we needed to complete i figured that with more time maybe we would improve the final outcome of our film. The score in the second part of the film when i get knocked over should really be changed too something more upsetting/angry. I think that the film would also flow a bit better if there was one more shot of the ball going over the fence after i throw the ball out of the sport hall. I believe that if this shot was added then the change in location wouldn't look so obvious and it would run a lot smoother. If a deadline is not met in the media industry it can cause the film to have a poor rating and it may effect the viewers. When a film is first released, it usually has thousands of viewers all over the world and if the film is incomplete then the mistakes are soon going to be pointed out. Due to Toby being away on holiday we couldn't add in a single clip which we thought would bring the video together until he was back. My teachers allowed the class and extra day to get the video finished and we managed to get the clip of the ball travelling over the fence.

Equipment/Facilities

Being able to obtain equipment for filming moving image productions is really easy to get hold of. There are countless amounts of shops where you are a capable of hiring out media equipment. One of the greatest local companies which hires out equipment is 'White Label Media Solutions' and they are situated at Anglian House in Norwich. They stock the full range of HD cameras which are accompanies with associated sound, grip kit, and lighting. All of there equipment is high quality and is all serviced, presented well and packed carefully. They are also suppliers for both BBC and ITV.

Our film wasn't a long film so we didn't have many requirements. For our 90 seconds short we used a Canon EOS 700D, we figured that by using this camera filming was so much easier whilst viewing our film. The camera screen could unfold and rotate so you can view the videos a lot easier, especially whilst using the steady cam. The college has every singe piece of equipment for your needs of creating a media product, i think that the college is extremely helpful when hiring out equipment and too hire the equipment you simply just take your student card to the room, show the lady and ask for your requirements. We used only one prop in our film which was Toby's basketball.




Location

Recce - A recce is a place where you are going to film, you go there so you can see how suitable the location is too shoot. On the recce you may right disadvantages of filming in the specific location such as sound issues or bad lighting.
Location release - A location release is a form you get signed to show you have permission to go and film in a certain location

Our film was about basketball so obviously we decided to locate most of our scenes in a basketball court. We have a couple of basketball courts at our college but we settled with the indoor one because of the lighting. When deciding where too shoot we thought of the sports hall because of background noise/echos of the ball bouncing etc. but in the end the sound didn't really matter due to the soundtrack being added. We chose to film at the railway because that was the only place we knew that had a
small tunnel/opening which only the smaller character could get through.


We also had to worry about about dangers whilst filming in each individual location, to identify the risks we filled out a risk assessment sheet and stated each hazard whilst filming in the different locations. The fence was one of the biggest dangers when we first started to plan the film as our initial idea was for Toby to climb the fence. We did try filming the shot of Toby climbing the fence, but when Matt came back he had the urge to change the shot so therefor we done what he said and filmed the characters just running up to the fence.

Legal issues

Copyright is helpful when protecting your work and it stops people from using it without your permission.

You immediately   get copyright protection when you create:

• Dramatic, musical and artist work which includes illustrations and photographs
• Non-literary work, i.e. software, web content and also databases
• Music recordings
• Film recordings
• Broadcasts

Copyright protects your work as it disallows people to; copy your work, distribute copies of your work, renting your work, screening your work to the public, making changes to your work and also distributing it on the internet. In most countries your work will be protected for a minimum of life but that is dependent on the piece you have created.

Copyright wasn't a big hassle when doing our Depict video as the only thing we had to worry about was getting a royalty free soundtrack. Our video was distributed on YouTube which meant the whole world can see it, if chose a normal soundtrack which has been used before then we could of got into a lot of trouble if it was recognized.

• Clearance - A stations agreement to carry a certain program.
• Public Liability Insurance - This is a needed cover for almost every business. It is important that customers are assure your business has the correct business cover. 
• Completion Guarantee - A form of insurance which is offered by the completion guarantor company which is mostly used in independently financed films to guarantee the produced will finish and deliver the film.

Regulation

Ofcom are the people who regulate communications in the UK. They regulate the TV and Radio sectors, telecoms, mobile phones, postal services and the airwaves which operate wireless devices. Pact is a written agreement which is between two states. Countries may have pacts and you can even make pacts with your friends to promise something. Bectu stands for 'Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union' and they are a trade in the United Kingdom which has roughly around 25,000 members who work in broadcasting, film, theatre, entertainment, leisure and media.

A trade association is an organization which is founded and funded by different businesses which operate in a specific industry.