Assignment A

Unit 4 - Pre-Production (Linked to Unit 10)

Assignment 1 - Learning Aim A

 

Introduction 

In this report, I am going to evaluate the extent to which the pre production requirements contribute to the overall success of the planning and delivery of a film. Along with this, this report will evaluate the pre-production requirements and procedures relating to a film.

 

The pre-production requirements:

Before a film can begin the production phase, there are several pre-production requirements. These are;

Requirements of the product (FILM):

• In the case study film ‘Life in the day’, producers Liza Marshall and Scott Free Productions produced Life in the day through crowd sourcing. This is because they bought 400 cameras with £40,000 and then sent these cameras out to around 40 countries with two memory cards, one for the production team and one for the people who the cameras got sent to. So it was important for them that they could only consider submissions from people who’d they’d sent cameras out to. They received 80,000 submissions which the production team had to cycle through and edit. So in this scenario, the requirements of the product were that they could only use clips from submissions that they’d received through sending cameras out.

Sources of finance for the product (FILM):

• It is important for whatever media product you produce that you ensure that the project has enough money to be made. When making a film, there are multiple in which the production of the film can be funded. For instance, a film that I studied in class was ‘The Cottage’ by Steel Mill Pictures. In this scenario, owners of Steel Mill Pictures Paul Williams and Ken Marshall had the idea of The Cottage but had no where near the £2.5 million that they required to produce the film. And so while thinking of what to do, Williams had the idea of another film called London to Brighton which was viable and more within his budget. And then with the money they received from London to Brighton, they created The cottage.  So he used creating another film as a method to fund another film. So The Cottage conveys one of the many ways that a small, independent production company can fund a film such as creating a cheaper film and then using the success and money to create a bigger film.

• Another way in which a film can be funded is conveyed through the funding of Shifty. Shifty is a British urban crime thriller, written and directed by Eran Creevy set on the outskirts of London. The way in which Shifty was funded was through the Microwave scheme. The microwave scheme is funded by the government and is where you are given a set budget of £100,000 and challenges you to make a short film. Funding like this allows small, independent filmmakers to produce films that potentially would have been outside of their budget.

• A synergy is where two or more organisations both have ideas for example, and then work together to create something bigger. This could be done to make a film outside of an organization's budget or potentially to merge to cultures. But in a case study that I looked at, The Theory of Everything and Working Title Films as a whole are examples of a synergy. The Theory of Everything is a film produced by produced by Working Title FIlms that is a 2014 biographical romantic drama film which is set at Cambridge University and details the life of the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawkings. Its an example of a synergy because the film is produced by English production company Working Title Films and then funded by American company Universal Pictures.

• Crowdfunding is another way in which independent films can be financed. Kickstarter is the main crowdfunding website for creative projects like independent film projects. Crowdfunding is mainly done online where people can essentially sponsor you and donate money to you. An example of an independent film project being funded through crowdfunding is Veronica Mars. Producer Rob Thomas and lead actress Kristen Bell then pitched to the Warner Bros the idea of a film. They said no and that they would not fund it however they would distribute it if they got the funds to create the film. Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell got the money to fund the film through crowdfunding and with that began to make the film. They offered incentives for those who donated $10 plus to help reach the goal of $2 million and within the first 11 hours, they received the $2 million they needed to make the film. The fact that anyone can use websites such as Kickstarter to fund something like a movie idea conveys the many different solutions to financial strains.

Logistical considerations (such as deadlines):

• Costs and logistical considerations are vital for the production of any project but for films in particular, meeting deadlines will help with keeping costs down which is especially important for film projects with low budgets. Like for instance the case study film ‘Shifty’, with a budget of £100,000 they were able to produce the film in 18 days which is down to excellent logistics.

 

On the contrary, in 2015, The Wake, a film that was being produced by production companies Benaroya Pictures, Circle of Confusion, DMG Entertainment and Exclusive Media had to be cancelled due to financial issues on February 26. Production was then expected to resume a few weeks later but was then postponed indefinitely due to actor Bruce Willis and director John Progue leaving the film because of the financial issues along with scheduling issues. This conveys the importance of having a detailed plan of the logistical considerations as it can lead to a film being cancelled and money already spent on the project being lost. 

 

To prevent something like a project running out of money from happening, you must construct a structured and detailed budget covering every single expense from the obvious things such as paying to have the actors, props, camera equipment and costumes. To then the less obvious things such as transport, potentially visas, paying for clearances, hiring locations and feeding the crew.  Every single expense that will be spent on the production of this film and any project, must be noted on something like a finance sheet for instance to prevent potentially millions of pounds from being wasted. 

 

It is also extremely important to have a tight, strict schedule as if you compare ‘Shifty’ and ‘The Wake’, with good, strict scheduling, they were able to produce a film in 18 days then on the contrary, due to poor scheduling, ‘The Wake’ lost an actor Bruce Willis and director John Progue. 

 

Resources and regulatory requirements:

There are many regulatory requirements that production companies must account for such as a contingency plan.  A contingency plan is done to cover any risks of problems that a production team may come across during the production process. Similarly, a risk assessment is also done to ensure the safety of everyone working on a project. This is because a risk assessment is essentially an examination of a process or event that is being carried out to identify any hazards to see if it is safe enough to film where you intend to. If a certain film shoot for instance has too many hazards, then the production team may have to cancel the shoot. 

 

Other requirements that the production team will have to consider during the production of a film are visas and permits such as filming permits or a permit to use a drone when intending on filming in a foriegn countries such as Saudi Arabia have banned the use of drones. For example, due to paperwork and getting permits, for the filming of ‘Our Plant’, it was a year before a single camera had been picked up.

 

Other considerations before filming may include things such as anti kidnap insurance when going to film in dangerous countries, vaccinations if to enter a country you are required to have a certain vaccination and how you will get all the equipment to where you intend to film. 

 

The impact these factors have on each other:

All of these factors will have an impact on each other and how the film project will turn out. For instance, the logistical considerations will have an impact on the budget of the film. This is because, if the production takes longer than originally planned, then the production team will have to spend more than they budgeted on potentially rent, paying for actors and food. The budget and source of finance will will have on all of the factors. For instance, if the budget is low, then the production company may then have to adapt to the requirements of the product and then potentially crowd source like done so in ‘Our Planet’. Resources and regulatory requirements may then affect the budget as the production team must ensure that every regulatory requirement must be met to ensure the safety of the staff and so the production team must budget accordingly.

 

The established industry formats used within the pre-production processes:

As said before, a risk assessment is a vital document that must be done during the pre-production process. A risk assessment is formulated by listing a hazard, the likelihood of it happening, the severity, control measures and contingency plan. Another established industry format that is used within the pre-production process is the font size on scripts. For instance, for Harry Potter, scripts are written in size 12 font with the font type being courier new. This is to resemble a typewriter style but also because this size corresponds to a certain length of filming. All production teams  during the pre-production process of a film will use a storyboard. A storyboard is essentially a large sketchbook that outlines the film or sections of the film. 

 

The functions of pre-production processes, reasons for undertaking them and the impact they have:

A risk assessment is done to identify any hazards to see if it is safe enough to film where you intend to. If a certain film shoot for instance has too many hazards, then the production team may have to cancel the shoot. Storyboards are completed by the production team in the pre-production process to better visualize the scenes and find potential problems before they occur. Not only that, but it is vital to create a storyboard during the pre-production process as they conveys how the story will flow, as you can see how your shots work together. Now with scripts, obviously, a script is one of the most important things to the pre-production process as you could view the script as instructions for each scene. But some processes carried out during the script writing sequence include scripts being printed off in different colours. This is done every time a change is made to the script which is helpful for the script supervisor, because they know which version they're reading, just based on the color of the paper. Scripts must also be watermarked and copyrighted to ensure that in the off chance that it does get leaked, it then cannot be stolen and produced by another production company. Coherence 

 

The purposes of pre-production documentation:

So as I said before, A risk assessment is done to identify any hazards to see if it is safe enough to film where you intend to.  The purpose of a risk assessment is to identify if a film shoot has too many hazards and if so, whether they can edit the shoot or if they’ll have to cancel it. So the producer will have the final say on whether or not the shoot will go ahead dependant on the risk assessment. Without a risk assessment, this then poses serious hazard threats to the production team and actors as they could potentially be going into an unknown to them area without any ideas as to what potential hazards or risks that may oppose them. Likewise, a contingency plan completes similar functions to risk assessment and without one, the production team may be faced with hazards and be unknown as on how to respond to them. Beyond this, a production team could then potentially face legal action if they fail to complete and then provide a relevant risk assessment which may then deeply affect their reputation and pockets. Now looking at a storyboard. They’re completed by a production team in order to visualize the scenes. Not only that, but a storyboard conveys how the story will flow, as you can see how your shots work together. Without a storyboard the production as a whole will lack a sense of direction that a storyboard provides. Without this, the production of a film may take a lot longer than originally scheduled which will then cost the production team more money than budgeted. Then there are scripts. Without a script the production especially during shoots will lack coherence. This is because the script is one of the most important things to the pre-production process as you could view the script as instructions for each scene. So without a script, the director will be confused as to what they want the actors to do which will then also leave actors confused. Then beyond this, without a script, the production team may not know exactly what props are needed. Essentially, without a script, the film has a very low chance of being produced well which may lead to a lot of money being wasted on the pre production process.

 

In conclusion, through evaluation, I strongly believe that pre production requirements have a large influence and contribution to the overall success of the planning and production of a film. Without these pre production requirements and procedures relating to the film, I feel as if it would almost be impossible for a film to successfully be planned and produced which conveys the importance of these procedures and requirements during the pre production phase.