Requirements for Production

Types of media production.

For this project we created a short 90 second video for DepicT!, DepicT! is a competition for low budget film makers wanting to get into the film making business, the winners of the competition receives £1500.
Our production was a short video but there are many over forms of media including:

Film. For example, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. and Wreck-It Ralph. With the film industry growing new films are released weekly with different genres films can cater to a wider range of target audiences, for example horror is aimed towards teenagers and young adults where as cartoons are aimed at children

TV series For example Continuum and Warehouse 13.

Internet with Websites like Youtube millions of users can share their content with 72 hours of videos  uploaded every minute it is getting easier to upload and distribute media productions.


Today it is easy to share moving image texts with websites like Twitter and Facebook. with free sites like these it easier to spread your work and to get into the media industry.

Finance and sources of funding.

There are many essential things required for a media productions; funding is one of these, For people who aspire to work in the creative industry there are many different sources of funding to make films. for example banks will loan out money to assist in the making of films, some people may get sponsors to fund film making or even self funded for example: Mark and Michael Polish who made the film For Lovers Only which made £200,000 on iTunes which was funded by themselves. Another example would be Clerks which was funded by Kevin Smith, who funded the movie with 10 credit cards and sold his comic book collection. The national lottery is also known to fund film makers.

Funding may also come from product placement. many block busters and other films will get product placement from popular companies for example, Coca Cola 

Requirements and Equipment.

there are many essential things that the funding must go towards for example: Equipment, Clearances  talent, cast, crew, props, other materials, transportation, locations and other facilities. these are essential for any media productions to avoid legal issues and to assure that the production goes smoothly in our production we did not spend money on any of these as the college was able to provide the things needed and there was no legal complications with the soundtrack and locations, as we recorded at my house and used stock sounds from the library, also provided by the college, the props that we obtained from the college was: Fake blood, a camera and a tripod.

Equipment is important because without any cameras or other equipment there would be no filming, we were able to get our equipment from the AV Library in the college.

Clearances is important as this would cause copyright issues and may lead legal actions to be took by the original owner of the content in question if permission is not given, we had no problems with this as all ideas and content were original or did not require copyright permission.

Talent, Cast and Crew is important because with no one to star in the media production and to operate the equipment there would also be no filming. with no actors or professional crew available to us we made the film by ourselves with Jack and Ryan acting and me doing the camera work. the more well known the actor the more money it would cost to get them to feature and star in a media production as you are paying for the recognition that they bring. for example Tom Cruise would be expensive to hire as he is an A list actor and is well known.

Props and other materials are important as it gives the film or other media a more authentic feel, in our film we were able to just use what was around my house and what we already had.

Transportation and Locations are important during the recording of a media production as the right setting is crucial to setting the scene in any media text and without transportation there would be no way of the cast and crew getting there. funding has to go into locations as you would need permissions from the land owner to use their land in your production.

Timing.

Timing in media production is also important in media productions, deadlines are essential during any production in the media industry, if deadlines are not met this can lead to complications with rented out equipment and other problems. Our group was able to meet the deadlines set in class, we had 6 lessons to record but due to travel we were not able to record during these lessons instead we filled in important paper work.  this lead to no complications with rented out equipment, which we was able to obtain from the college's AV Library. in the media industry there are many sites and companies which people are able to hire out equipment from. For example: Media Dog Hire

Personnel.

we were put into groups of three, in our group we had Jack, Ryan and myself. jack played the zombies and skipper played the main character while i filmed the video. Jack had some experience in acting as he did Drama as a GCSE but Ryan did not. In the professional industry Skill and experience can affect production if an actor is well know and has a lot of experience the cost of using them in your production would be higher rather than having an actor which is not well know. the skill can affect how the movie will turn out having a actor who has no skill will make the movie a lower quality where as having little experience in the professional industry may not necessarily mean they do not have the skill to perform the task.

in our productions we has little equipment, props and costumes for our cast to use. we were able to get away with using the clothes they were wearing at the time and a bit of fake blood for jack. in the professional industry costumes and makeup are very important to create atmosphere and authenticity. for example The Joker from the batman films 

if they were to use little make up like we were able to get away with it would not be as effective and would not have the same mood to the film.

there are several different ways to decide who to use in a productions, one way would be the money budget you wish to use for crew, if the budget is low you would not be able to use A list actors and well known actors.

Facilities.

For production there are things that was not required in post production that are required for production for example equipment, props and film or storage, depending on the camera used. there are also different equipment required post-production, for example a Computer or a Mac and the software required for editing.

Facility houses are where you keep props or get them. studios are where you edit or record. Out sourcing is bringing someone else from outside to do and assist with certain things for example finances and special effects. 89% of people in the media industry are freelance and do not stick to one company. there are some exceptions to actors that like to work with certain directors for example Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.

When securing facilities you must consider finances as the cost for hiring out the facilities depend on the duration you want to use the facility and the quality of the facility. when securing a facility you must also consider the availability.

Locations.

 

A location recce is scouting of possible locations and the evidence or documentation of it, this is usefull if any of the cast and crew is absent during the recce to have their input on the location and to know what location they will being recording or performing in. We had to reccee our location of recording to make sure it was suitable for what we wanted.

A location release is a legal document containing written permission from the land owner to film on their land. we had to get a location release for our location which was my house because it was suitable and close so we were able to get to my house during lessons.



When recording there are many risks during recording and to assess these we filled out a risk assessment outlining any risks and how to avoid them. When recording there are also limitations to what you can do in the public, some of the other groups had to get in contact with the local police to tell them they were recording so the police were to know. we did not need to do this as we recorded at my house we just needed a locations release.

Materials.

There are many various types of various materials available to filmmakers this includes:

• Original materials
• Archive/library materials
• sound library materials
• recorded music
• video library materials
• effect library
• internet
• scripts
• photo library
• props
• costumes
• interviews

when using any materials in a media product you must be sure to have written permission or a contract to avoid any copyright issues. when using someone else materials you must also consider the cost of using the product.

Contributors.

There are various people that may contribute to the production of a media text, these include:

• Specialist
• Expert
• Talent
• Public
• Extras

A contributor's biography is information on a person which allows you to know who you are hiring.

Legal Issues.

A Clearance is a contract or payment to the owner of any material you use to have permission to use that material. you require a clearance for any material you use, a song, a video clip or anything that you do not own. this is to avoid copyright issues. if you do not get a clearance there will be issues with copyright and can result in many things, like your video being taken down.

Copyright can affect a media production drastically like mention above it can result in your product being taken down by the company that owns the material or you could get a fine, luckily copyright did not affect our group although we wanted to use "This is Halloween" from the film The Nightmare Before Christmas

public liability insurance is insurance which covers the death or injury of anyone on the set if any accidents were to occur while recording. an example of this would be Brandon Lee who was accidentally shot with the gun used on set in The Crow

a completion guarantee is a form of insurance that is used by independently financed films in which the film makers will guarantee that the film will be completed and distributed and getting the minimum distribution guarantee fund. this way of funding can be expensive due to the legal, bank and interest fees.

Regulation.

Ofcom is the UK communications regulator, they regulate the TV  radio, fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services and the wireless device waves. they make sure that people in the UK get the best from their communication services and are protected from scams and sharp practices while insuring that competition can thrive.

PCC is The Press Complaints Commission, they are an independent body which administers the system of self-regulation for the press, they mainly deal with complaints made against the media.

ASA is The Advertising Standards Authority  and they are the UK's independent regulator across all media. they apply the advertising codes and act on complaints made against advertisements, checking the media to take action against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements.

PEGI is an age rating system used to ensure that entertainment content is clearly labelled by age according to the content they contain.

BBFC is The British Board of Film Classification which is an independent, non-governmental body which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912 and videos/ DVDs since the Video Recordings Act was passed in 1984.

Trade unions and trade associations

A trade union is an organization of workers who wants to achieve common goals this can include wages, work rules and complaint procedures. their main purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment.

BECTU is an independent for people working in the media industry. the union represents staff, contract and freelance workers the key aims of the union are to: protect jobs, improve pay, improve conditions of services including pensions.

A trade association is an organizations founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry.
they participate in public relations activities such as advertising and publishing, but their main focus is collaboration between companies.

PACT is the UK trade association representing and promoting the commercial interests of independent feature film, television, digital, children's and animation media companies. They offer support for their members in terms of legal and business affairs advice.

BIMA is the British interactive media association, BIMA supports and promotes the British industry.

ELSPA is the European Leisure Software Publishers Association, its goal was to establish a specific and collective identity for the interactive leisure software industry. ELSPA was responsible for introducing the video games ratings to the uk, this was the first voluntary age rating system for any entertainment medium.

TIGA is a non profit trade association representing the UK's game industry, their members include independent game developers, in house publisher owned developers, out sourcing companies, technology businesses and universities

Biblography

http://www.depict.org/
http://www.imdb.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.facebook.com/
http://www.twitter.com/
http://industry.bfi.org.uk/
http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/
http://www.mediadoghire.com/
http://www.wikipedia.com/
http://www.bectu.org.uk/home
http://www.bima.co.uk/
http://www.tiga.org/