Unit 4: Pre-Production Portfolio

Learning Aim A

Definition

What is pre-production?

Pre-production is 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. Pre-production formally begins once a project has been greenlit. It involves finalizing the script, hiring the actors and crew, finding locations, determining what equipment you'll need and figuring out the budget. At this stage, finalizing preparations for production go into effect. Financing will generally be confirmed and many of the key elements such as principal cast members, director and cinematographer are set. By the end of pre-production, the screenplay is usually finalized and satisfactory to all the financiers and other stakeholders.

What is the purpose of carrying out pre-production?

The purpose of pre-production is gathering everything you need before actual production starts, which makes it an essential phase of the filmmaking process. It is also to sort out arrangements made for the necessary elements to be available to the film-makers at the appropriate times. Sets are constructed, the crew is hired, financial arrangements are put in place and a start date for the beginning of principal photography is set.

Why does pre-production need to take place?

Pre-production is the time to research and understand exactly how much money you need to finance each stage of the filmmaking process. You want to think about actors, crew, costumes, catering, equipment, location rental, and any special permissions you’ll need for filming. It is also to check if it abides by the Adherence to Codes of Practice and Regulations like BBFC, Pegi, Ofcom, ASA and ISPO

What are the requirements for pre-production?

The requirements for pre-production are:

Lock Shooting Script.
Finalize the Budget.
Start your Business.
Hire Key Production Heads.
Break Down the Script.
Create the Storyboard.
Scout & Secure Locations.
Cast your Talent.

What is the process involved in pre-production?

During pre-production, you will finalize your script, hire your cast and crew, scout locations, find equipment and build a shooting schedule. It is, therefore, imperative that this essential planning stage is well-managed. Logistics would be conducted in planning out dates, locations and call sheets.

What makes pre-production different from production?

The pre-production stage of the filmmaking production process is where you create a vision for your film, a plan for production (based on that vision), and secure all the resources (humans, space, and equipment) you will need to complete your film. You'd also plan out the logistics and The production stage, also known as principal photography, is when all the actual shooting and recording happens — with cameras, actors, and location licenses. For many, it’s the most exciting part of the filmmaking process.

What makes pre-production different from post-production?

Post-production is where all of the pieces of your film come together. It involves various post-production techniques including editing, color grading, and visual effects to turn your raw footage into a finished film.

In the post-production stage, you can do things like add lens flare to sci-fi shorts, flying digital doubles in fight scenes. You’ll also be streamlining all your jump cuts and high-speed chases into the perfect action sequence.

Types

Finance

Personal finance is the financial management which an individual or a family unit performs to budget, save, and spend monetary resources over time, taking into account various financial risks and future life events.

Public finance provides news, analysis, opinion and insight to help public finance professionals stay informed about policy and practice developments affecting their work.

A financial conglomerate is a group or subgroup formed of companies operating in the banking or investment sector and in the insurance sector.

Joint financing means an arrangement whereby the Bank and one or more parties other than the Borrower collectively finance common categories of expenditures, project components or sub-components, contracts or packages of the same project, or of the same part of a project.

Time

Time in pre-production is something that you 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 ok to use a certain location at a certain time.

Pros of time management

Good reasons to manage you time in the pre production

it allows for a clear precise timetable for all to work from
it means that your not wasting any time at all
you can keep to you deadlines
you have something to go back to if things dont go in the direction that you want them to

Facilities

Facilities not only include a place to complete shooting productions. For example, an editing room might be needed as part of the facilities. Equipment and software needed to complete the production are also considered part of facilities. Some facilities in film production would include: cameras, tripods/camera rigs, lighting equipment, sound equipment, editing software and computer hardware.

If certain facilities are not instantly available or expensive to buy outright, then outsourcing could be an alternative to save money. Outsourcing is utilising other services to provide the equipment or complete the task. You may even decide to complete a task prior to the use of a facility to save time budget. The opportunity to utilise a specialist contributor for their expertise could be beneficial.

Locations

A great location scout is able to go out there and find things that the movie needs creatively, that work with what’s on the page. They can actually go out there and make it happen. Anybody can write a scene on top of a London landmark but unless you speak to the city of London and its boroughs and the people who own the landmarks in question, you’re not going to be shooting there and that scene’s not going to take place there. Does the scene have to take place at the London Eye or can it take place at another tall building in London? That opens up hundreds of possibilities than just that specific location. A great location scout is able to do what’s best for the movie or commercial and what’s actually possible in terms of it being made. They’re able to have a little bit of flexibility in choosing the locations where the film / commercial is shot.

When you’re scouting for a location for independent films or commercials, you want to look at a location that is more economic. For the most part, you aren’t going to have a huge crew and a huge security team that can really lock something down. That’s going to be your space, that’s your place of business. Is there power available there? Where can I set up food? Are there going to be people there? – Strangers there watching and distracting us, getting in the way of the shots? You want to look at a place that is your space, that you’re going to feel comfortable in, that you’re not going to have to sneak your way into. If you’re going to be setting up shop there, you want it to be yours, you want it to be legit, you want it to be able to fit in what you need creatively.

Personnel

A personnel is a film crew is a group of people, hired by a production company, to produce a film or motion picture. The crew is distinguished from the cast, as the cast are understood to be the actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for characters in the film. The crew is also separate from the producers, as the producers are the ones who own a portion of either the film studio or the film's intellectual property rights.

Materials

The material that would be needed for the production of a film consists of:

Camera.
Highly portable camera.
Tripod.
External microphone.
Lighting.
Gimbal.
Editing/production software.
Video editing hardware.

Codes of Practice & Legislation

Codes of practice are guidelines and rules that members of a profession, trade, occupation, organization, or union are expected to adhere to. They do not usually carry the force of legislation and are often rules crafted in response to actual or potential dangers observed on the job.

Legislation is enacted by a legislative body and applies to all citizens of the jurisdiction in which it was enacted. Health and safety legislation is geared specifically to protect workers and the public by controlling the risks of injury and illness that could occur in the workplace.

Workplaces and organizations that breach these health and safety standards are liable to prosecution by concerned authorities.

Examples

Sectors

LAA: CORE ASSESSMENT

Budget Breakdown

Format: The format used for a budget breakdown would be a template, as it can be used to calculate the prices overall and help to categorise specific things that need to be budgeted. The type of document that it resembles is a grid table as it shows a grid with different sections, which is great as it compares with the pricing of the budget.

Function: The function of the budget breakdown in the pre-production stage is to set how much it will cost to make the film. This helps to avoid over-spending with money and to create a deal that would be of good value to the film company.

The budget may vary depending on how popular the film is predicted to be as filmmakers would want to put a high budget on films that are popular like franchises like Avengers, SpiderMan or in unusual places like under the ocean or on the mountains.

Purpose: The purpose of the budget breakdown is to make sure that a film is being set to an appropriate budget as to how well filmmakers predict it will do in the box office.

Risk Assessment

Format: The format that would be used for the risk assessment would also be in a grid with sections that tells a possible risk during production and the chances of it happening during the shoot, and ways to avoid it.

Function: The function of the risk assessment is way of the filmmakers to highlight any potential hazards that may occur to the cast and crew and conduct ways to prevent them from happening This is done so that the production of a film remains as safe and reliable as possible. E.g., the crew falls due to loose equipment like wiring, the cast gets injured during a stunt as the set isn't safe enough, lighting equipment may fall down on the cast and crew and etc.

Purpose: The risk assessment aims to ensure that production remains a safe for the cast and crew as things have been put in place to ensure that no harm is done to the cast and crew and that everything runs methodically.

My Personal Work

Shooting Schedule

Format: The format of the shooting schedule would be a document of a table of the time of the filming and where the location of filming is taking place.

Function: The function of the shooting schedule in pre-production is to get the filming locations and the time organised so the cast and crew will be at the right location at the right time. This will give everyone involved a peace of mind as they know where they are expected to be and what time they are expected to come to the set.

Purpose: The purpose of the shooting schedule is for everyone involved in the production stage to know what time they need to arrive in set, e.g the crew may come at an earlier time than the cast as they would need to set up and ensure that everything is in order before filming.

My Personal Work

Call Sheets

Format: The format of a call sheet that is created by the would consists of a table of sections which would include details like the location, cast call times (what time you arrive to work) and the shooting schedule.

Function: The function of the call sheet is for the cast and crew to know in advance of what they will be doing on that shooting day like location details, scenes that need to be shot on that day, crew member phone numbers and etc. This is conducted so that everyone involved knows what it is that they need to do.

Purpose: The purpose of a call sheet is to ensure peace of mind for everyone involved in the production as the sheet provides all the details of what is going to be happening on each shooting day and what the cast and crew needs to do. This is useful in production as everyone in different departments can come in the set or location knowing what it is they are going to do on that filming day.

Shot List

Format: The format of a shot list consists of a document of of sections that identifies the scene, shot and type of camera angles and framing that consists of in filming.

Function: The function of a shot list is to help directors identify how a scene is going to look. This consists of scene number, shot number, brief description of characters, camera angle, camera movement, camera equipment, the framing and the location.

Purpose: The purpose of a shot list is for production to be easier having given all the information on how a scene is planned to be filmed with a brief description which will help filmmakers identify the mood of the film so it is filmed as accurately as it has been planned out in pre-production.

Storyboard

Format: The format of a storyboard is conventionally a rectangle or a square in which you can draw the action of what the characters do in the scene in terms of mise-en-scene. They are what a scene will look like in the final outcome, providing a visual illustration of what each shot looks like in the shot list.

A storyboard would have a section where you can write the camera framing and SFX and how long the shot is going to be, similar to the shot list. Outside the square box, you can draw arrows which would signify where you want the camera to go.

Function: The function of a storyboard is that it helps the cast and crew in what is happening in the scene, in terms of action, facial expressions, gestures, camera framing, etc. It essentially an easier version of the shot list as it filmmakers can see what the characters are supposed to do in the scene.

Purpose: The purpose of a storyboard is to guide filmmakers in the production process. For filmmakers, it is basically like a roadmap to how a film is supposed to be made, which helps production to be a easier experience for everyone involved.

My Personal Work

Mock Ups/Layouts

Format: The format of a mock up or a layout would be basically a storyboard but a rough sketch of what the proposed idea is supposed to be.

Function: The function of a mockup or a layout is to basically help the filmmakers to get a good final design of the characters in the scene for the storyboard. This is effective as it may take some time to make a good design so the filmmakers would need mockups as a way of work in progress.

Purpose: The purpose of the mock ups and layouts is to allow the filmmakers to make mistakes with the drafted version to ensure that a good version is created which will show the progress with the mockups and layouts.

Location Recce

Format: The format of a location recce would be a table which would show a picture of the location and other things about the facilities in the area. It is also set in a way to help the cast and crew to establish the place that they will film in, any information about the location like nearby restaurants

Function: The function of a location recce would be to help the cast and crew to familiarise themselves with the location that they are going to film at. It also helps for the crew to judge the location's suitability. This helps filmmakers as they will know where to set up production equipment like camera, lighting, rigging and etc.

Purpose: The purpose of the location recce is to ensure that the location proposed in pre-production is suitable for the cast and crew to film their scenes. This may be as they have applied codes of practice and legislation as they has asked for permission from the owner of an environment to film.

My Personal Work

Equipment Booking

Format: Equipment booking would usually be conducted in a table with sections where you can mark the equipment that you need for production as it will help set out the budget breakdown of the equipment that will be used to film.

Function: The function of equipment booking is basically a checklist of the quantity of the assets you will need for the film shoot as this helps with setting a budget as it controls the cost of the equipment as helps a movie studio not spend too much money on equipment that they may not need.

Purpose: The purpose of equipment booking is to help movie studios to choose the right amount of equipment they need to film with so their budget remains at a good price.

My Personal Work

Script

Format: The format of a script would be a document of instructions on what the camera is doing, what the character is doing and the lines of the characters in the scene.

Function: The function of a script is to create the main concept of video production in written form, and it provides a predetermined look at what the scene will look like in the final outcome. It would be given to the actors in advance to help prepare for the scene as what the script says.

Purpose: The purpose of the script is to, quite simply, help the actors to know what to say to portray their characters correctly in a film. It also helps the actors to prepare what they need to say, which helps in them giving a more engaging and convincible acting performance.

Sound Log

Format: The format of a sound log would essentially be a sheet of paper or alternatively a digital document made by the person in charge of sound to record each file during recording.

Function: The function of a sound log is to list the type of sounds that will be implemented in the scene so that they can be heard by the audience.

Purpose: The purpose of sound logs is to help sound mixers to add the right sound to the film to ensure that it looks accurate as what is being shown visually in the scene.

Video Log

Format: The format of a video log is a table of shots and takes of a video. This document may be the longest out of all the pre-production methods which depends on how many takes it took to film a scene.

Function: The function of a video log is to record all the film takes / retakes and duration of the shoot for the scene. Filmmakers would have to comment on the shot whether it was god, or it wasn't up to scratch and have to retake the scene as a result.

Purpose: The purpose of a video log sheet is for filmmakers to see what was said about each shot that was done, it could even help the editors to know which filmed footage is going to be used as the final version as the crew will leave comments about each take and the shot it is about. This is effective as this will make post-production easier for the people editing the film.

My Personal Work

Learning AiM B+C

Regarding the pre-production work I've done for Unit 10, it has been a somewhat busy and stressful time having to write many pages of scripts, shot lists and storyboards for my 10-minute film. However, I'm convinced that the documents my team and I have constructed will yield excellent results in the production + post-production phases. I have completed specific pre-production documents that were important for my film. Here are the documents I have done:

Risk Assessment

Concerning filming, we needed to set out potential hazards that could occur during production to the cast and crew. To do this, we scouted the location and the surrounding area online by pictures for our chosen location, and we listed things like loose wiring, the basement's stairs being too small, etc. This method of pre-production was effective as it shows that my team and I thought the whole process through and considered the safety of everyone involved first as our biggest priority.

Script

We divided the writing of our 10-minute film among ourselves, with each person responsible for a specific part of the narrative. I was in charge of the disequilibrium, which involved planning the heist scene. This part of the film is crucial as it sets up the characters and the central part of the story. At first, I struggled with how to write this scene, so I turned to YouTube videos for writing techniques, which helped me gain knowledge in that area. When writing my script, I included conflicts among the characters to show the audience the relationships between the criminals. For instance, Bonnie and Clyde argued with Mitchell over his joke about the mastermind not speaking up. The writing technique used effectively establishes the relationship between the characters. This keeps the audience engaged during the part where there is instability in the story.

Location Recce

In order to plan out our storyboards and script, we needed to find a suitable location for our film. After weighing different options, we ultimately settled on utilizing both a basement and a house as our primary setting. Thankfully, we were able to find a warehouse and studio that met all of our requirements on a rental website. The location we found has a convenient basement downstairs and a house setting upstairs, making it the perfect place to film. After reviewing the space online, we determined that the Haggerston Basement is the optimal choice for our needs, as it is located near our site and possesses all of the necessary features within one building.

Shot List

To bring my story to life, I had to plan the camera shots for each scene beforehand carefully. While I had some prior experience with framing shots, this particular project was quite challenging. I had to create more than 70 distinct shots for my script, which was over a minute long. I aimed to incorporate a range of close-ups and wide angles to spotlight both the characters and the basement environment. My goal was to create a dynamic edit that seamlessly cuts between various camera angles, resulting in a captivating viewing experience. Rating this document out of 10, I would say 6/10. It was relatively tedious to say the least but it would be very useful for us to film.

Equipment Booking

We have created a document listing the equipment we will use for our project. We have selected the Canon 600D camera for filming to ensure high quality. This camera has excellent resolution and will enhance the overall quality of our film. To ensure uninterrupted filming, we have reserved a spare 600D battery. Additionally, we have arranged for a shoulder rig for one of the cameras to stabilise our shots and a gimbal stabiliser to achieve smooth footage. We have booked some equipment to produce our film, making it more immersive and fitting for the action genre. This will be very effective.

Storyboard

In order to enhance the structure of my narrative, I decided to create a storyboard alongside my shot list. The storyboard served as a visual representation of the shots I intended to take, with a particular focus on the disequilibrium section. With more than 70 shots to capture, I needed to create over 16 pages of drawings. I made sure to include a diverse range of close-ups and wide-angle shots that were appropriate for my chosen genre. Rating it out of 10, I would give this a 7/10. This is because although it was a time-consuming process, I am pleased with the outcome and confident that I captured all the necessary shots.

Shooting Schedule

Regarding the shooting schedule, we have suggested filming on March 24th, 2023, at Haggerston Basement. However, we will likely only complete some filming at that location. If this occurs, we will arrange additional filming days to finish what is left. It will probably take us two filming days to complete, but this may vary depending on the production pace. We must ensure we have enough time to capture all the necessary shots, so we will monitor the progress closely and adjust the schedule accordingly.

Sound Log

The recording of the voiceovers and music for my upcoming movie has been completed. Initially, selecting the appropriate sounds for my film was quite challenging, but now I am confident that I have made the right choices. I have incorporated voiceovers in specific scenes to ensure that the actors' voices are clear and audible. Moreover, I have carefully chosen non-copyrighted music that perfectly matches the tone and mood of each part of the story. Personally, I didn't like this experience as I feel as I'm restricted to only using certain amounts of sound rather than having a variety. Rating out of 10, I would give this a 4/10. I have also logged in sound effects that are appropriate to the scene for a more immersing experience. This approach will significantly enhance the movie experience for the audience, as the sound will fully immerse them in the story from beginning to end.

Video Log

The video log sheet has been the most tedious experience in the pre-production phase. I listed all the shots from the disequilibrium phase of the film in the log. Although this has been time-consuming in the worst way, it is still a valuable document for me as this puts the post-production phase at ease as I would know the shots to add and the pictures to avoid. Rating this out of 10, I would give this a 5/10. This is because it's long to go through the vast array of footage filmed, logging each one based on how well tthe shot went, however it reaps its benefits as it helps speed the rate of editing.

Overall, the pre-production work for Unit 10 was very stressful. Still, given the vast array of documents, my final film will be professional and methodical to the genre of that field.

Learning Aim D

When it came to pre-production, it helped us organise how we were going to make our film. However, there are times when we deviate from the initial plan. Our short film, unfortunately, is an example. Filming everything in our desired location was impossible during production, which caused us to alter the originally planned ending. As a result, we had to make changes to several pre-production documents, including one in particular. As a result, we devised creative solutions when things didn't go as planned.

With this happening, multiple pre-production documents had to be changed. Here are the pre-production documents that were affected:

Script: The script did not go as planned and serves as an example of production gone wrong. One of the significant issues with the script was that we only sent it to the actors on the day of production, giving them just a few hours to learn their lines. Our actions were unprofessional and inadequate, and we should have sent the script to them at least a week before. It became evident as the cameras started rolling, and there were numerous cuts as the actors struggled to remember their lines. To address this, we have resorted to showing the actors in a close-up while they deliver their lines, with the script displayed underneath to help them stay on track. As a result, not all the lines of my script were read out. I was initially going to do the Disequilibrium + Resolution Part 1. However, due to time, my team and I decided to axe Part 1 of the Resolution as filming it without the basement seems pointless.

During production, many actors struggled to remember their lines, especially during my part, which is the disequilibrium phase, which had the most dialogue as it was the planning scene of the heist. The actor who played the mastermind in my film stumbled over his lines multiple times. After reviewing the footage in post-production, it was clear that this was unacceptable. To fix this, I had the actor record his lines in a quiet room with a microphone and added the audio in editing. This effective method made the audio much more precise than the original recording. However, there is a noticeable difference in audio quality between the warehouse audio and the quiet room audio during the shots. This is because the audio in the quiet room is more transparent and has no echo, unlike the warehouse audio. To avoid this issue, we could have filmed a close-up shot of the mastermind during the warehouse scene to ensure no sound change. To regards on how the script was managed, we decided to film again but this time to improvise so it saves us all time.

Location Recce: Regarding the location recce, we initially proposed filming at Haggeston Basement. However, we ran out of time and only got to film some of what we wanted. This could have been better as we hoped to film all our scenes in the basement. However, situations like the actors forgetting their lines and taking long to set up for production are what wasted our time the most with that location. Therefore, the change we set out was to film in different places. We filmed in the corridor in the school for the police scenes and the green room where the mastermind gets caught. As a result of the locations, we had to change the plot. However, I feel the ending is good enough to conclude the narrative.

Shot List & Storyboard: Although these documents were not significantly affected, we faced some challenges while shooting. Due to the actors struggling with their lines initially, we could only capture some of the desired shots. Additionally, time constraints forced us to make changes to ditch loads of camera angles. However, my team and I managed our time efficiently and filmed alternative scenes with the remaining time in the basement. Most of the shots were close-ups to make things easier for the actors, which helped them memorise their lines quickly. I was initially going to do the Disequilibrium + Resolution Part 1. However, due to time, my team and I decided to axe Part 1 of the Resolution as filming it without the basement seems pointless.

Shooting Schedule: We originally planned to film in the basement on the 24th March, 2023. However, we, unfortunately, ran out of time and didn't manage to film everything we needed. So we had to create additional dates to film. We filmed the mastermind scenes at the start of the movie on the 17th May 2023 in the green room at school. However, the shots we filmed were too dark; therefore, we decided to re-shoot it again on the 25th May and then film the final scenes of the film on the 31st. We filmed the remaining scenes in the corridor and the green room of the school site. I changed the document of the shooting schedule for it to reflect the changes made.

Regarding pre-production, we could not do about 40 percent of what we would do. To learn from this experience, my team and I need to organise the phase more methodically. We must know what scenes we would film and roughly how long that would take. However, I believe we've followed most of the pre-production documents, and I have crafted a short film conventional to the action genre.