UNIT 4 pre production

UNIT 4 ASSIGNMENT:

SECTION 1:

Financing, is important for a production as it requires finance for: the cast, the crew, facilities, equipment, props, costumes, transport and soundtracks clearance. These are important as without most of these the production would not be as good as they would if they had all of them. If the film did not have a cast and crew, then it would not get started let alone finished as there would be no-one but you in the place you were going to film in. It would be worth the finance as it is a major part of the production and cannot go without. The other parts that would require finance are not as important as the cast and crew apart from the clearance for use of songs for the soundtrack.

Public funding is a way for a production to get the funding for it to go ahead without running into debt. Public funding is where you can get some money from places via tax relief or the National Lottery. You can get funding via grants from the Department of Culture which supports the arts. However, private funding is where you have to go to an investor and promote your ideas for the production and a bit like dragons den they will take a cut of the takings of the film for example a 10% cut of the final takings to gain a profit off the production. Unlike public funding private you will get more money but if they don’t see a profitable product they will stop the funding for the film.

Timescales, are also important as the actor of the product might have a couple days a week to do the filming then they will have a full week the next so they would not do the filming them days this is also applies for the crew as they would have other jobs that are getting done the same time as the film. You will also have to think about equipment as they can only be used for a certain amount of time as other parties would be needing to use them in other dates and countries. Another part that you need to think about is are the schedules realistic as the actor’s time is valuable as if they are a main character then they need enough time to shoot their scenes when they have spare time out of filming other projects. An example of timescales going over is Jaws as originally they scheduled shooting for 55 days but principle photography went on for 159 days in total.

Facilities, are a key element of pre-production as you need to consider what filming equipment you would need to use and at what point in the shoot with how long do you think you would need them for as the equipment unless it’s your own might need to be used by another film crew. Another part that is important with facilities is the post production equipment as which editing software do you need or have, do you have access to foley tracks. These are important as without these the film won’t be as good. This is the same as props as it might be a case of someone buying them so they don’t clash with another production and people getting confused between the films. If it isn’t planned carefully then the problems that you could run into are the filming to be left last minute as there are not venues to shoot as of the timings of the hopeful shooting schedule might be the same as another party needing the venue for filming or not.

Locations, are a the most important part of pre-production as without locations the filming can’t go ahead as there will be nowhere to film the production. The way that an effective recce is done is someone goes out and finds a suitable location and finds any safety hazards then the team decides if the location is acceptable or not. It avoids confusion with some of the actors as they might think it would be somewhere else than where it actually is. There are some limitations as there might be a price for the location for the hire of it, so you would either have to think about another location or is the price reasonable for the time duration. Health and safety are a great thing to have concerns about but it depends on what the scene holds. Does it have any explosions or anything like that then you would have to think can you either work with it or choose a different location.

Personnel, are always identified in any film if they are required this is the extras, experts advice and specialists. They are required and hired because they will have skills which are special to either their role as an extra or as an advisor for the director. Another member of personnel that are important is stunt crew for example if you if you do a car chase you would need a stunt driver to make sure the shot is smooth and it is safe as they are trained in this area of film.

The additional materials that you would need are scripts and storyboards because without these the film would be a mess and no-one will know their lines or the crew will know the shots they need to get for the film and they would just try different shots but that is time consuming. Another additional material that are important is props and costumes as without them the actors would not know what to wear as the costumes and they might not match the time of the film as they could wear modern clothes in a medieval film and they would not match.

Codes of practice and regulations, are to help with lawsuits as the soundtrack if they are recognized by the artist of the song can sue the production company for the use of their song. Which means you need to get permission for copyright material. Health and safety is important for a film as you will need insurance for shooting otherwise if you don't and someone gets injured or worse then the film company can get sued.

(Section 2 the formats for pre-production process)

The proposal is a pitch to a producer to give them a brief overview of your film, key character information, it sums up the structure of the narrative and the unique selling point. The producers would decide if they would put money into your film if they like the idea of the film they will give funding to you for the making of the film. The proposal is used to come up with some ideas for a project. After a proposal is finished then the script of the production will begin.

Before a film is greenlit for production a master scene script is required for modern screenplays. One of the advantages to this style of script is it offers a reader friendly screenplay to the investors which makes it easier to visualize the product that is being presented. It has a selection of description and dialogue. 

 The way they plan the shooting of the film is by using a shooting script the way it is different to a master scene script is it has the camera movements on it so the camera operators know where and when to move the camera during the scenes. A difference between the master scene script and the shooting script is that the master scene is a tool for the selling of the product, unlike the shooting script which is a tool for production.

A storyboard is made after a script is finished. Storyboarding has both a screenplay and pictures in it while it separates the shots that can be turned into singular storyboard sections, this helps the director and director of cinematography see the scenes and find problems before they happen. Storyboards will help find to the cost of overall production and saves time shooting the film.

A shooting schedule breaks down everything planned for each day of shooting into the order of shooting which the director wants. The director uses some shooting schedules because they are key for a smooth shoot. They are important as it is a schedule for the full day of shooting, focusing on scenes and days which the crew and director allow to be more time and not wasting any.

the different types of paperwork that can be used to get key information are: release forms for the location which allows the crew to work on that area with permission from the owner, location scouting templates which help finding information about the locations where they are going to shoot, risk assessments which help the director find any health and safety problems with the location, sound templates as they are to show the area where a sound is used and copyright clearance which allows the director to see any copyright problems that have been addressed.

(section 3 functions of pre-production)

The functions are important as they will be able to get feedback for the scripts so they can improve and make developments to the scripts. the storyboards will give the director a better idea of what the scenes will look like which will make the shooting shorter as they would film less on the scenes. Some of the bigger movies ask big named singers to make their soundtrack this is one way of avoiding copyright as they are getting them for the film. This will happen due to a well planned pre-production.

(section 4 the purpose of pre production)

A way to get age ratings for the film is through the BBFC which is a regulator of films and videos, as well as rating the films they have legal powers to cut a film if they need to do so for any reason. For the film to be shot in a public area then you need a filming licence as it is necessary as you are in the public. Another legal requirement that is important is public liability and the general public can get hurt or worse during a shooting of a film as the film could include explosions or vehicles ramping over a bank without warning and also thing can go wrong so it is important to keep them clear of things that are dangerous.