Learning Aim D- Pre-production Evaluation
Evaluation
I think I have produced and managed my pre-production to a professional industry standard by looking at examples of professional documentation and organising it in a similar way to ensure everything went to plan. I segmented the production into 3 sub-categories: Logistics, Financial and Creative. By looking at industry standard examples, I have created documents that look very professional, and I have provided the examples of documentation which are industry standard to compare the quality. This will positively impact production as it will be well-organised and easy to understand for the cast and crew on set due to it being presented to a high standard in excellent quality.
Logistics
For the logistics side of production, I had to research a significant amount to ensure I knew everything about a category before working on it. This includes my cast and crew organisation, my contingency plan, my location recce, my production schedule, my risk assessment, and my shot call list and the action plan for my film production. I wanted to make sure everything in production went well and the film was going to release on the film release date. It helped organise production as I could plan when things would happen, who would do what as well as identify potential risks. I created a risk assessment to identify potential risks and produce a solution to them which came in useful for example if a member of the crew dropped a camera resulting in it breaking and us not being able to use it. My risk assessment provides a solution which is to bring a back-up camera which I will do and therefore production will plan, and I spoke to the crew member telling him to be careful with the equipment which will therefore mean I am spending less money on fixing or buying new equipment and my contingency money in my budget can be used for other things. I also had to look at the health and safety side of things for example I have warned the cast and crew to be careful when filming scenes as some require the cast to run or walk upstairs so I have warned them to be extra careful on set when filming these scenes as it could cause the cast to be injured and possibly no longer be fit for filming. To create the risk assessment, I had to look at examples of risk assessments at an industry standard quality using it as a template to work off and to make it look professional and easy to read. I have made sure that I have included all possible risks that could occur and to do this I have had to research possible risks that have occurred during the production of other films.
I have used the industry standard example and taken aspects of it to create my own and make it look professional by including the potential risks, people who may be harmed, likeliness of risk, activity that must be undergone to cause the risk. I have done this to understand the level of risk as well as warn the people who it may affect so I can warn them for example I informed the crew to be careful with equipment and I warned the cast and crew to be extra cautious on set, so they don’t hurt themselves. This will therefore reduce the risk of injury and potential legal action which could end up bringing the production process to a halt which positively impacts the production process. I produced a professional looking table and included extra information like the production title, producer name and date of risk assessment to make it look like it has the quality of an industry standard document. A meticulous risk assessment is vital as if something happens to go wrong (like the crew breaking equipment) then it will be considered and something appropriate will be put in place. Having a spare camera means there is also a lower chance that I will have to use my contingency budget on more equipment last second. Due to me also training the crew, and me bringing an extra camera, production will be more likely to go accordingly and stay on schedule due to the risks being lowered as necessary steps have been put in place. If I did not create a risk assessment for my short film then if a risk raised, I would not be able to counter it for example if a camera did break then I would have to pause production and therefore production would be massively delayed and it may take a long time to get the cast and crew together again on a day where they all can work, on a day where the weather is perfect for the scene and on a day I can access another camera resulting in the release date being extremely delayed. Therefore, a risk assessment will positively affect my production process.
I also created a contingency plan so that if something unexpected happened (for example if the cast and crew dropped out of the film) or if I fell behind schedule then I have dedicated days (for if the weather is bad) and a dedicated contingency budget for if I need to hire an extra crew member or for if I need to buy an extra piece of equipment which is a total of 10% of my total costs. I also planned another form of transport if the car I was riding in broke down, if this was the case, I was going to use public transport. This plan may not come into effect due to production most likely going to plan and everything being completed within the deadlines I had given myself but if the possible issues did occur or if things took an unexpected turn, I would have been able to do something about it. I laid out my contingency plan in an organised table with all the correct columns and produced it to professional manner ensuring it looks like the industry standard example. I included an issue column, a ’Plans to Overcome the Issue’ column and a Risk Level’ column and a ’Likeliness of Issue’ column therefore the table includes all necessary information to conclude the likeliness and possible events that may occur. This helps me prepare for possible issues that may rise and I can therefore prepare for these issues and if because I did this, I ensured that the film wasn’t delayed.
I have presented my Contingency Plan in a table like the industry standard contingency plan making it look organised in a professional manner as well as containing all the necessary information without having an excess and including too much which would make it unorganised and messy. I have also included a risk level column stating the importance of the issue if it occurred with a likeliness column of how likely the event is of occurring. This very effective and informative for me and the production team as if a certain issue is more likely to occur than others, the team can put more procedures in place and anticipate it more than the others for example the we wouldn’t want the weather to be rainy but all we have to do beforehand is look at the weather forecast which doesn’t require as much attention as going over the allocated time of filming which is much more likely to happen and we need to be more aware of. This therefore explains significance and likeliness so we can divert attention to whatever needs it the most. The industry standard example didn’t include these columns however they did include a column of the person who would be responsible for the specific issues which is an effective column to add as this assign certain people to specific roles of what they are responsible for making them all aware of the possible issues so they can actively ensure it does not occur. The industry standard contingency plan and my own both include risks levels (the effect on production) which explains how bad it would be on production which is what really matters as well as the possible issue that they both include. Including a risk level positively impacts the production process as the cast and crew will be made more aware of the likely risks and more plans will be put in place decreasing the likeliness of it occurring. My contingency plan could be improved a little bit by including a column for the person responsible but apart from that my contingency plan is up to a professional industry standard. My contingency plan positively affects production as it will make the cast and crew aware of possible risks and it puts plans in place to prevent the risks from occurring. This therefore results in decreasing the risk of anything going wrong. Significance and likeliness also display impact that the risks would have if they were to occur displaying all the information for the cast and crew ensuring they follow the necessary steps to decrease risk.
Finance
concluded sourcing the film through self-funding, as it is a low budget film and I have total control over the film and film production. I was thinking about looking for private investors to invest in my film, but I didn’t think this was necessary as my film is low budget and if I did this, I may lose some control over the film production therefore is the best model for my small media organisation. Due to me having complete control, I can improvise if I think a scene does not work or change it without going through a process of talking to an investor about it. My film also doesn’t require a large budget so an investor would not be worth it as it is a very small amount they would be putting forward for a significant percentage of the film. This negatively impacts the production process as I cannot spend as much money on production as I am spending the money and there is no external investment however, I keep full control over production, and I am free to do what I want providing that it is within my budget.
For my budget, I thought about every possible element involved in the production process that would require me to purchase or hire equipment and costumes etc, therefore I could accurately create my budget thinking about cast and crew as well as equipment and marketing that is required. I added up the cost it would be to hire the cast and crew as well as the equipment and amount of money it would cost to market, but I followed this by a column of the ‘actual costs’ for example instead of hiring a director, I was the director, or instead of hiring equipment, I borrowed it from school therefore cutting my costs down to a minimal amount however I made sure that the film was still produced to a professional and industry standard. I gave reasonings for the cut in costs, and why I am cutting down to easily understand why and make help it looks like an industry standard document.
I decided to present my budget in a table differently to the industry standard example as it looks it easier to visualise and understand however I have included the columns of cost and the going rate for specific things like a producer. I also included the total budget at the bottom to conclude the amount of money I will need to spend on the film which is important to know as I can afford to self-fund my film as the budget is minimal and low. This includes the cast and crew hire costs and the dedicated contingency budget which is 10% of total costs. There is a lower number of things for me to hire than the example as my film is a lower budget and shorter film. This however is helpful as there is a lower amount of equipment required to produce my film and less production staff. My budget table positively impacts the film production as I have anticipated the cost of all the required parts of production which means that I can improve planning and control for my production as well as revealing costs for equipment and therefore prevent overspending. This is vital to production and needs to be carried out correctly because if I do not think about all possible costs, then this could result in me no longer being able to self-fund my film and would massively delay production which is why I thoroughly worked on my budget and set aside a great chunk of time ensuring it is completed professionally and correctly. Due to my budget being thorough, the production process is much more likely to go to plan and positively affect production as if I was to not carry out the budget professionally, then this would result in me having to find an investor to invest in the film and would delay the film further benefitting my film significantly. I think that my budget could be improved and could be presented to be superior like the industry standard example however I have included all the costs that is required to film and given the quantity, hourly rate, total, actual total and reasoning for actual total which includes more information than the industry standard example as I can compare my price to the price and the going rate of it. I have also stated why the cost is lower than the going rate in my ‘Reasoning for Total’ column. Overall, my budget includes all the correct information and is to an industry standard, but the layout I have presented it in could be improved and put into a more organised manner and therefore overall isn’t completely presented to a professional industry standard. My layout of the budget also positively affects production as it lays out all the fundamental information required as well as being displayed in a simple way which therefore makes it easy to understand when looking it.
Creative
The Creative segment is the thought behind the film and moulds the story that is presented in the film. The creative aspects of pre-production include the script, storyboard, pitch, film treatment and my generating ideas document. To produce these, I have had to brainstorm ideas for the story and when I concluded on the plot, I put a lot of thought and time into successfully creating professional looking and industry standard documents. An example of this is my script, my script is a lengthy document which includes the dialogue of the characters as well as emotions and facial expressions the cast must display on themselves. I have also included all the different shots with the information required for example the location, shot number, and shot type. I used a professional and industry standard document as a template for my script using the designated font and formatting it in the same way. This in turn made the script easier to understand for the cast and crew as the dialogue was in the centre of the page with the shots and more information on the left-hand side. The dialogue was also significantly far apart so the cast wouldn’t get confused with their lines for example I have created new lines for new sections of dialogue. As well as this, I had been typed the script Courier New font which is an easy-to-understand font for the cast and crew to read. This therefore will positively impact the production process as it helps the cast understand their lines and helps the crew understand the shots they will be taking. I have multiple drafts of my script due to it being changed overtime with a few changes in scenes and dialogue. Changes have been made throughout ensuring it is at a superior quality and the choice of words in the dialogue is more formal. I had to change the wording throughout resulting in multiple drafts of my script as well as at one point changing the name of one of my characters names. I proofread my script many times which helped me identify a few spelling mistakes in the script which I instantly corrected. My script is presented in a similar style to the industry standard example I used as a template. I think that overall, I have produced my script to a professional industry standard that is easy to use to understand and use for when production takes place. Creating my script will positively impact my production process as I have planned the dialogue and shots so production will be take place in an organised and professional manner ensuring that production goes well and I won't have to think of dialogue on set or think of what shot to do on set as I have already thought of it before hand and put it into my script. This is critical for my production process as it saves me time in the days of production and if I was to go into production without having a script then the cast would have to learn their lines on set, the crew would not be able to prepare shots and I would have to create lines for the cast on the day on filming which would hugely impact my costs as I will have to film on more days and therefore hire the cast and crew for more days therefore it may not fit into my budget and I will not financially be able to afford to cover the film which is why the script is critical to pre-production and production. The script I have created also makes it easier for the cast to learn their lines so they are preparing for the day of filming ensuring that we will be able to film during the days I have planned for and not go into the contingency.
I also created a Storyboard for my film which helps the cast and crew visualise the story and narrative which is followed by information explaining what I have done and why I have done it. I used an industry standard storyboard as a template for my own. My sketches are not very artistic however they are very to the point, and it is displayed on the sketch. In addition, the sketches, I have written the sound that will be used in the sound by separating them into diegetic and non-diegetic sound with further information followed for example dialogue will be in most films which comes under the diegetic sound category which I have displayed on the storyboard. I have given further information for the shot type, shot duration, camera movement and the type of lighting. Covering all these aspects, the scene is explained and presented in a professional manner helping the cast and crew understand the different shots that will be taking place throughout the film. I completed the storyboard after I completed my script to make the film come to life and visually see what is happening. This resulted in my going back and changing parts of my script as some shots I had in mind before, were replaced by shots I thought looked better after I had drawn them out and concluded on the which shot was most suitable for my film. Creating my storyboard will positively impact my production process due to the cast being able to visually see the scenes in a drawing which gives the cast and crew a greater understanding of how the shots are going to take place as well as the extra information provided stating the conditions the shot must be taken in which helps the crew do their job when setting everything up and shooting the shots. This will therefore prevent confusion in the production process and ensure the film is shot during the designated film days. This will therefore decrease the likeliness of having to use the contingency days.
Conclusion
I have concluded that my pre-production process has overall been very successful, and my documents have been produced to a professional industry standard level. The 3 sub-categories (logistics, financial and creative) include documents that I have created to a good standard as I have used an industry standard example as a template for my documents. This will therefore positively impact my production as the documents are easy to understand and has in-depth research and thought carried out to ensure the documents are professional and up to an industry standard. My pre-production process was created thoroughly which all positively affects my production process as all the necessary research and time has been put into it to ensure everything goes to plan and everything is completed within the timeframe that I have given myself. This is amazing for production as the likeliness of production going smoothly and to plan is very high as I will stick to schedule, and timescales set for specific tasks, if I didn’t do this then everything would collapse, and I may possibly forget to do things as I will have not planned effectively. The budget also positively affects production as it has been carried out effectively and due to me doing this, I was able to source the best financial model for me, and I was able to cut down costs so I could self-fund and not source an investor (who would take a large portion of the film) therefore I could keep all the equity of my film and keep full control ensuring the film will be created how I like.
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