Pre production paperwork.

The release 

Props, materials and equipment.

Risk assessment.

Shot list.

Script.

Story board.

Production process - requirements for a moving image production

Media Forms


Within moving image production there are many different types and forms of media. The type of media product that we produced was a 90 second short film with the intent to enter it into a worldwide competition called ‘Depict!’, this is an online competition that contests amateur film makers to make a low budget 90 second short film. Our film was originally distributed via YouTube for people to see prior the potential for it to be submitted. There are many different forms of media, including magazines, Radio, newspapers and video, the main forms of moving image productions are; Cinemas, TV, Adverts and DVD’s (Blu-Ray). These have different methods of distribution, for example they could be shown to an audience via TV, DVD’s and the internet. One of the new main forms of media and distribution would be through services like Netflix and love film; also people can stream films via the internet and through sites like iPlayer and 4od people can watch TV.



Funding.

There are many different sources and types of funding that a production can acquire. For example for an extremely small low budget short film like we created, we needed very little money and so could sources it between ourselves or could inquire friends, teachers and family on small amounts if necessary, in our case we managed to get all of our finance between ourselves and are teachers. In the professional world films would have a much higher budget and their funding comes from things like; Sponsors and advertisement, Companies, Investors, Crowd Funding, Banks/loans and many more. For example a big Hollywood blockbuster would need a budget of millions.

These productions acquire their money through many different forms. Advertisement is one of the biggest forms of investment and companies want to be able to show off their product via product placement. An example of this would be ‘Skyfall’ throughout this film all the characters technology and devices were all Sony, as a company Sony would have paid them money in order to be able to do that. Another form of income for them would be through private investors who would give them money for the production with intent of a profit margin. Examples of these are people like Megan Ellison and Robert Rodriguez. In extraordinary circumstances actors can invest in films by themselves, but this comes with great risk. For example Vin Diesel invested his own house in his new film ‘Riddick’; he said "If we didn't finish the film, I would be homeless.” Other forms of investment in films include Crowd Funding. This is where a group of people would pledge there idea on a website and give out a target for their budget, people would be able to view this and give small amounts towards it, people can raise millions through this by getting a lot of people to donate to their idea, in this case someone would pitch there film and people could give them donations towards it an example of this is

'KickStarter'.Other forms of investment in films can come from things like; BFI, The Lottery, BBC and Creative England. Creative England fund TV, Film and Games, they will fund both new and emerging talent within the industry with budgets and crew. BFI (British Film Institute) is another company which will invest in film makers. They do this via lottery funds. Most film funding used to come from the UKFC but closed down and changed to the BFI. Films have many requirements, and these cost money. From the investment that the production will have obtained they will need to spend it on; Props, Costumes/Make-up, Equipment, Actors, Catering, Accommodation, Insurance, Facilities, Location Transport, Software, Copyrights, Staff and many others. In the case for are short film the things we had to obtain were; Equipment, Props, Actor, Facilities and Software. The only thing that we had to spend money on where props, this was a very small amount of money as hat we needed was not very expensive. All of the other requirements were free as we filmed within college, we borrowed equipment from the AV room and the actor was a part of our group.

Personnel and Deadlines

Different types of moving image productions require different amounts and types of talent and crew. The makeup of a typical low budget film in comparison to a big Hollywood film would be vast, for example instead of having hundreds of people and teams having their own specific and individual roles, in a low budget film you would only have a hand full of people, but these would have more than one job and would be mixing roles, for instance part of the crew cold also be talent. TV programs can vary in crew; this all depends on what the genre is, so for example if they were filming for a documentary about animals they would only need a very small select group.

 On the other hand if the program was a soap opera like 'EastEnders',there would be far more people taking part including; actors, directors, camera crews and many more. This leads on to our production for our 90 second short. As are team was only 3 people, we had to mix our roles a lot, but also providing the fact that we had little to no experience in any of our roles. An example of this would be me, at points I was both camera man and director, and later on I was the main editor. This is a prime example of how we manage to mix our roles within a small group. In these media production there is a lot of work that happens behind the scenes, the crew itself is made up of many different teams, costume designers and makeup artists are examples of this. These people have a major role to play in these productions. In front of the camera you have the obvious, like actors. Other people can contribute in scenes; if a scene was being shot in a busy city center then you will have people in the background contributing to the mise-on-scene.
In the professional industry there is a lot of pressure with time frames, and meeting deadlines are vital. For instance if a big high budget film missed its deadline then not only would the production lose a large sum of money but the producers would gain a bad reputation and maybe lose their job, hence there is a huge amount of pressure on them to meet their deadlines. In our case deadlines are important but not as crucial, when making our short we did go over is deadline by a couple of days, this is because we had to go back and re film segments. We had 3 weeks to do are pre-production, filming and editing. One of the reasons that we went over are deadline is because there was an half term break in the middle, this meant that we had to continue from where we left of but made it difficult for us to do so.

Equipment, Facilities and Materials

Within moving image productions there are many different types of equipment and facilities that are needed. The equipment that is needed in order to film a production is things like; cameras, tripods, tracks and others, these cost a lot of money. In the professional world the best equipment is bought as the budget allows it, these may cost thousands. Also they would use media facility houses for all of their pre production and editing needs. These are places that have offices and studios with the software and equipment that they would need to both plan and finish the production, these facilities have the highest quality industry standard hardware and software like final cut pro. These facilities cost a lot of money to hire due to the industry standard equipment and materials, for example 'East End Studios' charge £120 and hour for a minimum of 4 hours just for the studio. Another example of a media house is 'Vet' within this facility there are all the materials and equipment required for per and post production. In our case we did not have to spend any money on wither facilities or equipment, this is because we managed to borrow the equipment through the college and so we could get hold of our camera and tripod at zero cost. Also the studio from which we filmed in was on the college premises and did not need hire. Lastly the facilities required in order to both plan and edit are production did not need hiring as it was all college hardware and software from which we were entitled to borrow and use.
Before people can start filming productions they need to find some viable locations to do so. Teams do this by going out on location and complete a form known as a recce. This is how they will evaluate the location to see if it is suitable and safe to film on. Once they have found an appropriate location to film on they will need to get hold of a release. This is what allows them to film on that location. A release is when they have been given permission to film on location and in some circumstances they will need police clearance. This is if they are filming in a public area, because if they were using a prop that looked like a real gun and they didn't notify the police that they were filming then they could get into big trouble as they did not notify the police. In the case of us finding a location from which we were going to film, we decided on doing it all from within the studio after evaluating it. Therefore we didn't need to notify any officials, all we needed was permission from out teacher. We originally went onto location to fill out a recce and risk assessment to see if it would be adequate for shooting. There were only a couple of issues with choosing the studio as our location; these were mostly health and safety due to small things like wires on the floor for lighting. We did not face any logistical issues because it was within college hours and within the college grounds. In the professional world there would be many issues they would have to face including health and safety and logistics.

The materials in addition to the equipment, talent and crew that are needed in a production are things like props, costumes, sounds, music and effects. These can either be bought or improvised and made. Examples of these would be props and costumes, a lot of the time you can use things that you already have but in some circumstances these can be made yourself. Also sound effects; if you have a low budget film and don’t want to buy effects, you can try and record some yourself, in the industry big productions would either buy existing ones or hire out a sound studio, when it comes to props big films can need expensive cars and technology. Sometimes some props can cost a lot and so you have to be conservative if you are running on a low budget. In our short we did not need to spend very much money on props as they were all relatively cheap. In the professional world in a high budget action film there would most likely be explosions and other effects; these cost a lot of money in a production and can either be digitally added or can be genuinely done. Either way it costs a large sum of money in order to do so. In our project we did not need to add any effects/ sound effects but we did have to add music, we did not have to do anything as it was un-copyrighted, but if we were to use copyrighted music then we would have needed written permission from both the artist and its producers and record label in order to be able to legally use it.
Legalities and Copyright. 
Legal issues can play a massive part when using certain materials, for example if you use a branded object in a film and didn't have permission to do so then you can get into a legal battle with the company. In instance if we were to actually send our project off to the depict competition then we would have problems because we used cans of monster in the video. Sometimes items can within films as part of product placement or advertisement and only can be used with written permission from the company; else they will encounter problems with the copyrights.

Clearance is where the producers and crew have gathered all the permission to film on set, including their; releases, recce, health and safety, this is what would happened in the professional industry but in our own production we got our teachers to check all of our paper work and give us permission to film on set.

Public liability insurance is there for in case people on set obtain an injury, this is important as it is what pays the compensation to the people injured. An example of this would be ‘Twilight Zone’. When they were filming this film there was a tragic helicopter crash who took 3 lives, of which included 2 child actors who were illegally hired to be in the film, there was a massive legal battle about this. This shows that accidents can happen when on set. This insurance is there for when they happen.

Completion guarantee is a type of insurance that can be obtained via a company, this is often taken by independently financed film, it is in place to make sure the film is completed and delivered. an example of a company that provides this is 'FilmFinances' they have offered completion guarantees to over 6000 productions.

Regulations

Within moving image productions there are many different regulatory bodies, these control the monitoring and ratings. OFCOM or otherwise known as the office of communications is a government authority that controls broadcasting and TV. OFCOM’s job is to control what is shown throughout telecommunications and make sure that the public are protected against offensive and potentially harmful content. The governing body of the BBC is the BBC trust. These are the people who control what is shown on the BBC; these are different from OFCOM because the BBC trust gives quality control and value for money even though OFCOM still regulates them.

The BBFC stands for British Board of Film Classification and is a non-governmental independent body; the purpose of the BBFC is to give age ratings and classifications to films. TV is currently regulated by OFCOM and makes sure that no harmful, offensive or indecent material is broadcasted. On the other hand online videos are not entirely regulated at all; YouTube has a policy to not allow any pornographic, violent, dangerous or illegal material to be uploaded. But throughout the internet as a whole, there is no leading body or organisation that regulates the material on the internet. Even though it is entirely illegal to have this content online, it is very difficult for authorities to police because a lot of it comes from other countries. The closest things to being able to contain or stop these kinds of material are safeguards and security, these don’t allow children to be able to view any indecent content on the internet, but does not stop it.  All this means that because the majority of the content on the internet is not regulated, a lot of indecent material is easily accessible. The only things that are regulated are on demand websites like iPlayer, 4od and ITV Player; this is because they are regulated via the BBC and OFCOM because they are directly linked to the TV broadcasts. This can also be managed by making sure that people are of a certain age to even have an account for the online service, on most of these you will be asked your age and to accept a policy to be able to view the program. In relation to our Depict video it doesn't entirely matter because it doesn't have any indecent material within it, even though it would get regulated we would encounter any problems or ratings.

Trade unions and associations

Trade unions are organizations that fight for workers’ rights; these include things like pay and working conditions. These are important because it means that you can’t labor people, for example; less than minimum wage or poor working conditions. These unions make sure that workers are treated fair. PACT is the UK trading association, and promotes and supports independent film and media companies.  Another similar organization is BECTU, these also help people within the media industry, and they help with funding, legalities and many other things, they help support independent media companies.

Trade associations are people who help individuals within a specific industry, for example CTBF is the leading UK industry for funding for films, cinema and TV. There are many other associations that help people within the industry like; BIMA, BKSTS and IVCA. All these associations help people in need within the industry buy giving them money to help fund their prodject.

Bibliography

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/vin-diesel-had-leverage-house-riddick-103558491--abc-news-celebrities.html
http://www.montclair.edu/arts/school-of-communication-and-media/facilities/#filmmaking
http://www.creativeskillset.org/film/knowledge/article_5097_1.asp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6166814.stm
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/
http://bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/guidelines
http://www.filmfinances.com
http://www.vet.co.uk/site/Facilities
http://www.eastendstudios.co.uk/rates/

Location recce

Location recce

We chose to use the studio as our main location for the video, this is because it is dark and we can use the 3 lights to easily to control the lighting, this is good because it means that we can make good shadows to show effect and connote geed. These light can be easily moved to change the effect, but using a side light works well for our video. The set is a good size and is easily manageable hence it would be good for our shoot. Another thing is that we can change the background and use backdrops to make a good setting for the video.

close up photo to show the shadows made by the light on the cup and hand.

medium shot to show how the background can be changed and to show lighting.

Photo of the full scene with side light to show how the shadows and lighting can be manipulated. 

Diary

15th October

Got into our groups and discussed on who's idea we were going to use. From this agreement we started to plan the story in detail and start writing are shot list.

16th October

In our group we finished writing our shot list and have had an introduction to our story boarding.

17th October

In the groups we wrote up and finished our story boards with the pictures, audio, location and camera work with the directions.

18th October

Today we went out on site and took photos for are recce and started are risk assessment and talent release.

21st October

Went out on site and finished our location recce and fished all of the other required paperwork.

22nd October

We all went to the studio with the props and equipment and started setting up and shooting the first 5 clips

23rd October

Carried on filming and are now half way through shooting the video. the last set of props where acquired.

4th November

Continued filming for the production. The fact we didn't have the dice limited the amount of shots we could do. We worked around it and managed to film the shots without it.

5th November

completed some paper based work for the production including the last of the location recce.

6th November

Completed filming all the necessary clips for the video, but could not 100% complete because of missing prop that needs replacing for a single shot. other than that we are ready to start editing.

7th November

Started setting up the video in premier pro and added in the first half of the clips and put them into place after cutting them down.

8th November

We have now finished over half of the edit, a couple of things slowed us down as we had a missing clip which we had to recover.

11th November

The entire edit is almost complete, although we have a gap from which a clip has gone missing, we have done all bar the colour correction, audio and some of the transitions

18th November

After not meeting our deadline we had to go back and finish the editing on our video, we have added all the sound effects and music. also the transitions have been added. we did not opt for a colour correction.

Gem of an idea

'OUT OF LUCK'

In this post I will be describing and explaining my 90 short for the 'DepicT!' competition.

The story is about a magical talking dice that will grant a random number of objects appear dependent on the number it rolls. For example if the person rolls a three. The dice will say 'Carrots' and three carrots randomly appear. At the end of the story, after he has rolled one of each he rolls the dice again and a 0 appears on it. When this happens he disappears. Lastly the dice gets picked up by an anonymous person which can lead to a new narrative.

It starts of with a small group of people gambling and playing dice. When suddenly someone brings out a special dice. The person rolls it and a certain number of random objects appear, for example he rolls a five and a 5 pound note appears. This will happen throughout the video but after one of each number has been rolled he rolls the dice again but when he lets go all the sides turn to zero and he disappears when the dice settles.

For the editing in this I may do it all black and white but the dice is red, so that it is the only thing which is colored in the whole video. There will be a fade in and a fade out at the beginning and the end.

1. The scene will start of a birds eye view close up of an upside down dice cup, the top will be removed and the dice will be revealed, this will then pan up to the main character.
2. Then there will be an establishing shot him at a table playing this game with a match of action to a him reaching into his pocket.
3. Then a close up of him taking a dice out of his pocket and reaching up to the table.
4. Medium shot of him throwing the new dice.
5. Match on action of the dice landing on a three and zoom into an ECU.
6. A medium shot of the dice in side of the screen to leave space for carrots to appear.
7. CU reaction shot of player.
8. Medium,CU tracking shot of player reaching and eating the carrots.
9. Medium shot of player picking up dice and rolling it.
10. Match on action close up of rolling dice.
11. CU of dice rolling and stopping on a 1, zoom out to medium for £1 to appear.
12. Medium reaction shot with next roll..
13. Match on action POV shot of dice rolling.
14. Medium / CU of dice rolling, stopping and then space for eggs to appear.
15. Person stands up and knocks the table; eggs and dice about to fall of it.
16. Dice rolls of the table onto the floor, eggs smash and the £5 note appears.
17. Medium shot of him walking round the table.
18. POV shot of him picking up the dice and the fiver, (wipes hands on leg).
19. Medium shot of player taking another rolls from standing.
20. Close up of dice landing on a 2 and a pair appears.
21. CU of pear on table, tilt to close up reaction shot of player.
22. Shot of him taking a bite.
23. Over shoulder match on action, picking up pear.
24. ECU match on action of him taking a bite.
25. Low shot of player about to roll again after placing pear on table.
26. Close up of the dice rolling past the camera.
27. Extreme close up of it stopping and having no numbers on it.
28. Close up reaction shot of character (eye line match).
29 a. Medium shot of him disappearing with dialogue 'Ohhh shi.....'
29 b. Track/pan from this shot down to extreme close up of dice, then someone out of scene walks up to it and picks it up.

Depict analysis - 'Cool unicorn bruv'

The next video I will be analyzing is 'Cool unicorn bruv', I chose to analyse this because it is a really funny and different video.

The narrative structure of this video manages to engage the audience well through many different ways. For example the main character in the sketch is the person who is being sold the bike. The two original characters are half way through making a deal with the bike (equilibrium) when suddenly a new character is introduced and he has a unicorn, this is the enigma. This is the trigger and the characters attention goes away from the bike and goes to the unicorn. By the end of the video the character has a fallen in love with the unicorn and doesn't want anything to do with the bike. For the main character there is closure but for the owner of the unicorn a new narrative is possible.

Another thing is identification. This is where the audience is engaged by a variety of different angles and distances. In this video there are a lot of reaction shots, POV's and they use shot distance well. POV shots work well in this because they are putting the audience into the perspective of the character, also there are reaction shots, in this scene they work well because they make the audience wonder what has distracted them and taken there attention because they look off screen before the unicorn arrives, this eye line match work well because of this. The POV shot is taken from a slightly low angle to show that they are less significant than the guy with the unicorn.

Another form of identification is used in over the shoulder, or shot reverse shot sequences. They have used this because they let the viewer see the scene from either side and allow the audience to be involved in the scene. Close ups are also another form of identification as it puts the audience into a place that they wouldn't normally be, unfortunately in this video there isn't any.

Suspense is important in a video because else the viewers will get bored and will not want to continue watching. This can be shown in a variety of different ways. For example if cross cuts are used in this video in combination with reaction shots. In the scene where the unicorn first arrives the original characters look off screen and then it goes to the unicorn and then it cuts back to a reaction shot of the first 2 characters, this works well because it makes the audience wonder what they were originally looking at. Camera angles and shot lengths can be used for suspense. For example short takes and having lots of them in a short amount of time can build suspense because it becomes fast paced. Also camera angles like low and high shots can be used for it as well.

For the continuity sequence they didn't break the 180 degree rule at any point and they used shot reverse shots a lot. Other things that they used were POV's, Establishing shots and eye line matches. Other things are matches of action but there were not any in this. The first shot in this is an establishing shot which allows the viewer to see and get a perspective of the setting, things that are included in this are mise-on-scene. For the 180 degree rule it was originally across the road, but then the main character walks across the camera and the axis changes to along the unicorn, they make good use of this by using a lot of shot reverse shots.

Matches of action are also part of the continuity sequence but were not used in much significance in the video, but helped it flow very well. They were used when it skips from a long shot of them crouching to a medium shot of them at the same height as the bike. This works amazingly well and makes it flow and give good effect for the audience else they would get confused.

Lastly the audio and the editing in this work really well. The audio in it includes; dialogue, Wild tracks (Ambient) and SFX. The dialogue in this is good because of the wording and the stereotypes they use, what they say and how they say it effects how good it is. For example there is a lot of humor and comedy within it and yet serious at the same time, this is really effective and engages the audience well. Other audio that is used in it is the wild track or ambient sounds, these are things like background noise. The ambient sounds used in this general urban sounds. Finally the use of SFX is used when the unicorn shoots a rainbow out of its horn. Editing wise the video works well and is smooth even though there is minimal editing and all of the transitions are cuts. Cuts are effective in this video because there is no need for other transition else it would confuse the audience and it would flow very well, also these are used well when they are cross cutting because it helps build suspense. The only other transition is into the establishing shot at the start. There are some special effects at the end where the unicorn shoots a rainbow, this is good because it leads into a reaction shot of the person who was trying to sell the bike. Metaphorically this sequence ends with a funeral because; the dealer didn't sell and the buyer got neither the bike or the unicorn and the outcome lead to the people going back to equilibrium.

All in all there are 20 shots in the whole scene, even though a lot of them are long takes the shot reverse shot sequences and cross cuts meant that there were moments of multiple clips in a short amount of time. I think that this is a really good video due to the comedy, acting and the camera work within it.

Depict Analysis - 'Candy Crime'

The first depict video that I am going to analyse is 'Candy Crime'. I chose to analyse this because it is a very good and entertaining video with a good plot line, acting and continuity.

The first thing that i am going to talk about is the narrative structure, this is about how the video engages the audience through the story and the plot. In this particular video they do this very well. For example the main character or the protagonist is also the bad guy or antagonist in the sketch. other people could argue that the little girl is the protagonist in the video as it is pretty even. He is loitering with all his friends living a normal life (equilibrium) and then the little girl walks past who is the enigma. This triggers the characters to follow the girl and then the main scene starts. By the end of it (quest) the antagonist has acquired his prize (lolly pop). In the terms of the antagonists story there was closure but for the little girl there is the potential for a new narrative as she leaves the scene with a gun.

This triggers the main character to follow her, this is the 'quest'. As we find out the reason for the change is because he wanted the lolly pop that the girl was holding. Once the exchanges have happened, there life goes back to normal and the group walk away and leave the little girl. this is a great example of narrative structure and follows it extremely well.

The next thing is identification, this is where you are putting the audience into a relationship with the protagonist through different camera angles and distances. In this video they use a lot of close ups, reaction shots and POV's. These work especially well in the main scene because they are trying to show insignificance of the girl to the group. For example when the walk over to the girl there is a POV shot of the little girl looking up at the group, it is taken from a very low angle to show the overwhelming power of the guys in comparison the the inferiority of her.

Another method of identification that the makers use is close ups. These are used when looking at the lolly pop and when exchanging the item for it. these are good because they put the viewer in a place that they wouldn't normally be. Lastly the use of reaction shots are used when she pulls out the larger piece of candy and two of the guys turn and look at her to suggest that the want it. All in all there is very good use of identification in this video and makes the audience get involved in the scene.

Suspense is key in a video because else the audience wont get involved or be interested in it. In this video they make suspense through a variety of different ways. for example a cross cut is used in the video when the shot goes between a close up of the candy and a reaction shot of the people, this causes the audience to be intrigued because they know of a convergence but not of the outcome. The use of camera angles in the short is especially good because they have used low and high angles to show dominance and inferiority between the characters but also the composition of the shot shows that she is outnumbered (mise-on-scene). Another thing that has been used for suspense is the shot distance, throughout the video the shots are mostly close ups, extreme close ups and POV shots, these are good for suspense as they are putting the viewer into a place that they normally wouldn't be and get to see the story from a different perspective.

This video had followed the continuity sequence closely as the scene doesn't break the 180 degree rule and has an establishing shot, POV and eye line matches and match on action. For example the first shot in the sequence was an establishing shot, this allows the audience to get a perspective of what is happening within the scene, this includes mise-on-scene. In this video the establishing shot is a medium/long shot of a group of people, these are the antagonists in the film. Throughout the video the 180 degree rule is never broken, in the main scene in the video the center line of the bus shelter is the axis for this rule and therefore all the shots should be on that side of the bus shelter. Match of action is used a lot throughout the scene. for example when the guy reacts to the girl getting out the larger piece of candy there are 2 shots, one of him throwing it and the other of it
hitting the ground.

Finally the editing and audio within the video works extremely well, it has a mixture of different types of shots and distances. One thing that i like in the video is the lack of dialogue, there is only one line in the whole video which is the antagonist saying 'give it to me' to the little girl, throughout the video there has been no need for speech as it is acted extremely well and the use of different shots have explained the story to the audience without need of dialogue. Other audio is used in the video, for example SFX has been used to create suspense this happens on many occasions. other audio that is used is ambient sounds, for example the traffic in the background. The editing pace throughout the video varies, for example the first few shots are long takes with the establishing crane shot at the start but later on when the antagonist pulls out the gun there is about 3 different shots in a couple of seconds. this is because they are used to build suspense in the scene.

Depict Video Vote

On the vote for the depict competition, I voted in order of...

First place was 'Sun', I voted this first because of the animation and the simplicity of the story, but yet it was really effective and enjoyable to watch.

In second i voted for 'Cool unicorn bruv', I especially enjoyed this because of how funny it is. I enjoyed the dialogue and the comparason between the unicorn and the bike and how they compared them.

Lastly I voted 'Treasure', even though it was a documentary I really enjoyed this because it is a true story and how it talksw about how the man does metal detecting as a life.