Course Title:
Requirements of a Media Production
Unit Title: Unit 1
Pre-Production Techniques for the Creative Media Industries
Learning Outcome:
1. Understand
requirements for a specific media production
We have been hired by SFX
Sixth Form college to make a promotional video introducing SFX Sixth Form college.
We have been hired by SFX so all production costs are paid for by SFX. There
are six important roles to direct this video and that is a director, producer,
cameraman, presenter, editor and sound recorder and they each have a different
role to contribute to the video. These roles are very important for this kind
of media production because they each have different responsibilities in order
for the video to be good.
Finance
The camera we would use would be the Canon EOS C300 Kit
because it provides outstanding cinema movie quality capture and the kit
includes a tripod, cables, batteries and an internal hard drive. The camera is
needed mostly because it’s filming what we want to see. It would cost £150 to
hire for the day. (New Day Pictures 1, 13/10/13) The sound recording we would
use would be a 2 metre-3 metre Boom pole and it would cost £5. The importance
of using a boom pole is that the microphone can be attached at the end so it makes
easier to talk to actors without the microphone being put in the camera frame. We
would use Final Cut Pro 7 which runs Apple MacBook Pro to edit the video and it
would cost £80 to hire for the day. The Final Cut Pro 7 will be useful because
editing will be straight-forward to do so it gives us more time to do
rehearsals and retakes. We would use the Tracking Dolly because it’s 12 metres
of track which enables it to have a total run of 6 metres. Tracking Dolly will
be required because instead of holding a heavy camera it can be placed on a Tracking
Dolly to balance the weight. The chosen camera is a bit heavy but we will
ensure that there is a available track to lay the camera instead of it being
held constantly. W The
microphone will be set in a fixed position so the presenter is going to have to
remain in place and not move around. Although if we decide to have a wired or a
wireless microphone, we may want to consider using it as well as the mounted
shotgun microphone because it will deliver a richer, fuller sound even though we
were using two microphones at the same time. It would cost £30 to hire for the
day”. (New Day Pictures 2, 19/09/13) We don’t have to worry about transporting
the equipment because we are shooting the video at SFX and all the equipment
will be provided there as well. We will use someone from the group to be the
talent so they can be filmed talking to other people/staff about SFX so no fee
will be required. Some attributions we would look for in a presenter would be
someone with some experience in the media industry whereby that be making short
videos on YouTube and someone who’s very confident and not camera shy. Doing a
casting call would be efficient because we would get to know each person. As
for crew we will have six members on set doing different roles because we are
only filming a short video about SFX. Facility hire are both sorted because
everything is already at SFX so all we have to do is organize and plan when
we’re shooting the video.
Time
“The Canon EOS C300 kit
costs £590 to hire for a week. The boom pole would cost only £10 to hire for a
week. The Final Cut Pro 7 would cost £290 to hire out for a week from New Day
Pictures that specialise in media equipment. The Tracking Dolly would cost £110
to hire for a week. The advantages of hiring out equipment for a week would be
that if there are any errors or changes during the production the equipment is
still available. Also having the equipment with a deadline helps stay on track
and get things completed there and then. The cost for extra personnel would be
£250 for a Sound Recorder and £175 for a Camera Assistant.” (New Day Pictures 3,
19/09/13) “You'll only be able to distribute and screen your film in public if
it is 'cleared'. This means that you have written permission to use everything
and everyone that appears in your film.” (BBC 1, 20/09/13) An example of
something needed to be cleared would be “products, logos & brand names. All
products, logos, brand names and trademarks that are featured prominently in
your film need to be cleared for use by the manufacturers or businesses
concerned. Although there will always be new products that come up on a daily
basis because if the product, logo, brand name or trademark is non-distinctive
in the background, we wouldn’t need permission to film it. If we decided to
film outside of SFX to show local shops and the BMW car logo happens to be in
the background behind the action and no reference is made to BMW as a company,
then we wouldn’t need their permission.” (BBC 3, 29/09/13)
Personnel
The size of the team
wouldn’t be big because were only shooting a short promotional film at SFX.
Although there are two big roles like the Director and the Producer. “A
director has creative control over the project from when he/she comes on board
until the project is finished. A producer has control over the team, rights and
the organisation overall.” (BBC 2,
20/09/13) Everyone will have different roles within the process that will
contribute to the video. Places like New Day Pictures have “VT editors-who
piece together raw footage into a final recoded piece, sound engineers who are
in charge of all sound equipment during the production, cameramen/woman who
have a job of filming what’s needed with all with many years’ experience in TV/film.
CVs available on request” (New Day Pictures 4, 20/09/13) which is good for
experience but not good for whoever is hiring them because they have to pay
them there and then. It would be good if these people have high experience in
the jobs they have like e.g. cameraman has experience in filming pieces so that
would be helpful because he would have an idea on what shots would work.
Facilities
An example of production we
would use would be a tripod that is a required “piece of steady grip to keep
your footage looking steady and professional.” (Desktop Documentaries,
20/09/13) If we decide to do a group interview, a boom pole would be harder to
use instead of a wireless microphone because the boom pole still requires long
wires as the lead from the shotgun microphone has to go somewhere. So instead
of editing that out later it will be easier to have a boom pole on the ready. We
could even use a wireless microphone because it’s £5 cheaper than a “Sennheiser
SKP 500 G2 Radio Mic Kit because this costs £20 to hire for a day.” (New Day
Pictures 5, 29/09/13) The wireless microphone is very discrete from the public
and they are sold at audio shops. As for post-production equipment we would use
any equipment supplied at SFX but we wouldn’t need to use a facility house
because the video would be edited at the college. The video editing software we
are using would be Final Cut Pro 7. This can be hired from any editing software
company such as New Day Pictures or Hire works so roughly for a day it would
cost from around £80 but a week around £290
Materials
We will probably write a
small script which some people may have to learn depending on how long the
video is and also if we decide to have a voice over the video. We will use some
animatic pictures or graphics such as banners underneath anyone talking on the
video to show they have a purpose and also to introduce them to viewers. The
promotional video has to reflect how SFX wants to be portrayed because even
though its Catholic practised, SFX is very diverse and engaged within its
students and facilities. We will not be playing any copyrighted music because
it’s not our own but we will use library material even though the video will
include a voiceover and general comments from staff or students.
Contributors
Even though hiring
specialists or experts on the equipment will save us time learning about how to
use the equipment it will be very efficient because that means we have enough
experience from crew with specialised equipment to produce a good video. The
talent/presenter is the main star in the video and the purpose of having that
person is that they can present SFX as a whole and ask general questions. We
would use an interviewer who could interview some students or even the
Principal to give the video people an insight on about the College from
different perspectives. We wouldn’t use any public because they wouldn’t have
an accurate opinion about the College but maybe we could interview some so we
can see what their thoughts are. An advantage of interviewing a bystander would
show that our information is not biased and we have managed to find someone
else to talk about SFX. A disadvantage of this would be that the person might
not have time to stop and talk. There are several ways on approaching the
public to be the video e.g. by handing a survey/questionnaire to them.
Locations
We would use the foyer in
SFX because it’s the first place where all the students enter so we could
interview there first as it’s the heart of the college. So distance or cost
wouldn’t be a problem as everything would be planned, filmed and edited in the
SFX grounds. We would film around Clapham to show the local facilities around
the Sixth Form explaining their benefits. Only people needed in the film would
have access on set but people like the producer or director would definitely
have access. We could restrict access in a busy working college by informing
students about the whereabouts of filming and give them alternatives for study
or where to sit for break and lunch. Also because everyone’s timetable is an
irregular pattern we could film in places where majority people go to when they
are in class to avoid any unnecessary confusion or congestion in normal quiet
areas. The recces we would have to check for filming; is the local condition
such as LRC if there’s any unknown problems, any aid needed for any
person/organisation we would have to check for permission needed and protective
clothing needed, appropriate viewpoints such as any obstruction making sure
it’s easy to reach and safe, requirements such as the power, lighting and sound
equipment being available for equipment or alternative arrangements if not
supplied correctly. Any anticipated problems such as sound, people and picture
for health and safety.Also other considerations would include security, welfare
e.g transport, food, First Aid etc, set dressing and required props. As for
risk assessment and health and safety all hazards have to averted so people
aren’t harmed, property isn’t damaged so risk controls have to be already in
place so on a scale to low to high the risk assessment would be low for
everything. If we were to film on college grounds in the courtyard we would
have to check out for bad weather therefore preventing actors, crew, equipment
and location not to be damaged. So to prevent that actors should wear rain macs
and equipment should be covered after use or if not being used all equipment
should try closed up indoors.
Codes of practice and regulation
As for clearances and
location permissions that would be clarified by the college to prevent any
confusion or accidents. The equipment we’re using doesn’t require any long
wires so nobody will be injured on set. If we were publishing this video we
would inform the Adverting Standards Authority (ASA) because they would check
for safe of age material. Also they would check for any legal copyright issues
like music or logos. ASA “is the UK’s independent regulator of advertising
across all media. They apply the Advertising Codes, which are written by the
Committees of Advertising Practice. So there work includes acting on complaints
and proactively checking the media to take action against misleading, harmful
or offensive advertisements.” (ASA, 29/09/13)
Bibliography
BBC 1: http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/before-you-start/checklist
(Accessed on 20/09/13)
BBC 2: http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/production/cast-and-crew, (Accessed on 20/09/13)
Desktop Documentaries: http://www.desktop-documentaries.com/video-production-equipment.html (Accessed on 20/09/13)
BBC 3: http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/before-you-start/content-clearances, (Accessed on 29/09/13)
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