Assignment 1 task 2

1. Pre-Production Coursework
Assignment 1
Task 2

2. An overview of feature film pre-production
requirements
Contents
1. Concept and Storyboards
2. Budgeting & Financing options
3. Logistics & scheduling
4. Facilities & location
5. Risk assessments
6. Casting
7. Materials
8. Personnel
9. Regulations & Clearances

3. My research and information
will specialize around the
area of preproduction for a
feature film.

4. A1

5. Pre-production is the aspects of a film
you must do before the actual making
of the film. Such as script writing,
costume design, character creation,
etc.

6. Areas -
• Script Writing
• Costume and Set Design
• Prop Making
• Casting
• Visual Design
• Sound Design
• Story Boarding
• Shot list
• Rehearsals
• Screen Tests
• Location Recce
• Risk Assessment
• Crew Arrangements
• Lighting
• Catering
• Budget
• Scouting
• Script Reading
• Finance
• Finance Source
• Personnel
• Logistics
• Facilities
• Materials
• Adherence with codes of
practice and regulations
• Clearances
• Legal
• Regulation
• Trade Unions and
professional bodies.

7. Storyboards
• A storyboard is
a writing format,
generally a set of
boxes (or rectangles,
circles, or other
shapes) placed in a
logically sequenced
order. Each box or
frame is a place for
the writer to put
information,
pictures, symbols, or
text.

8. Finance
An important pre-production stage is to assess
the financial side of the product. There are 2
main aspects to the financial stages of
preproduction; first is to work out your
expenditures and an overall budget; the second
stage is to then assess the different funding
options and secure financing for the film.
The following slides look at different financing
options.

9. Financing and
Budgeting
• One of the key things you need to do towards
financing when in pre-production stages of a
film is budgeting how much money you are
going to need to make a film.
• With a budget sheet it allows you to plan what
money you will spend on aspects and so you
won’t go over budget with your expenditures.
• You will also need to project your forecast on
the cash return, including the profit in % to the
money that is given to you. This is so investors
know how much money they will gain from
investing in your film.

10. Financing Options –
Film Companies
Government
funding.
UK government
funding.
UK Tax finance –
Enterprise
Investment
Scheme.
Presales and Co-
productions.
Product placement.
Crowdfunding. Deferrals Self Financed

11. Financing – BFI (Public) –
One of the ways we can finance a film is applying for
BFI funding.
• The funding is intended for live action and
animated projects.
• On the information booklet there are details on
the funding.
• BFI has access to funding by The National Lottery.
• To apply you will need to have a feasible draft
finance plan showing how your project could be
funded. However you will not need to have all the
funding in place. You must have an initial
calculation of the relevant UK creative industry tax
credit.
• BFI says – “In order to support projects for which
alternative sources of finance are unlikely or
challenging, we are now able, on a limited basis,
to provide an award of up to £750,000,
representing either:
• 100% of the production budget
• up to 100% of the production budget
excluding the UK tax credit”
Nine Areas the BFI Helps:
• British Film Fund
• Production and Development funding
• Distribution and exhibition funding
• Diversity and inclusion
• Skills and business development funding
• International strategy
• British certification and tax relief
• Search for lottery awards
• BFI distribution
Information Source –
https://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-film-fund-
production-fund-application-guidelines-2019-09.pdf

12. Financing – BFI (Public) –
They Support:
• The early careers of ambitious filmmakers.
• Work with cultural relevance or progressive ideas.
• Filmmaking that takes risks on talent, form and content, where the more
commercial sector cannot.
• Work that recognises the quality of difference – in perspective, in talent, in
recruitment.
• An increase in the number of active projects originated by filmmakers outside
London & the South East of England.
BFI’s funding affects the film in different ways such as them having terms of conditions
for the film makers, e.g. Diversity Standards, access to the production and The BFI
funding will be recoupable by the BFI.
An example we can look at for BFI funded films is; Pride.

13. Private Financing; Investors or
Studios
• One of the ways you can get your film financed is by finding either investors or
going to a studio/company.
• This tends to be the general route of already well-established directors,
producers or auteurs.
• It can also be the route for studios to commission someone to develop a
completely new project.
• However; large investors and studios may be less interested in small
independent productions. Which is why I would not recommend going to a
studio unless you are an already established name in the industry.
• A well-known example would be the recent Star Wars series, all commissioned
by Disney.
• You would need for someone to either see the trailer online so they can pick it
up, an example of this would be Sally Kerosene that was picked up by the BBC.
Or secure an opportunity with someone in the company to make a pitch
presentation.

14. Financing – Crowd Funding (Alternative
Financing)
• You still make a pitch, and you’re still presenting the crowdfunding the
same level of a grant proposal or a business plan. It’s same amount of
work as approaching a foundation or an investor, if not more because
you’re appealing small amount of money from a large group of people
often in the filmmaker communities or smaller patrons of the arts.
• You often must fight multiple other film makers for the money by
showing your film is the best and deserves to be made.
• Some widely used platforms are Kickstarter and Indiegogo but with
smaller platforms such as Rockethub or Ulule
• Projects can run from 1 to 60 days. Kickstarter recommends a deadline of
30 days or less.
• Once you’ve chosen your platform, you can begin to build your campaign.
A successful campaign revolves around: the Pitch, the Perks, Promotion,
and Personalization.
• An example of a crowd funded film was; Veronica Mars. Raised $5.7
million in crowd funding.
• When applying for crowdfunding money you would need to present a
synopsis, budget and predictions on the cash return to the people you
wish to invest.
• A negative side of Kickstarter is if you do not reach your target goal. You
will not get any of the money.

15. If you don’t
get funding
• Make sure that your budget is realistic
• Make a trailer on why private investors should give you
money
• Offer rewards for sponsors such as credit on the film,
product placements, e.g.
• Use social media
• You can also apply for certain grants depending on what
category your film comes under, e.g. if your film is about
mental health you can apply for a charity’s grant.
If you don’t get funding you can always change your pitch
and or script to make it more marketable to the current
popular areas of film. This means you can try and make it
more marketable so investors can see a likeliness of cash
return.

16. Logistics &
Scheduling
Detailed scheduling is important for film production because it allows
you to not go over budget. If you did not manage time well, you would
need to readjust the days your shooting meaning you’d have to pay your
crew more and hire equipment or venues for longer, because of the
extra hours spent filming a certain section of the film.
A film production should be mapped up against your time frame making
sure you will have enough time for each section of filming before the
deadline of the release and to stay in budget.
Your shot list and your film production schedule can also be mapped
against your story board to look at the most efficient ways to plan out
your time. While also considering your sets, actors and equipment's
availability. While also having an alternative scene and location that is
easy to switch to if something becomes unavailable e.g. Weather
Conditions, actors being suddenly unavailable, etc.
Schedules are important because they keep you on timing, allows you
know when someone can and cannot film and keeps the people in your
film free for when you need to shoot. Also helps with the forms.

17. Screengrabs showing an example of a shot list and a schedule

18. Facilities
• Studios
• Editing Suite or studio
• Rehearsal Space
• Out of studio film space – must agree on price and
get a permit

19. Facilities – Equipment
•Camera
•Boom
Microphone
•Shotgun
Microphone
•Lighting
•Reflectors
•Tripod
•Shock Mount
•Shoulder Mount
•Spare Batteries

20. Facilities – Filming on Studios vs
Location
• Studio spaces allow complete control of your
environment – e.g. light, sound, temperature and
weather. However, it can be more difficult and
expensive to create realistic settings. Often films use a
combination of studio and location filming.
• Equipment storage, availability and other practical
requirements are usually easier in studio than on
location.
• As long as enough studio time has been booked, and
the actors and crew remain available, studio shoots
make it easier to film several takes or retakes. Daylight
is not an issue, for example. Purpose-built sets or
stages can also allow for better or different camera
angles and special effects than shooting on location.

21. Facilities – Filming on Studios vs
Location
• Shooting on location can be unpredictable and expensive –
your cast and crew may need accommodation and you will
need extra time to install and remove equipment and sets,
especially for remote locations.
• The weather can also prove a big challenge for outdoor
shoots. Another difficulty can be permission from the owner
for access and filming.
• However, if you get it right, location filming can add
authenticity to your film. It can make your film feel more real,
make the shots look great and full of detail and character.
• Preparing your external location can be time consuming – for
example, removing or hiding things that do not fit the time or
storyline. However, in some ways it can save you money you
may have spent in a studio building sets or backdrops.

22. Location
A location recce is a visit to a location to
determine if that location can be used for your
film. You must also assess all the near by
facilities you must have, the condition of the
land, landscape and general location. Often
carried out by the director of photography,
location scout and or an assistant director.
If your location would become suddenly
unavailable, you would need to have an
alternative location to film or a different location
near by so you could come back to that location
another day. Most likely it would delay your
schedule by a couple of shoots.

23. Hagrid’s Hut Example
While filming Harry Potter, the
director wanted to move the
set of Hagrid’s hut to the castle
they were filming a large
majority of Harry Potter in. But
after moving it during building
they encountered large
amounts of rain over the days
they were building it. Then
while filming it rained again.
These mistakes were all
because the director felt he
wanted to change the location
to suit the shots better and be
more accurate against the
books.

24. Risk Assessments
Risk Assessments are important forms for pre-production in
order to carry on with production on your film. Risk
assessments are basic forms that assess what is likely to put
actors, crew, equipment or anything else on a set that are likely
to be at risk during filming. They are made to help make the set
safer and also protect the production from legal allegations and
losses. They can also help create methods and cautions to
prevent the risks from happening within the production.
How will you let the crew know about potential risks?
In a larger production a legal team would analysis all the
potential risks and create a contract to warn everyone all of
these risks. While also protecting the production legally from
any potential allegations anyone can make if one of these risks
happened. Telling a crew or cast member of the risk can let
them be more careful but actually also protect you legally. If you
are in a smaller company you can give them a risk assessment
form or tell them verbally or with a different kind of physical
document such as a letter or contract.

25. Risk Assessments
• If a cast member or crew is injured and it is deemed the
production is at fault they can be sued by the injured crew
or cast member. This is why it is so important to do a risk
assessment and fully inform everyone involved on the risks
so you are not liable at all for any injuries or damages.
• An example of a major accident we can look at is the
Harrison ford accident in the article reporting it they stated
that; “Ford was reprising his role as Han Solo in Star Wars:
The Force Awakens in June 2014 when he was knocked to
the ground and crushed beneath the heavy door of the
Millennium Falcon while filming at Pinewood Studios in
London.” The company pleaded guilty to two breaches
under health and safety legislation.

26. Casting
Casting is the process of choosing which actor plays
which character in your film. Casting is done for any
singular character above an extra, which would
usually be supplied by an extra’s agency.
Principal Readings with actors who suit the look of
the films, multiple screen tests or call backs of
different sections of the films to decide which actor
is the best. You would then contact their agent and
negotiate with them to protect the actor’s interest.
The agent would also have to talk with the actor and
see if it’s a new area if they want to go in to that
area.

27. Example of
Screen Test

28. Casting
Often there is a choice in larger productions for either going by a big name or
going by the better fitting actor for the role. When a character is casted for
their look it is called type casting. An actor who is cast for their fame is called
a bankable actor; this is someone who will bring in people because of their
status and fame. Olivia Colman could be an example of this of her fame and
recent success such as her Oscar for her leading role in ‘The Favourite’.
If you do not plan for hiring enough background actors or actual main
characters you may be looking. Also if you hire any actors who’s pay is higher
for your budgeted amount, you must either decide to take the money from
somewhere else or hire an actor that you can afford.

29. Casting Examples
• Jennifer Lawrence was chosen for Katniss in
The Hunger Games because she near
perfectly matched the description of her
character Katniss.
• Daniel Radcliff matched the description of
Harry Potter but also had to go through a
lone line of auditions with other similar
looking children.
• Emma stone matched a very popular look of
women in Hollywood so allowed the film to
make a joke on that and showed the often-
similar looking actresses chosen for the same
roles.

30. What happens if
an actor is sick
or can’t make it
to a filming day?
Depends on how long the actor will be out of
commission, if it is possible you can film scenes without
the main character. If you do not have any other options
you would have to cancel that filming day, this would
take money away from the budget and also affect the
timings of the rest of the production.
If an actor is out of commission for a long period of
time; you may need to hire a new actor to play that
part.
But the actor’s contract should include details about
coming in everyday, so they should be legally liable if
they do not have a good reason.

31. Materials - Mise En
Scene
In pre-production you will need to plan
costumes, props, setting and aspects for
postproduction such as music and images.
This stage of pre-production is called
production design. In every film we must
do this to do design the look, feel and
aesthetic of it. One of the roles that are
for for production design are prop
masters. A prop master oversees the
artistic side and organization of props.
They oversee purchasing, acquiring,
manufacturing, and/or overseeing any
props needed for the film’s production.

32. Mise En Scene -
Image & Music Sourcing
Another aspect is image sourcing for your films, one of
the places you can source images for your film is a
creative commons website. Examples of these websites
are; Pixabay, Adobe Stock, Flickr and Getty Images.
A similar preproduction aspect is music sourcing, just
like images you are also able to gather music on creative
common websites. Examples of these websites are;
Adobe Stock or Freesound. However, you can also pay
for music from websites, bands and music producers.
You can purchase it from websites such as Epidemic
Sound.
HOW WOULD YOU GO AROUND ON GETTING RIGHTS
TO THE IMAGE OR SOUND

33. Materials -
Mise En
Scene
• A Costume designer,
designs the costumes
for the film.
• They are in charge of
designing something
that suits the look and
fit of the film. They are
also must follow any
descriptions and
relevant scene
information for these
costumes.

35. Personnel
Issues that could arise with the crew that will affect the
production could include that the crew members pay
could be higher than planned for or a members of crew
could be too sick to come in.
Other information that you will need to know about is
the trade union. Trade Unions differ on their regulations
for their union members, but most mean that they must
have certain timed breaks and lunch periods.
If a company doesn’t follow union rules members of
union would strike and the production company would
have severe consequences.
Employment laws also mean that your production must
have diversity in the team and have equal
representation in their team.

36. Personnel
Main Crew Members
• Director – controls the films artistic and dramatic
aspects. Visualises the screenplay and controls what’s
going on and off screen.
• Assistant Director – tracking daily progress of the film
and also being the middle man between the director
and the rest of the crew. They also are in charge of the
health and safety of the crew.
• Director of Photography – the film director by
establishing the visual look of the movie. As a DP, you'll
help tell the story through the artistic and technical
decisions you make regarding lighting, film stock, shot
selection, camera operation and other elements.
• Camera Operator – Camera operators are responsible
for capturing and recording all aspects of a scene for
film or television. They use principles of lighting,
staging, focusing and filtering to achieve a specific
visual look for broadcast television or motion pictures.
• First Assistant Camera Operator – The first assistant
camera (also called the 1st assistant
camera, 1st AC, first AC, or focus puller) has one main
job: they sit next to the camera during filming and
operate the lens's focusing ring. The role of the focus
puller is to keep the right subject in focus throughout
each scene.
• Second Assistant Camera Operator – assist the camera
operator in positioning and moving the camera, and are
responsible for loading and unloading film magazines,
changing and charging camera batteries, changing
lenses, operating the clapper board, filling out and filing
all camera sheets, liaising with film labs, and ordering
the correct amount and type of film stock. 2nd ACs
work closely with 1st ACs (focus pullers), and supervise
any camera trainees.

37. Personnel
Main Crew Members
• Grips – responsibility is to build and maintain all the
equipment that supports cameras. This equipment,
which includes tripods, dollies, tracks, jibs, cranes,
and static rigs, is constructed of delicate yet heavy
duty parts requiring a high level of experience to
operate and move.
• Gaffer – the head electrician, responsible for the
execution (and sometimes the design) of the
lighting plan for a production. The term "gaffer"
originally related to the moving of overhead
equipment to control lighting levels using a gaff.
• Boom Operator – responsible for positioning
microphones so that sound mixers can capture the
best quality dialogue and sound effects. Boom
Operators are also responsible for all the sound
equipment, ensuring that it is in good working
order, and carrying out minor repairs where
necessary.
• Production Designer – are responsible for creating
and managing the visual aspects of a film, television
or theatre production. They work closely with the
Director and Producer to create the design style for
aspects such as sets, graphics, props, lighting and
costumes.
• Script Supervisor - maintain the script continuity
during all stages of filming and production. They
may help actors and directors interpret the script,
maintain logs of daily scene shots and include
production notes and suggestions to help maintain
the continuity.

38. Personnel Areas
• Producing Unit
• Directing Unit
• Production
Management
• Cinematography
• Costume
• Electrical
• Grip
• Locations
• Make-Up
• Production
Design
• Props
• Publicity
• Script
• Set Construction
• Sound
Department
• SFX
• Stunts
• Transportation
• Animal Specialist
• Film
Commissioners
• Catering
• Writing
Department
• Actors
• Runners
• First Aid
Department
• Security

39. Regulations &
Clearences
You must inform any police and any authorities in the local area if
you’re filming in a public space, especially if your film includes
something that can be misinterpreted. You must also check if you
require permission from the local authorities and apply for it if
needed.
You will need the full co-operation of the local police force if you
plan to film on a public highway or use special effects, explosives or
fire arms (including replicas). You will also need permission to
portray uniformed police officers or marked police vehicles on film.
If you film outside a store or restaurant you do not need permission
to show its name or trademark – however, if the location chosen is
used to communicate a negative message in your film (for example,
a film about ‘poisoned restaurant food’) you may risk legal
proceedings.
Before filming on a public road you must contact the local police and
the Highways Department of the local authority. Both will need to
make sure that your plans are safe and pose no threat to road users.
If you plan to stage stunts, a stunt co-ordinator should be involved in
any planning discussions.

40. Stages of Post-
Production
• Editing Image
• Graphics, Title,
Credits
• CGI
• Sound
• Sound Design
• Composing
• ADR
• Sound Effects
• Copyright for music
• Prints/ Digital
Copies
• Dubbing
• Dolby / THX

41. Postproduction - Equipment
COMPUTER FOLEY
MICROPHONE
VOICE OVER
MICROPHONES
EDITING
SOFTWARE
DESIGN
SOFTWARE

42. Post Production
• Takes on average 350 days

43. A2
The formats for pre-production processes

44. Introduction
The importance of screenplays is that it affects your whole
production because it changes the amount of money you
need to pay for it. While it also affects how many props,
scenery decorations and it also affects how many cast
members you must hire. While it also affects the
communication of the production because it means you
must communicate with more or less personnel on the
matters of the film such as prop and set design or how
many actors you wish to have in a scene. As well as that
screenplays also affect the look of the film and other
preproduction aspects. The look of the film is affected by
the dialogue and scene directions; if a character mentions
a certain prop or scene decoration the film must have
these as a part of it. An example of a preproduction aspect
is as if a scene has to have a lit flame in it, the risk
assessment must assess the risks of having it and find ways
to make it safer.

45. Key Terms
• Scenes – a sequence of continuous action
• Slug lines – a line of abbreviated text at the beginning of each
scene in a screenplay that describes the location and time of day.
• Scene description – description of actions and look of a scene.
• Character cues – when a character is written to speak or do an
action.
• Dialogue – a literary technique in which writers employ two or
more characters to be engaged in conversation with one another.
In literature, it is a conversational passage, or a spoken or written
exchange of conversation in a group, or between two persons
directed towards a particular subject.
• Parentheses –mini scene description that is written in the
dialogue.

46. Layout formatting
• Industry standards are the
formats we use for every
single documentation from
storyboard to script. The
industry standard is what
we use for every single
piece of documentation.
For example, every script
must go by the industry
standard otherwise the
script will not be read
through and the project
will be thrown out until it is
up to industry standards.

47. Storyboard Example Shot List Example
Costume Design
Example Set Design Example Prop List Example

48. Formatting
You need to use the correct formatting for a
multiple of different reasons. One of the
reasons would be communication, the correct
format would allow communication to be
easier within the production and also keeps up
with industry standard which everyone in the
industry goes by. Another aspect of why you
use the correct format is that if you for say
submit a script to a company it would only be
read through if it’s a certain weight and goes
by the correct screenplay format. Many
studios act similarly with other aspects of
formatting and goes by the industry standard
for everything.

49. A3
The functions of pre-production processes

50. A3
As you go through preproduction you will have meeting and go through different
areas and it will tell you which ideas will and won’t work allowing you to take the
best way forward.
Essential to visualise your content, so you can begin to shape a clearer idea of
the film you want to make. Through using storyboards, mood boards, CAD
drawings, Illustrators your film will begin to take shape. Storyboards are a
planning tool and help you breakdown the action into individual sections and
show how film will develop. It is a visual guidance for look and feel of the film
and you can see how many actors you will need or how much technical
equipment needed. Likewise mood boards are essential tool for pre production
and is a visual map to ensure going in right direction and helps you get
inspiration on an emotional level from, the right colours- angles - colours are
important. These visual tools are important for investors to see what your
intention is and would inspire crowd funders and give a buzz around the new
film.
Preproduction will also allow you to see feasibility of your idea. Your pre-
production, all of your revisions, all your budgeting, will help you to understand
what expertise you will need. How and where you can manage costs. Whether
your time scales are accurate. And help you to make detailed logistical
plans. Planning is essential part of pre production to ensure you have everything
in carefully structured and the schedules are tightly managed- essential to check
that no problems crop up at a later date. Financial backers will expect feasibility
plans are in place before the even consider any funding.

51. A3
Feasibility plans will need to include following
aspects
Expertise finding the right team to work with is
essential for project to succeed.
The right team will consist of actors,
photographers, financial backers, make up
artists .
 The team will need to be diverse, flexible,
motivated and have the right mix of skills.
A skill audit will help ensure you have all the
skills and no gaps and correct health & safety
and legal processes are in place, Managing,
appreciating and motivating the team is also
essential and not to be over looked - if you get it
wrong they will never want to work with you
again. If you get it right they will work hard and
long hours and be on your side.

52. A3
Revising and discounting ideas is a large part
of pre-production. During production many
ideas are either rejected or discounted. An
example of this would be the use of certain
costumes compared to others. Other aspects
include redrafting scripts, storyboards,
locations, casting, etc.

53. A4
The purposes of pre-production documentation

54. A4
Detailed Costs are essential to have a clear understanding of the whole
project. Important to have view of financial viability for each area. You need to know
all the potential sources of income and also looking at financial backup if first financial
options fail and as a result alternative funding streams. Key in pre production to detail
the breakdown of total expenditure breakdown, so project does not over run.
Clear and specific timescales will ensure project will complete on time and tight
deadlines are met - from ensuring that the hire of equipment to ensuring locations are
booked and enough time for reshooting and editing. Each area will need its own
timelines, expenditure and own deadlines. A film Producer needs to be good at time
management and detailed documentation will help with this.
A range of detailed logistics in the pre production issue that will ensure film is
completed - the logistics are essential from legal. Issues, staffing; finance to
production schedules - a planning schedule is needed to give an overview of the whole
project and as a result good project management skills will ensure that all the logistics
are coordinated in detail.
Essential to adhere to codes of practices and laws and industry regulations that govern
the film industry. From legal issues to obtaining copyright to health and safety
considerations