Abstract:
Now that we have filmed and edited our short films for the DepicT! competition we have been asked to outline in detail our individual process of creating the short movie as well as detailing other methods, equipment, funding, materials etc. that are used in other forms of media.
Now that we have filmed and edited our short films for the DepicT! competition we have been asked to outline in detail our individual process of creating the short movie as well as detailing other methods, equipment, funding, materials etc. that are used in other forms of media.
Section 1: Type of moving image production.
[1] Depict website
However, YouTube
is not the only method of distribution and short films are not the only type of
moving image, there are huge amounts of distribution methods for every form of
moving image production. The types of moving image productions include feature
length movies.
Feature lengths are one of the most consumed form of moving
image production. [2] The term feature length refers to the length of the
movie; anything over 40 minutes long is considered a feature length and
anything under is a short film. Feature length films tend to have a larger
budget than other forms of moving image media mainly due to their length but
the budget could also be attributed to the genre.
Short films as previously mentioned are films that have a
run time of less than 40 minutes short films are common amongst students or
younger/ less experienced film makers as they do not take as long and do not
have large budgets.
Advertisements are short clips advertising a company’s
product that are normally shown on TV in between programs but are also shown
outside of TV (see distribution). Advertisements, unlike short films or feature
lengths vary in price. For example, if a company wants as many people as
possible to see their advertisement they will broadcast it during peak watching
times for example [3] the American Superbowl half time slot currently stands
close to $4 million for a 30 second advert.
Music videos are incredibly similar to short films but as there name suggests are accompanied by music. Music videos allow for people to create a memorable short film to accompany their song, while it may not sound useful a lot of songs can be identified solely by their music videos (see more in distribution)
TV programs are also amongst the most consumed form of
moving image media but unlike feature lengths they vary in run time and series
length. TV series’ can be sorted into three categories series, one off and
serials. A Series is a collection of seasons of a TV show meaning that 5
seasons of a TV show make up a series; a serial however is a TV series that has
no clear ending meaning it could possibly have an unlimited amount of episodes.
One off TV shows are small specialist TV programs such as a holiday specials
these are TV shows that end after one episode hence the name one off.
Distribution
Distribution refers to the method of getting the film, short, TV show, advert etc. to your intended audience.
Cinemas are amongst the most common forms of distribution as
they are easily accessible and in most cases cheap. With the exception of specialist
cinemas, most cinemas will show the latest ‘blockbusters’ ,which refers to the
most popular films at the time, which are normally feature length movies
produced by large Hollywood studios these are normally shown for as long as 3-5
weeks with exceptions for high grossing movies which can remain in cinemas for
up to 14 weeks. At that point they are normally released onto DVD which I will
go into more detail later. Large cinemas also show blockbuster films using
methods that differ from the traditional 2D rectangle screen most cinemas today
allow for IMAX and 3D viewings, IMAX is a form of projection which allows for
cinemas to show films in a lot larger resolutions, up to 18k, than traditional
screens. 3D is a technology that has existed for a while but only recently has
it really took off in cinemas with the introduction of new 3D glasses that
allow viewers to see images on the screen in 3D while more expensive 3D is a
new way of experiencing cinema.
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[4] Odeon theatre in Norwich city.
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[5] Cinema City, also located in Norwich city. Cinema city was used as an example based on the fact it is the closest specialist but also since we were allowed to visit this cinema as part of the college's course to see the British independent movie Frank, as an example of independent cinemas and movies.
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[6] Fight Club Blu-Ray edition.
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[7] Fight Club DVD edition
I chose Fight Club as an example as the Blu-Ray edition allowed for significantly more content to be available which would not have been available on the original DVD release; such as directer's commentary and bonus footage.
Online Streaming: Recently websites have been created to
allow users to pay a monthly subscription in order to watch movies and TV
series online without any limits, the most popular streaming services currently
are Netflix and Amazon’s Lovefilm. Both websites allow users to directly stream
movies and TV in their web browser providing they have a stable internet
connection, however Lovefilm offers a service in which users can rent DVDs for
a certain period of time, this can allow users who may not have a stable enough
internet connection to watch the movies on offer. Netflix however does not
offer a DVD rental service but is praised by many for the huge amount of movies
and TV available.
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[9] Online streaming site Lovefilm
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[8] Online streaming site Netflix |
It was impossible not to mention these two sites when talking about online streaming due to their abundant international popularity, and with the current advancement in streaming capabilities and viewing technologies streaming could be a cheaper alternative to cinema in the foreseeable future.
Extra – Piracy: While this is not a legal method of distribution it still has a huge effect on how people watch movies and TV. For example TV series Game Of Thrones is one of the most pirated TV series to date with reports of up to 5.9 million downloads of one episode in particular. This is important as one of the main reasons piracy occurs is due to the way the show is distributed, Game Of Thrones is only available on the American TV network HBO (Home Box Office) meaning that it is not available outside of America unless you subscribe to receive the channel, which for some is simply too expensive. This observation has recently become more relevant since the start of the new year with people looking back on figures from the previous year Game Of Thrones is now the most pirated show of 2014
Section 2 -
Finance
Every film or TV series ever created has some sort of budget
and each director or producer has a method of generating the budget here are
some common and uncommon methods of gathering the money to create their movie
or TV show.
Crowd funding/Crowd sourcing – This method of gathering
money is favoured more by independent directors and producers that have an idea
that they believe that people will enjoy. For example, the website Kickstarter
allows for anyone to create a page pitching an idea to an audience, the
audience are then allowed to donate any amount of money to the project. The
person who creates the Kickstarter is allowed to set up rewards for people who
donate, the more money they donate the better the reward [10] such as one
Kickstarter which offered anyone who donated $10,000 a place in the credits of
the movie as well as an all-inclusive studio tour. An example of a crowd funded movie that recently received its target fund is Zach Braff's Wish I Was Here which upon release was met with mixed reviews; showing both positive and negative sides of kick starting a project, by both attempting to sell your product to your audience with no guarantee it could even be made while also trying to create the product within the confounds of the set budget and to the promised level of quality.
Bank loan – If an independent film maker needs a large sum
of money he may have to borrow it from a bank, unlike other sources of finance
this method requires that the person who takes out the loan must pay it back,
meaning that taking out a loan is incredibly risky unless you know for sure
that a profit can be generated from your movie.
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[11] Product placement scene from Wayne’s world
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BFI film fund – [12] The BFI (British Film Institute) is a
company situated in the UK which offers a fund of £26 million taken from the
National Lottery. This money is then passed on to filmmakers who apply for and
are approved for the program, this program is incredibly helpful for
independent filmmakers as it allows them to make the film they want too with no
monetary limitations. The only downside to this program is due to the fact it
is only available in the UK.
Section 3:
Requirements
‘Requirements’ refers to all the things that you would need
to create a movie, this relates back to finance as the more money you have the
more things you can afford for your movie, listed below are the requirements
for a movie feature length or short.
·
Equipment (hardware) – including camera(s),
tripods, dolly tracks, cranes/jigs, sound equipment, lighting, computer(s)
(editing), clapper boards etc.
·
Software- this relates to the programs that will
be used by the editors and special effects creators.
·
Costumes – Used to make a character fit into a
certain time period or to reflect their personality.
·
Make-up – used to change the appearance of a
character i.e. prosthetics or masks, can also be used to make a character look
more presentable.
·
Actors/Actresses – Actors and Actresses will
need to be hired to play the characters in your movie.
·
Crew – this includes the director, co-directors
and producers that may be on set as well people to operate all the equipment
that have bought/hired such as cameramen, soundmen, editors etc.
·
Travel – if you are filming in another part of a
country or a different one entirely you will have to cover the cost for travel
by bus, plane or train.
·
Accommodation – If you are filming for a long
time your actors will need somewhere to stay this means the price for hotel
rooms for cast and crew.
·
Special effects – if your movie requires special
effects you may hire other people or studios to create them for your movie.
·
Music licenses – If any copyright music is going
to be used in your production you will have to pay the record label and/or
artist for permission to use their song.
·
Soundtrack – Similar to the music license for
your production you may want to create an original soundtrack for your movie
which means hiring an artist to create it for you.
Most of these were required for our DepicT! short but due to
the lower production value and local filming we did not have to pay for most of
the things listed. The equipment we used was provided by the college from the
AV (Audio-Visual) room, this room allows for students to rent out cameras and
sound equipment in order to use for their productions. All filming was local so
there was no need to pay for accommodation, all the actors wore costumes that
they already owned so no money was spent in that department.
Section 4:
Personnel
The personnel are all the people that work on a media
production on and off of the camera, the size of the personnel and range of
them relates to the type of production meaning the bigger the production the
larger the crew.
For a short film like the one we created there is normally a
small cast and crew that work on the production, here is a breakdown of the
people involved in a short film:
Writer(s): This person is in charge of writing the script
which will then be later adapted into the movie, the writer is normally off
camera writing, or on set making sure that everyone is following the script.
Editor: This person is in charge of putting all the footage
and sound together in order and adding in transitions where needed, sometimes
works alongside the director and writer.
Director: This person is in charge of the camera crew and
the actors, he/she directs the whole cast and crew to ensure that they are in
the right places doing the right things. The director in a short film also
normally doubles up as the producer (more information below)
Producer: This person is in charge of the whole production
and makes sure that everybody is in the right place at the right time.
Camera operator: This person is in charge of operating the
camera and ensuring that each shot is in focus and looks as close to what the
director and writer intended.
Sound man/woman: This person is in charge of operating the
sound equipment and making sure all the audio is recorded at the same level.
Actors/Actresses: These people are in charge of accurately
portraying the characters that the writer has created, unlike other personnel
actors are exclusively on camera.
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[13]Cast photo from the short film I helped to create
called End. I decided to use this example not as self promotion but as an example of the correlation between cast size and production value, smaller productions will give cast members multiple jobs while larger productions will have multiple people in each role needed which is why it is difficult to find a large scale production cast photo since the crew will likely never all be in the same place at the same time.
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[14] A lot more personnel are needed to create a TV show these are the people involved in creating a TV show* (broken down into pre-production, production and post- production):
Pre-Production:
Casting director: The casting director casts the actors that
will feature in the production and is normally the first crew member on the
production.
Costume designer: The costume designer(s) make all the
clothing and costumes that will be worn by the actors.
Director: The director is responsible for directing the
actors and crew on set, unlike a film director a TV director has less creative
control.
Location Manager: The location manager finds all the
locations for filming on location as well as studios.
Make-up artist: The make-up artist uses make-up to alter the
actor’s appearance.
Production designer: The production designer is responsible
for creating the sets that will be in the production.
Researcher: The researcher is responsible for making sure
that the script is accurate to the intended setting.
Set designer: The set designer works alongside the
production designer to create the sets.
Television producer: The television producer is generally in
charge of the whole production and helps coordinate the financial, legal,
administrative, technological and artistic elements of the production.
Writer: The writer is responsible for creating the original
story that the production will stem from.
Head writer: The head writer oversees the writing team
throughout the writing process.
Screenwriter: Screenwriters are responsible for creating
sort or feature length screenplays for TV series’.
Story editor: The story editor is responsible for editing
stories into screenplays.
Production:
A2: The A2 is responsible for connecting audio devices form
the production truck to the venue of the production.
Boom operator: The boom operator works alongside the sound
crew and controls the positioning of the microphone while filming.
Camera operator: The camera operator is the head member of
the camera crew and is responsible for controlling the camera according to the
director’s instructions.
Character generator operator: The CG prepares and displays
digital on screen graphics on the [15] character generator
Floor Manager: The floor manager represents the director on
the studio floor and is responsible for ensuring the actors are safe to perform
as well as turning on appropriate lights, helps maintain silence during filming
etc.
Graphics coordinator: The graphics coordinator decides which
graphics will be displayed on air.
Stage Manager: The stage manager ensures that the production
is properly organized and controls the communication between members of the
crew.
Gaffer: The head electrician in the production the Gaffer is
in charge of lighting the stage.
Grip: Grips help the camera operators when there is a dolly
or crane being used, or helps the lighting team to set up the lighting.
Gallery Room Team: Only present when a multi-camera setup is
being used, the gallery team observe the feed from all the cameras on monitors.
Production manager: The production manager helps with the
technical needs for the production by gathering equipment with specific
technical specifications.
Production Assistant: The production assistant works
alongside the gallery crew and controls the timing of the production, by
announcing to the cast and crew how long until the show goes live (if it is a
live TV show) or how long until the advert break.
Runner: The most junior role amongst crew the runner is
responsible for all the odd jobs around the set such as fetching equipment and
carrying it around the set.
Stunt Coordinator: If an actor needs to perform a stunt the
stunt coordinator will ensure that it is done correctly and safely.
Technical Director: The technical director ensures that all
the equipment in the [16] PCR (production
control room) is fully operational and ensures it matches the quality and
output of the camera being used on set.
Television Director: Unlike a movie director the TV director
is normally in the gallery overlooking the whole production through monitors,
the TV director also stays in direct communication with the floor manager
(mentioned earlier).
Video Control Operator: The video control is in charge of
the transmission of live programs or test footage and also controls the
brightness, contrast, colour balance, fidelity and framing of the image shown
on screen.
Video tape Operator: The VTR operates video tape equipment
in order to record and replay footage, the VTR is also responsible for action
replays and highlights.
Vision Mixer: also referred to as the technical director
(TD) the TD is responsible for switching between video sources such as feed
from the cameras as well as video inserts.
Post-Production:
Colourist: The colourist edits the visual look of the
product by editing the contrast colour and ‘mood’ of each scene.
Composer: The composer creates all the music that will be
used in the production either conducting an orchestra or being part of one, the
composer can also create theme songs for productions.
Editor: The editor works alongside the director in order to
edit all the raw audio and footage into the finished product.
Foley Artist: The Foley artist records and creates sound
effects to be used in the production
Post-production runner: The same as a normal runner the
post-production runner helps the post-production crew with odd jobs.
Publicist: The
publicist is in charge of the marketing of the product by choosing how and
where it is advertised.
Sound Editor: The sound editor adjusts all of the audio for
the production as well as deciding which sound effects will be used.
Title sequence designer: The title designer is responsible
for creating the title sequence, and tries to make it as memorable as possible
(example)
*While this is considered a typical TV show crew smaller
productions may use less people.
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[17] Small part of the cast and crew of the TV series Breaking Bad
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[18] Feature film cast and crew: A feature film has all the
same members and jobs as a TV crew but can vary in size based on the size and
budget of the production. At the moment a feature film has an average of 588
crew credits per film.
DepicT! short: For
our DepicT! Short we had a very small team of only 3 people so we had to
allocate multiple jobs to each person. For example, in our production I was one
of the characters, sound operator, editor, assistant writer and assistant
director. Due to our small group we had to split up the workload by taking
turns with tasks such as storyboarding and editing. Our group contained two members with film
making experience prior to the short we made; one member had experience as an
actor, director and editor. Prior to this production I have had experience as a
sound operator, editor, actor, director and writer. We used our skills
accordingly, but also ensured that the other members of the group gained
experience in other parts of the production if they had none prior, this
ensured that the work was completed efficiently and quickly.
Section 5: Time
For our production we were given a time frame of 4 weeks to
plan, film and edit our short films, the time was allocated as one week of
planning one week of filming and two weeks of editing. The time was split up
this way as we only had a short amount of footage to gather and we felt that
the more time we spent editing the more polished we could make the film look. I
believe we effectively used the time we were given, in fact we finished filming
a few days before everyone else had started which allowed more time for
re-shoots and editing.
In a professional production missing the deadline can be
fatal for the production. A lot of investors will give studios a certain time
frame to complete their production, if it is not complete in time investors may
cut funding or cancel the project entirely. For our short we ensured that each
deadline was met and had the film completed and uploaded on the day of the
deadline. An example of movie which massively overshot its time frame is Micheal Cimino's Heavens Gate in which the directer demanded that filming continued ending up with around 220 hours of footage
Section 6:
Equipment and facilities
It is known that a lot of productions spend their money to
hire out equipment rather than buying it, this equipment can be hired form
facility houses. Facility houses allow anyone to rent out professional grade
equipment meaning it can be used by professionals and independent filmmakers
alike. [19] The facility house ‘The Hall’ offers a wide range of services for
production and post-production stages these include: (Text below taken from The
Hall’s website)
• Film crews and kit, shooting in HD or SD on tape or solid state
• A sound proof, air conditioned 30m2 TV studio with blue/green screen
• An Avid Symphony Nitris DX Edit Suite with full broadcast Video and Audio Monitoring /
Measurement
• Three HD / SD Avid Media Composer Edit Suites with full broadcast Video and Audio Monitoring / Measurement
• A HD / SD Final Cut Pro suite with full broadcast Video and Audio Monitoring / Measurement
• A ProTools HD Audio suite with V/O booth, ISDN and tielines to the TV Studio for larger recordings
• Harding FPA Testing
• Format conversion / transcoding to all major formats whether tape or tapeless
• DVD / Blu-ray authoring.
• A sound proof, air conditioned 30m2 TV studio with blue/green screen
• An Avid Symphony Nitris DX Edit Suite with full broadcast Video and Audio Monitoring /
Measurement
• Three HD / SD Avid Media Composer Edit Suites with full broadcast Video and Audio Monitoring / Measurement
• A HD / SD Final Cut Pro suite with full broadcast Video and Audio Monitoring / Measurement
• A ProTools HD Audio suite with V/O booth, ISDN and tielines to the TV Studio for larger recordings
• Harding FPA Testing
• Format conversion / transcoding to all major formats whether tape or tapeless
• DVD / Blu-ray authoring.
As you can see with the services that facility houses like The
Hall offer you can create and distribute professional level products. The
prices for these services where not mentioned on the website but as one example
it would likely cost around £200 per day.
Due to the low budget we had for our production we were not able
to use a facility house to rent space or equipment, however for future
productions facility houses could be considered. The closest facility house is
in fact ‘The Hall’ which is located just outside of London. As I mentioned
earlier we simply did not have the budget to use services from facility houses
we did however have a room in which we could rent out any equipment we needed
for our production this is called the AV (Audio Visual) room and allows
students to rent out equipment such as cameras, tripods and microphones to help
them with their productions. All of the equipment we were allowed to rent was
free of charge meaning the production budget could be kept as low as possible.
Section 7:
Locations
For our production we ensured that we used local locations that we
knew we could use whenever we needed them reducing the chance of any
complications or needing to re-schedule shooting dates. For each location we
needed to fill in release schedule as well as recces, release schedules are
documents which allow filmmakers permission to use a certain site for a certain
amount of time and must be filled out for each member of the cast and crew.
Recces are documents created by the location scouts; they contain pictures of
the locations as well as the times and days they will be available for
filming.
For our production we chose to use one of group member’s houses as
we knew that it would be available when we needed it. The locations we used
inside the house were the bedroom for all of the bedroom scenes and the hallway
outside for other shots we also used the garage outside for the scenes with the
hostage. We planned the shooting dates and locations effectively so we
encountered little to no complications besides one which was travel, every
group member lived a reasonable distance from the filming location meaning that
we had to plan a bus route to ensure we all made it on time.
Section 8:
Materials
‘Materials’ refers to any extra things that may be needed for a
production besides the cast, crew and equipment. For example:
Scripts: Each member of the cast and crew will be given a script
to ensure they know what part of the production is being worked on
Make-up & Costumes: All the costumes that the actors will be
using will need to brought along to the shoot as well as any spare costumes in
case one is lost or damaged. Also any make-up that actors will need is either
applied just before the take or hours before (depending on the amount of make-up)
Props: Any props that feature in the production will need to be
brought along as well as spares for props that are intended to be broken as
well as spares for any that are misplaced.
Food & Drink: Some productions will bring along food trucks in
order to feed the cast and crew during a lunch break or after a shoot.
Music and sound effects: This only applies when elements of sound
are being outsourced by another company or composer.
VFX (video effects): as with music and SFX this only applies when
someone else makes the video effects to be used in your own production.
Misc. Paperwork: This includes copies of all the legal documents
that will be needed as proof that the cast and crew that are there have legal
permission to be on that site at that time.
Some of these materials may come with additional costs such as the
sound and VFX which may require additional copyright licenses (the next
sections cover copyright in more detail)
to ensure that they can be used in your production.
Section 9: Legal
issues
As I mentioned earlier certain parts of a production may
have extra costs in the form of legal issues, mainly copyright. [20] Copyright
is a system that was put in place in order to protect original literary,
dramatic, musical and artistic work from anyone who intends to steal it and claim
it as their own work. Copyright is automatically given when someone creates an
original piece of work but additional actions such as applying for a [21] patent may be required.
In our production we were asked to avoid any copyright
infringement by using royalty free sound effects and music from sites such as freesound and incompetech.
Three common legal issues come up when someone is trying to
make a short film, feature film, or TV series these are:
Clearance: Clearance relates to the process of gaining
permission from the copyright license holder in order to use their piece of
work (more
info)
Public liability insurance: This piece of insurance covers
the cost of recovery if a member of the cast, crew or general public is injured
(more
info)
Completion guarantee/ insurance: This document entails that the production will
be complete on the set deadline by the investor (more info)
Section 10:
Regulation
A regulatory body is a company that ensures other companies
operate within the laws that have been set by the government. For example,
companies such as [22] OFCOM (the office of communication) are in charge of
regulating multiple forms of communication such as TV, film, radio and
telecommunication. OFCOM ensures that consumers and members of the public are
protected from any harmful or offensive content that exists within in multiple
forms of media.
OFCOM however do not regulate all forms of communication for
example the BBC (British broadcasting centre) is only partially regulated by
OFCOM the rest of the BBC is regulated independently by the BBC in the form of
the BBC trust meaning that they have more control over what they can and cannot
broadcast as well as when they can broadcast in i.e. the watershed
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[24] The BBFC rating system
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Our production was submitted to the online video sharing
site YouTube which means that the regulation laws differ from the jurisdiction
of companies such as BBFC and OFCOM meaning that videos shared around the
internet become a lot harder to control and regulate as opposed to the
programming that is regulated by the BBFC and OFCOM. The main reason the
regulatory bodies struggle to control what data flows through the internet is
mainly due to its sheer size of it, with over 264 million registered websites
and counting it becomes a mass of uncontrollable media. Companies have tried
before to control the content on the internet and more recently a debate has
been sparked surrounding ‘net
neutrality’
Section 11: Trade
unions and trade associations
A trade union
is officially defined as [25]“an organized association of workers in a trade, group of trades, or
profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests.” This
basically means a collection of groups free from any employers which seek to
help out their members with legal issues such as insurance, pensions or
healthcare.
Unions such as PACT (producers alliance for cinema
and television) and BECTU(broadcasting entertainment cinematographic and
theatre union) exist and help with people who work in the media. [26] PACT is a
UK based union that supports the endeavours of independent film, TV, and
animation (more info). [27] BECTU does much the same as PACT but
operates on a slightly larger scale by reaching out to independent media
representatives that PACT may not be able to (more info)
Trade associations are another type of organization similar
to a union. [28] Trade associations are founded
and funded by businesses that operate in a certain are such as media,
they help out with the PR (public relations) side of media with things such as advertising, education, political donations, lobbying and publishing, an example of a trade association is BIMA (British interactive media association)
Section 12: Bibliography
[8] http://thetechreviewer.com/wp-content/plugins/justified-image-grid/timthumb.php?
src=http://thetechreviewer.com/wp-content/gallery/netflix-content-screenshots/screen-shot-2013-10-21-at-2-37-40-pm.jpg&h=650&q=90&f=.jpg
src=http://thetechreviewer.com/wp-content/gallery/netflix-content-screenshots/screen-shot-2013-10-21-at-2-37-40-pm.jpg&h=650&q=90&f=.jpg
[13] https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/1560664_669915399714281_228962055_n.jpg?
oh=7aff50ad2b7670c21ac3258f2de72fdf&oe=54DF5E2C
oh=7aff50ad2b7670c21ac3258f2de72fdf&oe=54DF5E2C
Hi Connor
ReplyDeleteGreat piece of work. Clear understanding of requirements for productions. A well worded essay.
Make sure you explain your examples and why they are relevant to your point. You have clear pictures but make sure you explain these throughout. Do not just say what something is, say why it is that way.
Make these changes to bring it up a great piece of work!