Pre-Production report
What is Pre-Production?
Pre-production is a necessary action needed to take place
before any filming can happen, it’s arguably the most important part about film
making and can be disastrous if done incorrectly.
Finance:
Borrowing money-Finance is arguably the most
important part of preproduction because nothing can be made without Money,
films get financed different ways including borrowing money from production
studios like Disney or they ask the BFI which is funded by the national lottery.
Some films have also been created with help from crowd funding websites such as
fund raiser or KickStarter which allows people to donate and help you. The BFI
is a company which promotes new and original films, the BFI is funded by
National Lottery funds in order to give more opportunities to film makers all
over the UK. KickStarter is a website where anybody can post their ideas for
things whether it’s a movie, Game or Physical product and the posters set a
budget that they’d like to reach for their idea, they then ask other users for
funding and if users think it’s a good idea then the idea will gradually start
being funded.
Budget and risks-All films will have a set
budget even if the budget is small or big, an example of this includes “Pirates
of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” as this movie has the highest known budget
set at almost 380 million dollars. Finance
is required in order to pay for the necessary equipment, actors, props, food
and equipment operators because you can’t make a high production film without
any one of these things. However setting a budget doesn’t always go to plan, an
example of this can be said for “Evan Almighty” which had an original budget of
140 million dollars but ended up going 60 million dollars over budget which made
it the most expensive comedy ever made.
Logistics: Logistics are the important information and paperwork needed
in order for filming to take place.
Time-
time is important as all personnel working on the film need to have individual
schedules for the filming, otherwise nothing can take place, and Equipment
operators will usually have schedules where they need to be in earlier than
actors in order to set up equipment. If an Actor is not on time then there will
be a re-plan which involves bringing scenes forward to shoot or they will
rewrite the script and put a different character in the scene.
Location- Planning filming locations is important as a certain location
can be used to set the mood for a specific scene, for example, an Alley for a
suspenseful scene or a park for a romantic scene, getting a location scout to
find locations to film isn’t much of a challenge.
However
the producer must consider any permissions they may need in order to access the
grounds if it’s privately owned. There also needs to be plans in place if a
relocation is required because of potential bad weather or if somewhere isn’t
fit for filming.
Personnel- Personnel needed in order to
film include the Producer, Director, Actors, Equipment operators, maintenance
crew/First aid, Editors Etc. The Producer is important as they hire all the
other personal needed and they fund the film, the Director makes the film
through their vision and is in charge of everyone else on set if the producer
is not present. The Actors however are arguably the most important and
essential personal needed to film because without Actors, you can’t make a
movie. Maintenance crews bust be present during filming to ensure everything is
working as intended and that nothing goes wrong, first aid is very important
and essential on set also as they ensure the health and safety of all personal
during production. Editors are responsible for any post production work.
However replacements will need to be planned ahead of time in case of any
accidents or miscommunication, an example of this is Dumbledore from “Harry
Potter”, as Richard Harris who was the first actor to play him died before the
movies ended, they recast the character to Michael Gambon in order for
production to continue.
Materials- Materials needed in order
for a film to work are “props” or “property”, because you can’t make an action
movie involving weaponry without props. Props are essential as movies are made
around the props, props are also one of the most recognisable elements of any
movie or TV programme. Props also help the actors get in to their roles easier
and allows them to feel invested in their role. Prop builder Spur Creative
talks about the importance of props in films as they say “It helps the story come alive,
and helps viewers activate their imagination more readily”. Spur creative also talks about how recognizable props make certain
characters and an example they use is Indiana Jones with his Hat and Whip.
Facilities- Facilities need to be
located and booked because of the amount of other producers trying to make
films in the same locations, it can be hard to find an open slot when there are
loads of other movies trying to be shot at the same time. Facilities are locations which are essential
to create films including sound stages like Pinewood where “Star wars The Force
Awakens” and “007” was filmed. Disney has spent over 200 Million Dollars on
Pinewood to make their movies and even have booked slots there until 2029! This
allows them to continue using the studios even if Brexit goes through which
shows how planning ahead can save time and money. This proves how important pre-production is
and how necessary Facilities are.
They
may also use recording studios in order to add in monologue, voice overs or
even use them to make their own songs for the film, this brings us right in to
copyright and fair use.
Codes of practice and regulation:
Clearance and copyright-
Copyright has a major effect on preproduction because plans are needed to be put
in place on whether to use copyrighted music or not, In order to use
copyrighted music you must ask permission from the original creator of the
work, chances are high that you will have to pay for the right to use it
without being sued if you use it without permission, Creating your own music
for a film is a good way to avoid this.
Legal- Before filming anything, the
producer needs to make sure that they are eligible to make a film if it’s based
off of something like a book for example, they also need to be careful not to
make a movie that looks suspiciously similar to another as this will lead to a
law suit. It is helpful for the producer to have a lawyer on hand in case of
any unforeseeable accidents which may occur to any cast or crew. Production
companies tend to form smaller companies just in case of a law suit therefore,
the smaller company gets fined and not the major company.
Regulations- Regulations are put in to
place in order to protect people who are working both on the production and
people who are watching from the side lines. Regulations for preproduction’s
include public liability which means that people in public may be at risk of
being injured by production equipment or being shown on camera without consent
therefore it is a regulation to have the area covered in “filming” signs so
that people know to avoid that area, the BBFC will have regulations in place
for any situation including payments, the producers pay actors the minimum
amount per day and the agents negotiate higher amounts which usually leads to
main characters being paid more than side characters. Failure to plan for
potential risks can lead to costly disasters including injuries, this has
become apparent in productions like “Star Wars” when Harrison Ford broke his
leg because a hydraulic door crushed it, but Disney weren’t affected by the law
suit because they had planned ahead and developed a smaller production company
for the movie which received the fine, this avoids any bad publicity towards the
big Production company.
Scripts, storyboards, risk
assessments and preproduction documents: These are written and
planned before filming starts however they can be changed mid production
causing increase in budget and time, for example Alien 3 is a culprit of this and had multiple rewrites mid production and went through 3 directors before finally getting finished. Scripts need to read and approved in order
to ensure the producer gets the age rating on the movie that they want and
don’t go overboard, there is a potential risk of scripts being rewritten while
filming which will cause the budget to gradually rise, the script is also the
main ground for choosing the actors that the director wants to play those roles
and the locations to match what is written. Risk assessments need to have every
worst case scenario written down as even the most unexpected things can happen
including potential deaths, just like what happened on the set of Deadpool 2 (2018)
when the Stunt Woman Joi Harris crashed her motorcycle and died after going
through a glass window. This was later quoted as being a “Freak accident” by
the Actor Josh Brolin.
Pre-production documents are kept to show proof of
copyright, association with the film and that your work has the legal
regulations set in place in order to film, signed contracts from the actors are
also kept just in case the actors don’t like something but have agreed to it by
signing the contract. Also the Storyboards that are made before production are
necessary in order to show everyone else exactly what you want each individual
shot to look like.
During Production, the film with have legal audit tied to it like a receipt or paperwork and it's purpose is to prove that a certain vehicle or item used was actually used, rented or bought legally and they can be used to make sure that the money used was theirs to use and won't call for an increase in budget, the audit also prevents any budget money left after production being taken by the director or any other crew as this would be fraud and would lead to a legal battle. The impact of not having these items could result in legal battles and the possibility of going over budget which will in turn increase the production time and the impact of that means that the budget will increase even more.
During Production, the film with have legal audit tied to it like a receipt or paperwork and it's purpose is to prove that a certain vehicle or item used was actually used, rented or bought legally and they can be used to make sure that the money used was theirs to use and won't call for an increase in budget, the audit also prevents any budget money left after production being taken by the director or any other crew as this would be fraud and would lead to a legal battle. The impact of not having these items could result in legal battles and the possibility of going over budget which will in turn increase the production time and the impact of that means that the budget will increase even more.
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