Unit 4 task 2
- 1. Unit 4- Task 2
- 2. Overall We have been tasked with creating a social action project, in which we have been commissioned by the london borough of redbridge to help our local community through use of media. To do this we need to understand the mechanics behind commissions of this kind, the corporations as well as the independent companies they commission, as well as what roles will be needed.
- 3. Commissioning Editor examples Jan Younghusband: commissioning editor for BBC music and events, Michelle Chappell: Commissioning editor at Channel 4
- 4. Producers Producers turn ambition into money, essentially marketing the product and making sure that it will be as profitable as possible. They also assemble the cast and crew in conjunction with the director and writing teams. Oftentimes producers will be the ones with most control over the production, making changes to ensure the sale of the movie, sometimes making it more marketable by changing the script. They often worked in the film industry, having prior experience, and organizational skills in order to make sure the production works smoothly.
- 5. Producer Examples Jason Blum: Producer for paranormal activity, SInister and the purge. Harvey Weinstein: Producer for Pulp fiction, Clerks and the crying game.
- 6. Scriptwriter Scriptwriter: Put simply, the scriptwriter is the person who wrote the original draft of the script and story, though this script may go through many drafts with more people working on it as time goes along. These people are often the original writers who are picked up by commissioning editors, though sometimes they are supplementary writers who help the main writer. William Goldman: Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- 7. Agent An agent is a person who finds work for those in creative media roles, They represent a certain amount of people in these roles as clients (actors, animators, scriptwriters) and gives them access to companies who are looking for said role. Some agents specilise in certain roles, some companies specifically find work for Actors, or some might find work specifcily for directors. William Morris Endeavor- An acting agency, they recruit actors, film companies contact them in order to find actors right for their roles United Agents -An agency for almost all roles for film, actors, Directors, Voiceover artists and camera crew. They are affiliated with ewan mcgregor, tom hardy and many more.
- 8. Commissioning bodies involved. Corporations BBC, ITV, Channel 4, all of these are corporations, some commissioned productions via independant companies, some of them create the production themselves, with higher ups in these companies working as producers. They are well established and famous companies, they own many subsidiaries and have publishing rights for television, meaning they themselves can put shows on television. Corporations are allowed to broadcast television nationaly, some, such as BBC have in house production creating television shows, others look for outside componies to produce for them Screenwriters will often receive briefs from corporations, though they pay a lot better than independents, they are also harder to get jobs from.
- 9. Independants Independent production companies are private creators of media, sometimes larger companies will commission these independents to make productions for them. They have no publishing rights, and thus must get noticed by a larger company to be broadcasted on TV, scriptwriters will more often go to independants for jobs. One example is Hat trick productions, who produce “have i got news for you”, and “Cheap Cheap Cheap”
- 10. Legal and ethical considerations Before the script is published and made into a movie/show, it must first be made sure it does not contain any legal issues. Censorship for “adult “ content, Making sure the show avoids Libel or Slander, and keeping to watershed laws, meaning adult content cannot be shown before 9pm. It is the law to keep these censorship laws on any free channel in the UK, at least until watershed, were more sensitive content can be shown. The censorship laws allow the government to tailor media they consider inconvenient.
- 11. Commissioning editor In charge of approving and buying new ideas from writers to produce via the Commissioning body or independent producers. They find stories or writers they feel they can mature into a successful media project, making sure to choose things that will be financially viable, looking at trends to see what sort of media content these production companies should be creating. Commissioning editors should be good researchers, capable of looking into market trends in order to decide what is worth investing time into creating, aka what will be financially available
- 12. Censorship Censorship is the censoring of material deemed inappropriate, often this is decided by the commissioning body, for vocal censorship, such as sensitive material or swearing, they will use noise to cover it up, known as a bleep. For visual stimuli, such as Obscenity, Nudity or writing deemed inappropriate, Black bars will often be used to cover up the visuals in post production. Most forms of media can be censored, News is often not allowed to go to press, and Radio stations who say things the government deem “unsavory” can be shut down.
- 13. Libel Libel or Slander is the act of doing damage to an individual's reputation unfairly. The Defamation act (2013), states that media cannot misrepresent someone, or lie about events relating to that person in a negative light. Satirical genre’s and comedy often do blur the lines between satire and slander, and sometimes incur court sentences. When a scriptwriter writes a script, they must make special consideration to not slander anybody at the risk of being sued. Opinions cannot be classed as slander, it must be a fact that has been lied about
- 14. Watershed 9pm is the watershed, a time after which it is okay to show programming meant for mature audiences. Pre- watershed, you cannot show graphic violence, profane language, nudity,or sexual intercourse, or strong references to these themes without necessarily portraying them. After 9pm, you can show most of these things depending on the network, this is so children are not accidently exposed to things deemed inappropriate, as mostly children will be asleep by 9pm.