Wednesday 24 February 2016

Pre-Production Report (Draft-Resubmission)

Pre-Production report by Daniel Storey

1) Type of production

The type of production that I ma making is going to be a 1 minute short film where it is going to be uploaded into Youtube where it is part of our coursework for BETC Media Level 3 at Christ the King (St Mary's) so it can be watched worldwide by an audience who are interested in short films or possibly feature films. My short flim will be a linear production because it will show the beginning, middle and end of the short film but since the genre of the film is going to be thriller, it will have the use of low key lighting which will give mystery and suspense for the audience whilst they are watching this film.

2) Finance

For my short flimw, it is going to be low budget compared to an actual film because we are not getting a famous director, actors and actress to be in our film due to the fact we do not have the money to ask them to do that instead we are going to do it ourselves but in a group with other two people which will be.

The budget for my short flim is going to be between £20-£30 where I am going to pay for the props for what I am going to use for my film to make it more realistic like for example: fake blood, police tape etc but also I will need to buy food because so it will motivate the filming crew to do their job and they could get rewarded in the end but with the equipment, I will be hiring a camera that has an SD card in it and a tripod. I will not needed to pay at all because it will be able to hire it at our college by booking it and returning it by a certain amount of days but if the equipment that is hired by myself does go missing and can not find it at all, then I will need to pay for a new camera and tripod because it is my responsibility to look after the equipment.

Since I have an Oytser Zip Card, the traveling to different locations that I have planned to film with my crew can be free with the use of buses but if I have to travel on a train or tube to get a certain location, then I will need to pay by topping up my oyster zip card to make it easier to travel to the location. 

Budget: Between £20 to £30

Props that is needed for my one minute short film: £`10
Food that will need the production team: £15
Camera and Tripod is going to be provided by the college
Mac Suite (Facilities) will be used at anytime at the college
Transport: Since I have an Oyster Zip Card, it is free by traveling on the bus but I will need to pay £10.00 if I use the transport of a train or tube to get my location that I decided with my film crew to go and film the scenes. 

3) Time

In the film industry, you have to schedule the time of when you have plan what area of the Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production stages that people will be set to working on. When a deadline is set to finish making your film and if you do not meet a certain deadline, then you have to pay for insurance for not completing the film or carry on filming it until it is completed but in other colleges including CTK, the teacher will mark your work as unmarked. At CTK, we have a booking system where you can book a time to use a editing suite or use the equipment for filming like a camera, tripod etc. But you need to make sure to return to them but if it is lost or damaged, then you will have to pay for new one which will come out of your bank account.

4) Crew and Personnel

Before undertaking of starting making our flim, we need to get a crew to work on my short film like Director, Cameraman, Sound engineer etc. This is because if you do not have a crew to help produce your film, then you will be struck to do anything but with your plan in runis but the crew that I will pick needs to have certain skills and experience to be able that the job is being done correctly which in the film industry, they do the same thing by checking people's CV to see if they got the experience and skills to do an certain jobs in a film but also they make sure it is right decision to get that person. The people that are in my group are Lawrence and Shanee who I was put into groups with but the jobs were chosen in terms of our experience and how well we can do to it well..

Myself: Director, Cameraman and Actor
Lawrence: Producer
Shanee: Editor, Production assistant

5) Facilities

After completing the Pre-production stage where I am planning to shoot at which location and getting organized of how it is going to be played out of getting a production crew, writing up the script, drawing up a storyboard etc, we move on the production stage of film-making because myself and my filming crew will need to go to the location that I send my scout to find the best possible ones that it will fit in with the film which is going to get made but the equipment is needed to make this possible.

The Production equipment that I will need: Camera with a SD card, Tripod, Rode Microphone and Rode Boom-pole 3m which these types of equipment is available at the college and can be used at anytime but compared to the film industry, I will need for this. After the production stage is done, you will move to the post-production stage where I will need to use a Mac Suite that has editing software Final Cut Pro X so I can edit my short film which is provided by the college because it is available to be used at anytime but again in the film industry, I will need to pay to use an editing suite.

6) Materials

All the original material of the footgae that we will be filming will our own because in the group of three, we will decide what material (like for example, where piece of music that is going to be used to make the short film fit into the category of a thriller) that could eb changed duirng the pre-production stage of making a film but you can use existing footage for the flim which you may need permission from the holder to use it.

Copyright free music is where a buyre pays for a music license but after that is done, they are able to use it for long as they want but with royalty, if a perosn wants to use a copyrighted piece of music then it is possible for them to phone the people that hold the rights to the music and pay £500 in advance so they will not strike you with a copyright infringement.

7) Contributors

Before you start making your short flim, it is very basic that you will need to get actor and actresses to be part of it as well because they will be playing different characters in it which will get him or her credited at the end of the short film but will earned the most money in the film industry but I will need to get their permission from the people that are going to be part of the production with the crew by making sign an release form because if they could their mind of not being part of the short film which can cause problems with the final product as I have to find other people to be part.

8) Locations

I will have someone to scout for finding good locaoitns as someone will may consider them if it good enough but I will need ask the local Council for a Kent flim license because if a person goes and films in public without permission from the authority, then you will get in trouble and possibly get charged by them and with the location of my short flim, it is going to be in the wodds in South East London as it will fit in with the conventions of the grene of a thriller film which I am making because it will be ideal to use to create mystery and suspense. Also, you need to check the weather everyday to make sure that you will go on the right day to film but depending on the and I will need access to transport my crew and equipment to site which it needs to get permission

9) Codes of practice and regulation

BBCF (British Bardo Of Flim Classification) is a ono-govenmenrt organization where it gives a classifications of flim and gmaes like for example: U, PG, 12A/12, 15 and 18 ratings depending on how much strong language, violence, sex etc is in a single film by which they watch a film which is sent by a big film companies like Universal Pictures or Warner Bros. With my short film if I sent my film to them, they would watch it and give you back information of what rating they are giving it but since it is going on to YouTube, it will not need to be sent to them.

The ASA (Advertsting Stnatards Authority) are responsible for regulating the advertsting that is going to be shown on television because they need to make that the advert for my short film is not mislead for my intended audience so it does not cause any offense but Health and Saftey is very important as well because the people that are working on the short film need to be protected from any danger that could appear during the filming on this so by making a risk assessment on the location that we are going to start filming, we will know where are the dangers to be careful.

Spelling and Grammar checker:



Bibliography:

Thursday 11 February 2016

Unit 1, Task 5 (Pre-Production Report)

Unit 1/Assignment 1: Pre-Production report by Daniel Storey

1) Introduction

As I am the production manager of my short film, the responsibility of this job is to make sure that the production budget is being managed well, it runs well for the producer and getting the crew to help the director make the movie. But since this report is on the pre-production stage, I will need to source the information on funding, scheduling and organizing my film so it will be done on a certain deadline that is set.

The title of my short film is Paranoia where in the story a detective is walking into the outside of the woods until he walks past the gap that leads to in it which he stops and and goes back to the gap and see something that the audience will not see at all. After deciding to entering the woods, he comes across police tape that is connected to two trees which he goes under it but he stops see something that is covered which he pulls the sheet away and finds a flower and piece of paper. As he is about to open the piece of paper, the coverage shot will changed to see his reaction of what the piece of paper says and it will end with the screen cutting to black which will leave an open-ending for the intended target audience to interpret of what could happen next.

2) Type of production

The type of production that I am making is going to be a 1 minute short film where it is going to be uploaded into YouTube where it is part of our coursework for BTEC Media Level 3 at Christ the King (St Mary's) so it can be watched worldwide by an audience who are interested in short films or possibly feature films. With the genre of my film, it is going to be a thriller because I felt that I could make a film that has mystery and suspense at the same time but with the film itself, it does require a small crew that help make the film, a script of what is going to happen, a storyboard of what coverage shot is going to be used in each scene, getting a scout to look for the best location, buying the props to make the film look realistic rather than having it look bland and hiring the equipment.

2) Finance

For my short film, it is going to be low budget compared to an actual film because we are not getting a famous director, actors and actress to be in our film due to the fact we do not have the money to ask them to do that instead we are going to do it ourselves but in a group with other two people which will be.

The budget for my short film is going to be between £20 or £30 where I am going to pay for the props for what I am going to use for my film to make it more realistic like for example: fake blood, police tape etc but also I will need to buy food because so it will motivate the filming crew to do their job and they could get rewarded in the end but with the equipment, I will be hiring a camera that has an SD card in it and a tripod. I will not needed to pay at all because it will be able to hire it at our college by booking it and returning it by a certain amount of days but if the equipment that is hired by myself does go missing and can not find it at all, then I will need to pay for a new camera and tripod because it is my responsibility to look after the equipment. Since I have an Oyster Zip Card, the traveling to different locations that I have planned to film with my crew can be free with the use of buses but if I have to travel on a train or tube to get a certain location, then I will need to pay by topping up my oyster zip card to make it easier to travel to the location.   

Budget: Between £20 to £30

Props: £10
  • 12 Metre Police Line (Do Not Cross): £6.99
  • Fake Blood: £1.86
Food that will need the production team: £15
Camera and Tripod is going to be provided by the college
Mac Suite (Facilities) will be used at anytime at the college
Transport: Since I have an Oyster Zip Card, it is free by traveling on the bus but I will need to pay £10.00 if I use the transport of a train or tube to get my location that I decided with my film crew to go and film the scenes.

Compare to funding yourself, there is another ways to get funded for my short film like using Kickstarter for example, you need to make a crowd funding campaign which is about my movie so people will be able to make donations to that person who wants his dream to make a short film of his own idea become a reality which makes this funding source of Kickstarter easier to use. Another way to get funded to make my short film is by paying to enter into National Lottery with the money that I have earned in my day-to-day basis of working and use some of the money if have won with the Lottery.

3) Time

In the film industry, you have to schedule the time of when you have plan what area of the Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production stages that people will be set to working on. When a deadline is set to finish making your film and if you do not meet a certain deadline, then you have to pay for insurance for not completing the film or carry on filming it until it is completed but in other colleges including CTK, the teacher will mark your work as unmarked. At CTK, we have a booking system where you can book a time to use a editing suite or use the equipment for filming like a camera, tripod etc. But you need to make sure to return to them but if it is lost or damaged, then you will have to pay for new one which will come out of your bank account.

4) Crew and Personnel

Before undertaking of starting making our film, we need to get a crew to work on my short film like Director, Cameraman, Sound engineer etc. This is because if you do not have a crew to help produce your film, then you will be struck to do anything but with your plan in ruins but the crew that I will pick needs to have certain skills and experience to be able that the job is being done correctly which in the film industry, they do the same thing by checking people's CV to see if they got the experience and skills to do an certain jobs in a film but also they make sure it is right decision to get that person if they doing a drama course at the college but if we can't get the actors to be part of my one minute short film, then we have to be the actors in the film. The people that are in my group are Lawrence and Shanee who I was put into groups with but the jobs were chosen in terms of our experience and how well we can do to it well.

Crew

The camera operator will be responsible for filming the scenes that is going to be part of my short film and being in charge of the camera which this role is going to be done by Shanee because she understand how to keep the camera shots within the rule of thirds. As she is the camera operator, there two other jobs that does go with this which is filling in shot list of what coverage shots that are going to be use and a storyboard of how long each scene is going last and having photos or drawing the scene of what is happening within the scene by going to the location.

The role of director is going to done by Myself as I got the skills to getting the best out of the actors by making them to show different emotions of about is going to happen next within the scene of the one minute short film which is my responsibly and not others to do the job for me. Not only that needs to be done, I will need to write a production role of who is going to be doing what job during the production stage of making the short film but buying the props and costume for my film as well will make it look realistic and not bland. There are another things that I need to do which is writing up a location recess as I will need to go to the location and take photos of myself to show that I went to the location but another photo is needed to my alternative if I do not get the permission to film at the original but a shooting script will need to be written out of what coverage shot and what is going on within that shot.

The role of Producer will be filled by Lawrence as he is able to make sure that is organized within making this short film with the final edit is handed in by the final deadline as a group of three, if we do not meet it at all then we will need to pay a fine to the film company that we promised that the film will need done by a certain time.              

5) Facilities

After completing the Pre-production stage where I am planning to shoot at which location and getting organized of how it is going to be played out of getting a production crew, writing up the script, drawing up a storyboard etc, we move on the production stage of film-making because myself and my filming crew will need to go to the location that I send my scout to find the best possible ones that it will fit in with the film which is going to get made but the equipment is needed to make this possible.

The Production equipment that I will need: Camera with a SD card, Tripod, Rode Microphone and Rode Boom-pole 3m which these types of equipment is available at the college and can be used at anytime but compared to the film industry, I will need for this. After the production stage is done, you will move to the post-production stage where I will need to use a Mac Suite that has editing software Final Cut Pro X so I can edit my short film which is provided by the college because it is available to be used at anytime but again in the film industry, I will need to pay to use an editing suite.  

6) Materials

All the original material of the footage that we will be filming will our own because in the group of three, we will decide what material (like for example, where piece of music that is going to be used to make the short film fit into the category of a thriller) that could be changed during the pre-production stage of making a film but you can use existing footage for the film which you may need permission from the holder to use it. With my short film, I am going to be using ambient and non-ambient sound effects because it will make the film feel more realistic for our audience because if these sound effects are not being used in my short film then it will be bland and boring to watch. As for Copyright free music, I will be using this to get different soundtracks that fit into the conventions of a thriller as it needs to have mystery and suspense within the scene of the film but without this, the short film will become boring and predictable for the audience watching this at a film festival. Also, if I want to use a copyrighted piece of music then it is possible for myself to phone the people that hold the rights to that piece of music and pay £500 in advance so they will not strike you with a copyright infringement on YouTube if they hear it.

7) Contributors

Before you start making your short film, it is very basic that you will need to get actor and actresses to be part of it as well because they will be playing different characters in it which will get him or her credited at the end of the short film but will earned the most money in the film industry but I will need to get their permission from the people that are going to be part of the production with the crew by making sign an release form because if they could their mind of not being part of the short film which can cause problems with the final product as I have to find other people to be part and that is not possible then, I will need to actor in itself.

8) Locations

I will have someone to scout for finding good locations as someone will may consider them if it good enough but I will need ask the local Council for a Kent film license because if a person goes and films in public without permission from the authority, then you will get in trouble and possibly get charged by them and with the location of my short film, it is going to be in the woods in South East London as it will fit in with the conventions of the genre of a thriller film which I am making because it will be ideal to use to create mystery and suspense. Also, you need to check the weather everyday to make sure that you will go on the right day to film but depending on the and I will need access to transport my crew and equipment to site which it needs to get permission by going into Bexley Film Office website by filling in an application for the location that I want to film and by chance that we say that we are a student group, then we will be able to film for free but this may depend if they want to pay money per hour that we film our short film.

9) Codes of practice and regulation

BBFC (British Broad Of Film Classification) is a non-governmental organization where it gives a classifications of film and games like for example: U, PG, 12A/12, 15 and 18 ratings depending on how much strong language, violence, sex etc is in a single film by which they watch a film which is sent by a big film companies like Universal Pictures or Warner Bros. With my short film if I sent my film to them, they would watch it and give you back information of what rating they are giving it but since it is going on to YouTube, it will not need to be sent to them.

The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) are responsible for regulating the advertising that is going to be shown on television because they need to make that the advert for my short film is not mislead for my intended audience so it does not cause any offense or misleading because if my short film is getting promoted in different countries by business people, it will need to show that this film was actual made by providing the footage to the business people as evidence.

Health and Safety is very important as well because the people that are working on the short film need to be protected from any danger that could appear during the filming on this so by making a risk assessment on the location that we are going to start filming, we will know where are the dangers to be careful.

Conclusion

The main conclusion of this report is that a limitation is that I will need to make sure the actors will turn up on the location of Lenses Abbey Woods because they would have signed a release form saying that they are going to part of the short film as the time will be assigned of when the production crew is meeting.



Bibliography:

Tuesday 9 February 2016

Unit 2- Communication Skills: Proposal (Draft)

Proposal Structure (Draft)

Key: The spelling corrections is highlighted in yellow

1.Introduction

The whole purpose of this report is to get the pitch done and delivered it to the producers so I can get my idea for my short film across to create an imresson to see if it will work or not because I feel that my idea is good enough but the name of my short film that I want to make is called Paranoia which the genre of it will be a threllr because it will contain mystery and suspense for the audience

2. Film Synopsis

My short flim is going to be about a detective who comes to a crime scene of lifeless body within the woods with a rose and piece of paper of something possibly being wrote by someone which he go to open the paper to see what it is written inside of it but the camera shot will change to see the reaction of main character after seeing what was on the note which a coverage shot of a close up will ideal for this part.

The main hook of this short flim is going to be the detective coming across the lifeless body within the woods with the twist is when he is about to open the note when the coverage shot will change to another shot.    

3. Film Rating

The rating for my short flim will be a 15 because it will contain violence of the stabbing and blood involved in it as well by which it fits the guideline of BBCF rating for 15 films that are shown in the United Kingdom.

4. Primary Research

In the primary research phase, I look at different short flim that were in a playlist to see who are going to be my target audience for the film that I am going to be making and releasing it to them by looking at the comments of each person to see if they liked it or not and check their profiles to determine their age and profile. As I looked through the comments through the Short Horror Playlist on YouTube, I saw no comments that were from teenagers at all but only adults instead.

5. Secondary

Since there was adults commneing on the Short Horror Playlist on YouTube and possible that they are at the age of 18 or over, I decided to look at short films festival that I could send to see of what they think about it because I think that the adults could be the main target audience for these short films rather the teenagers. 

6. Summary

The Conclusion of this research is that the auldt are the mina target audience for these short films because they are going to the short film festivals to see other people's efforts of what they made but the main reason why they are going is to see if the business people are interested in their short or feature and possibly get in contact with them to see if they want to promote their films in different countries and show it.   

7. USP

The Unique Selling pnit of this short film is going be the victim's body with the rose and the piece of paper because I am leaving to the audience to interpreter of what could is happen next as the camera shot will change to the detective's reaction to what the piece of paper said because if I showed the note on the piece of paper then this short film will become boring and predictable to watch as I wanted to fit in with the genre of the short film which is thriller.     

8. Budget

As I ma going to have a budget aonud £10,000 that is funded by the British Film Institute through the National Lottery but it is divided to 12 independent organizations that are experts in a particular area, so I will need to use the money correctly to get right equipment and people who are capable of doing a task that is sent out by Myself.

Snoy HDR-CX405 Full HD Camcorder (30x Optical Zoom): £149.99
PhotoSEL LS21E52 Softbox Studio Lighting Kit: £85.00
RODE Boompole 3m: £78.65
Hama Star 61 Tripod: £17.99
Transport: £1350 (depending on taxis or bikes)

Since these types of pieces of equipment are available to us in the college, we do not have to pay for it but in the indursty, you are most likely to pay for it. 

9. Regulations

The regulator that is going to be looking at my short film is BBCF who are non-profit organization that give certificate ratings to different films that is shown across the United Knigdom

10. Changes of idea

The revisions taht had to made was the iead for my short film because it could have been too long to show as it had a back story and had to be a minute worth of footage but although it could have worked if it was shorter.

11. Locations

The Loaoin that are going to be in my short film is an empty building that has been left for years to show the scene of the stabbing and a fight between the victim and a unknown person. Another location that is also going to be in the film is a local hospital to show the scenes of the treatment and the victim having flashbacks to show what happened in the past.

12. Distribution

This short film will be distriubted  into Youube as part for our coursework but it is also being distributed to film festivals which business people can watch it because they may gain an interest of the film and contract me to see if they are able to show it in different countries for example: United States of America, Japan, Itly etc, but the way it can get people's attention is to promote and advertise it on TV.

13. References and Bibliography

Links to the products that I need:

Cammacr: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-HDR-CX405-Full-Camcorder-Optical/dp/B00REMCYLA/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1452635907&sr=1-1&keywords=sony+camcorder

Lighting Tikhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/PhotoSEL-LS21E52-Softbox-Studio-Lighting/dp/B002I3VCGS/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1452636071&sr=1-1&keywords=PhotoSEL+LS21E52+Softbox+Studio+Lighting+Kit

Boompole: http://www.amazon.co.uk/R%C3%98DE-BOOMPOLE-BoomPole-Boom-Pole/dp/B000OE2G54/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1452636171&sr=1-1&keywords=RODE+Boompole+3m

Tripod: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0000WXD0W/ref=s9_dcbhz_bw_g421_i2_bs

Thursday 4 February 2016

Crew roles (Prep Work)

In the film industry, you usually have a small crew that has different jobs to do within the production and post-production stage so they have a duty to do or if they face any complications then the due date that the film needs to be finished and distributed to cinemas worldwide for audiences to watch it since they got interested in it will not be in time at all and may pay a heavy fee to different companies to whom they promised that the film will be done by a certain time.  

Director: The director beings the artistic style to the film as it is his own artistic and technical vision for the movie that is being made but does work with the crew in the pre-production, Production and post-production stages. So he is responsible for directing the performances of the actors which he can get the best out of them  but not only that, he is also responsible for the camera work with the framing, lenses so it keeps the focus on the action happening when shooting a scene and the composition of the shot.

Where I found the information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usW2h8liUkk
 
Editor: In the post-production stage, the editor is responsible for putting in the correct shots that is in the film that the camera operator has recorded by using an editing software like Final Cut Pro which is digital.

Camera Operator: The responsibility that he or she has got is to capture shots that was recorded during the production while being supervised by the film director to what shot they need to shoot so it is shows the action of the character on the camera but this can be really depend on what camera format is going to be used which can be either analog or digital like for example: Today, camera operators are mainly using digital camera format because technology has improved over the years after which they have been using the analog way to capture footage of different scenes.

 

Producer: The responsibility of a producer is to see if everything in check with the funding of the film that is going to be made, hiring the crew for the different jobs that is going to be done during different stages of making and planning out the film and getting in contact with distributors so when the film is finished made then they can ask them when is the film is going to release to the public but does work from the development to the completion of the film.

Source of Information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usW2h8liUkk

Sound Technician: A Sound Technician is responsible for working in the Production and Post-Production stages where it has record sounds on the location or a set that they are filming at for the film and then balancing and mixing on a audio software so it sounds clear and realistic by syncing it because if in the film it is out of time and does not sound good at all, then the sound technician is responsible for not putting it in time and possibly could get fired from the production team.

Source of information: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/sound-technician-broadcasting-film-video

Lighting Technician: A Lighting Technician sets up and operate the equipment while covering the productions either in the studio or on the location that is part of the film that is being made as this piece of equipment can create an atmosphere to set the scene and evokes a response from the audience watching the film in a cinema like for example: in thriller and horror films, the lighting that the technician sets it so it looks dark is low key lighting because it is creating tension and suspense within the film, so this is one of the responsibilities that the technician has to do.    

Source of Information: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/lighting-technician-broadcasting-film-video

Wednesday 3 February 2016

Today's Lesson

The Purpose of USP is to pitch something that the investor knows that he is going to make to money from the short film. Trends is where things are happening in the movies or in real life like for example: in fashion, people are wearing skinny jeans

Unique>started to become a trend>copied>no longer a Unique Selling Point

The way that you can tell that people have gone to see a movie is to go on the website of IMDb (Internet Movie Database)

http://www.imdb.com/

Narrative>Characters: Stereotypes
                                     Roles
                                    (Gender)
                                    Structure: Stories/plot
                                    Themes in the Films (Think?)

The genre of the film:

Locations, Mise en Scene

The Hunger Games

Genre of the film: Science Fiction
                             Action-Adventure
Locations: The locations were mainly in the future to what may the different places will look like in 30 to 40 years time but there is clip of the forest

Divergent

Genre: Science Fiction, Action-Adventure

The Maze Runner

Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller, Action-Adventure