Requirements for Production Handbook (Depict)
Type of moving image production (Media forms)
What type of media did you produce and what was it for? How did you distribute it?
The type of production we were asked to produce was a 90 second short film for our depict challenge. Our 90 second short film was a comedy which showed the ups and downs of our main protagonists life. The theme present within our short film is isolation, being sugarcoated by comedic effects and humorous dialogue. It incorporates realism in certain aspects as it portrays the trials and tribulations of our main protagonist's life. Once pre-production was completed, we began the actual production which took a longer time frame to complete then expected due to complications with our actor. However, we managed to complete production and the editing process within the deadline. After all of this was completed, we distributed our film on YouTube , however we made it unlisted in order to only allow our teacher to see it. The reason we chose to make it unlisted is because we didn't really want other people to see it and we felt happier if it was confidential.
What other types of moving image media product are there? What different distribution methods are there?
There are many types of moving image media including films, tv shows, music videos, live news and amateur films. All of these are classed as moving image media products as they all include a moving image. These can all be distributed in various ways. There are many social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Snapchat where you can distribute your media products by uploading it as a video on platforms like YouTube or upload it onto your stories on Facebook and Snapchat. With apps like TikTok, you can record your moving image media product right there and upload it on there as well.
Finance and Sources of funding
What sources of funding exist for film, television and other moving image productions?
There are many sources of funding for projects. Public sources of funding include government grants, tax shelters, crowdfunding and investors. Public sources are paid for by the public and help to fund the film. Government grants are where a number of governments run programs to subsidise the cost of producing films. For instance, until it was abolished in March 2011, in the United Kingdom the UK film council provided National Lottery funding to producers, as long as certain conditions were met. Tax shelters are where the same copyright can be sold again to a British company and a further $10 million could be raised, but UK law insists that part of the film is shot in Britain and that the production employs a fair proportion of British actors and crew. Crowdfunding gives the consumer a voice in what films are being produced, allow for riskier, more socially relevant, more innovative, less profit-oriented independent films with smaller and marginal target audiences that can't be found in mainstream cinema and lower the entry-barrier to new filmmakers. Investors are funds invested by an individual who is looking to possibly add more risk to their investment portfolio, or a high-net-worth individual with a keen interest in films. There are also things called private sources of funding. These include, pre-sales, television pre-sales and bridge financing. Pre-sales is selling the right to distribute a film in different territories before the film is completed. Television pre-sales means it is sometimes possible to sell the rights in advance and use the money to pay for the production. Finally, bridge financing is an answer to the common problem of needing funding to get the actors, but not being able to get the funding without actors. These are just a few examples of public and private sources of funding.
Requirements-What might the money be spent on?
Things you might have to spend money on for a moving image text:
.Cast,
.Crew,
.Camera equipment,
.Lighting equipment,
.Location/Studio,
.Food/Drink,
.Accommodation,
.Props,
.Costumes,
.Sound equipment.
What did you have to obtain for your depict challenge?
For our depict challenge we had to obtain cast members , which was originally going to be our friend but she dropped out so we had to use one of our crew members and have the crew become only two people. Our crew was already obtained when we were put into groups yet we still had to assign roles to everybody. We also had to obtain camera and sound equipment which we were able to borrow from the college hence us having to spend nothing on equipment. Our locations were originally going to be in public but due to bad weather we had to change location to also within the college premises so again we didn't have to spend any money hiring a location. Finally we had to obtain props, we used the prop of a book and a lanyard. Both of these were already available to our group so no money was spent. In total we didn't spend anything on our project as all of our needed resources were available to us without having to spend any money.
Personnel-Talent
Crew
What is the makeup of a typical team for a moving image production in:
A) A low budget short
B) A television programme
C) A Hollywood feature film
A low budget short film would incorporate a small crew of about 5-10 people. They include things like directors, producers, sound technicians and camera operators. The project would be short probably less than five minutes. This means that it would likely be a short film or a sketch of some sort. It would also probably be uploaded on a social media site like YouTube or Vimeo as they're free and easily accessible.
A television programme usually has a crew of around 50-100 people. They include the same roles as a low budget short except they have multiple of each role. They also include other roles such as light operators. These projects are often an hour long and are uploaded onto television channels and broadcast to a wide audience, however some of them may be uploaded onto things like Netflix where the audience would have to pay to watch them.
A Hollywood feature film usually has over 500 crew members. They include things like executive producers, casting directors and make-up artists. These projects are usually an hour and a half or longer. They broadcast usually in cinemas or on streaming services like Disney+ or Netflix. This means that the only way to view the film is to pay for it.
Within our group we allocated roles based on everybody's strengths and weaknesses. Katrina and I established early on that we bounce off each other well and create a good humourous effect. This therefore gave us the idea of letting Will be the actor whilst we recorded him and recorded our own overlaying commentary. This therefore meant I was the camera operator recording Will act and Katrina recorded us doing the voiceover and the sound effects.
Cast/Other contributors
People that may contribute to a media text
. Authors (of a potential book series E.G - J.K Rowling),
. Actors,
.Directors,
.Producers,
.Sound Technicians,
.Camera Operators,
.Lighting Technicians,
.Make-Up artists,
.Casting Directors.
Time
What happens when you don't meet the deadlines in the professional media industry?
If you fail to meet deadlines you'll be letting loads of people down. If it's a highly anticipated project, you'll most likely be upsetting fans as well as whoever was going to broadcast it like cinemas or television channels. You'll also be upsetting any potential investors as they'll likely be losing money. Cast and crew members will be unhappy as they'll have to work more and for longer. Failing to meet deadlines could also have a lot of backlash and huge repercussions as it could result in the project being rushed, hence the final product being below par or certain aspects being better than others and just making the whole project seem uneven.
Did you meet deadlines set in class?
As a group, we managed to meet the deadlines set in class. However, only just. We had to refilm a lot of our project due to our originally actor dropping out. This therefore put us on the backfoot as it meant we had lost loads of time with work we couldn't use anymore. Once we'd figured out what to do, we managed to restart and complete filming (with our new actor Will) within the time frame. We also recorded the required sound in that frame as well. Finally we had to edit the short film and have it completed on the deadline and we managed to finish the day before it was due. Overall, I'm quite proud that we completed the task on time as we had to essentially restart with half the time of the other groups.
Equipment/Facilities
How do you obtain equipment in professional moving image production?
Professional media faculty houses provide equipment. They provide things like 4K and HD cameras, 4K camera lenses and audio systems. The cost of renting the camera is £229 per week, the cost of renting the lenses are £126 a week and the cost of renting the audio systems are £25 a day.
What equipment was available to you for your depict challenge? How did you obtain it?
For our depict challenge we had cameras, microphones, tripods, lights, editing software and lenses available to us. We obtained it by renting it our from the college and returning it at the end of each lesson. The editing software was obtained on computers where there was editing machines. We were able to use the equipment frequently which helped us with our depict challenge.
Locations
What are location recces and location releases?
A location recce is a pre-filming visit to a location to determine it suitability for shooting. A location release is having permission to film at a particular location. This goes for everywhere from public areas to private land and buildings. A signed location release shows that you're allowed to be where you are and that the location can be featured in a finished video. Both of these are important as they allow you to see if the location is reasonable to use and then to acquire it.
How and why did you pick specific locations for your depict video?
We chose the Rec and the college cafeteria originally as they went with our script. We wanted to include a bird and thought the Rec was a suitable place for that as there are always birds there and it's close to where we were. The same applies to the cafeteria, it was used within our script as we wanted to incorporate food puns. We thought that therefore the cafeteria would be a suitable place to film. Unfortunately, we had to rewrite our script due to complications with our actor. This meant we had to change the locations within our film. We then decided to film all of our depict challenge within college as we had less time and it went with our script. We then ended up using rooms like classrooms and locker rooms as they went with our new script.
What logistical issues and risks did you face? How did you overcome them?
For a start we had to change the locations of our film as I told prior. Once we had established our new locations, we wanted to begin filming immediately. However, the day we wanted to start filming it snowed, therefore we felt we couldn't film as we felt there was a risk that equipment could get damaged or that we could potentially get hurt, hence us recording our sound on that day instead.
Materials
List the various materials you may need in a production
.Props,
.Costumes,
.Food/Drink,
.Accommodation,
What financial considerations are there when using certain materials?
When acquiring things like props, you have to take into consideration whether it'd be cheaper to rent them or to buy them as some props are very expensive to rent. Things like costumes can also be bought or rented, yet they can also be handmade. This could save the production some money that could be used elsewhere. Food and Drink are important for any set, yet where they come from isn't. To save some money, food and drink could be acquired in a supermarket rather than a takeaway. This would again save the production some money.
Legal Issues
What legal considerations might there be when using certain materials within a media production?
When using props like guns or knives, legal actions may need to be considered to prove that they're only props or that they're not loaded as many accidents have occurred in the past resulting in people losing their lives. You might need some form of legal document to show where you acquired them and that they're fake.
Copyright
Copyright protects your work and stops others from using it without your permission.
You get copyright protection automatically - you don’t have to apply or pay a fee. There isn’t a register of copyright works in the UK.
You automatically get copyright protection when you create:
- original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work, including illustration and photography
- original non-literary written work, such as software, web content and databases
- sound and music recordings
- film and television recordings
- broadcasts
- the layout of published editions of written, dramatic and musical works
You can mark your work with the copyright symbol (©), your name and the year of creation. Whether you mark the work or not doesn’t affect the level of protection you have.
How did copyright affect your depict challenge?
Copyright affected our depict challenge by preventing people from distributing it. Due to the fact we made it unlisted on YouTube, it means that only people with access to it can view it hence stopping it from being shared without our knowing.
Clearance
If you wish to include copyright material in your film or television programme, such as archive film footage, music and consumer brands/products you must have the right to do so in the form of an outright transfer or a license of the copyright from the owner of these rights. This is clearance
Public Liability Insurance
Liability insurance provides coverage for the needs of media clients creating or disseminating content. This includes broad protection for broadcasters and publishers who are at risk while constantly updating their methods of content distribution globally.
Completion Guarantee/Insurance
A completion guarantee is a guarantee to the financiers of a film that the film will be completed in accordance with the approved screenplay and budget and delivered by a certain date.
Regulation
What is OFCOM and what is its function?
The Office of Communications, commonly known as OFCOM, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. OFCOM regulates what's on at what time. For example shows with swearing are not on until after the watershed.
Who regulates the BBC?
Ofcom has responsibility for regulating the content standards of the BBC's television, radio and on-demand programmes.
What is BBFC and what is its function?
The BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification. Its function is to be responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited at cinemas and video works released on physical media within the United Kingdom.
Regulation of moving image products distributed via the internet
Media regulator Ofcom ensures TV and radio audiences are protected in areas such as taste, decency, fairness and privacy. But Ofcom only has control over material broadcast over an analogue or digital TV signal.
The new wave of on-demand services are self-regulated by a group called the Association for Television on Demand, whose code broadly mirrors that of Ofcom.
Online videos are much harder to regulate because anybody anywhere can upload a video to the internet.
But responsible sites have systems for users to tell the administrators about inappropriate material. For example, YouTube does not allow pornography, violence or dangerous or illegal acts.
Classification is the process of giving age ratings and content advice to films and other audiovisual content to help children and families choose what’s right for them and avoid what’s not.
Recommendations are made by our Compliance Officers based on the BBFC’s published Guidelines. These are the result of extensive consultation with people right across the UK, research, and the BBFC’s more than 100 years of experience. They reflect people’s views on film, DVD, Blu-ray, video on demand (VoD) regulation and are regularly updated.
Trade unions and Trade associations
What is a trade union and why are they important?
A trade union is an organisation made up of members (a membership-based organisation) and its membership must be made up mainly of workers. One of a trade union's main aims is to protect and advance the interests of its members in the workplace.
Most trade unions are independent of any employer. However, trade unions try to develop close working relationships with employers. This can sometimes take the form of a partnership agreement between the employer and the trade union which identifies their common interests and objectives.
Trade unions:
- negotiate agreements with employers on pay and conditions,
- discuss major changes to the workplace such as large scale redundancy,
- discuss members' concerns with employers,
- accompany members in disciplinary and grievance meetings,
- provide members with legal and financial advice,
- provide education facilities and certain consumer benefits such as discounted insurance,
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