Requirements for production essay

TYPES OF PRODUCTION

For the beginning of my BTEC media course, we had to create a depict. This is a short film, lasting 90 seconds, to be entered in a competition; https://www.depict.org/ We were not required to enter it into the completion but instead create something that could potentially be entered. We decided to produce an action-humour based superhero film with the audience in mind being people who liked superhero movies. Though people who didn’t like superhero movies, could watch it seeing as it is mainly humour and seems to mock superhero movies. We distributed it to our class by having a sort of screening where they would watch the film, we could observe their reactions and they could give us feedback. We also placed our film on the college’s media YouTube channel, so that people from the college and potentially others, could watch it when they wanted to. In the proper industry there are of course other types of production. This includes proper movies, adverts, TV shows, YouTube videos, GIFS and more. There are also lots of distribution methods, such as making sure the advert, for example, plays in lots of places at lots of times. This makes sure that only the proper audience sees it. An example of this is with the TV show, when the shows for adults are only played at the end of the day, when the children have gone to bed. This is a form of controlled distribution, when you make sure only the targeted audience see it. There are also screening platforms, such as Netflix and the large bulletin boards some cities have. These methods can all help to distribute products to the general public.


An example of a Media product could include, as an example, the film 'The Polar Express (2004 - Robert Zemeckis'. Being a childrens christmas film, this would obviously be shown in the evening in December. However many other products are not as easy to place or distribute and so might end up in screening platforms. Some screening platforms also make their own shows such as 'The Witcher' a Netflix Original. This helps to boost marketing for that particular screening platform as their shows generally can't be found anywhere else.

SOURCES OF FINANCE

We didn’t need any sources of funding for our project, but in the actual industry, one does of course need proper funding. Large companies will often invest in big films, to have their product featured. For example, MacDonald’s might pay the film lots of money to have a character eat MacDonald’s or even go past their shops. This would create a lot of budget for the film.



To begin a film, somebody might go to a company with an idea and pitch their idea to the company. Depending on whether people wanted to make the film, would depend on the idea, and its potential for success. It’s all about profit, so films that wouldn’t make a large profit or even potentially no profit, wouldn’t get the support or money. For a starting director, this would be ideal though unlikely since people are more likely to listen to an already existing director. In this case, you might be able to get a bank loan. Another example of funding is Self-funding. Directors who are completely sure that their film will be a success can use their own money to fund the film: https://momofilmfest.com/10-best-films-funded-director/ such as Orson Welles’ “Othello”. Crowd Funding is also possible, from websites like Kickstarter. This is where up and coming directors will ask the public, fans or just general people to donate money towards the film. Generally, those who donate will get a sort of prize, like a day on set or free merchandise. However, if the film is stopped then the money will have to be returned, whomever asked for it can’t keep it for themselves. An example of a film made with Kickstarter is The Babadook (2014) (https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/kickstarter-film-projects/). Sometimes with film, you may also see the logo for the natural lottery. This means that it has been funded by the lottery, or the BFI, https://www.bfi.org.uk/supporting-uk-film/film-fund which uses the funds gained from the lottery, i.e. where people buy tickets, to make films. For example the BFI funded 'Great Expectations (2012 - Mike Newell)' (https://stephenfollows.com/how-the-bfi-awarded-129million/)


REQUIREMENTS

In films there are a lot of things that money might be spent on. This includes, equipment, actors, props, crew, location and more. Equipment must be of the highest quality standard as possible, with exceptions, such as ‘the Blair witch project’ which specifically used bad cameras for dramatic affect. Apart from this, high quality standard is needed, and this will be expensive. Actors depend on their previous fame. More experienced actors require a higher budget, seeing as they will cause the film to have higher profits. Upcoming and unknown names will charge less, seeing as their goal is to just be in movies until they are counted as ‘famous’. Some locations can be free, such as public places, but most locations that are in films such as, hospitals, houses, are private and require a budget. Generally, the budget will be bigger depending on the disruption filming will cause. Crew members also must be paid, and this can get expensive depending on the reputation and the specificity of the persons skill set. Big Feature films have a lot of shots and edits, so in order to make the film go faster and be ready quicker, they hire lots of people to do the same thing and generally one to lead them. For example, you might have a team of editors and the chief editor, someone like Walter Murch, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004555/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm . Chief editors are generally very good editors who work for a long time and then are hired to oversee and check all the editing for a film. The chief editor is needed slightly more than the others and so must be paid slightly more. One thing that may need money is also things like catering and accommodation. For things that must go abroad and far away from an actor’s home, one might need to hire trailers or chefs in order to provide rest and sustenance for the actors working. Places like THESQUA.RE, can make money off of this, by providing accommodation for films.

https://www.thesqua.re/serviced-accommodation-film-crew.html

We needed costumes, and while most could be basic, the ones for Will and Dalton needed to be specific. I found a T-shirt that looks like the sort of thing that one might have lying around and while looking for a pair of black leggings, the original agreed piece, I found a patterned par of pyjama trousers that I thought would be funnier. My group agreed, and we used those instead of the plain black leggings. Dalton required a more professional look, so we went for a plain black shirt and stuck on logo. For his medical uniform, we went to the college science labs and got a lab coat. I was also able to borrow my mother’s stethoscope, and we used that. Mine and Sydney’s roles were small, and only required causal clothes. However, Will and Dalton both needed capes, so we had to ask our teacher since nobody had anything we could use. Turns out my media teacher had bought capes a while ago, and we were able to use them for our projects. This is like a lot of low budget film makers. We didn't have many props, but those scenes that did only needed things like a tin can, which could be gotten from home for free. In a proper feature film, I'd imagine that the mise-end-scene would be the biggest problem and directors would be able to afford to adapt this to their hearts content. As an independent film, and not having that large of a budget we had to make do with what we had. An example of this is the 'Blair Witch Project' where the cast only wore normal clothes that they could bring from home.

PERSONNEL

Lots of different people are needed in media, as depending on the project. A low budget short, such as ours, needs a small team. We doubled as both talent and crew, which is called multi-tasking, except for Will. This was because he was our main talent and was in all scenes. For things such as a television show, it will vary a lot. Some episodes may need the whole cast and therefore a lot of behind the scenes things. Others may require few talents but lots of cast. Examples of lots of people include dramas, like Holby City, (https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/g8r2dm/holby-city--s20-e46-report-to-the-mirror---part-two/), where lots of little stories are happening at once, which is different from a game show which only requires a few people. Generally, lots of cast are needed, since there will be lots of shots. However, everybody might not be needed every episode or even every season, and TV episodes require less cuts than films. Films require a lot of people, depending on the film. Films like (https://screenrant.com/movies-with-very-few-characters-small-casts/) All is lost, require few amounts of people. Big budget films like 'Fantastic Beasts and where to find them' require everyone on screen, as well as dozens on editing, on hair, costume and makeup and more. Everyone will have an assigned role, such as assistant director. In the case of Fantastic Beasts (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3183660/fullcredits), there were countless numbers of people working on that, from hair and makeup designers to editors and location scouts. Everyone does one specific thing which is one of the main differences between that and a short film, like what we did. In a short film, editing/directing/acting all needs doing, but generally there aren't enough people, so an actor might double as a screenwriter. Or the director might have to work with sound. An example of a director who had two roles is Jon Favreau who starred in, directed and was the excutive producer for Iron Man (2008) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Favreau. Lots of people contribute to a media text other than the crew and cast. For example, witnesses to a crime might be on the news, or on an advert. Adverts might ask people who have used their products to give a review that then gets put in an advert as an honest opinion. People on the news, might also bring in witnesses, to testify to a crime or something like that. Experts are also required, particularly in things like adverts, to 'prove' the worthiness of something. For example, a toothpaste advert might bring a dentist to say their product is good for teeth.

TIME

Our time frame requirement was decided for us by the competition, 90 seconds. We were then given a month to work on the paperwork, film, and edit. We were then also given, another week, in order to finalize our piece after the teacher watched our first draft. Much like in the actual industry, we had to meet these deadlines. Fortunately, since we are still in school, the consequences for not meeting the deadlines weren’t as severe as they could have been. Losing a deadline, means you not only lose the job, you lose your reputation and in Media, reputation is everything. The better your reputation, the more likely you are to get jobs and payment. Missing one will mean that people are less likely to hire you, and therefore you will lose a lot of work. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/story/20151120-heavens-gate-from-hollywood-disaster-to-masterpiece) The film, Heaven’s gate, could have ended Michael Ciminos, career seeing as it went both overbudget and was behind schedule. Fortunately, we were able to meet all deadlines on time, and even got some things, like the pre-production paperwork, done early.

OBTAINING EQUIPMENT

In a professional moving image production, you might obtain equipment by hiring it or buying it. You might even have some equipment left over from a film you’ve already done. One example would be places like this ‘https://www.mediadoghire.com/’, where one would go hire the equipment and the bring it back with the company being able to take legal action if the equipment is damaged. Websites like this ‘https://www.filmsuffolk.org.uk/camera-hire’ are where you can hire everything, from cameras, to crew. Near me, in Norwich there are several universities, such as the NUA, which do media courses and therefore have equipment for hire. https://www.nua.ac.uk/university-life/facilities/monastery-media-lab/ If a company was filming near here they might be able to use this equipment. For our depict, we used the AR cubboard in skills, which has all the cameras and fluid-head tripods and is checked regularly for damages and faulty equipment. We were able to hire it, with a process that is like removing a book from a library. We were also able to book a filming studio, W16, which had a brick wall, a green screen and a sofa area. Our editing software was Adobe Premiere Pro, something that is used a lot in the industry. We had Apple Computers, which supported the software quite well and access to a site called bensound which offered royalty fee music. Bigger films require more equipment than smaller ones, and therefore more cameras, computers and such must be hired.


FACILITIES AND LOCATION

Some of the things obtained for the depict project included, location permission forms. These are called location releases and required signatures by us and the people who owned the location. Most of the filming was done by the college so we were told to seek out the head caretaker. He signed most of the locations, but we were not allowed to film in the medical room. This was in case the room was needed in an emergency, but meant we had to improvise a location. We had a teacher sign for a room, and then rearranged the place to look like the bedroom/hospital we needed it to. Afterwards we had to put the room back to normal, since that was one of the reasons, we signed the releases. This meant that it was our responsibility to put the room back to normal and ensure that no damages came to anything within the room We also had to collect location recces, which meant going to the location and scouting it to see how good it would be for the film. Recces also involved looking at when the room would be available and how many people would be there. Luckily most of our filming could be done when and where there wasn’t many people. In June 2019, East Norfolk was actually involved in the production of 'Yesterday' (2019 - Danny Boyle). This film used the location of the pier hotel in Gorleston, and they would have had to gain a location release for this. The film 'Escape from Tommorrow (2013 - Randy Moore)' was actually filmed illegally, as it filmed on Disney property without the full consent.


Reason for location picking.

 W12 – weren’t allowed to use the medical room and this was the easiest classroom to be allowed to convert.
 W16 – had the sofas we needed for the living room.
 Aldred room – had the appropriate lighting and proffesinal look needed for a medical room
 Wall outside W12 – nearby and had a lack of windows.
 S10 – nobody inside when usage was needed, and was a science lab
 Road outside Poulson – was an empty road and was close to the car park where the car was kept
 Gym – had the punching bag needed for the scene
 Wall outside college – couldn’t use the actual roof
 Grass near Poulson – didn’t want to lay on concrete for comfortability reasons and needed a brick wall.

We faced a few logistical issues with the rooms. For example the S10 owners weren’t there a lot of the time so we had to wait a while before we could film in there. The hospital scene and the bedroom scene were originally planned to be filmed in the medical room but things had to be changed over to W12 since we were denied permission to film in the room. This was because the room might be needed in an emergency situation and so we would be a hindrance to the situation. We therefore had to improvise by adding a white sheet over the top of two tables together. We also weren’t allowed to use the roof, due to health and safety reasons and so had to film on top of the tiny wall outside of college. We were successfully able to make this look like a roof by angling the camera though there are a few issues.

MATIERIALS

There are lots of types of materials needed for a production. For example, if you are making a historical production then you might do lots of research to try and make things historically accurate. A good example of a film that did this would be the Titanic.

 An example of research and usage as said by Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film))

Martin Jarvis as Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon: A Scottish baronet who is rescued in Lifeboat 1. Lifeboats 1 and 2 were emergency boats with a capacity of 40. Situated at the forward end of the boat deck, these were kept ready to launch in case of a person falling overboard. On the night of the disaster, Lifeboat 1 was the fourth to be launched, with 12 people aboard, including Duff-Gordon, his wife and her secretary. The baronet was much criticized for his conduct during the incident. It was suggested that he had boarded the emergency boat in violation of the "women and children first" policy and that the boat had failed to return to rescue those struggling in the water. He offered five pounds to each of the lifeboat's crew, which those critical of his conduct viewed as a bribe. The Duff-Gordons at the time (and his wife's secretary in a letter written at the time and rediscovered in 2007) stated that there had been no women or children waiting to board in the vicinity of the launching of their boat, and there is confirmation that lifeboat 1 of the Titanic was almost empty and that First Officer William Murdoch was apparently glad to offer Duff-Gordon and his wife and her secretary a place (simply to fill it) after they had asked if they could get on. Duff-Gordon denied that his offer of money to the lifeboat crew represented a bribe. The British Board of Trade's inquiry into the disaster accepted Duff-Gordon's denial of bribing the crew, but maintained that, if the emergency boat had rowed towards the people who were in the water, it might very well have been able to rescue some of them

Sound may also be required for a production. This can be acquired in many ways, for example we used bensound to get royalty free and copyright free music. This is a big financial consideration, as copyright music cannot be used without the owner’s permission, and this can get expensive. Sometimes one might also pay a composer to create a piece for their film that they then own and can have copyright placed on it to stop others using it. An example of this is Bear McCreary (http://www.bearmccreary.com/) who did the music for Agents of Shield and Outlander. For big films, one might pay an artist to allow their music to be used, or even have them sing a song that the film has composed.

LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS. 

When making something that the public will view, a lot of legal considerations must be made. Intellectual property, for example, is where people cannot copy ideas directly. It can be anything from a plot to a symbol to an invention. It can be transferred, sold and can have more than one owner. Intellectual property will stop people from copying your work, much like copyright. (Source: https://www.gov.uk/intellectual-property-an-overview) Copyright is very similar, you don’t have to apply for copyright and it will protect your work from being copied by someone else. Copyright doesn’t last forever though and will generally wear out about 70 years after the work is published. There are rights to also be considered, Moral rights for example, make sure you are always identified as the owner of your work and that you have a say in how your work is edited and presented. If the copyright is violated, you are responsible for making sure it is stopped, and checking the background of anyone who applies for an application to use your work. (Source of Information, https://www.gov.uk/copyright). When making our depict we didn’t have many legal issues to take into consideration, but we did have the rule that you couldn’t copy peoples characters directly or use copyright music. The film 'A Fist Full of Dollars (1964)' was accused of plagiarism and had to pay £100,000 to remove the issue.

Clearance - the official authorization for something to take place.
https://www.bing.com/search?q=clearance%20definition%20&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&pq=clearance%20definition%20&sc=6-21&sk=&cvid=F2D056EE192B4D0DADAA7734690921C6
Example, Movies must have legal clearance before they can take place. This is generally the job of someone like the producer who checks over the paperwork and makes sure that the crew is allowed to be in the right place at the right time. This would be an example of looking over the location releases, but the Producer also looks over things like the talent releases. An example of this could be Frank Marshall.

Public Liability Insurance – where the victim can take legal action against someone who has done something wrong based under negligence and/or damages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_liability
Example, Filmmakers must obey Public Liability insurance, based on the idea that they will put any scene back to the way they found it. They must also not portray any real people in a bad way.
An example of a situation where public liability insurance would be important is the film ‘The Twilight Zone’. This shooting was using a helicopter to get some shots when the helicopter malfunctioned and the people on the ground including a man and two children died. One was crushed and the other two were decapitated by the blades. The filmmakers could then use public liability insurance to make sure that they didn’t get sued for too high of an amount.

Completion Guarantee/Insurance – a form of insurance where the people who gave the money at the beginning are to receive a percentage of money upon complete on based on the film, based on the money given
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Completion_guarantee
Example, It ensures whoever is lending you the money, that you will do what you say you are going to do with the money. For example if you used Kickstarter, you must make the movie you said you were going to make otherwise there can be legal methods used against you. Films like the aforementioned ‘Heavens Gate’ could have had an issue with Public Liability insurance for bad usage of the budget and the eventual exceeding.

REGULATIONS.

A regulatory body is a government run function that makes sure regulations are obeyed. So they would enforce rules and carry out any punishments should the regulations be violated. “Office for Communication (Ofcom)It is a communications regulator. They regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate. Ofcom operates under the Communications Act 2003. Ofcom is funded by fees from industry. The Act says that Ofcom’s general duties should be to further the interests of citizens and of consumers. Meeting these two duties is at the heart of everything we do.” (https://www.slideshare.net/k_ishii_/regulatory-and-professional-bodies-within-the-creative-media-sector) The BBC is an example of something that is not regulated by OFCOM, in fact the BBC is regulated by the Government, hence why it is said to not be politically biased. Each year the BBC reports to it’s board what it intends to do for that year and the board then tell the Government.

Things like the BBFC are especially important for regulations, as they are responsible for the age ratings. This helps parents and the general public to protect themselves and their children from harmful content. These ratings range from a U, suitable for people under age 4, to an 18, only people aged 18 and above may watch these films in the cinema and buy these movies in a shop.

THE BBFC WEBSITE: https://cbbfc.co.uk/what-bbfc

Violating the BBFC rules can result in the episode, film, or even entire show being banned. An example of this is the Pokemon episode, 'Electric Soldier Porygon' which failed to put a disclaimer about its flashing lights. This caused several people to have seizures, and as such the episode was removed. 

Watershed regulations as touched upon previously, are also important in regulations. This means that programmes with a higher BBFC rating are generally on later than 5-7 pm so that they are less accessible for children. However with the arrival of things like Amazon and Netflix, the watershed is irrelevant. Amazon is regulated by OFCOM, which follows the guidelines of the “European Union’s Audio Visual Media Services Directive” or the “EUAVMSD”. Since it is regulated by OFCOM, Amazon can be punished for any violations. Netflix however is slightly different, seeing as it is run by companies in Holland, it is not regulated by OFCOM but does still have to follow the “EUAVMSD”. Since it is not regulated by OFCOM it cannot be punished for any consequences involving violations. Despite these regulations, the problem is that Children now have access to adult programs at anytime of the day. There are now methods to prevent this, such as pin being needed to watch programs before a certain time, and I know from experience that this has been done for Virgin. On the news however it is possible to read articles written by concerned parents after their child has seen something, watched soemthing, or googled something and now their child can't sleep.

SOURCE: https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2018-05-04/how-is-the-watershed-changing-in-the-modern-tv-world/


TRADE UNIONS AND TRADE ASSOCIATIONS

A trade union is an organisation who helps workers to protect their interest. They are important to help people understand their rights and take legal action against anyone who should violate these rights. Examples of these for media include PACT. 

“Pact works to provide its members with the necessary resources, knowledge, and opportunities to succeed in the UK market and abroad. Joining Pact today will give you access to our invaluable legal and business affairs advice, industry contracts, guidance through all stages of production, and put you amongst the majority of UK independent production companies already exploiting the benefits of Pact membership”
http://www.pact.co.uk/membership/membership-benefits.html


PACT works to help Performers whereas BETCU does the same for performers.

A trade association is the same as a trade union but rather than for workers, it works for businesses.

“A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. An industry trade association participates in public relations activities such as advertising, education, political donations, lobbying and publishing, but its focus is collaboration between companies.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_association

An Example of this is the UK screen association, which help production companies and they promote collaborations between media companies.