Pre-Production

Why Is Pre-Production So Important In Media?

Introduction

Unit 4: Pre-Production Portfolio – Pre-Production Requirements
Learning Aim A: Understand The Requirements Of Pre-Production Of A Digital Media Product

So what is Pre-production? Pre-production is basically the planning part of when you are producing a media text. Some may see it as ‘the boring part’ of media production but its actually the most important, as it would ensure that the outcome of your media text is not disastrous and meets your expectations.

In this blog I will walk you through the importance of pre-production in media by explaining it’s functions and catastrophic effects if not done effectively.

So get yourself ready to learn all about pre-production and how to avoid any disastrous effects it could cause if your lacking it!

FINANCE

Introduction

Ineffective consideration to the financial aspects of media production could result in devastating results. Many media companies go bankrupt or run out of money before they have concluded their projects due to the lack of consideration towards the financial aspects. Without calculating the costs of the media project or considering the budget that you have, your project could go from being successful to a half-completed complication. Overall, if you don’t consider finance in your pre-production you would risk producing an unsuccessful end-result.

Funding

For you to create a good media product you must have access to all of the money required for its production, this applies to all media products, for example: a person wants to make a short film, they would have to find a way of funding their project. One way of funding a project is by crowdfunding. This would mean that the public could donate towards the film, this option would be better than getting a loan to make the film because that person wouldn’t have to pay back the donators. As investing in film is a risky game, getting a loan would be a risk as your film could do not as well as expected which means that you would have to pay the loan with your own money.

Other examples of funding are:

  • Investors- You should find small investors that would be interested in investing in your media product. This way you will not have to spend a lot of your own money but also you will get a chance to produce something that you want.
  • Specialised Funding Organisations-For example for films the organisation would be BFI. These companies each have particular media type that they fund. For example TheProfNet is a funding organisation for reporters. They also have different individual budgets and regulations so researching them will be mandatory to find out what organisation suits your needed funding better.

Budget

The first step of finance in pre-production would be to calculate the necessary spending amount on your media production. Having the exact number of that spending amount you will be able to construct an appropriate budget for your media product. This is really important as you have to consider(if you are making a film) things such as paying for the equipment, paying for the crew, paying for the transport, paying for props and paying the actors etc. If you don’t contemplate these things then it could result in you not being able to afford to carry-on with your media product and would mean you would loose a lot of money. To help you construct your budget you could use a budget sheet. Budget sheets are useful in many ways for example calculating expenses, record spending and track progress. In your pre-production, budget sheets could be useful as it’s a way of knowing how much money you have or left to spend. It would also help if your working for a client as then you could showcase where the money is being spent.

Examples Of Finance Gone Wrong

One example of finance going wrong is in the classic film ‘Jaws’. The budget that was given to this film was $3.5 million but instead it cost around $9 million, that is a huge difference. This occurred because Steven Spielberg did not consider the filming underwater which would result in the cameras being damaged and having to be replaced. This meant that they had to spend more money than they expected. I feel that this would have been avoided if Spielberg had considered the water and how it could damage the cameras but also if he would have assessed the budget and left money for emergency’s like this, they could have avoided spending more than double of the original estimate.

TIME MANAGEMENT

Introduction

Time management is really important in pre-production as it ensures that your media product will be finished by the deadline that was set. Missing the deadline could be damaging your reputation as ‘media producers’ but it could also adjust the cost of your production.

Benefits Of Having Good Time-Management:

  • One of the benefits of having good time-management is that there will be less stress and anxiety for the cast and crew due to having an organised plan this would create a more positive working environment.
  • Having good time-management skills will also impact the quality of your work as you are not rushing your media product but thinking thoroughly as to what you are producing.
  • There will also be more productivity as the cast and crew know what is happening and when this would also create more efficacy.
  • Your reputation will be maintained as you meet all the deadlines this would make sure that you look good if you are working with a client.

Overall, having good time control in your pre-production will help you have an organised and well-structured production which would have a tremendous effect on the quality of your end product. By far the most important factor of time management in pre-production is the financial benefits. The reason is, if you don’t have good time management you could be at risk of having to spend more money. For example, if you are making a film, you would have to pay the crew and cast more but also you may have to pay more money for the locations you need to shoot at and extended time on equipment loans.

Examples Of Bad Time-Management

One example of bad time management would be Star Wars (1977). The film fell behind schedule right away as storms delayed locations shoots in Tunisia. As the film continued to fall behind schedule, Lucas (the director) was forced to split his crew into three units in order to get the film finished. Unfortunately the screening of the rough cut of the film was disastrous and Lucas began to flag under the pressure. This could have been avoided if the crew had a plan B. This means that they would have a second location to shoot in if something disastrous happened at the first location. This way they would not have wasted so much time waiting for the storms to finish. This would also mean that producer would have to pay more money for the location they are shooting in.

How To Manage Your Time Better

If you were making a film for example, storyboards would help you to manage your time as the cast and crew would all know what is occurring and when. Storyboards would also help you not to waste time on shooting unnecessary shots that won’t end up in the final product as all of the shots are precisely planned out.

Scheduling would be beneficial to having good time control as then you would know when everything is happening. This would help the crew for example if they were early they would have to stand around doing nothing but as they have a schedule they would know when they have to arrive and what they have to do in that time.

Other Examples Of Managing Your Time Better:

  • Plan Ahead
  • Prioritise Important Tasks
  • Being Realistic With Deadlines

LOGISTICS

Introduction

So, what is logistics and why is it used in pre-production? Logistics is the process of planning and it essentially makes sure that every aspect of your production has been covered. Without having overlooked everything from call sheets to food catering your production could end up being a tragedy with missing elements. This would be important in pre-production because it would make sure that you have everything planned out to create the best outcome for your media product.

Example Of Bad Use Of Logistics

Logistics are important because it ensures that everything is planned out and organised for you to successfully produce your media product. Without having logistics planned out you may not be able to produce the product to the expectation that you expected. For example the film ‘Waterworld’ directed by Kevin Reynolds had an initial $100 million budget (which was the highest ever for a Hollywood film at the time) raised up to $175 million after production. This is all due to a lack of consideration to the planning as they had to transport the crew from land to the middle of the sea, a large number of watercrafts were breaking down and an expensive set floated away. I think that if they planned out how to shoot on water better they would have avoided raising the budget. For example they should have considered making better watercrafts so they would not break as easily as the other ones which would help them avoid having to spend more money. This would also ensure that no one would drown or get hurt if they were in a watercraft that broke. Shooting in the middle of the sea would be also a bad idea as then there would be a risk of people drowning. In ‘Waterworld’ Kevin Costner actually nearly drowned when he was caught in a squall (a sudden gust of wind). This could have been detrimental as the actor and producer of the film could have died which meant that filming would no longer proceed.

How To Be Logistic

To excel in logistics you would always need to have a contingency plan. This means that if you panned out everything that you are going to do you would need another plan in case the first one doesn’t work out. For example if you are shooting at a specific location for your film it would be best to have a back-up location if for some reason you can not film there. This would always ensure that you wouldn’t have to rely on just one location. Also you would have to clearly outline everybody’s role and their responsibility’s so there would be no job that was left unattended, as this would ensure that everyone knows what they are doing which means that it would be an easier process.

Another way to excel in logistics would be to thoroughly plan every last detail. This would ensure that you know exactly what you are suppose to do. But also plan everything well-ahead of time as this would certify you not rushing things and then ending up with an unsuccessful media product. Also by having more than one person checking and proof-reading your plans would reduce chances of mistakes in the work and last minute changes to the plan. This would also reduce the chances of things being forgotten. If an important document was forgotten it could drastically effect the tight schedule. For example the document could be a copyright permission which would result in you getting a lawsuit. So overall being logistic is really important and if you don’t consider it it would be disastrous.

Logistics In Film Production

There are many things that you have to consider when planning the production of a film here are some examples of what work you have to complete to have a successful production:

  • Consider how all of the crew will travel to the location(s) of filming.
  • Consider the needs of all the crew such as bathrooms, organising food etc.
  • Complete all of the necessary legal documentation.
  • Consider where you are going to hire or purchase all of your equipment.
  • Set your budget and track how much you are spending to not go over.
  • Organise the shooting schedule.

If you have covered all of the things above it would ensure that your project is thoroughly thought out, this would mean that your media project, for example film, will not be rushed but be successfully completed. Overall, having good logistics means that anything that you will produce will be the best work that you could be able to produce so considering logistics is very important if you don’t want a substandard film or media product.

REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS

Introduction

Regulations of the media industry could be complicated but by pre-production planning you could make sure that you are always following these regulations. If you are unable to complete the legal and industrial requirements you would be at risk of getting sued or get fined for a massive amount of money. Your media product could also be banned ,if the regulations aren’t complete, from release or removed from public access.

Legal Requirements

  • Copyright Material: Using copyrighted material in your media product without legal permission from the copyright owner would most likely result in you being sued by the owner this could also lead you being investigated by Copywatch. This would mean that there would be a risk of financial loss as you could get fined up to £50,000 in magistrate court . To avoid this you would have to ask for permission from the owner. Here are the basics of how to get permission:
  1. Determine if permission is needed.
  2. Identify the owner.
  3. Identify the rights needed.
  4. Contact the owner and negotiate whether payment is required.
  5. Get your permission agreement in writing.
  • Risk Assessment: Completing a risk assessment is important as it would ensure that everyone involved in the making on the media product is safe. In a risk assessment you would analyse and evaluate the health and safety risks that could occur whilst producing your media product. Failing to do so would mean that you may be putting people in danger and risking them being injured. It would also mean that you would be breaking the health and safety law.Breaching health and safety regulations is a criminal offence and could lead to substantial fines(up to £20,000) and/or imprisonment. So it’s important that you compete the risk assessments in detail to avoid getting potentially fined or inguring employees.
  • ‘On-Camera’ Release Forms: When making a film for example, you would need to complete this form which would give right to the filmmakers to film another person for the project and then use the footage in the film. Without this form being competed the actors have the right to take you to court.
  • Public Liability Insurance: When filming or taking pictures in a public area you must purchase this insurance to cover your legal responsibilities. The public liability insurance protects you against claims in respect of your legal liability for personal injury or property damage sustained by third parties arising during filming.
  • Regulatory Bodies: These and trade unions observe the release of their specific media product to make sure they comply with the regulations they’ve set. These regulations set are specifically targeted at certain media types. For example, Ofcom they are a communications regulator. They regulate TV, radio sectors, fixed line telecom etc. Their general duties is to further the interests of citizens and of consumers.

The Importance Of Regulatory Requirments

Regulatory Requirments are really important as it ensures that you will not get sued or fined for your product. Without a thorough consideration to these regulations things can go wrong.

Example

For example the game Donkey Kong was sued for copyright. ‘Universal Studios filed a lawsuit against Nintendo for copyright infringement in 1982, claiming video game creator Shigeru Miyamoto had based Donkey Kong’s story and characters on King Kong, the movie studio’s intellectual property.’ Fortunately for Nintendo the United States District Court sided with them after a few years after Universal filed the lawsuit.’King Kong was, in fact, in the public domain and Donkey Kong did not violate any copyrights that Universal did not own.’ During that Nintendo was awarded with $1.8 million from Universal. This would be an example of why you should research the copyright laws of the product that you want to make, to make sure that it will not violate any of the laws. This would also be an of how not having considered the regulations could effect the financial aspects as you may have a risk of getting sued.

RESOURCES

Introduction

If you dont consider the type of equipment you will need to create your media product the outcome will most likely be that you’ll end up having no equipment on production day. Diffrent types of media products require diffrent types on resources, for example media products such as video or audio would involve recording equipment such as cameras (for video) and audio recorders (for audio). It could also require a use of studio to film or record audio. However, for media products such as magazines or newspapers there would be diffrent types of resourses used such as digital editing softwares and it could use digital typewriters. This media product would also require office space to produce it effectively. So overall having good resourcing would ensure that you know exactly what you need so you can stay on budget but it also ensures that you would not spend unnecessary money on the resources you don’t need.

How To Get Resources

There are two main ways that you could get resources for your media production:

  • Hire the resources from a trusted hiring company. For example if you were shooting a film you could hire a camera for the day.
  • Buy the resourses yourself. This could be a more expensive option but it would mean that you could use the resources anytime unlike the hiring as you would eventually have to bring it back.

It is really important that you are buying the resources from a reliable dealer as there may be a risk of the resourses being poor quality. This would mean that you would have to purchase more resourses as replacements increasing the risk of you exceeding your budget.

DOCUMENTATION

Introduction

Documentation in pre-production is really important as it would ensure that you would not get into any legal issues or general issues such as people getting injured (Risk Assessments).

What Documents You Need

The documentation that you need would vary as it depends on what media product you are making. Some documentation however are universal and could be used for all media types. For example:

  • Risk Assessment: This documentation is important as it assures that everyone involved in the production is safe. In a risk assessment document you would analyse and evaluate the health and safety risks that may occur. This document is a legal requirement and if it’s not completed there is a risk of being fined or sued.
  • Production Schedules: This document is to clearly outline the schedule for the production of your media product. This would be an important document as it ensures that all of the crew know what is happening and when. This would also make sure that you will not fall behind your deadlines.
  • Contingency Plan: This would be necessary to avoid severe disruption in the production. This would ensure that you always have a backup plan incase something happens. For example if you hired an editor to edit your short film, broke his arm and couldn’t edit you would always have a backup editor so that you production will not fall behind the schedule.

Documentation According To Production Type

If you are making a moving image such as a film, the documentations required to make this product type successful would be having a script and storyboard. Another example of documentation would be for print and interactive media as you will have to have concept drawings, thumbnails and mood boards. It is important that you have the right documentation for your media type as it could mean a financial loss for you if its an important documentation. It could also cost you the quality of your product for example if you didn’t consider the storyboard enough it would mean that the actors and crew wouldn’t know what they are doing.

‘Beneath this text is a table sourced from Pearsons “Creative Media Production Level 3” textbook ,page 15, which talks through which documentation you need according to your media product:’

Conclusion

Overall, pre-production in media is really important as it could help you make your media product the best it can be. Pre-production could also help you avoid any legal issues such as getting sued. Having good pre-production could also help you avoid getting people injured as you will complete documentation such as risk assessments. Each factor of a complete pre-production portfolio holds so much importance that they have an impact on each other, for example if there is no script documentation it would be hard to cast people. This would then effect the logistics of the production as there is more stress on the deadline because nobody can shoot anything. So the more time you put into pre-production work the more smoothly the production process would be, as you have everything planned. Bad pre-production lacks this type of structure and fails to consider essential requirements which could lead to both the crew and the media product being put at risk. Any form of bad pre-production has potential to result in financial loss for the company and therefore could damage the success of the product. So having said all of this pre-production is IMPORTANT and should be considered.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started