The Pre-Production Process

My group and I have created a 90-second short film called; 'Ode to Boots and Cats'. We tried to keep it in the boundaries of 90 seconds as that is the requirements of an online short film competition called 'DepicT!' that we were potentially 'entering' with our self-created films. Because we haven't actually put our film on 'DepicT!' as the competition has closed until next year (though the option for us to put the film on for next year is available) we have had to just put our film on YouTube. YouTube is a great and free way of distributing our or any other short film. Though maybe it isn't the best way of getting our film noticed to a mass audience (just because of the amount of stuff actually on YouTube) it is definitely free. 

There are lots of different types of moving-image products other than short films on YouTube and, in fact, everywhere else. Animation, feature films, TV shows, factual or fictional, adverts (including trailers), music videos, just to name a few. All of these types of moving image have to be distributed in some way otherwise they will not reach any sort of audience, which is the whole point of distribution. Platforms for distribution would be things like: Television, festivals, theatres, cinemas, on-demand sites (such as NetFlix or 4oD) and just public video sites like YouTube, Vimeo etc.

 
  The funding of film is what, in many cases, can change the way it is made, watched and reacted to. A way a lot of British films get funded is by the Lottery Fund, which is administered by the BFI (British Film Institute). So whenever someone bus a lottery ticket, they are effectively helping to fund films or other creative outlets. Another good way of film funding which is in ways similar is crowd funding. This is basically when a film-maker puts a plea to his fans to help fund any upcoming projects, the way said filmmaker would go about doing this would be by using a site like 'Kickstarter' which is a website dedicated to helping the creative receive donations from fans.
People already within the film industry, like big Hollywood stars, producers, directors etc. may help with the funding of a film by either, 1. Actually putting their own money into a project (which is also known as private funding- this can also be said about anyone who is putting their own money into a creative project that needs funding, for example, a very rich person may help out a filmmaker with their own money) or 2. By putting their 'big' name onto a a smaller film's titling, for example; recently Martin Scorsese as helped a Swedish film called Easy Money (2010), directed by Daniel Espinosa, get a U.S release just by putting his name on the posters (and covers of DVDs) of the film, "Martin Scorsese Presents...".
Another ways of funding would be: being asked to make something for a company, e.g an advert, and the company are the one actually funding the project, so you don't have to pay for anything. The way the BBC funds a lot of their programming is by using the license fee payer's money that people pay towards the tax. Production companies have a huge part in the funding of, mainly, Hollywood style, big budget films. Warner Brothers, Universal, MGM, Lions Gate are examples of this.
The way a lot of new filmmakers fund their films is through self-funding, as the name suggests, it is just using your own money to fund a film, maybe a group of people all putting their own money into a project would count as self-funding too. An example of a self-financed film which brought great success to one director would be: Robert Rodriguez, who directed the film El Mariachi (1992) on a budget of just $7000, he has since gone on to direct such films as Sin City (2005) and all of the Spy Kids movies (2001 - 2011).

Once the funding of a film has been accomplished, then the funds actually have to be put into something. On an average film, the money raised will go into: 
TALENT, actors, directors etc.
CREW, lighting, sound, designers etc. etc.
CATERING, food for everyone.
TRAVEL, planes, trains, cars there and back for everybody involved.
ACCOMMODATION, where are the actors and crew going to sleep?
COSTUME, make-up, clothing of the actors.
EQUIPMENT, cameras, lights, everything technical.
LOCATION. setting, studios etc.
PROPS, could have come under costume.
EDITING, facilities, editing programs etc.
All of that stuff may be well and good for the people of Hollywood, but for up-and-coming filmmakers, like us, all we needed to obtain for our short film was:
CAMERA (and a tri-pod), a couple of EXTRAS (three), recording equipment (for dubbing) and one prop (sunglasses). All of these things were free to us as they are property of the college, East Norfolk Sixth Form.
 

Different types of personnel would be needed and used on different types of moving image. The typical (shortened) make-up of three examples -
A) a low budget short.
B) a television programme.
C) Hollywood feature film. would be:
A) As the budget on this would not be as grand as it would be on either of the other examples, the cast would probably be not well-known or completely unknown, these actors may well not be being paid. The director of this short might be a first-time director, or a rookie filmmaker OR maybe a Hollywood filmmaker who is bored of that sort of filmmaking and wants to do something more creative. The director might be acting as editor, director of photography (DOP), writer etc.-just everything. There would no way be a catering company on set (also there probably won't be a set).
B) On a TV show, there might be a regular cast (definitely all being paid), maybe guest stars, a group of directors that share the role (e.g different episodes have different directors). A long running studio television programme is more like a regular job, so everybody in the production would become familiar with each other over however long they are working together.
C) This would include BIG NAME stars, BIG NAME directors, lots of, probably, highly paid crew members. Everybody hired will have a good reputation which is why they have been employed.
 





 






Within our very small, 3 man group, the way we allocated the work was as follows: Alex took over the filming. I did all the writing of anything that was written. Me and Alex shared direction. Whilst recording for the dub-over, Alex recorded. And all three of us shared the editing, quite equally chipping in with what to do with what. Also, Angelo beat-boxed.

 
Other than the directors and writers, people working on a film will be contributors to the production. Actors sometimes add to the dialogue (other than their written words) by improvising in scenes, for example, In the American TV comedy programme Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000 - ) nearly all of the dialogue is improvised, the only thing that is written is a detailed story outline which is used as a boundary for the actors to work with.
The legal side of film is one of the most important sides of film making. The legal counsel of a film will be the lawyers who negotiate all of the contracts with actors, directors and crew, clear licensing rights for all of the intellectual property used in a film, organise and get tax credits from local governments and also they will sort out all of the immigration paperwork needed when cast + crew cross international borders to shoot on location.
Composers may also be involved in the production of a film, they will be hired to create the music of some or all of the music in a film.
 

Our time frame for filming was around two weeks, one week before half-term and one after. Unfortunately everything we filmed before the half-term was unusable as one of the people in the film (standing at the bus stop) was unavailable for filming. So we just re-filmed everything, which in my opinion was the better option whether or not he was available. On some of the days that we were meant to film we couldn't because it was raining, so we ended up filming everything in a day, which again, was the best way of going about it.
If deadlines are not met in the professional film industry then I imagine that people would get fired/replaced so that the new person can get the work done quicker. If someone misses their deadline then their reputation would get damaged, so then their employability would also be damaged. Release dates for the finished film would get pushed so that it has to come out at a later date, which can alienate the audience. But most importantly of all, it costs a lot of money to hire people for more time than they should be needed. Editing facilities, studios etc. also cost a lot of money to use.
Luckily for us though, in our group we finished all of the filming and editing on time. BUT our film did not go on YouTube at the same time as everybody else's because some of the actors release forms
were not handed in on time, but as soon as we knew that we delt with the problem as soon as was possible.

Professional equipment is available to hire out and use for as long as you need to use it. http://www.newdaypictures.com/Video_Camera_Hire.html?gclid=COvk4YWv7roCFbA82wodfyoAJA - New Day Pictures - This was the only website I could find that loans out cameras daily or weekly, it is based in Surrey. The camera at the top of the list (Sony PMW-F55 Kit) costs £250 a day and £900 a week to rent out. The equipment that we needed to obtain for our project was available to us from the college, CAMERA, TRIPOD, DICTAPHONE, and THE MACS for editing. We didn't actually need anything else, all the lighting is natural light so that wasn't an issue. We had two props, the scrolls from which I read, and the sunglasses. Both were obtained by me.

 We filmed on location at a bus stop at the end of the road. We sent an email to a local police officer with details of when and where we were going to be filming, we had to do this as we were filming in a public place, which can be very annoying to the public, luckily there was hardly anyone around other than people in cars, so it is good just to inform someone with authority that can give us some kind of permission, kind of like a location release. We had to get location recces also. Location recces are basically when people go scouting for locations to film and then when they have found a good place, they take pictures of said place so they can look back at it and decide whether they will or will not film there. It is good to get lots of location recces so you have a selection of places just in case somewhere that you want to film is unavailable for some reason.
The idea of the film, crucially, involved being at a bus stop, which is why we specifically picked a bus stop to film at. Also we picked a bus stop that was near to the college as we had to be in a loose radius around and away from the college. There was one logistical issue that we faced as the original bus stop we had in mind to film at was being occupied by a person who was waiting for an actual bus. So the way we battled this error on our part was by moving to a different bus stop 80 metres down the road. I'm glad this person was standing at the original location as the one we ended up at worked much nicer. The main risk of filming there was being hit by a vehicle if anybody was crossing the road. Also people walking or biking past us on the pavement could have been dangerous, less so for the pedestrian. 

Other than cast and crew, materials that are not made by these two may be needed in the production of a film. For example, the soundtrack, which I mentioned earlier, can either be made by a composer who is actually employed a producer. Or you can buy the rights of song which you want to use in your film by getting in contact with the band or artist personally and then getting in contact with the musicians record company and legal staff who own all the music which is able to buy. Also you may have to buy props, you may have to buy or rent a location where you can film, like a film studio for example.
The financial considerations the makers of a film might have to think about would be based around how much something is actually going to cost, and can they do the same thing for a cheaper price. Imagine if a production needed a load of diamonds for some reason, would they actually buy lots of expensive diamonds, or could they just paint a load of stones so they look like diamonds... or just get plastic ones. I know what I would and wouldn't do with those stones. 


COPYRIGHT © is a hugely and massively important aspect of making any kind of creative product. Copyright is basically the definition of the ownership of a piece of intellectual property. Copyright is there to protect the creator's rights of other people not using said creator's work without permission. For example, if I wanted to put a song that I liked over some footage that I had filmed, I would have to get permission from the creator (or the copyright holder) to use that song. If I just went and used the song anyway without any permission then I would get in a lot of trouble. I asked the Internet - "how many years in jail would I get for copyright infringement?" and it replied "Criminal prosecutions for copyright infringements are rare but there are provisions in current copyright law for jail terms as high as 10 years for "wilful and deliberate" violations." So I now know to stay well away from anybody else's work, also, plagiarism is a dirty sin. 
In our group, copyright issues did not affect us in the slightest, everything that was needed to be created was created by us, and the only things that didn't need creating were the sunglasses I was
wearing.  

Clearance - legal permission to do something
Public Liability Insurance -  Insurance that you can get to protect you & co. from being sued if someone from the public gets hurt whilst you're filming on location. For example, in the film The Bourne Ultimatum when they are at London Waterloo Train Station, they would have had to get Public Liability Insurance because maybe somebody, of the masses of people walking there, could have gotten hurt.
Completion Guarantee/Insurance - Basically it's when a distribution company gets insurance from a film producer so that in case the film maker doesn't deliver/finish the film, the distribution company won't lose any money)



Regulation in television is vital, and it is OFCOM (The Office of Communication) that looks over the landscape of the UK's broadcasting stations to make sure that the television that is being created is representing the interests of citizens and is making sure that there is a fair market for television programmes by making sure there are no monopolies within the industry. They also protect the public from what could be deemed as harmful/offensive material.
Though OFCOM is around snooping, the BBC has it's own governing regulatory body called the BBC Trust, this body focuses entirely on the BBC's programming. It is important for the BBC to have their own regulator as the BBC is a licence fee payed company so their programming needs to be in the interests of the licence fee payer, which means that the programming on the BBC is more likely to be 'softer' than it would be on Channel 4 or MTV etc.
The regulation of film is different to the regulation of TV, in the UK, the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is the official classifier of films. They decide whether a film is a U or an 18, and everything inbetween, depending on the content within the film. It is very rare that a film will not be rated by the BBFC unless the content truly is disgusting and unwatchable (for example the Japanese film 'Grotesque' was not rated by the BBFC, making it illegal in the UK).
At the moment, there is no regulation of moving image products on the internet. Though, everything that is illegal in the UK is still illegal on the internet, but because a lot of the videos showing illegal content (such as racial hatred or murder) come from other countries it is hard to regulate them. Also the problem with regulating the internet as a whole is that it is just such a huge platform that it would be nearly impossible to look at everything that is uploaded or downloaded.

A trade union is an organization of workers who all share similar jobs in similar industries. Normally the groups are there to protect the rights of the workers within these unions, for instance, going on strike to achieve a shared goal of the workers (i.e. higher pay). They are also a good way to forum what's going on in the different sectors of the country in correlation to your job.
P.A.C.T (Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television) and B.E.C.T.U (Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union) are two British trade unions that are for people in the film and entertainment areas of work. They both act in the same way that other trade unions act by showing themselves as a group/community of workers in a certain line of profession that come together to protect their business and jobs.
All trade unions interest me because I am a firm believer in the idea of people coming together to achieve something rather than going against one another.