Learning outcome 1: Understanding pre-production
- 1. Learning outcome 3 Understanding the requirements of pre-production; Factual Program – A factual program is a program containing elements or truth or conveying the truth, usually shows in these types of programs. Type of production; Documentary – This style of factual programme is a film that is based on truth and reality even though the scenes and pre-production is edited very closely so the producer can convey the point he is trying to put forward. News Programme – A news program is a regularly scheduled documentation of the current affairs, complete truth. A news show includes more than just facts about what is going on they give you detailed reports backed up by expert reviews and on location reports to back up the story on screen.
- 2. Finance– Requirements for my factual programme; For a production to take place you will need: Equipment – Head cam, Video cameras, tripods, boom mic, microphone, lighting, sound, dolly’s& handy cam. Transport – in order to get to a shoot on time production companies will need a fleet of cars and availability to public transport, some companies have contracts with taxi firms. Talent – Actors for reconstruction shoots, interviewees, presenters, experts & key witnesses.
- 3. Crew – Cameraman, assistant camera man, producer, assistant producer, director, presenter, researchers, historians, runners & extras. Materials – Script for talent to read from, photo library’s, archive footage, story boards, sound library’s & original material. Facility hire – Editing studios, recording studios, possibly equipment & production vans. Clearances– Health and safety, council & police in order to film on location and clearance from lawyers and talent managers in order to interview ‘talent’.
- 4. Time; Deadline – A deadline is a date/time, which is set, or an aim in which you are too meet/ have the final product in for. During TV production deadlines are key because the program has to be scheduled in to be on television at a certain time and if all the pre-production and filming deadlines aren’t met then the program will have to be postponed due to the failure of meeting the deadlines, meaning the producer loses money and the slot they wanted in the schedule. For example if deadlines are not met for the news, they have a day deadline of all the news coming in to putting it on screen so if not met the pre-production team would get fired. A lot of equipment is needed when filming factual programs, either hired or equipment already available, it is vital that as a director of show that you make sure you have pre planned where and when the equipment is needed, so that it works in sync with the production team using it, otherwise the program is not going to as good as intended or cannot be filmed at all due to something being missing. When filming a news show/factual program, there are more people working off set than on, so it is key that the staffs pre warned as to what is going on, on set and off. Without having the correct personnel and the right amount of personnel the program will not be as organised. If each person is not there at the time of shooting then the program is in jeopardy because each person’s job adds up to the final picture creating difficulties for the production team. Timescales for clearances means the time it takes for a production to get cleared by the authorities. When releasing a production the content has to be approved by the television authorities to make sure that the content is suitable for the audience at the certain timeslot, where schedule adjustments are made. Personnel; A news production team is not small, at least 40 different roles and at the minimum 50 staff working in pre-production, directing and presenting, each member of staff is vital. The roles undertaken in a production team are; Pre-Production Casting Director Costume Designer Director Location Manager Make-Up Artist Production Designer Researchers Set Designer
- 5. Television Producer Writer Head Writer Screen Writer Story Editor Production Boom Operator Camera Operator Character Generator Operator Floor Manager Graphics Coordinator Stage Manager Gaffer Control Room Team Production Manager Production Assistant Runner Stunt Coordinator Technical Director Television Director Video Control Engineer Video Tape Operator Vision Mixer Post Production Composer Editor Foley Artist Post Production Runner Publicist Sound Editor Title Sequence Designer Specialist Editors ADR Editor Blue screen Director Special Effects coordinator
- 6. Costs of production team Facilities; The equipment needed to film this factual program will be; Head cam - £22 brand new Video cameras - Free Tripods - £40 (weekend) Boom Mic - £13 (per day) Microphone - £6 (per day) Dolly Tracks - £100 (weekend) Handy Cam - £70 (weekend) Information taken from www.hirental.co.uk After the factual program has been filmed there is a lot of post-production equipment needed to complete the final piece, using the best available equipment for top final result. Editing Software (Premiere, Final Cut, Photoshop) External Hard drives Computers (either Mac or PC) Materials; Original material is footage that has been recorded by you, or the production team for that certain program, clips which have been storyboarded or planned to be in the program. This footage is copyright free so there is no problem using it.
- 7. When filming a factual program, backing up your arguement/point is key, using footage from previous programs or from the internet is one of the ways in which doing so, archive footage may be copyrighted to permission needs to be received from the television company who produced the footage. When researching or producing a factual program photo evidence can be taken of what you are doing so you can refer back to it for post-production, or photo examples found which a relative to the subject matter which is used for research or backing up a point. A sound library is where all the sounds for the program are stored, from the introduction theme tune too the Foley sounds of someone walking over gravel, all sounds relevant for the program will be stored for pre and post production. A factual program with a lot of explanatory content may need a script, words which the presenter or character on screen will say. Pre-planned to work in correlation with what is on screen to help the audience understand the relevant subject, worked on in pre-production. To back up a point which would be on screen a interview with a professional in the relevant field would be the best way to have questions answered which the audience may be asking themselves, making the points which need to be shown clear to the audience. Recorded music is either a soundtrack, which the producer or production team have created for a relevant clip for the program, or music that has been released by a artist, if that is wanted to be used in a program PRS would sort out a agreement for using the track. Contributors; Specialists – A specialist is a person who is extremely knowledgeable in a certain profession or subject, it is important to have a specialist in a factual program because them being so knowledgeable in the certain field it gives the audience more reason to trust the information that is being told. Experts – Much like a Specialist but where as a specialist is talented in one specific subject a expert is talented in more than one field, supposed to hold knowledge on a higher level compared to the average person. Experts are ideal for interviews when trying to persuade a audience to think what the expert is saying is true, more believable because they have experience in that subject area. Talent – Talent are the on screen contributors to the program, actors, presenters, interviewees etc. Confident on screen performers, needed to entertain the audience, or convey information to them keeping a flow to the program. Public; Contributor Biographies – When making a factual program the certain subject topic has to be looked at in many different views, so taking a lot of public views on the certain subject and basing them around the main view (the producer) and using there views as
- 8. arguments to either back up the point of view of the producer or to show the other side of the argument. This helps to give the audience a broader view of what is going on not just taking the side of the producer, giving the audience a chance to make their own decision. Location;
- 9. A recce sheet is a safety form, for the location you are going to be filming in to make sure that where the filming is taking place is the right scenario to film. What are the limitations & risks of a production? Distance – shooting has to be organised so that filming takes place in the lsame location on the same day Access –you have to pre plan when and who you interview as access to places and people may be restricted Cost –cost of production could end up higher than originally set and could forfit the production due to overspending Weather – you need to leave extra days too film just in case the weather doesn’t allow you to film on the chosen day Clearance – It’s important to have clearance before filming for legal reasons and without clearance for location and subjects you could be breaking OFCOM regulations. OFCOM - Ofcom is the communications regulator. We regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms and mobiles, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate. In this section you will find information about us, how we are run and how we do it. On 1 February 2011 Ofcom completed an internal review and reorganization. This was designed to reduce significantly expenditure in response to the challenge facing the whole of the public sector. http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/