Halle's media blog 1

Research Brief

Halle Morris

Types of moving image production:

There are lots of different types of media products, for example, print media, television, movies, music, video games, cell phones, various kinds of software, and the internet. However, the media product that we chose to produce was a short film for our assignment one depict and we distributed our film by uploading it to YouTube accounts. There are lots of different ways to distribute films across lots of platforms which include going to the cinema, advertising on tv, or even paying google to use infinite marketing. You can also upload films to DVD/Blue-ray; however, this is becoming less popular due to online streaming and digital download because more people find it easier to be able to watch these from laptops, computes, or even phones.

Finance and sources of funding:

The majority of films are financed through a combination of grants, investors, tax credits and other sources. There are many different sources of funding that exist for film, television or other moving image productions and it is very important that you have the financial ability to support your film or have help from other people who want to help support your film or other big companies such as The National Lottery.

The National Lottery funds BMI to be able to “grow a rich film culture”1 and helps by investing in film production, distribution, education, audience development, and market intelligence and research. There are many other companies that will support you when making you piece of media product across the UK, such as Screen Scotland, Northern Ireland Screen Fund, BBC Films and many more.

People are also able to invest in movies as well if they are interested in what you are trying to achieve and produce. For example, Megan Ellison was able to land Terminator by helping fund for it, and she also rescued two Thomas Anderson films.

Tax credit is also useful when it comes to creating your piece of media, especially films because “for all British qualifying films of any budget level, the Film Production Company (FPC) can claim a payable cash rebate of up to 25% on UK qualifying expenditure”2.

The cost of producing film can be very expensive when you include and add up all the requirements that are needed including, crew wages, production design, live set/studio costs, costumes, catering, accommodation, transportation, travel and even music. For our own short film, we had to keep in consideration the amount of money that we could spend and were going to spend on our product.

We had to buy costumes, specifically masks, that our characters would wear in the film, we had to buy props, such as a pizza and pizza box, and we had to supply food for the crew and actors as we were filming. We didn’t have to spend any money when it came to location or travel fee’s as we were using a house that belonged to one of the crew members, and we were all able to get there easily.

Personnel:

There are a variety of different rolls when it comes to filming moving image productions however, different productions will need different crew members.

For example, when filming a low budget short film there is usually a camera operator, director, director of photography and a sound recordist.

A camera operator is in charge of capturing the action on set for the film. The director is manly in charge of he actors, laying out the scene and working with the actors to create the movie.

The director of photography takes all the behind the scenes photos, as well as still images from movie scenes and takes the photos used for the film posters.

A sound recordist is the person that is in charge or recording all the sound on set, which includes dialogue and any “real time” sound effects that are used. If you were filming a television program, as well as these, you would also need a first and second assistant camera, grips, gaffer, boom operator and a production designer.

A first assistant camera (or focus puller) are responsible for focusing and keeping focus whilst filming, as well as setting up the camera equipment at the beginning of the day and taking it down at the end. However, the second assistant camera is in charge of operating the clapper at the beginning of every take, as well as load and unload the film from the camera and they usually maintain the records and paperwork of the camera crew.

A grip is a technician that works on the set and helps to build and maintain the camera and lighting equipment. They also help to build dollies, tracks, cranes and other equipment needed to film a scene.

A gaffer is the lead technician and is responsible for all the lighting set-ups for filming and whilst the photographer is in charge of taking pictures, the gaffer is there to “make their vision a reality”3. A boomer operator is the person that holds the ‘boom mic’ which is a long pole with a microphone attached at one end and it is held above the scene whilst filming. When needed to, they also attach microphones to any actors or hosts that need it.

The production designer is in charge of designing all the sets and costumes/outfits that people will wear in each scene and they work with the director to visualize each take.

The difference between the amount of crew members needed for a low budget short film and a television series is based off of the fact that usually television series are streamed on more channels and devices meaning they usually start off with a higher budget and will end up making more money overall.

When making a Hollywood feature film, as well as these crew members you would also need visual/special effects supervisor, a film loader, Steadicam operator, production sound mixer, props master and a stunt coordinator.

The visual/special effects supervisor helps to create any special effects that need to be created on camera, such as fire or puppetry, and gives an overview to how it would look.

A film loader loads and unloads the film into the camera (taking this job away from the second assistant camera).

Another crew member is a Steadicam operator is someone who is specially trained to hold motion steady camera rigs.

The production sound mixer ensures that all the sound on set is record and mixed, and they also pick out the microphones and recording devices that will be use when filming.

The props master is in charge of finding and keeping track of all props on set that appear on screen to add authenticity.

Finally, the stunt coordinator casts and supervises stunt performers, they sign and supervise all on-set stunts assisted by the director.

A Hollywood feature film has more crew members than a television series and short low budget film because they usually have a lot more money that are able to spend to create their media production and afterwards they are usually streamed on more platforms and across lots of different places. Hollywood feature films are also made out to be a lot more of a big deal because they takes lots of precise skill, time, thought and effort.

When creating our short film we cast ourselves with different roles to make the production run smoother. When it came to filming, despite all working together and taking turns trying and practicing different things, I was mainly in charge of holding the camera and recording, one of my partners was in charge of the microphone and recording the sound, an my other partner helped with recording sound effects as well as taking part in front of the camera. Personally, I have had no experience behind a camera like this when it comes to filming, however I have taken photos before but this experience was completely different and a lot more difficult in my opinion. When filming there will also be other cast and contributors that will be on set.

For example, there will be the cast that is on camera at the time, as well as cast members that are also in the movie but aren’t on screen at the time. Depending on the type of media product you are creating there may also be people such as stunt doubles. There may also be hair and make-up crew that are there to get each actor into character as well as a costume supervisor who are there to check you are wearing the correct outfit for each scene. There might also be caterers who are there to make and/or provide the food for all cast and crew members that we be there.

Time:

It is very unlikely that a media product misses a deadline, especially if it is a big movie such as a Hollywood feature film because producers, directors and everyone in charge of each specific production element are always checking weeks in advance of any set date what they need to do and the amount of time they have to complete it. Everything is usually very scheduled when it comes to big media productions and a lot directors have already had lots of experience working with deadlines and they are able to set a realistic and specific date to have the production finished by.

However, deadlines aren’t always met and there are mistakes that can be made to mess up and create issues when having to meet a deadline. Usually, directors are in contact with whoever is in charge of the film and who’s in charge of the deadline/release dates and are able to tell weeks in advance if they are going to be able to meet the deadline given. If they aren't there isn’t much of a penalty and there usually isn’t anything anyone can do about it so the deadline (and possibly the release date) would have to be pushed back so that the production crew are able to complete the work efficiently and effectively.

When creating our short film we were able to meet our deadline and when it came to filming we were actually slightly ahead of schedule, which was effective because the date we had originally discussed to start filming on had to be pushed back but overall we were able to complete our short film in time for the deadline.

Equipment/Facilities:

If you needed to obtain equipment for a media production you would most likely get it from a professional media facility house. A media facility house is a commercial company offering a rage of TV and film facilities to hire. You can get lots of different equipment from a media facility house such as camera equipment, microphones, props, as well as any requirements you need for post production such as sound effects etc. The equipment we used was a camera and a microphone. We borrowed the microphone from college and we already had the camera. We also used different props as well, such as two masks, a pizza and a pizza box. One of my partners bought the two masks from a local costume shop, and I bought the pizza from Tesco and we were able to obtain the pizza box from a local dominos.

Good quality cameras, when bought new, can range from anywhere from £800-£2,000 or more. With all the other camera equipment too it come come to over £5,000 in total. When creating our short film, we only used a camera and a microphone.

Locations:

We filmed our short film at one of our houses, so we didn’t have to fill out a location consent form because we owned the property. We also filmed part of the film on a little bit of field at the back of college so we also didn’t have to fill out a consent for for that location either. A location recce is a term used in the UK which refers to a pre-visit to the location you are planning on filming at to make sure it is suitable and safe for filming (this is usually carried out by the director). Whereas a location release form is a document giving you written permission to film in a specific location given to you by the location’s owner. We picked these locations for our short film because they were easily accessible and fit right for our movie because it had the right background for the genre we were going for, which was quite gloomy, but still bright. We discussed in the team that this location would be best suited after ruling out other locations that wouldn’t look right or that we wouldn’t be able to use or get to. One issue that we faced is that when we were filming outside, we had planed to do it when it was dark but realized that we wouldn’t be able to use lights as we were on a field and had nowhere to plug them in. We overcame this by changed the tone of the movie slightly and instead of filming when it was dark we decided to film when it was grey/gloomy outside. After discussing this we realized that this would fit better with outcome we were hoping to have anyway.

A location release form is used to make sure you get permission to film in specific areas, no matter who owns it. Its also used to make sure that if anything you do is reported to the police (for example, your movie requires guns, and you bring prop guns) then they know what you are doing with the props, and they know they are fake. If you fail to get a consent to film in a specific place this can result in a lawsuit.

Materials:

In addition to equipment, cast and crew, you might also need a backdrop and scenery for media production. These are usually especially made for each film and takes lots of time and effort to create. If you wanted a piece of scenery you can hire different people or even complained to make the specific piece of set that you need to create the scene. Depending on the type of set that you are trying to create, it can be very expensive. Often a set can be build for under $10,000 as compare to the cost of renting a location which can quickly be significantly higher.

Legal issues:

Some legal considerations you might need to look into would be copyright, you need to make sure that nothing you have produced has been copied or taken from other productions, including music. Copyright is very important when it comes to creating any sort of production, and you automatically get copyright when your create any sort of original literary or non-literary work. Copyright protects your work and people can only use it with your permission. It also prevents people from distributing it, whether it’s for free or they are selling it. It also prevents people from renting or lending copies of your work to people, or showing your work in public without your permission. Copyright also continues across seas which means people in any other countries still cannot copy and use your work. In most countries copyright lasts for life plus 50 years for most types of media products. Film clearance is the process of obtaining written permission use everything that you do not already own rights to in your film. For example, you would need written permission to use clips from a film you do not own in your own film. Public liability insurance is a system put in place to protect the purchaser from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and other similar claims. Completion guarantee or completion insurance is a guarantee to the financiers of a film that the film will be completed with the approved screenplay, budget and will be delivered by a certain date.

Regulation:

Ofcom is a regulatory birdy in cooperation with government that oversees everything we do I day to day life. Ofcom stands for The Office of Communication and is there to protect people from telecom frauds and sharp practices. The BBC is a British public service broadcaster and is in charge of providing impartial public broadcasting. The BBC stands for British Broadcasting Corporation and is regulated by Ofcom.

Trade Unions and Trade Associations:

A regulatory body is “a government authority that is responsible for exercising autonomous dominion over some area of human activity in a licensing and regulations capacity.”4 They establish national standards for qualifications and to ensure consistent compliance with them. A trade union is a group of employees that maintain and improve their conditions of employment and they are important because the play an essential role in democratic societies. The provide services to members, including legal services.