Requirements for Production

Requirements for a moving image production

The type of media product we produced was a short film called 'Underage Drinking', which was made for the depict 90 second short film competition and was distributed via the internet, using the Video sharing website YouTube.

Source: http://www.depict.org/

Source: http://www.depict.org/about/

Type of Moving Image Production (media forms)

There are many different types of moving images products, such as:

• Feature films
• Short films
• TV shows
• Documentaries
• Music Video 
• Advertisements and promotional films
• Animation - any of the above type of moving image products can also be animated, for example, there can be animated feature films, animated short films or animated TV shows ect.

All moving image productions can be distributed in many different methods, such as:

• Cinema - Usually feature films are distributed by being shown in cinemas but advertisements and trailers are also shown, as well as even short films sometimes.
• Television - TV shows are distributed by being shown on television, but any kind of moving image production can be also be shown on TV, like advertisements, feature films and documentaries.
• DVD - Feature films are usually distributed via DVDs after it has been shown at cinemas. All other kinds of moving image products can also be distributed with DVDs, like TV shows and documentaries.
• Internet - It is easy now for anyone to distribute things on the internet now, even for free via websites such as YouTube. Other internet services such as Netflix distribute films, TV shows and other kinds of moving image products to paying users.

Finance and Sources of Funding

Many different forms of funding exists for film, television and other moving image productions to help get it made. Here are some examples of sources of funding:

• Private funding - This is funding using someone's own money. Megan Ellison is an example of someone that funds films with her own money. She has put up funding for films such as Zero Dark Thirty and The Master.
• Crowd funding- This is funding a project by raising small amount of money from a large amount of people, typically via the internet through websites such as Kickstarter.
• Product placement - An advertising technique where companies receive exposure for their products by paying for them to be featured in films or TV shows. It is common practice in American movies. The Transformers films have lots of examples of product placement such as mobile phone and drinks companies.
• Studio funding (Warner Bros., Universal, etc.)
• Grants and bursaries such as the BFI Film Fund (Lottery money).
• Competitions (Depict)

Requirements for any production 

A list of things that you might have to spend money on for a moving image text:

• Props - We had to obtain two props for our Depict project. These required props was a twix and a poorly made fake ID. We also had to make sure we wore the same clothes on each shooting day.
• Cast and Crew - Toby and I(Horatio) were the acting cast, while Harry was the crew behind the camera.
• Locations - We had one location in our Depict project, which was in front of a  corner shop.
• Equipment - In our Depict project we had to obtain all of our equipment from the AV library using our student cards to rent them out for free. We took out for our project; a camera for filming, a tripod for steady shots and an SD card for storage space. 
• Marketing and distribution - We had no marketing for our depict film, but we did distribute it via the internet using the video sharing website 'YouTube'.   

Personnel

The 'Talent' (actors) and 'crew' (the production team) that work in a media production. The makeup of a typical team for a moving image production will be different depending on the budget of the film.

A low budget short film will typically have a makeup of actors that aren't well known because they are cheap to hire compared to big Hollywood stars. They will often have small crews as well with people doubling up on jobs. For example; the director may also be the camera operator to save costs on hiring more crew members.

Television programs usually have a fairly large budget with well known actors as well as up and coming actors

Time

The time frame that we had available to us during the production of our depict short film project was quite short, which meant we had to use our time wisely and plan carefully. We had six lessons for each part of the production - six for pre-production and planning, six for shooting the film and six for post production

Equipment/Facilities

There were many different facilities and equipment that we could take out for free from our college AV room. We could get out equipment such as cameras, tripods, dollies, jibs and more using our student cards. There were some props available to us in the photography room if we wanted them and editing software on the macs in our media room.

Places such as MediaCity UK mean that professional media production companies can rent out the expensive professional equipment they need in order to create moving image productions without having to spend more buying the equipment to keep. They can also rent sets from places like this too.

Locations

Recce is a military word that has been adopted as a media term. It is used for finding locations for filming. A person or people are sent out to view locations. They take pictures and note down points so they can decide on a location for later.

After the recce has been completed, the location name, contact details and signature of owner are filled into a location release form. This must be done in order to be able to start shooting the production.

We didn't face many risks in our productions, only the risk of damaging equipment and being careful of the traffic on the road when crossing. For these we had to fill in a risk assessment form to list the possible dangers and how we could avoid them. 

Materials

Materials that are needed in a moving image production:

• Props
• Costume
• Scripts
• Images
• Music - The music used in our production was produced by me using a DAW.

All the equipment used in our production was free from college. Our budget was 60p which we spent on a twix as a prop. The music was free as it was created by me.

Legal Issues

Copyright and product placement must be taken into consideration while making a production. If something was used in production what was made by someone that has not given permission for it to be used then you could get in allot of trouble and may be sued.

Copyright means the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material.

Copyright didn't affect our Depict production. We resolved the issue of having copyrighted music in our film by having our own song produced by me using a music production DAW.

Regulation

Ofcom is the communications regulator in the UK. They regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate.

The BBC Trust is the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It is operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim is to make decisions in the best interests of licence fee payers.

Trade unions and trade associations

A trade union is an organized association of workers in a trade, group of trades, or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests.

A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry.

The difference between a trade union and a trade association is that a trade union provides help, support and representation to people who are employed by companies, while a trade association is a group of companies who all provide the same or similar services and the aim of the association would be to represent the interests of that trade, or to lobby on its behalf.