Pre Production
Everything thing that happens before a production starts shooting is referred to as pre production. There are specific documents created for video productions to aid their planning and organising. There are also many generic documents which help with this task. Bellow are a range of these tools and documents that will help any production big or small.
Organising
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Planning
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Logging
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Pre Production Templates
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Pre-Vis:
The prior visualisation of a concept can come in many forms. Often this is assumed to mean storyboards but could come in many forms. photographs, models, drawings, diagrams, mood boards, pre recordings without scenes, props, costumes etc. Below are two videos that talk about this subject.
The prior visualisation of a concept can come in many forms. Often this is assumed to mean storyboards but could come in many forms. photographs, models, drawings, diagrams, mood boards, pre recordings without scenes, props, costumes etc. Below are two videos that talk about this subject.
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Storyboard:
A storyboard is a visual representation of a sequence of shots. It should include the following information:
On the right are 5 very different examples of SB's but are all very effective. All have the necessary information required to portray how the creator want's their final product to look like. For now we will use the supplied template to ensure all the required information is included. However you will have a chance to develop your own SB style. |
Requirements
Once you have developed an idea and storyboarded your concept you will need to think about what you require to make it happen. This will then tie into your 'Feasibility Study', your proposal and allow you to gage the budget.
You will need to consider cast, crew, wardrobe, props, makeup, locations, equipment, time and even post production requirements such as hardware, software, recording spaces, editing spaces. Not to mentioned the requirements for the preproduction. Every detail within the production from start to finish.
Once you have developed an idea and storyboarded your concept you will need to think about what you require to make it happen. This will then tie into your 'Feasibility Study', your proposal and allow you to gage the budget.
You will need to consider cast, crew, wardrobe, props, makeup, locations, equipment, time and even post production requirements such as hardware, software, recording spaces, editing spaces. Not to mentioned the requirements for the preproduction. Every detail within the production from start to finish.
Proposal:
Once you have a developed a solid idea you will need to convince other people that it's a great idea. This is the proposal or pitch. To who and when this pitch will take place will vary, are you pitching for financial assistance, creative input, marketing support. In our context the pitch will be to ensure your idea has a solid foundation, that it will enable you to meet the brief, that it is feasible to produce and gives you the opportunity to achieve your maximum grade potential.
What I expect to see in the Proposal is a thought out idea showing its development and why it meets the brief. I could consist of all or some of these key elements:
Once you have a developed a solid idea you will need to convince other people that it's a great idea. This is the proposal or pitch. To who and when this pitch will take place will vary, are you pitching for financial assistance, creative input, marketing support. In our context the pitch will be to ensure your idea has a solid foundation, that it will enable you to meet the brief, that it is feasible to produce and gives you the opportunity to achieve your maximum grade potential.
What I expect to see in the Proposal is a thought out idea showing its development and why it meets the brief. I could consist of all or some of these key elements:
- Initial Ideas - This could be in the form of a brain storm, spider diagram, however you did your initial idea generation. The key here is to demonstrate you considered lots of possibilities before you choose the final idea.
- Developed Ideas - With your Initial Ideas choose 3 or so of best candidates, explore them in more detail. This will allow you to make the best informed decision on the best idea. Plus it will give you plan B and C in the event of the idea not being feasible.
- Project Rationale - A breakdown of your chosen Idea, a summary of events, key locations, plot line, characters, the intended meaning behind the project and the desired feel and tone of the final product.
- S.W.O.T Analysis - A study of the Strength, Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats
- Market/Brand Research - Depending on the type of project. What is the history of the brand? or What is out there in the market similar to your proposal? What is the Target Audience of your project is there also a secondary audience?
- Feasibility Study - Is it a project that could realistically be produced and completed within the time frame. Do you have or could source the equipment, skills, locations, props, costumes, actors, crew... Completing a Requirements document will aid at looking at all aspects of your production.
- Budget - Looking at your requirements how much would it cost to put this project together. Remember to include labor cost, equipment cost, location fees and post production costs
- Pre visualization - This could come in the form of storyboards, test footage, models of scenes, over head diagrams with location recce images
- Schedule - When will you deliver the project.
Gantt Chart/ Schedule:
Time management is key to all things in Life. A gantt chart is a detailed visual way to layout out a project. It consists of a list of tasks that need to be achieved with a time scale running along the top of the document. The start and completion date of each task is then shaded in allowing you to easy see when each task starts, what task run simultaneously and what should have been completed! You may find colour coding useful for individual tasks or grouping tasks together e.g. PreProduction/ Production/ PostProduction |
Risk Assesment
No one is excited by the mention of a risk assessments but it is an essential for every production, shoot, location, etc.
It is not a pointless excise to fill in paper but an active dynamic process that starts the conscious thought process of identifying hazards, while limiting and minimising the risk of accidents occurring.
It is not a pointless excise to fill in paper but an active dynamic process that starts the conscious thought process of identifying hazards, while limiting and minimising the risk of accidents occurring.
The key stages of a risk assessment process:
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Budget
Once your requirements are complete you can start to forecast the budget requirements for your whole production. This would include both pre and post production requirements - hiring staff, facilitating their job roles and expenses threw to hiring studio space, editing suits and music production. Not to mention the cost of market and distribution of the end product Left: A rough breakdown of the different areas a budget will be spent. Bellow: Examples of budgets for real productions
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Call Sheet
A call sheet is produced for each day of production and contains all the information actors a crew need for that day.
Contact Sheet/ Crew Sheet/ Cast list
These are often incorporated into the call sheet. Working with larger teams of people it is crucial that everyone can communicate. Keeping people informed and up to date with contact information is therefore key. Contacts are often slit into departments so you can find who you need easily. |
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Release Agreement & Location Release Form
Law is a complicated thing and of course is nation specific with crossovers in International Law. But in simple terms a Release Agreement or Waiver is an enforceable promise not to proceed with a legal claim. Depending on the detail of the agreement it will cover areas like ownership, copyright, terms of use, right to manipulate and waiver of liability.
American Law:
"A release agreement is an enforceable promise not to proceed with a legal claim in exchange for money or other compensation. Essentially, a party (the releasee) gives money or other consideration to a second party (the releasor). In exchange, the releasor agrees not to sue, press charges, or otherwise take legal action against the releasee." summary from lawdepot.com
UK Law:
Here is a link to the full Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/contents
Here is a very useful summary of the act: http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
Law is a complicated thing and of course is nation specific with crossovers in International Law. But in simple terms a Release Agreement or Waiver is an enforceable promise not to proceed with a legal claim. Depending on the detail of the agreement it will cover areas like ownership, copyright, terms of use, right to manipulate and waiver of liability.
American Law:
"A release agreement is an enforceable promise not to proceed with a legal claim in exchange for money or other compensation. Essentially, a party (the releasee) gives money or other consideration to a second party (the releasor). In exchange, the releasor agrees not to sue, press charges, or otherwise take legal action against the releasee." summary from lawdepot.com
UK Law:
Here is a link to the full Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/contents
Here is a very useful summary of the act: http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
Film Treatment:
"A film treatment (or simply treatment) is a piece of prose, typically the step between scene cards (index cards) and the first draft of a screenplay for a motion picture, television program, or radio play. It is generally longer and more detailed than an outline (or one-page synopsis), and it may include details of directorial style that an outline omits. Treatments read like a short story, but are told in the present tense and describe events as they happen." wiki
"A film treatment (or simply treatment) is a piece of prose, typically the step between scene cards (index cards) and the first draft of a screenplay for a motion picture, television program, or radio play. It is generally longer and more detailed than an outline (or one-page synopsis), and it may include details of directorial style that an outline omits. Treatments read like a short story, but are told in the present tense and describe events as they happen." wiki
Script:
The script or screenplay featured to the right shows a script plus a student director's script notations. These notations identify the specific placement of shots in relation to the action and dialogue within the screenplay. The notes indicate shot types, edits, possible inserts. The shot numbers (e.g. #17) would link to the shot numbers on the shot list, or storyboard linked to the script. An actors script would have their own annotations for example where to stand, queues for action, amendments etc. Click here to view a range of BBC templates for formatting your script. The standard type face (font) used is 'Courier' this is a fixed width font. |
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Shot Lists:
You don't have that much space in a shot list, so familiarity with the language of moving-image is essential to creating concise descriptions of each shot. The example shot list to the right is paired with its accompanying sketches so you can see the connection between the description and the images and appreciate the clarity of the description. The shot list is a handy document to have on hand when filming to keep track of what shots you have, what shots you need and how to best plan you filming schedule. |
Shooting Script:
A shooting script contains both the shot list and script information. A breakdown of screen action and camera/shot information for each sequence in a sequence. This can be done by annotating the script with camera information or in our case copying and pasting the shot list data into the script breaking the script up shop by shot. If you feel it would make the document easier to digest It may help to use different colours for different actors, audio data and camera information. To the right is an example shooting script annotated with shot information. Our shooting scripts will have to more detailed and clearer than this as the notes here are only understandable by the person who rote them. |
Location Recce
To ensure efficiency on the day of a shoot you need a plan.
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Top tip:
Always take a camera. Shoot not only what you think you want for your film but the surrounding area, setup area, hazards, parking. |
Overhead Diagrams and Schematics:
The overhead shooting plan/ overhead diagram/ schematic is a birds eye view of the film set. The numbers in the camera icons correspond to the shot list. This allows the production team to clearly see the blocking, or movements, and positioning of the characters in relation to camera position on set. Diagrams like this allow the cast to see exactly where the cameras will be in relation to their performance and where 'their marks' (the specific points at which they need to stop, perform an action, be ready for a different camera) are. They also indicate for the crew exactly where they need to be positioned and what they need to do with the camera in order to catch the exact shots (footage of parts, or perspectives of the performance) that the director requires. The more shots/angles required, the more cameras used, the more complicated the movement in the sequence, the more complex the diagram. This lower example of Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest scene of the crop duster is very complex with multiple cameras and angles. Can you work out whats going on? |
EDL (Edit Decision List):
An EDL is a combination of your storyboard and your footage log. It’s a paper edit of your project. This was very useful in the days before powerful non-liner editing systems were available. Each edit would be preplanned with the timecode of each in and out point speeding up the process of finding the right reel and right place ready to be cut together.
Today with a digital workflow cataloging clips, adding keywords and meta data to our clips makes it easy to search for that clip in mind and render out rough cuts in mere minutes. But to do this we still need to actively mange and collate our footage files into a structure there this is possible. See the File Management Page for more information.
An EDL is a combination of your storyboard and your footage log. It’s a paper edit of your project. This was very useful in the days before powerful non-liner editing systems were available. Each edit would be preplanned with the timecode of each in and out point speeding up the process of finding the right reel and right place ready to be cut together.
Today with a digital workflow cataloging clips, adding keywords and meta data to our clips makes it easy to search for that clip in mind and render out rough cuts in mere minutes. But to do this we still need to actively mange and collate our footage files into a structure there this is possible. See the File Management Page for more information.
Footage Log
A footage log is a record of what you have shot with additional information used to speed up finding the footage in post. Additional information is also recorded like the number of takes, along with notes on what are the good takes what are the bad ones. This record along with properly slated shots make the DIT's (Digital Image Technicians) job easy to ingest media from a shoot and catalogue it ready for dailies and post production. The extra effort to make these notes on set generally pay off big time in post when you have hours of footage to scrub through to find the bit you want. |
Sound Report
Much like a Footage Log the Sound Report catalogues the audio recordings taken on set. Notes on good takes or potential issues are recorded all aimed at sving time in post. If your running a dual sound setup this becomes an important task to ensure you can sync the footage easily with the video in post. Using a concurrent naming convention will aid the process of linking the video. |
Asset Log
Another type of log used in post to keep track of assets used within a project. Sound effects, music, pictures, video, graphics, titles. Ideally these will all be located within the a single project folder (see file management page) but this is not always the case. When working in teams its important that everyone can located assets need fro the project. Its also a good place to keep track of where the media has come from if using external produced material e.g. music sound track that you can then credit and refer to when submitting work.
Another type of log used in post to keep track of assets used within a project. Sound effects, music, pictures, video, graphics, titles. Ideally these will all be located within the a single project folder (see file management page) but this is not always the case. When working in teams its important that everyone can located assets need fro the project. Its also a good place to keep track of where the media has come from if using external produced material e.g. music sound track that you can then credit and refer to when submitting work.