Unit 1: Pre-production LO1

Comprehensively explain and present to a quality that reflects near-professional standards

fully detailed requirements and sources of requirements for a specific media production
TASK
From all the pre-production you have carried out over the past year you need to pick one
and complete the following task.
You will need to show an excellent understanding of the requirements for the proposed
production and will be able to explain fully why each element is required.
You will give detailed explanations of how these requirements will be sourced and give full
consideration to codes of practice and regulatory issues.
From the table below you need to explain why each element was important to your chosen
production and detail how you would source them.
For example

Finance:
Sources of finance

Type

Equipment
Transport
Talent
Crew
Materials
Facility hire

Importance

Sourcing

Importance
It is important to have finances in place before production starts, as every
producer needs to pay for Equipment used such as Cameras, tripods, green
screen, lighting and sound. For an Advert production for example, a producer
may also need materials such correct costumes, items for correct mise-en-scene
and talent in order to fulfil the desired effect. Crew will also be needed such as
cameraman, soundman lighting engineer researchers editors and runners in order
to produce a professional looking advert.
Once all is complete facilities such as editing suits and postproduction equipment
will be needed and these cost a lot of money.
Sourcing
Crew
Crew can be sourced trough websites such as Creative England
http://www.creativeengland.co.uk/index.php/portfolio/locationproduction-support/
Editing suits such as Dynamic post Production
Facility
http://www.dynamicpost.co.uk/index.php/final-cut-pro-suites/
can be hired for 350 per day. This will include the editor and
sound engineer.
Materials
Materials can be sourced from high street shops, retail outlets
or studio Props departments
Transport
Transport can be sourced via Transport for London
http://www.tfl.gov.uk, National Rail http://www.nationalrail.co.uk,
hertz car hire etc..
A days travel card in London will cost the producer 12 per
person.

List of all items that need detailing

You can either create your own table or upload this one to Weebly and
complete. Either ay, a table like the one below needs to be used.
Finance:
Sources of
finance

Equipment
Transport
Talent
Crew
Materials
Facility hire

Importance
Having a large source of finance could change the end product
which would involving paying for the equipment, crew, materials,
and props. Say, you spend 300 on a camera, it would be better
quality than a camera you spent under 50 on. This is because the
control of the camera would be a lot better and the settings would
be more advanced than the cheaper camera. Spending a lot of the
crew that would give you a good performance would advance you In
the end as It means more people would want to come see your film.
Any money that you spend will improve your work, and mean that
the standard of your work is very high. Having the crew in the first
place will take up some money but It depends how many actors you
want in your production, for only having a max of 5 characters, that
will not cost as much and mean you can spend money on other
things like the materials and equipment. But that doesnt change
the fact that it will still cost a lot of money to hire people, For
camera, lights, and tripod it costs 60 per hour. This Is the same for
sound engineers, and presenter. The most expensive aspect to hire
crane operator with Sony DVcam DSR500 with Insurance would cost
750.00. This is why filming days are with no messing around, every
minute counts, thats why its important to get things done as it
costs money for every hour. And If money is not spent on things
such as transport and facility hire, that would ruin the whole idea of
what you are going to do, and without then it would completely fail,
the company would have to pay for the cast, filmers and directors to
get to the certain location, rather than making them find
themselves there. This is because people would say they couldnt be
"bothered" to travel alone. Facility hire means that you have paid to
use a space for a certain amount of time, this usually costs around
400-600 pound a day. "you get what you pay for" holds truth
because if you pay cheaply youll have limited facilities but if you
pay a big amount of money, the location will be a lot better, and will
give you more to work with. Charity shops have lots of different
clothes that could be useful and sold cheaply to make a decent

amount of customers for each character. If the company wanted to

hire the costumes, this would be easily accessed. There are places
that have around 60,000 costumes available to hand out ranging
from different styles and types. This would be an easy option
because you know everything is there, and ready to go rather than
finding everything for yourself.

Sourcing
This may have to be taken out by a bank loan, which could be then
paid back when the production starts to make money or over an
agreement made between you and the bank. Or by getting a
government grant which would Involve not having to pay back the
money that is given to you.

Time:

Deadlines
Availability of equipment
Availability of personnel (size
of team; roles)

Importance
The timescale is an important factor for any media production and
deadlines can often be very tight. If something is not done in the
time scale that is required, it can often mess up the whole process
of what happens during the days of production. If one thing Is
laterthan it should be, that has a hit on affect to every other action
that is taken during production. Getting your cast available for the
right times is very important so that everyone that is needed for the
scene is there on time and get the work done that Is required. If
characters cant make it and they play an important role that would
make the performance look bad, and changes would have to be
made to make it look consistent and realistic. Also, the whole

production has to follow a certain set time, if the camera man

turned up on time but the resources arent turning up for another 3
hours, thats wasted money spent on the camera man not doing his
job. It becomes more stressful if things turn up to the chosen
location at different times, and means the process of production is a
lot slower. By working out the personnel availability It means they
can work towards finishing the final outcome and objective,
handling situations to keep it on a safe level and keeping the
workers in order and get the job done as quickly as possible, (with
strong organisation). This Involves making sure that each employee
feel fully prepared for their day to day job, and create security
within the work force. Its important for this to be the case because
with happy employers it means happy outcome of work.

Sourcing
Theres not any sources for having time keeping but from yourself
making sure that you get everything done on time.
(
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/personnel-policies-important4093.html)

Facilities:

Production equipment
Post-production equipment

facility houses
Importance
Any creative media production will involve the use of production
equipment and facilities to capture, record, edit and manipulate the
raw material into the finished product. That would include hard
drives, and soft drives to be able to store all the raw materials that
make up your production. Professional productions would include
their own facilities and equipment needed, but some need to be
able to hire them out so that they can involve the right resource..
Collecting the resources over time, you would also have to make
sure that it is all kept together in one place, that is safe which is
unable to allow anything to get lost, or taken.
(http://www.bladeworks.co.za/Blade.about.html) Hlade is a useful
post production facility in Johannesburg. By achieving the objectives
of each campaign or project. To support the surrounding core teams
for a product with the amount of work to do and what it involves.
Production equipment is also found at- http://www.prokit.com/. It is
important to have all the resources in one location at the time of
production.
Sourcing
Housing to store all the resources brought for the production. Using
high street shops and the internet to buy the resources needed, at a
reasonable price.

Materials:

Original materials,
Archive and library materials
Photo-library materials
Sound library materials,
Internet
Audio
Script(upload an example)
Interviews
Costumes

Importance
All media products require raw material for the actual content and you can
plan to gather and generate this raw material in various ways. Original
materials are something that you take for yourself. Undertaking a series of
test shoots or recordings can help you further develop your ideas during the
pre-production stage. It is important for it to be your own resources because
then you are unable to be held up for copy right, also it makes your production
different to others.
Archive and library materials means existing productions, this is helpful to find
new ideas to come up with a final one, and have a stronger imagination, but to
an extent as it could lead to plagiarism and meaning that your work will either
be cancelled, or people will be unable to take you serious for future jobs.
Photo library is the storing of pictures you have taken along the way, this may
be of the location, the cast or equipment. This is a good idea because it
means that it can help along the way like a storyboard of what is happening
and help to find new ideas.
The sound materials is helpful as it means you have direct tracks to play
which links to your production, and youll know how much it will cost to use
these songs, instead of plagiarism.
The internet helps for production with the research that it involves. It means
you can find information about a location and equipment, also by being able to
find out what the target audience likes and how to grab their attention.
Audio is the speech that is involved in the production. It is important for it to be
taken and not copyrighted because that would make your production look just
like someone elses, which would be boring and recognised for being the

same.
A script is important to follow because it means that everyone involved in the
production knows whats happening and can follow it. If someone doesnt
know the script then it can ruin a part of the production, and could be easily
seen by the viewers.
Interviews is a vital part of the process because it means you can choose the
characters wisely and make sure that they match the requirements.
Costumes are important because it helps set the scene and make it look more
realistic, for example if it was a murdering scene then clothes with blood and
mud on it would make it look better, rather than someone wearing normal
clothes. You would need to match the clothes to the plot and make it set the
scene for the audience.
Sourcing
Original material is filmed by the director but archive footage for
productions can be found on different websites that are linked to
your production, maybe finding things on youtube. audio is found on
the internet and downloading the music that the director want.
Script is normally written by the director or him employing someone
to write it for him/her. Costumes could be either rented or brought
cheaply from charity stores, or over the internet so that you know
exactly what youre buying.
Locations:

Importance

Recces (Upload an example)

Limitations and risks:
Distance, access, cost, weather

Within a media production, location is one of the strongest aspects

to show whether or not the piece is at a high standard. Say, it is in a
horror film but the location was in a happy environment then it
would confuse the audience and not look very realistic. For pre prep
it will save a lot of time to find the locations you want to use
beforehand, and save a lot of money. A location reconnaissance (or
recce) is to ascertain its suitability. The information that you bring
back from the recce will inform the production schedule as you will
be able to find out about distance, access, power supply, and
potential problems over weather, health and safety issues and any
costs associated with using that particular location. The person
finding out about the location should write down if there are any
problems to this area, such as something that is able to harm
someone during the course of the filming, and if there is any areas
that the actors are unable to go into. Will also have to write down
the costing to get there, if it is a long distanced travel, and to sort
out how everyone will get for the date needed. Public liability is
another legal requirement for companies and organisations who are
involved in media production, particularly when they are recording
on location where members of the public may be at risk from the
production activities.

Sourcing
If I had to do this task of finding the location I would go round
Henley or Maidenhead and find the suitable places that would fit
with the description of the movie. Making sure its safe and easy to
access for the actors and camera men. What a good idea would be
is to look up locations on the Internet first, just so you know your
whereabouts, and plan ahead where you are going.
Codes of
practice and
regulation:

Location permissions
Clearances
Copyright
Health and safety
Insurance

Importance
This is important to have documentation so that there is no way the
company could get fined. If it was in a location that is owned by
someone, you would have to ask permission to be able to shoot
there, otherwise trouble would be caused for going into their space.
copyrighting is illegal, using someone else's materials mean you
would have to have a licence to do so, this would mean that
someone would have to order one, and speak to someone before
usage of their materials. Health and safety is taken very seriously,
having defined responsibilities and duties to make sure everyone

involved is safe and managed. Holding risk assessments to identify

hazards and control the risks, this would be done by taking the time
to systematically look at all activities that would be done during the
day, assessing the exposed risks, and finding ways to eliminate or
at least control them. Clearance is the written permission to use
everything and everyone that appears in your film. It is your
responsibility to ensure that you have obtained all the clearances in
writing. Getting clearances as you go along, or at the start rather
than trying to get permission after the shot of the filming. Insurance
is able to cover things such as equipment, footage, employers
liability, public liability, and even if the weather is not right on the
day of your shot, insurance to allow you to shoot again. This is
important as it means that you are able to come out without any
problems, or lose out on money because of equipment going
missing, whatever you put in will be brought out in the end.
insurance is also a good idea so that you are able to know what
things are worth, and get it insured accordingly. clearance is
needed for "no access" locations, as It would be very risky to enter
an area without having permission from the owner. Health and
safety is a big factor for production as it means that all the danger
that could be caused to those involved have been looked over and
prevented, rather than just letting it slide, meaning the people on
set are safe at all times.
Sourcing
This all has to be done on a legal document, either by calling up a
company based on that, or different documents found on the
internet that are able to guide you through the legal process of how
things are done.

The below only requires you to discuss the importance

Trade
unions:

(Choose the one that relate to your production only)

Producers Alliance for Cinema
and Television (PACT),

National Union of Journalists

(NUJ)
Broadcasting Entertainment
Cinematograph and Theatre
Union (BECTU)

Importance
PACT represents the commercial interest of independent feature film
producers in the UK. This is important for them to have a chance of
production, and have equal chances as another person. It is
expressing our national identity and perspectives to domestic as
well as international audiences, being able to change how societies
view themselves and viewed by the world. The NUJ is the voice of
journalism, representing a broad range of media professionals. It is
important because means it improves the pay and conditions for the
members and protects the media freedom, professionalism and
ethical standards. This is involved from broadcasting, newspapers,
magazines, books, public relations and photography. The
importance of broadcasting entertainment is because it keeps
viewers of media interested, making them want more and keep
coming back. Having entertainment would increase the audience
level and allowing a range of different audiences at that too. BECTU
represents staff, contract and freelance workers who are based
primarily in the UK. It is important because it protects jobs,
increases memberships, get better pensions and opportunity to win
new recognition agreements. The union supports policies that
encourage and support cultural diversity and respect between one
another.