Pre-Production Report

I have produced this report for my county council as to inform some of the media project workers in the community as to why pre-production is such an essential part in the creation of creative media production. To do this, I broke down the process into 5 sections, as to better group some the very important parts and tasks to explore them in there own theme such as important documentation and the logistics. I then began to explain what each activity was, giving examples of how different formats of films, such as my own pre-production work, did that process and how successful that was, providing guidance towards how to make a good pre-production process. I believe I have explored the main themes and processes of the pre-production process and provided a insightful take on how to make good and clear pre-production, assessing the good and bad.



Pre-Production Report

Introduction

When wanting to create a piece of media pre-production is a very vital part of the making. It consists of planning out many different parts to complete it, for it to then aid effectively in the making of the media product. A successful pre-production can only impact your product in a positive way as it means you have everything laid out and there will be no mishaps in your making and final product. In order to explain what pre-production is in further detail, I will be referring to other films pre-production and as to how they were successful or not to help you to understand what makes a good pre-production.

Finance & Budgeting

A very important factor in the making of pre-production is the understanding and sourcing of finance and budgeting. There are many ways that the funding for a film can be acquired such as the big studio model compared to crowdfunding/self-funded and then how this money can be used most effectively to avoid extra costs and going over your set budget.

For a film with a big studio model funding, there are lots of factors that go into to handling the budgeting and financing of such a big production, which all need to be properly assessed. This is because with out proper assessment the finances may not add up properly or cause issues of going over budget. For an example of this the film 'World War Z' ended up going over $65 million over there estimated budget due to a unforeseen need to take many re-shoots of certain scenes. This was very bad finance management on there end clearly due a lack of  significant research and planning when it came to assessing there budget or even in there plan themselves that forced them to have to re-shoot and spend more money. This is a clear example of why you really need to put planning into your resources and money otherwise the payments may end up coming out of your own pocket to cover everything, not matter what scale film you are producing 

On the other hand, a film with a small low budget can still be hard to budget for since they have less money too work with. With out proper assessment this can lead to detrimental cuts to some aspects of the production and still going over budget. An example for would be the film 'One Mile Away', a much smaller budget film that handled the use of their finances much better by properly assessing what money should go where in there pre-production stage. As there film was being funded by many means such as private investors, grants and crowdfunding, all of these had to be properly assessed. I think its safe to say they succeeded in this as the documentary ended up being a bit hit and even got put into cinemas, something that rarely happens with films like it. That just shows how important the processing of your budget really matters when producing a film, even in the budget I small, with a lot of work you can still get everything you need a film a great film

Overall the assessment of your budget is a significant step in your own pre-production process as it means there will be no room for errors or running out at your production goes along.

Logistics

The organising and arrangement of all the components for the production and filming of your media product are all very important factors to consider in the pre-production of any film. There's quite a range of things in this category such as your crew & cast, props & costume, catering, equipment hire & transport, clearances for filming, locations etc and a production schedule. They are all very important in their own ways, but I will explain the importance of organising your cast & crew and the different roles within those, and the process of equipment hire and some of the basic kinds that should be considered.

Organisation and understanding of the roles within your cast & crew are vital parts of the pre-production, as without them, there is no film to produce. Starting with the crew, there are many roles which a film may have depending on its budget, a big studio model production would have hundreds of people working on the film, whereas something with a lower budget would have around 10-30 working to produce it, sometimes. Some of the essential roles within a films pre-production being that of the Director, Producers, Writers, photography and casting Directors. Directors are the ones who are in charge on a set, but not really in charge of what’s happening within the set, that is usually left to the direction of the producers and photography directors. Writers are usually also the director, being the ones who came up the concept and provided things like the script and storyboard for the production. Finally, the casting directors are the ones who decide the cast of the films, getting to together actors and dealing with release forms and contacts. These are all the most important roles within a films crew since it is one of the big deciding factors on a film’s success or downfall by the organisation and collaboration of everyone within the team and in making sure each role is filled. The role of the crew is a very important and essential part of the pre-production that needs to be thoroughly evaluated and planned, as its impact is great on the final piece of media.

Pared with this, is the need for a selection of actors to star in your film as those people provide your film with the actual substance it needs. The organisation of a cast is a very important task to do as it means that when filming rolls around each character has an actor, noted contact details for each one if anything was to happen or change, as well then making sure they understand their rights in the release forms they need to sign in order to work for your film production. An example to show the importance pre-organising a cast is that if the cast is not properly sorted and confirmed before the start of filming, on the day this can cause an array of problems such as people not showing up, people not knowing there roles or lines, people not fitting the roles you thought they would, too high or too low a number of extras and the fact that many may decide to drop out if they do not properly understand there rights while filming. This is clearly a very bad thing, stressing the importance of organising the cast thoroughly before even deciding to do any filming, making them a very important consideration in your pre-production.

Overall, those are both great examples of some of the logistic considerations that need to be considered prior to any kind of filming as they are very integral roles that go into the filming themselves.

Codes of Practice/Regulations

There are quite a range of legal factors all media producers such as yourselves need to consider when producing a piece of media such as cast release forms, location permissions, music rights and copyright, insurance and risk assessments. I will explain the significance of two of these but all of them are all important factors that should be looked into and assessed.

An important regulation is the professional assessment and organisation of your filming locations and permissions to film the reccees that need to be made along with those. This is because with out these vital pre-production steps there again can be problems when it comes round the actual production of your film and that will only waste you time and efforts when his could have already been assessed previously and sorted. As an example, here is a location permission request I have made previously for my own filming project.





By clearly explaining what it is I hope to do on there property and rules I will uphold while doing so better guarantees a good response rather than plain message of just asking to film there. This is important regulation to make sure you have record of prior to filming as if there any questions as to your permission status you can show this and the organisations reply to cover you, rather than either illegally filming or getting yourself into trouble by not having these. Making this a very important consideration when doing your own pre-production process for your film.

Another very important regulation that you definitely need to make sure you meet is the making of a risk assessment in each place your cast or crew may be. This helps to negate any possible risk and accidents that could happen by making everyone aware of the risks and providing way to fix these problems if they were to occur anyway. Again, showing a risk assessment I myself have made previously as an example of this:




Laying out all the problems and thoroughly assessing them in this way is a very effective way of making sure all bases are covered and considered for any of these problems arise. Making this a very good layout for yourself to make sure you complete this vital pre-production step before anything bad can happen.

These regulations are things you need to make sure you are meeting a professional standard on as it cause fines, incidents and loss of time and money if not assessed properly and addressed before filming comes around.

Pre-Production Documentation

Similar to the rest of the categories, this one is no different having a range of documentation that you need to make sure you complete before any filming takes place as these are all very important records to keep track of and keep safe for future reference and need. I will explain the importance of a couple things: scripts & storyboards as well as your need for call sheets and contingency as these are all very important documents you should have ready and prepared when you are filming.

Scripts & storyboard are absolute essentials to have ready previous to being on set as those are the content you need to film. Scripts are what your actors are there to perform and the storyboard provides a point of refence for each shot for the camera worker and producer on set, further showing the stress they have on the film if they aren't prepared before hand. For example, my storyboard is going to be an initial I will have on hand when I get round the production process.


This whole sheet will save me so much time when I get round to filming as it provides me with every shot type, angle, movement and framing I need for each shot. This will greatly impact the productions stages speed as it means I can go to set already knowing what needs to be done, rather than improving each shot for hours since I wasn't prepared. This is why I highly recommend to you making your storyboard and script high importance when producing your own pre-production.

Another great thing to make sure you have prepared before hand are your call sheets for your filming day along with a contingency plan you can have on and in case anything goes south. These are both important documentation to make as the call provide important details on what is happening, where, with who, how everything is going to happen with contacts for everything. pairing this with the contingency plan, a more refined version of the risk assessment makes incidents easier to deal with as they have a solution for everything with the contacts at the ready. For example, without your call sheet there is no way to contact any of you crew if you don't know there numbers, making the contingency plan fall apart if they are not able to contact anyone is anything goes wrong or changes. This turns a bad situation worse due to a lack of planning from your end of things, putting all the blame on you. Making this a very important consideration in making of your own pre-production for your media product.

Having all of these documents finished and on hand at all times through the whole film making process will save a lot of time and be a great life saver in any bad situation that may come your way, so its better to be safe than sorry when it comes to the production of your own film.

Pre-Production Process

Finally the last consideration in the whole process is the process itself, providing yourself with a plan and schedule for all of this will help in achieving each task to the best it can be as well prior research of your own before you even start the process with a basic proposal and treatment made for your film itself, looking at how other films have handled there situation. This is a big overall consideration that needs to looked before you start anything.

For example, a great way to keep productivity up and making sure to complete all tasks is too keep track of everything using a pre-production log. By logging each task you do and making a note of what it is you know you need to do next creates a very efficient way of keeping track of all your considerations, overall producing a well formed piece of pre-production. I did this with my own pre-production work seen here


This is an example of the log I took of my own work, writing what I completed on what date, and keeping in mind what needed to be done next. This was a really effective and easy thing to produce as I was adding to it as I went along, keeping myself on track. This great pair with a pre-made schedule in which you set goals to get each task done with a reasonable amount, keeping you on track and on time at the same time. Which I why greatly recommend to you to follow this same process to make pre-production a lot more easy to handle completing it in easy chucks likes this sets out.

Finally, the practicality of having your proposal and treatment being the first tasks you complete really kicks start the whole pre-production process. Having your film idea ready and prepared before anything means your going into it with that knowledge already, rather than fumbling on different ideas as you go along, having a confirmed steady idea is very important. For example, if you decide to go ahead and start your whole process with no idea/an inclining of what it is you want to film, its going to make the process a lot hard as you wont know what locations you need or the amount cast and crew or how to pitch your idea to any other media companies. This really impedes your progress and slows the whole thing down considerably. That is what makes this first step very important to achieve in you own attempt at making the pre-production for you media product.

This initial planning and thinking will really save you a lot of time in the long run with your pre-production process as it means you can get through things quicker in the time goals you have set yourself. The quicker the pre-production process is finished, the quicker you can move on to producing your own actual film.

Overall, this assessment and explanation of the pre-production process is here to help you achieve the best you can in your own film producing by making sure you understand the importance and significance pre-production has. This whole process can be the make or break of your entire film, by simply making sure the parts I have discussed are assessed and evaluated before the production of your media project begins. 

Pre-Production Evaluation

 In this Evaluation, I have compared my final pieces of pre-production processes to what would be consider more professional pieces of pre-production to compare and contrast them to each other and too see what I could have improved on in my process and see what I did well. In doing this I am able to see my own mistakes and explain on how I improve these in the future. I think this will have a good impact on the final outcome of my project as I can acknowledge these mistakes or the things I did well when using this process to refer back too in the future. 

Production Log

I have completed this pre-production process continuously throughout the making of my pre-production activity's too keep a track of where I am in the process and always know and evaluate what it is I need to complete next. To do this, from the very beginning I set up this table with the first things I was supposed to complete, and as I completed each one, I'd write what it is I need to do next. I may not have always completed each task in the correct order or in the timeframes I set myself in my Action Plan in the beginning, but I used this to make sure I was on track and always knowing what was too come next. I believe the use of this log through out my process had a big impact on the production of the pre-production itself as well as going into making sure I have all the parts completed too aid me towards my final outcome for my short film extract.