Depict: Evaluation Essay

Digital Media Worksheet

 

 

Production

For our production we made 90 second short film for the online website and competition Depict, theme, genre and plot up to us as a production team. We produced this as told, and exported our final product as a video uploading it to youtube.

Other types of medias include animations, which require a larger team who most mainly have to be talented in art and have experience in animation, TV shows also require a lot of people but are more widely viewed and a short films popularity can be decides on how many people watch it. Bigger medias of course are full budget films made by high standing studios are the most common forms of productions.

Distribution methods include getting tv broadcasters to air them (i.e the BBC) as shorts or between ads if good enough, another way is online streaming from companies like Netflix and Amazon which are largely based on originals and starting directors inputs, more costly and deemed bigger productions with high expectations will be shown in cinemas most likely from studios like Warner Brothers, Disney or Universal, companies well known and trusted for grossing in the most money, for weeks on end depending on popularity.

Finances

For or short film lucky we had the funding of the college and all the equipment, computers and ‘actors’ we needed were free to use and any thing we lacked could be brought with the college finances. in total no we spent no less than £5 and that was on props and costumes.

In any moving image production finance don’t come from nowhere and to make a good quality film takes money, things like the production team, cast, food, drinks, props, costumes and locations all add up.

Ways to get money for all these things are from reliable sources, private investor is one, this is someone who will invest their money into helping a production in return for some of the profit, a example of this is hollywood investor Megan Ellison known for investing in films like Silicon Valley and The Hurt Locker. Another example is sometimes tv stations will fund upcoming shows or shorts, for example british company Film4 invest 15 million in funding starting directors and short film, airing them in certain wings, in some cases even studios will help fund a shorts if they feel it's good enough to be associated with.

 

Requirements

In any production the money has to be distributed according so each aspect of the production in making the film is done right, for example equipment and actors are the most costly and most important therefore cost a greater amount, some equipment is more high tech and better quality like  some actors require more payment due to high credibility and talents. Then food and drink must be available for the cast including actors and a location for them to stay while filming, then there's the locations in general, planning/filming permission and any props or costumes needed.

Luckily for us are requirements were limited and we had everything we needed including funding via our college and the location, props and costumes were all available and able any extra props were easily brought and cheap, and our camera, sound and lighting equipment was available to rent from the college whenever we needed it.

We bought fake moustaches part of our costumes, and food/ refreshments were unnecessary as we never filmed fo that long on the das we filmed.

  

Time

The time frame for our project was just over 2 months, 1 month to plan and another one for filming, in this time we planned out what we were going to do each day and tried our best to meet the requirements we set for everyday of filming. Most days we did this and got a good amount of filming done and had 2 weeks left to edit our film together after.

What happens when you do not meet deadlines in the professional media industry?

• The team and production falls behind and the time for filming gets shorter or the release date of a film gets extended which causes lots of complications and tension. Also if certain people don’t live up to expectations or don’t do as much work as expected their jobs can be in jeopardy, and their laziness can cause the failure of a whole production especially if the person with an important job falls behind.
• Luckily in our production everyone helped out and we didn’t fall to far behind and on days we fell behind we made up for in the following days
   
  Did you meet deadlines set in class?

• We had roughly 3 weeks to film and 2 weeks to edit and we finished filming a little earlier than expected, however we did have to go back and film the last couple of scenes in the last week, but we still had enough time for editing, and meet all the deadlines.
   
   
   
  Personnel
  Crew
• Charlie Robinson (Director/ main camera operator)
• Owen Leach (Actor/ assistant editor)
• Luke Lanham (Head Editor/ boom operator)
• Aimee Woolnough (Actor/ Story boarder)
  
  
   
   
  Talent

• Owen Leach (the protagonists dates)
• Aimee Woolnough (protagonist)
   
  In our group charlie came up with the overall plot of our story so was allocated as director, Owen has experience with drama and I’ve acted in other productions in college before, with editing Luke has edited before and knows how the applications were editing on works. I also do art, so I was happy to do the storyboard, and each of us did a worksheet to help out.
   
  Each day we helped set up the location that we filmed in and everyone helped get and put away equipment.
   
  Make up is also a important factor in films, low budget shorts don’t require as much makeup and hiring a professional makeup artist is costly and not as important as some of the things the films budget could  be spent on so anyone could be part of the make up tea with experience.
  Television programs however are more lengthy and run on for multiple months even years so it’s important to get a good wide range of makeup artists so the audience is impressed and more engaged by the standard of the shows production, and the actors don’t look so plain.
  But in something like Hollywood feature film it’s important to go all  out as its likely to be viewed by millions of people and critics alike, makeup teams are vast in in most movies not only make up is needed but graphic effects and completely transform a actor's appearance so spending a good amount of the budget on this is expected and understandable
   
  Costs  
  We obtained our equipment from the college supplies and what they have available which wasn’t to bad considering and we managed to make a good quality short out of what we were giving, for example 2 good quality cameras, tripods to make are shots straight and steady, boom mics for better quality sound, and small lighting devices which went on top of the cameras for more aesthetics and a orange glow.
  
  These were free to rent from the college each day we filmed, and we returned all the equipment by the end of the day, so no fees were added on, and we filmed cost free.
   
  Again, we didn’t have to pay for the props or costumes we used and most of them were given to us for the production and the stuff we did have to buy were taken out in the college’s funds.
   
  A Lot of upstarting directors and teams go to professional media facility houses, these are enormous open day studio available to rent and use, inside all the equipment and facilities a film would need are inside with suites and workspaces including camerams, operating systems, technical equipment, computers, green screens everything to make a good quality film. One i found was the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in the UK with funding from Channel 4 and the Royal College of the arts, created in the 1920’s has this studio has a vast amount of facilities, workspaces and even a cinema, and costs £60 to enter a CV.
   
  Locations
  we filmed within the college grounds so we didn't have to worry about legal issues and location problems, and we filmed inside a room within collage.
   
  A location recce is a form for permission to film on a location, from whomever owns/ has rights over the area you want to film on, and a location release is a legal document between the filmer and the owner of the property that grants said producer to work on their land for a agreed amount of time for a requested amount of money.
  For our production we only needed on location for all the scenes and as i previously said as we filmed in our college there was no need for these, but we still did some practise ones to file for our collage.
  Overall we didn't face any difficulties and managed to finish both sheets.
   
  Materials
  In any production a crew is obviously necessary, people like cinematographers, directors, boom operators, can be found online, on production company websites and even their own personal websites that exhibit their work for clients, and also get contacted after working on other shows.
   
  Legal Issues
  when it came to our depict project copyright was also important as we couldn't use copyrighted music and contacting big industries and owners of songs would have been time consuming and costly, and a the project is only small and would not have a enormous audience we didn't see much point.
  Also being unable to use quotes or long texts from other movies wasn't an issue and didn’t affect our script or plot.
  Copyright originally started in 1790 and was used to protect people's art, maps, work or books, and could not be published or made public without recognition.
  Legal issues in media:
  Media is one of the most dangerous places for copyright and lots of regulations are in place that restrict, acts of fraud, theft or discrimination, making them illegal even in film.
  In media no discrimination should affect what a person works as, and that person legally cannot be judged or wrongfully discharged due to any of the following:
  Sexually oriantaion, race, religion, or disability.
  Original logos and symbols are also copyright and are what's called trademark to a company and represent it branding its uniqueness. Using these to represent something else is illegal and a rule in copyright.
  Within any show certain plot points, upcoming episodes, or season finales are secrets and must be kept within the walls of the crew, as not to ruin the whole meaning of the show, therefore acts are in place for members of a media team to sign confidentiality agreements while working on projects. this also counts for upcoming games and films. (via 1991)
  As Well as this the producers must not reveal information about the actors or crew that they do not want broadcasted outside the project.
  Audiences must also not be lied to in a extreme manner that fully deceives or misleads them, and alter facts or actors to undermine them and their trust.
  Producers also have a responsibility to protect younger audience and place correct warnings and age restrictions before each showing, as well as all members of the crew having recognition at the end in the credits.
  Ethical issues are also important, some things within media thou not illegal could be extremely offensive or subliminally discriminatory therefore it is up to the produces to make ethical decisions not to directly upset or put in harmful material that by most standards would be considered as going too far.
   
   
   
   
  Regulations
  A regulatory body has public authority over human activity such as filmmaking and has superior rule over the responsibilities of a production and enforce the law.
  The OFCOM is a UK based telecommunication company which has control over all broadcasting and wide range industries, with authority over all sectors, and has of 2017 become the head regulator of the BBC.
  Similar to this is the BBFC (i.e the British Board Of Film Classification) who regulate british films and design filters and age regulations.
   
  Controlling

• television
• radio
• postal sectors
  The BBFC has a extremely important job and are in charge of regulating what people of different age groups see, depending on the modern days current expectations that can fluctuate at any time, and carries out a investigation every 5 years so they stay up to date, and have a chance to learn about viewers concerns or viewing standards
  As for our depict project we knew it would be going online on a open website therefore kept the rating lower than 12A, also due to a third of our team being under 18.
   
  PHOTO VIA: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/
  Trade
  Trade unions are a membership based organisation that protects workers independently and advance their work standards and develop their interest in the workplace , this is important because workers are protected from and disadvantages like being refused of employment or being made redundant, it's also important as it takes everyones opinions into consideration no matter how low in the work chain and works to improve everyone's job.
  Improvements can be

• training for skills
• support emotionally and financially
• health and safety put in or improved
• or even better pay
  PACT (Producer Alliance For Cinema and Television)
  A UK based organisation in trade, that work with independent producers.
  for example if animators, directors, tv crew.
  and campaigns  for more rights to be put in place for all workers on each production,  and to solve various issues.
  BECTU (Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union) Is a sector of the prospect Union, and also represents workers across media industries, like actors, and is accessible by paid membership.
  A Trade Association is a industrial trade group. and are funded organizations that allow a specific association to operate and take place, though no profitable these organisations help workers and starting businesses get the skills they need to be successful.
  For Example BIMA, a British corporation that helps digital industries and those who want to work in them gain the skills they need to be successful, and prepare them for a future in said industry.
   
   
  Extra Information:
  http://www.pact.co.uk/about-us.html
  https://www.bima.co.uk/
  https://www.bectu.org.uk/home
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment_and_arts
  http://www.bbfc.co.uk/