Pre-Production Theory
This blog is to inform people of the processes of Pre-Production. Pre-Production consists of 7 stages to make a short film. These 7 stages are:
- Film script
- Story-board
- Script Breakdown
- The Budget
- Risk Assessment
- Clearances
- Legal considerations
The script of the film is the very first stage to making a film. The script contains the story of the film, what the character/cast looks like, what they're wearing and what they're doing. The script is written by the screenwriter. The script that they write can however be different to the one in the film as it goes into script breakdown and a few editing stages to make sure everything is where and how it should be and fits a good standard to be filmed.
The picture above show's a script written by me. It isn't as professional as the other one however has the basic information, it gives the description of a character where the scene is and a little bit of dialogue. To export a script you need to export it as a .pdf file so it can be viewed easily.
Story-Board
A story-board is a sequence of drawn images displayed in stages to represent the scenes of a film for a motion picture, a film, or an animation. A story-boards role is to basically show the script in a picture/drawing format. Story boards are for directors to help them visualise scenes and possibly find problems before they could happen. The story board gives visual representation of scenes as they should be seen through a camera.
This is an example of a basic but professional story board. As shown in the picture above some story boards have arrows that indicate the scenes order, this story board also has numbers which also indicates the scenes order. This story board above is a basic but professional story board it shows all the scenes with arrows and has the scenes drawn out properly but its drawings are basic which makes it professional but basic.
Script Breakdown
A script breakdown is an analysis of a script summing up the main points for a variety of the film team. These being wardrobe, director, producers and a few others. It breaks down the script so staff know the main information. Main information being; when the actor is speaking, parts which require a stunt double, extras needed to do specific parts with no dialogue, an extra(s) needed for background, a special effect, animals/vehicles, sounds or music used on set, specific clothes, make-up, uncommon equipment(crane) and notes on how the scene will go. In the image below it shows the key for a script breakdown, where it says element it shows what these roles are with a description next to the colour code for example cast would be a speaking actor.
In the picture below there is an example of a key for a script breakdown, this key is the standard industry key which the majority of the film industry use. However most companies have a tendency to use their own key for example blue for cast etc.
In the image below there is an example of a professional script breakdown. This script breakdown is using a the same key to the key sheet above. The purple/pink areas are props and yellow are for when the extra cast will be needed. The script breakdown provides a summary of what is needed and where in the film.
Budget
The purpose of a budget is so the producer or film maker knows the price of all props, actors, special effects and additional items needed. This gives a list of everything that will be included in the film, displaying its cost as well. A budget of a movie can be used to advertise, advertising with a high budget implies that the movie is a movie worth it to watch. A budget can be provided in many ways. These ways are; film studio, sponsorship and entertainment company.
Below is an example of a Budget I have created.
It is obvious that my budget is different to the professional one above this picture as my film is a lot shorter, requires less cast and costs a lot less.
With this Link, providing facts of the main elements of film budgets goes as stated:
Screenplay
A famous top of the charts screenwriter can be paid from $100,000 to $2 million just to write a script for a movie for someone.
Director
The director would be one of the main roles in the film so they would gain some high paid salaries. Some well known Director's can be paid $10 million per film.
Cast
Actors can get paid the Actors Guild rate of $2300 a week, however certain famous actors could get paid up $30 million.
Rights to story
Getting rights to produce a film based on a video game, book or play can be cheap depending on the type of film your creating. But if the book or play are popular for example Harry Potter, the film can gain high profits because of it. The script could cost from $50,000 to $5 million. Both the book or play and film will gain a high amount of profit, creating more popularity to the original creator of the idea.
producers
Producers are as important as the directors they also gain some of the highest profits in the industry.
VFX
Depending on the type of movie special effect will go for costs at different rate, the movie Avatar would have burned through over $1 million as the entire movie required Computer Generated Effects. However, some films wont spend much due to the fact they don't need VFX.
Production Costs
Production costs is the cost of crew and building sets. On high budget films the costs can vary as most of it will be spent living quarters, wardrobe and travel costs.
Music Design
Music in films often go not noticed but it is in fact the key to a fantastic movie. If the movie has a great music design in it then it could cost over a million, if a films music is not as good as it should be then all the audience will remember is the terrible sound design, However if a movie has great sound design but awful video the audience will not even notice.
Clearances
A film clearance is the process of getting permission for everything that will be needed in your film, clearances can vary you will need clearance for sets, music, actors, technology/programs used, brands and insurance. Here's an example of a standard film release form:
There are 3 main types of clearances:
- People
- Property
- Locations
People
A form also known as release needs to be signed by anyone who takes part in the movie. if the producer changed the film in any way for example removing material, the release would need to have aid steps. After that you will need even more releases for the cast and crew if they are not intentionally seen behind the scenes or on set.
Property
Property is 3rd party, the creator of the film wouldn't be involved. This can vary from books the film came from or stock footage. Clearance is a very important subject as copyright is involved and no one likes to be sued, Obviously if you used footage, music and/or photography that you didn't own then you would need permission from its copyright holder. To top that off you need permission from many people to modify the story, adding music etc. you need the permission off the film maker himself to include music in the film and permission from the owner of that music as well.
Locations
The location is a main aspect to the movie so in getting a location you have to make sure you have permits owner(s) of the area, this can be done on a piece of paper depending on how many people own that area, but the only way you will be able to get consent for a film is through providing evidence you are licensed to create movies.
Risk Assessment
A risk assessment is a form that has a list of risks possible to occur throughout the shooting of a film. A risk is scaled from Negligible, low risk, moderate risk, severe and very severe. Also a risks likelihood is on another scale from very unlikely, unlikely, possible, likely and very likely. To do a risk assessment you have knowledge of what can go wrong in your shooting of the film and what could harm the crew or staff. once you have acquired the knowing of what can go wrong you need to think of things to stop them and prevent them from happening, but have a back up plan put aside in case it does happen.
In order to complete a risk assessment you need to have evidence you have completed the risks, prevented them, and that they were all taken into consideration. A risk assessment should be carried out before the shooting of any film if they are not the film maker can get involved in a lot of serious issues afterwards, getting sued etc. also the penalty of maybe killing someone on set if it came to that. Risk assessments are a top priority task to carry out. Here's an example of a standard risk assessment:
It is important to think of a variety of risks depending on the cast and crew. This meaning age and a few other variables sensibility for one if a young actor starts messing around with the set it could trigger a risk and someone could get injured. If you are a producer it is the law to carry out risk assessments as well as fir safety assessments, its best to do a large risk assessment that covers all other risk categories. In the picture above it states the risk who it may harm and if its a unlikely risk or other.
Legal considerations
There are a variety of legal considerations to take into mind. These being:
- Copyright
- Creative Commons
- Public Domain
- Insurance
Creative Commons
Creative commons is an organisation that does not gain any profits that's why its put up as a non-profit organisation. It specializes in providing ways to share peoples work with others so they can improve on it by getting help from others but also keeping it theirs so it cant be stolen or used by anyone else without permission. Creative commons' license does benefit quite well because you can decide on terms to share your work for others to work on and maybe improve it but you will still be credited for it so you can see it go in the way you would like. For example if you created a clip of something that everyone wants, under a creative commons license they can use the work but you will still benefit from it and they wont get sued.
(Image Location)
(Image Location)
Copyright
Copyright is a legal right, it helps protect your work from being stolen or used without the permission of you or the owner of the original piece. If somebody does use your work anywhere without your permission it is against the law and classes as stealing, you get a choice, whether you want to take action and make them pay for what they have believably stole or ignore it and let them carry on using it. This information came from: Link
Copyright is broken down into to sections
the creative side and the money side. Creative is when you create something of a good standard you put your name on it as you deserve the credit since your the original creator of the product. It could then go on to being heard by others and boost your appearance and job status. But if you didn't put your name on it they can easily make it off as one of their own and get all the credit along side reputation that you deserve.
The money side would be if your work is at a standard that it can gain you profit so you deserve the money from it not someone who has stole your work as their own. However if you have evidence on the original piece that its your work and someone has used it they can be sued. Some people have received a great cost at being sued
since prices for suing can go really high.
Public Domain
According to Link:"public domain are those whose intellectual property rights have expired, have been forfeited, or are inapplicable" Work that is published in the US will fall into the hands of public domain (meaning it no longer has copyright protection) 70 years after the creator has died. Sherlock Holmes for example, a quite common TV Series and amount of films, due to it being over 70 years since the author Arthur Doyle has died. his creation has been handed over to the public domain.
Insurance
Insurance is financial protection, it protects you from financial losses. For example if you were filming and left your equipment somewhere in a what looks to be safe location then it gets damaged over night. over $100,000 worth of equipment. If you had insurance an insurance company would have you covered and help you pay off the debt of damaged equipment, however if you didn't withdraw insurance you would be in great debt and have to pay it off with your own money and end up without a movie. You can get insurance by paying an insurance company a certain amount of money you both agree on per month.
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