Requirements for a Moving Image Production
Types of Production:
There's many different types of film (or moving image productions) available to us in today's world rather than the traditional ninety minute Hollywood film. With access to the internet, it opens up another whole branch of options ranging anything from short film sites with databases full of material to sites like YouTube filled with endless hours of both homemade & professional independently created content.
Recently my class was assigned with entering a short film competition called 'Depict'. Our task was to create a ninety second short film for the contest, for it to be submitted and put up against amateur made films from all over the world. This made for some great experience and we got a first hand look at one of the types of moving image production; amateur short films.
However you will also be able to find content such as; webisodes, trailers, feature films, trailers, nearly anything you can think of. The best part about the development of the internet is that it allowed anyone with a phone camera and a connection to be able to do their own moving image production for no money in the comfort of their own home. So with this came a whole world of content and material ranging anything from Call of Duty sniper montages, to celebrities giving professional make up tutorials on their own pages.
Finances and Sources of Funding:
Unless your making a completely zero budget-less film, all significant film and television productions will need to start with some sort of investment/funding. There are many different methods through which a film will acquire its funding, however the source of funding will mainly depend on how big the production of the film is. For example, a big Hollywood production with an expected budget of hundreds of millions will look to huge global corporations such as Sony or TimeWarner who will invest in the film in the hopes of it becoming a success and returning a profit from it. Whereas on the other end of the spectrum, if a student wanted to produce a piece for a short film competition and had an expected budget of a few thousand, then they could possibly sign up to 'crowd-funding' websites such as kickstarter.com. Crowd funding is when a person signs themselves up and asks the general public to contribute towards whatever they may be funding. It doesn't have to be films either, a person could have an amazing idea for an invention but doesn't have the funding to create it, or someone may be doing a charity event and will use the site to draw attention and raise money for the event. Whatever it may be crowd funding can be a really effective method of getting your idea off the ground and is popular among amateur film makers in today's world.
These are not the only ways to acquire funding though. Sometimes you will have 'high net-worth' individuals, famous or not, invest in the production of a film. This may be because the individual knows and believes in the film maker, they might love the idea of the film or they may just see an opportunity for a return on their investment. In the past we've seen well known names privately invest films such as; Bono, Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Bieber, Ellen Degeneres, Ashton Kutchr, Lady GaGa and Justin Timberlake. Then sometimes you will get inspiring filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez that straight up self fund their films by going and taking out credit card loans and ultimately put their own assets on the line.
This is why piracy has such a huge impact on the film industry. If a film gets leaked online whilst its in the cinema then a lot less people will pay to see it, which makes the film less successful than it should of been, which then leads to investors losing money and ultimately in the future, unwilling to invest again. You don't really think anything of it when you download Suicide Squad in 640 x 480 with Chinese subtitles and slightly out of sync audio... but it really does have a knock on-type butterfly effect on everything else further up the ladder.
Requirements:
So once you find a source of funding and establish a budget you then have to distribute it across a number of different areas to make sure all requirements are covered. Budgets will typically be divided into four sections; 'above the line' (creative talent) 'below the line' (direct production costs), 'post-production' (editing, visual effects, etc.) and 'other' (insurance, completion bond, etc.) To give some context. this was how Spider-Man 2's total budget of $202 million was divided up in 2004;
Story rights: $20 Million
Screenplay: $10 Million
Producers: $15 Million
Director: $10 Million
Cast: $30 Million
Production Costs: $45 Million
Visual Effects: $65 Million
Music: $5 Million
Total: $202 Million
Unadjusted Gross: $783.8 Million
However when we had to make our own 90 second student films for the 'Depict' competition our requirements were very different. I think maybe some of the groups in the class might of had small budgets, even if it was just for stuff like travelling costs, however in my group we filmed the whole thing on a budget of £0.00. Firstly we were creating our own stories, so no rights needed to be bought. Secondly there was no paid work, everyone used we're either part of the project or were friends who kindly volunteered, and lastly all equipment/clothing/props were already in place or given to us if necessary. So we did obviously need filming equipment; (tripods, cameras, microphones) and then editing hardware/software; (mac computers/adobe editing software) however this was all available to us thanks to the expense of the college so although we definitely could of, no budget was needed this time round for what we wanted to do.
Personnel:
The makeup of a typical moving image production can vary greatly between the different types of production. For example a low budget short might allocate multiple jobs to one person since they may be on a tight budget and are forced to compromise, whereas in a Hollywood feature film, since there would of been huge sums of money invested into it and there'll be a lot more at stake, each and every job will have an experienced trained professional to completely minimize the risk of any flaws or mistakes.
In our own group we didn't really have a set way to allocate the jobs, we just divided the roles and tasks among us evenly making sure everyone had something to be doing and that no one was out of their comfort zone. There was only three of us so for example if one was acting and the other was on camera, we'd have the third back in class gathering and producing pre-production materials and we ended up just stayed on this router.
If it is a high monetary production, there will be a lot more people contributing than just the crew working in the film. Obviously you have the cast (actors) and other talents (stunt men, background singers) but you also have to remember investors and marketers are main contributors as well, and the film probably wouldn't of gone ahead into production without them in the first place.
Time:
Well first we we're given time to come up with an idea and plan. I'm glad we were actually given time to think about this because when we really did, we realized our original plan was way too ambitious and unrealistic, so we were able to rethink ourselves. We we're then given a week and a half for filming, which went really well the first week, however due to absences and delays we missed a lot of valuable filming time which in turn made it very obvious the second half of our film was rushed and all shot in one day. We were then given a weeks worth of lessons after that for editing our filming, so thinking we had caught up with everyone else and we had a half decent film to edit, we sat down only to find some of our clips just hadn't even saved to the camera. This then made the film make no sense whatsoever and the continuity errors were so bad they made Trump getting elected seem insignificant. So although originally we were realistically given enough time to produce a ninety second short film, due to our group encountering a lot of delays, the time restriction ultimately had a huge impact on our film.
Equipment/Facilities:
Again, the equipment & facilities required and how they're acquired in a moving image production will vary greatly between the types of production. For example, a Hollywood feature film will purchase its own equipment, have some bought in already owned by the professional crew, and some will have a set with equipment already at the crews disposal. Whereas in a low budget locally produced student film, most of the equipment will probably be temporarily hired & rented out to the crew. For our production we we're supplied by the college with everything we needed (excluding props and stuff) so we didn't have to worry, however for an independently produced film made without big sources of funding, here are just some of the costs a film maker will have to cover;
Location recce refers to a pre-filming visit to a location to work out its suitability for shooting, including access to necessary facilities and assessment of any potential lighting or sound issues, and is closely related to location scouting. Whee as a location release is used to protect both the location owner and the production company from any confusion that may arise regarding the production location. The location release outlines when a location will be used, the dates of use, an insurance agreement, and an acknowledgement of liability.
Copyright is a big issue the media industry faces. Legal protection is advised so the their original material cant be used in somebody else's name. However copyright can only be applied on the application of the idea, not the idea itself. As well as discrimination on any grades of race, sex or disability, national security is also another legal issue filmmakers can face. Filmmakers and producers must be aware of certain laws such as official secrets act 1911 and prevention of terrorism act.
Also in the production of a film or TV program there's the matter of confidentiality where there are certain things that need to be kept secret so that other companies cant copy their idea and so it doesn't ruin the plot of the story to the audience. Employers will often need to sign a confidentiality agreement act form when working on a project, which was first put into place in 1991. Personally we didn't encounter any copyright or legal issues ourselves when making our Depict short, but that was only because we used original ideas and free un-copyrighted sound.
Clearance; clearing copyright means the act or process by which a person ensures a proposed use of material is in compliance with copyright law.
Public liability insurance; PLI protects you if clients or members of the public suffer personal injury or property damage because of your production. It can pay for the costs of subsequent legal expenses or compensation claims and is an integral cover for businesses that interact regularly with customers.
Completion guarantee/insurance; A completion guarantee is a form of insurance offered by a completion guarantor company that is often used in independently financed films to guarantee that the producer will ultimately complete and deliver the film (based on an agreed script, cast and budget).
Regulation:
Ofcom, or The Office of Communications. They are the UK's communication regulator, regulating the TV and radio sectors, as well as fixed telecom lines and mobiles. Some aspects of the BBC are regulated by outside bodies, however on competition policy the BBC is regulated by the Office of Fair Trading. This is different to Ofcom because when regulating the BBC, decision are made in th ebest interests of licence fee payers and protect the independence of the BBC.
The BBFC is the UK's regulator of TV & Film, providing age rating such as 12A, PG, U. They're a designated body that have the legal powers to rate, and sometimes even cut/reject work.
A trade union is an organized asoociation of workers in a trade, group of trades, or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests.
BECTU is the UK's media and entertainment trade union. Sectors covered include broadcastng, cinema, film, digital media, independent production, leisure, theater and the arts. The union represents staff, contract and freelands workers who are based primarily in the United Kingdom.
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry.
Requirements:
So once you find a source of funding and establish a budget you then have to distribute it across a number of different areas to make sure all requirements are covered. Budgets will typically be divided into four sections; 'above the line' (creative talent) 'below the line' (direct production costs), 'post-production' (editing, visual effects, etc.) and 'other' (insurance, completion bond, etc.) To give some context. this was how Spider-Man 2's total budget of $202 million was divided up in 2004;
Story rights: $20 Million
Screenplay: $10 Million
Producers: $15 Million
Director: $10 Million
Cast: $30 Million
Production Costs: $45 Million
Visual Effects: $65 Million
Music: $5 Million
Total: $202 Million
Unadjusted Gross: $783.8 Million
However when we had to make our own 90 second student films for the 'Depict' competition our requirements were very different. I think maybe some of the groups in the class might of had small budgets, even if it was just for stuff like travelling costs, however in my group we filmed the whole thing on a budget of £0.00. Firstly we were creating our own stories, so no rights needed to be bought. Secondly there was no paid work, everyone used we're either part of the project or were friends who kindly volunteered, and lastly all equipment/clothing/props were already in place or given to us if necessary. So we did obviously need filming equipment; (tripods, cameras, microphones) and then editing hardware/software; (mac computers/adobe editing software) however this was all available to us thanks to the expense of the college so although we definitely could of, no budget was needed this time round for what we wanted to do.
Personnel:
The makeup of a typical moving image production can vary greatly between the different types of production. For example a low budget short might allocate multiple jobs to one person since they may be on a tight budget and are forced to compromise, whereas in a Hollywood feature film, since there would of been huge sums of money invested into it and there'll be a lot more at stake, each and every job will have an experienced trained professional to completely minimize the risk of any flaws or mistakes.
In our own group we didn't really have a set way to allocate the jobs, we just divided the roles and tasks among us evenly making sure everyone had something to be doing and that no one was out of their comfort zone. There was only three of us so for example if one was acting and the other was on camera, we'd have the third back in class gathering and producing pre-production materials and we ended up just stayed on this router.
If it is a high monetary production, there will be a lot more people contributing than just the crew working in the film. Obviously you have the cast (actors) and other talents (stunt men, background singers) but you also have to remember investors and marketers are main contributors as well, and the film probably wouldn't of gone ahead into production without them in the first place.
Time:
Well first we we're given time to come up with an idea and plan. I'm glad we were actually given time to think about this because when we really did, we realized our original plan was way too ambitious and unrealistic, so we were able to rethink ourselves. We we're then given a week and a half for filming, which went really well the first week, however due to absences and delays we missed a lot of valuable filming time which in turn made it very obvious the second half of our film was rushed and all shot in one day. We were then given a weeks worth of lessons after that for editing our filming, so thinking we had caught up with everyone else and we had a half decent film to edit, we sat down only to find some of our clips just hadn't even saved to the camera. This then made the film make no sense whatsoever and the continuity errors were so bad they made Trump getting elected seem insignificant. So although originally we were realistically given enough time to produce a ninety second short film, due to our group encountering a lot of delays, the time restriction ultimately had a huge impact on our film.
Equipment/Facilities:
Again, the equipment & facilities required and how they're acquired in a moving image production will vary greatly between the types of production. For example, a Hollywood feature film will purchase its own equipment, have some bought in already owned by the professional crew, and some will have a set with equipment already at the crews disposal. Whereas in a low budget locally produced student film, most of the equipment will probably be temporarily hired & rented out to the crew. For our production we we're supplied by the college with everything we needed (excluding props and stuff) so we didn't have to worry, however for an independently produced film made without big sources of funding, here are just some of the costs a film maker will have to cover;
- Camera Equipment
- Lighting Equipment
- Sound Equipment
- Editing Hardware/Software
Location Recce/Release:
Location recce refers to a pre-filming visit to a location to work out its suitability for shooting, including access to necessary facilities and assessment of any potential lighting or sound issues, and is closely related to location scouting. Whee as a location release is used to protect both the location owner and the production company from any confusion that may arise regarding the production location. The location release outlines when a location will be used, the dates of use, an insurance agreement, and an acknowledgement of liability.
We picked the specific location of our recreational ground opposite our college purely because it was close and suited perfectly for what we needed. We wanted somewhere wooded and out of the way for the first half to create a confusing atmosphere, and then we needed somewhere public and busy for the second half to make the set look natural. So using the recreational ground and the woods behind it just seemed a no brainer.
Legal Issues:
Legal Issues:
Copyright is a big issue the media industry faces. Legal protection is advised so the their original material cant be used in somebody else's name. However copyright can only be applied on the application of the idea, not the idea itself. As well as discrimination on any grades of race, sex or disability, national security is also another legal issue filmmakers can face. Filmmakers and producers must be aware of certain laws such as official secrets act 1911 and prevention of terrorism act.
Also in the production of a film or TV program there's the matter of confidentiality where there are certain things that need to be kept secret so that other companies cant copy their idea and so it doesn't ruin the plot of the story to the audience. Employers will often need to sign a confidentiality agreement act form when working on a project, which was first put into place in 1991. Personally we didn't encounter any copyright or legal issues ourselves when making our Depict short, but that was only because we used original ideas and free un-copyrighted sound.
Clearance; clearing copyright means the act or process by which a person ensures a proposed use of material is in compliance with copyright law.
Public liability insurance; PLI protects you if clients or members of the public suffer personal injury or property damage because of your production. It can pay for the costs of subsequent legal expenses or compensation claims and is an integral cover for businesses that interact regularly with customers.
Completion guarantee/insurance; A completion guarantee is a form of insurance offered by a completion guarantor company that is often used in independently financed films to guarantee that the producer will ultimately complete and deliver the film (based on an agreed script, cast and budget).
Regulation:
Ofcom, or The Office of Communications. They are the UK's communication regulator, regulating the TV and radio sectors, as well as fixed telecom lines and mobiles. Some aspects of the BBC are regulated by outside bodies, however on competition policy the BBC is regulated by the Office of Fair Trading. This is different to Ofcom because when regulating the BBC, decision are made in th ebest interests of licence fee payers and protect the independence of the BBC.
The BBFC is the UK's regulator of TV & Film, providing age rating such as 12A, PG, U. They're a designated body that have the legal powers to rate, and sometimes even cut/reject work.
A trade union is an organized asoociation of workers in a trade, group of trades, or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests.
BECTU is the UK's media and entertainment trade union. Sectors covered include broadcastng, cinema, film, digital media, independent production, leisure, theater and the arts. The union represents staff, contract and freelands workers who are based primarily in the United Kingdom.
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry.
Good start but not finished yet. Please get done asap.
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