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Pre-Production:
Learning Aim A:
Definition: The process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, or other performance, as distinct from production, and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the content starts being produced.
(Taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-production)
The process is as stated in the image below:
Purpose: Pre-Production allows you to organise everything you need before you start rolling the cameras. Preproduction is when you figure out what you need to make your film, how much it’s going to cost, and who you can hire to help you. Effective preproduction can help you save time and money (the two most limited resources in filmmaking) when shooting your project.
(Taken from: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/guide-to-preproduction-in-film)
The main difference between Pre-Production and Production is that Pre-Production is the process where the planning and the setup for the project takes place, where's the actual production is the process of recording and being in the moment.
(https://srushtivfx.com/how-an-entire-movie-is-made-before-nearing-a-camera-the-power-of-pre-production/)
Logistically, to create a well structured pre production plan, the producer must maintain a realistic yet productive idea as to where it will be taken, when it would be taken and who would be the cast members for the film, these questions are mainly determined on how successful the producer feels the project will be.
Financially, to create a well structured pre production plan, the producer must spend money on the crew members, the location, the cast and their accommodation and many more which will only be planned to have an understanding as to how much is needed.
Adherence to codes of practice and regulations: The main points which may breach the codes of practice and regulations are:
Copyright: When someone wants to use some copyrighted music in a film, they have to buy the rights to use the song, although this can be very expensive.
Location Permission: before any actual shooting can take place, the locations must be found or built (if making a set). In some situations, permission to film in certain areas will be needed, as the land could be private property. Places like malls and theme parks have been seen many times in films, and of course permission was needed to film there.
Health and safety: When filming on set, the environment must be safe for the actors and crew in most cases, unless they are in fact shooting a dangerous scene, for example a car chase, or setting off explosions. If an actor/crew member is damaged on set because of something breaking safety rules,
they can therefore sue them, unless their contract states otherwise.
(Taken From: https://jameshill.weebly.com/unit-one-pre-production/codes-of-practice-and-regulation)
Types of Pre-Production:
The points stated below are factors which build a great pre-production:
Finance: An aspect of film production that is concerned with determining the potential value of a proposed film.
The finance part of pre-production is important as this determines the budget which the director is able to use and how much should be spent on cast, crew and many more factors. This makes it beneficial to have big conglomerate names, such as Walt Disney and Viacom, as if those big conglomerates visualise a good pre production with a good film idea, they could invest in it and partially own the film.
The risk as to having a conglomerate is that if the film doesn't reach expected target audience, then not only they are at a loss, they also ruin part of their reputation as they are usually well known for making good films, and this would become a letdown.
An example of A conglomerate failing in a movie is Doctor Strange: Multiverse Of Madness. The reasoning as to why this film did not excel is due to "poor VFX" as stated by Critics.
Time: Something that you, as the director, have to make sure in managed to make sure everyone is where they need to be doing what they need to be, such as making a shooting schedule this means everyone knows where to be at the correct time the shooting schedule can also be twined with a location schedule to make sure that it is okay to use a certain location at a certain time
(Taken from: https://prezi.com/tvyipdhd2rhh/the-importance-of-time-in-pre-production/)
Facilities: The main "base of operations" would be the place where most of the planning and the personnel would meet up to update themselves on what to do for their next steps in an upcoming project, this is heavily beneficial as the main use of facilities would ensure that the crew members stay focused and punctual to their work. this would also result to an overall better and quicker film output.
Locations: The planning of choosing places which would fit well for the genre of the film. This is predominantly planned with a Location Recce of the place in mind and details as to where it is and how to contact the owner of the place (if needed)
Personnel: The main point which should be taken into consideration is that however many cast members are involved, the cost of flight (if applicable) and accommodation has to be involved in the contract which will be presented by the crew to ensure that the cast do their job.
Materials: The materials used will heavily dictate how well the movie ends up as the materials used should be one of the things that should be looked at because this shows if effort has been included or not.
Codes of Practice and Legislation: These regulations are put in place to make sure the audience do not feel threatened and end up suing the film. therefore the producer has to create a film which goes by the codes of practice and legislation to ensure that there is no surprise in the audiences reaction and they would all know what to expect from even before the film starts producing, A good way to ensure this is toggle hints on social media platforms as to what kind of film will be released, whether it would be a horror or a comedy.
Learning Aim D:
Shot List:
One way that my pre production was changed was in my shot list when I had wanted to create multiple panning shots to convey all the victims' reaction and the camera would slowly zoom in to the person who died in 2-3 second intervals in between the panning shots and the dead body. This would have been used to create suspense and create tension between all the characters, mainly by making the panning shot a close up of all the characters' emotions in which the emotions would vary according to the 6 stages of grief. Unfortunately this was not possible in the location me and my crew had wanted, as we would have wanted to record the piece in a bathroom In another light, me and my crew came up with another alternative as we had adapted to our environment as well as going with our original plane had placed our deceased person in the bathtub and made a lot of reaction shots of the victims coming in as well as a wide angle shot to show the whole scene. Although there was a setback, I still believe it was a really effective sequence due to the improvisation skills my cast had and how they made it look like a real life murder.
Overall Planning Documents:
One way my pre production can be improved upon is if I had added more attention to the planning documents as if I had, I would have been more focused on my work and I would have been more organised. although I had completed all my documents, I believe that I could have achieved so much more, and the consequences were evident as when recording, me and my team were not familiar with what we wrote as there was minimal descriptions on the documents. This effect can clearly be seen by audiences as in the final piece, it is very clear that some of the cast members are laughing and seem not entirely focused in the piece. Although this seems like a negative benefactor, one exception to this is in the middle of the video when there are two cast members speaking and in one frame, the presumed killer glimpses at one of the victims in which some audiences could see it and even use this knowledge to interpret that he is the killer.
Location:
Another way I could have improved on my pre production was ensuring that all areas in the location were mentioned equally. this mistake of mine resulted in my video log sheet having multiple shots in one area (outside) and not as many shots in another area (inside). this means that my time management and my focus was predominantly outside and me and my crew were not anticipating the rest of the shots. this can even be viewed by the audiences as a great portion of the first half of the video where we are in the set location, almost half of that was outside the location.
Creating Planning Documents:
One way I believe my pre production was effective was ensuring all documents was created. Although, as previously stated, I think I could have made it more informative, I still think to some extent is was well created as all documents were made and the requirements were met. The documents I made combined with my groups great improvisation skills made the piece effective and I believe audiences will see that the piece is really effective and hits the criteria of the brief.
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