Pre-production process

Type of moving image production

For my media project I produced a 90 second short movie for Depict! We decided that we would go with the genre horror/thrill as we all had ideas that we could use towards the main story line. We distributed our film using YouTube as that’s a good platform for unrecognized work to go onto and to yourself recognised. 

There are many ways to distribute your work and get it out there. You can use video sharing sites such as YouTube, Vimeo. You could also use independent cinemas to show your work or short film festivals to get your work recognised. TV-shows distribute their work using broadcasters who by their films or series off them and then they put onto channels such as BBC, ITV or channel 5. For people that are producing large films would go to places such as Warner Brother, Paramount, Universal to then release the film. 

Finance and source of funding

To be able to produce a film, television and other moving image productions you would need to make sure that you have the right amount of money to be able to pay for things such as, cast, props, costumes, makeup, location, equipment, etc. There are many sources of funding that can be used to fund productions such as, Self-funding. This means that you would pay for the productions out of your own pocket. Films such as Blair Witch and Clerks were filmed on a self-funded budget. You could also fund your film by using product placement where brands such as Nike, Pepsi and many more. Brands like Coca-Cola were used as product placement in Lady Gagas music video and also in the James Bond film there was product placement with Mercedes.  This caused some disagreements as they changed the Bond car from BMW to Mercedes as it was a British car. Films or productions can be funded by sponsors or investors. This is where the director is given money to put into the films by an investor or sponsor but when the films starts making money then need to give a percentage of it back to them. As investors and sponsors want return. You can also have crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is a way of raising finance by asking a large number of people each for a small amount of money. The film Wish I Was Here – 2013 – Kickstarter was a crowdfunded production. The campaign raised $3,105,473 thanks to its 46,520 backers.

Requirements

The requirements of making a film or production are;

-          Cast

-          Props

-          Location

-          Make up

-          Equipment

-          Crew

-          Extras

Personnel

For the making of any type of moving image production you will need cast and crew that will work towards the moving image production.

Firstly, you will need a director, this is a person who is in charge of an activity, department, or organization. So they would be in charge of everything this is happening and who is working in the production of the film. You would also need a cinematographer(s) this is someone who is the chief over the camera crews working on a film, television production or other live action piece and is responsible for making artistic and technical decisions related to the image. A graffer would also be needed to be in charge of the lighting and overhead equipment. A production manager would be needed also as they are in charge of finance and employment in the moving image production. A production manager would be in charge of how the production budge is being spend and making sure that everything runs smoothly during filming. A cast is also needed as they would be the ones that are acting/being seen in the moving image production if you didn’t have a cast you wouldn’t be able to produce anything.

-          Producer

-          Production manager

-          Production coordinator

-          Production assistant

-          First assistant director

-          Second assistant director

-          Location manager

In my group when we were allocated people different roles we decided that instead of giving someone a specific role that we would all try and doing a bit of each areas. For example, I helped with the pre-production work and filming. Although the person who was acting they went able to film but they were giving their input on what camera angles to use and the locations that we could film in.

Time

We were give around 3 weeks to produce everything from our short film to our paperwork. I think that the time we were given was enough to get everything done in time but I think that we could have handled the time better to get everything done to a higher standard. If you don’t meet deadlines in the professional media industry then you would lose out on money because the more time you spend on a film the more money you will have to pay out for example you would have to pay extra for actors, crew, location, props and equipment. I think that we did reach the deadlines that were set in class but I think that if we had more time then we would have been able to put more time into our film so that it would have made more sense and flowed better.

Equipment 

The equipment that we used to film our production was;

-    Tripod

-    Camera

-    Necklace

-    Computers

-    Bag

-    Book

-    Pen

-    Mannequin

-    Mask

We didn’t have to buy any of these as we had them already at college that we could use towards our work.

Locations

Location releases is a piece of paperwork which is used to protect both the location owner and the production company from any confusion that may arise regarding the production location. The form will include when the location will be used, an insurance agreement and acknowledgement of liability. A location recce is when someone goes to visit the location where filming will take place to work out if it is suitable to film in. Also to assess if there are any potential lighting or sound issues that could occur. 

The first location that we filmed out was ideal as there was good natural lighting as we didn’t have any light equipment so we needed good natural lighting. This was in the classroom where the girl gets the necklace placed on her bag. The next location was the hallway which was also good as there was natural lighting there too. However, the last placed we filmed was the room where the girl was alone. The lighting in there wasn’t ideal and it was very dark which made the quality of the film slip as it made it look very grainy. 

Evaluation

Our task was to create a 90 second short film for a competition called DepicT! The group came up with the idea to create a horror themed short film about a girl who comes across a cursed necklace that is making her see and do things that she can’t explain and the only way to get rid of the curse is to pass the necklace onto someone else or loose the necklace so that it’s not in her possession anymore. It starts with a young girl in her lesson at school with her classmates and to the right of her someone places the necklace into her bag and then later on in the day she notices it and decides that she likes it and puts it on. After she put the necklace on weird things begin happening to her, for example she is walking down the corridor and she hears a weird voice calling her name but when she looks around nobody is there. Once all these weird things have happened to her she notices that this has all happened since she put the necklace on in the morning. So she tries to leave the room but the door is locked so she throws the necklace on the floor then it opens. Overall I think that the main ideas and the plot was good and we thought it out in detail but then later realised the we wouldn’t be able to put everything we wanted into 90 seconds.

In the group we all assigned each other certain jobs so that we wouldn’t get mixed and end up doing extra work that wasn’t needed. My job in the group was helping with filming and coming up with the original idea for the film that we could then work on and adapt. I also helped with the shot list and the pre-production paper work.

The areas that went well in our work was coming up with the main ideas as the whole group had different points and ideas that we could add to the short film and all the ideas that we came up with were helpful, when it came to filming because if one scenes weren’t working then we could change it to another one and it would fit in. The areas that didn’t go too well was the groups communication. I think that if we had communicated better than the work would have been done to a higher standard and done in much shorter time. I also think that the planning that went into the making our film could have been done in more depth so that when it came to filming it we would have had a clearer idea of what we were doing. If we had planned the work to more detail beforehand I think that our short film would have made more sense as its difficult to get the idea of what is actually happening and how the weird things keep happening to the girl but instead it’s a bit hard to see that. 

     The Necklace – Depict 

Oor Selfie

by Antonis Kassiotis

I found this short movie very effective and it made you think about life. I think that the way that they introduced modern day technology to the elder generation is clever as it made you think about how quick and short life is. I also like how he changed from black and white to colour when he is filming the parents but when they are filming themselves it is in colour. I think that this portrays them feeling young using new technology. Overall I really liked this short movie. 

BaconHorn

by Oliver Marsden

While I was watching Baconhorn I noticed that it didn’t have any cuts of the scenes or different angels. I didn’t really like this short clip I found it boring and didn’t find the idea behind the movie interesting or funny. I think that the filming on this was basic and could have been made more interesting by using effects or cuts of scenes.

BaitBall

by Benjamin Fox

I watched a short 90 second movie called “Bailball”. I like this short movie because it is very simple but it gives off an eerie feel to it by just including different effects and sounds. It starts off very simple with the images with no effect or much sound but as the clip goes on the effects turn the screen blue and red and the sounds becomes louder and more disturbing. Towards the end with the different colours I felt like it was climaxing to a dramatic ending but it stayed the same. I think the ending could have been made more dramatic to fit the rest of the short film. 

The Mystery 

Photo representation from maddy bailey