Learning Aim A: Pre-Production Report

 When putting a film together, many sections of work go into the main and post-production. However, it is fundamental that your pre-production elements are handled with the same level of professionalism and respect to deal with it appropriately to avoid issues later down the line and streamline the entire process. This is what I’m here to write about, to guide you on how to effectively carry out your pre-production content for your projects, as instructed by the local council.

Finance

When it comes to putting together the finance side of your film you must make sure that what you are doing is not only beneficial but also appropriate for you. This is shown with the documentary ‘One Mile Away,’ which went down the path of crowd funding, this proved to be insanely effective as the documentary covered the lives of those that would be funding the project itself making it more likely for them to put their hard-earned money towards it. The film also didn’t require a large budget as of many factors like travel, cast, equipment being very minimal. They decided on this funding method via outlining the pros and cons of each one, from there they determined what would be the most suitable.

The budget planning on its own is integral as under budgeting has been the death of many films such as Marc Foster’s ‘World War Z’. The film was on track with its budget, for a while, up until the 3^rd act when they decided to reshoot all of it costing them millions. With you being a most likely small company unknown by big financers it is unlikely that if they already funded you that they would give you more because of creative decisions. World War Z was lucky having, big names such as Brad Pitt, Paramount, and GK Films tied to the production meaning it was finished and made a profit but one near their estimations and hopes. If the budgeting is not done effectively, like World War Z, then you might not be funded more and if you over budget extremely then it’s likely that no one is willing to fund you in the first place. Look online to get estimates of how much you should be paying for people’s time and equipment and potentially round up to the nearest 2^nd digit of your found value, for example if you have a number like £134.50 that would round to £140. This is to avoid underbudgeting. I’d recommend adding an additional 10%-15% to go towards ‘Contingency’ so if anything falls through then you have the resources to repair the film.

Logistics

Logistical content is also invaluable to the pre-production process to ensure that the project succeeds. One major element that needs to completed is the location recce. This is essential to the production as when your cast and crew arrive on set they should understand what the local facilities offer and what is required of them such as food, if they are misinformed or worse not informed at all it could cause them to have an unpleasant time working on the project and maybe even abandoning it all together. This would delay the filming leading to knock on effect where you need more of resources, meaning an increase of budget (which is why we have that 10%-£15% contingency). To avoid this, it is a must that all information is included, even small details such as use of facilities, catering, and travel must be there. Although successful, the film ‘Monsters’ didn’t even ask for permission when filming in a new area meaning at any point a representative of the location could have taken legal action against the production company creating nothing but problems.

Along with this you will also need a cast and crew release form, this should consist of what each member of the production is involved in such as if they are a cast member they should have their role/s tied to them on this sheet and if they are a crew member they should have their role down such as ‘lighting director’. Along with their roles you should have contact information for them such as an email address and/or phone number. As a final requirement you will need a contract detailing their involvement and how long they are required. This is to protect yourself from a lawsuit if they decide that they no longer wish to be involved in the project and can’t pull out halfway through. Once again referring to ‘Monsters’ they needed to do a similar thing as their extras were locals who could have easily argued that they did not consent to film them and therefore to avoid this they all have some form of documentation to declare that they granted said permission. Whilst earning more than most expected, Monsters took a risk and got lucky in regards to location permissions as at any point during and after filming the location owners could have pulled the plug on the film. I would not recommend anyone to do what they did due to the huge risks that could arise potentially delaying the production and incurring legal action.

Codes of Practice/Regulations

To avoid getting in legal issues it is vital that regulations are in place for all parties involved with your production to see it through to release with minimal hurdles. Such documentation involves a risk assessment. This involves outlining every possible scenario that could occur during the production stage. Examples could be that of a wet surface causing a broken bone meaning that you have lost that cast or crew member until an undetermined date. Ultimately, that could result in the project being delayed or worse having legal action forced upon you from the member of the cast or crew that has been injured due to ill preparedness. To avoid a situation like this you must rate the incident in a form best suited to you and your team in both how likely the event is to occur and how tragic the outcome of the event is if it were to happen. From here you determine a way to either prevent or reduce the likelihood of the issue. If you do not cover an issue that happens to play out, then you are in serious trouble legally. As shown with ‘Whiplash’ with the director being in that much of a rush that he got in an accident that destroyed his car and sent him to the hospital with a possible concussion halting production. If you want or need music for your film that is owned by a non-related company, such as Sony animation and Sony music being tied together by Sony themselves, then you must come to an agreement with said company with documentation of how they are paid and the song is used. The song, artist, producer, and most people involved of the making of the song must be included within the credits. This is evidenced once again by ‘Whiplash’ where songs such as Overture by Justin Hurwitz, Keep Me Waiting by Dana Williams and Maxwell Drummey, Reaction by Nicholas Britell were used. Altogether, it is crucial that risk assessments are completed professionally and thoroughly with each potential situation thought through with deep consideration of each person’s habits, needs, and ability. If not done you run the risk of being in legal trouble due to not adhering to regulations and losing a cast or crew member for an undetermined amount of time preventing production.

Pre-Production Documentation

A shot list draws the line between chaotic and planned filming. This document organises all your shots in many ways and acts as a timeline as when you should be filming certain scenes. All of this goes based off of distance between locations and the time of year those shots need to be filmed in as within the story of the film you may return to a location or may visit another nearby that may be used late on into the feature. This allows you to streamline the process and cause less money being utilised towards assets that could be avoided inflating the budget even more. The film ‘Monsters’ for example was shot in Belize, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the United States over three weeks which whilst being all relatively close it couldn’t have been filmed as quickly as it was if a shot list wasn’t properly taken care of increasing their already low budget.

The script is a tool that keeps your whole production in line and maintains the overall plot of the project. Without your script all you have to rely on is your actors improvising lines that may or may not fit the story you want to tell. Reworked scripts have shown to be a detriment to a film if not handled appropriately with ‘World War Z’. The entire 3^rd Act being reshot was a huge issue, with many believing that they didn’t spend long on said section of the new script given the time restraints upon the cast and crew to finish the ongoing filming. This caused the 3^rd act feeling disconnected from the rest of the feature and the entire film being viewed in a more negative light. Therefore, the profit was nowhere near the expected value. These tools are there to assist and make the production process flow smoother. If not completed you risk wasting money paying people who have no idea what they are doing each day inflating money used on a day to day basis. I’d recommend that once your idea is formed create a script as soon as possible that you deem worthy of filming, imagine that film in your head and play it out, if you don’t like it rewrite until you do. For your shot list complete it once you have permission from all your filming locations and look forward to when you believe filming will begin to fully layout the production.

Pre-Production Process

Your treatment is the one of the final steps to get a production company, and/or financers on board with your project as it goes more in depth with each act, scene, and shot within the film that may or may not be selling points for said film. This can also give you an outline of the timescale it should take to produce your product. With this you can accordingly plan your next steps such as putting together a shot list. Having a treatment that gives out details such as dialogue is vital to getting funded. ‘Monsters’, however, most likely didn’t have a specific treatment as actors were told to improvise based off each other and key plot points that needed to occur within each scene. In a way you could argue the actors built up their characters development on their own immediately removing that from the treatment. This did work for ‘Monsters’ but it’s not reliable especially if you have hired a relatively unknown actor as you have no reference for their improvisation skills. Within the treatment you also need to balance out your details for each section as if you significantly put more work into another scene, it could across as ‘putting all your eggs into one basket’ and banking on that one aspect of the product.

For the production process to truly follow a set structure then you’ll have to put together a production schedule. For this you’ll outline what content you’ll cover within set time periods of the production cycle, this is split up into days to have a more defined idea of where you should be within said production cycle. This should include filming, sound recording, and editing, along with each individual step needed for your film’s completion. It is clear that ‘Whiplash’ had an insufficient schedule due to due the pace being ‘beyond feverish’ this is what lead to the previously mentioned car crash Chazelle (The film’s director) got into. Personally, I would advise putting a production schedule together towards the back end of the pre-production cycle due to ideas being changed potentially could mean that more time is needed for completion or less time is needed meaning days you have paid individuals for have gone to waste.

Conclusion

All together pre-production content is imperative to a film’s success as too little planning can cause knock on effects that will damage not only that one production, but others associated with your company’s name as your reputation will fall. This also makes it less likely for other more well-known companies to reach out for a collaborative project plateauing your growth. If not careful then your whole company can go under from a few failed films. On a positive light however, if you film is prepared for correctly and appropriately then it can release earlier and with higher quality. The film also therefore builds you as a company as one that publishes consistently and good content. You also lower your likelihood of being in legal trouble with proper preparation as you may cause injury to others, use copyrighted content, and/or provide a product you did not advertise. In conclusion complete as much pre-production work as possible as it sets the foundation for your film to grow and prosper without complication especially with you being a smaller production company any growth positive or negative goes a long way.

Before even putting together an idea of what I want to do for my production I needed to analyse the pre-production steps of the whole production to best prepare for the process. This involved research of all documents tied to pre-production, defining their purpose and impact on a production and informing why they need to be made. With this now put together all steps leading up to filming should be streamlined saving time and budget.