Thursday 26 June 2014

5 Minute Film – Evaluation


5 Minute Film – Evaluation
Type of Production
The production is a five-minute short film single camera drama. It was all shot at one location; this meant that the cost for location hire was low. This film follows a healthy young man and his granddad. The Grandfather surfers with dementia but he is unaware that he does. During film his condition get worse and he mistakes his own grandson for a burglar and attacks him. After this the grandson feels like he can no longer cope with granddad and talks to his mum about putting him in a home. The Grandfather over hears and realizes important parts of his life.
Finance
This short film has no budget, which means that we had to cover any expenses ourselves, for example train tickets to get to the location, catering and the slider. To safe money our production used Jack’s camera and lenses, Robyn’s lenses and my backdrop legs. Our college provided other pieces of film equipment. 
Time
Our production had three deadlines, the pre-production, shooting and editing deadline. The group met the pre-production deadline with the work at a high standard. We also met the shooting deadline on time. Something we only considered when shooting was that some of the time would be set-up, pack-up and returning all of the equipment to the college.   
Personnel
One of the first parts of pre-production is to find the right cast for production and for the right cost. For this production Jack the scriptwriter was assigned as director and Robyn who also pitched the idea was assigned as 1st AD because of her skills in pre-production planning. Ashley wanted to be sound designer because he had been a camera operator on his last project and I wanted to Director of Photography as I was a camera operator before on a smaller project and I wanted to do improve my grade. It is always import to consider what skills our production groups has to assign them to the right job role. It is also useful to help your co-workers so you understand other roles.
Facilities
There were facilities for the group to have breaks on set and to the toilet. It is important to have a separate facility to have lunch breaks because the cast and crew can relax and the set wont get dirty.  We also have facilities at college to complete pre-production work and to edit.
Materials
After finishing the pre-production we set up a test shot so we could get an idea of set-up positions and framing certain shots. Test shots allow the whole group to rehearse their job role.    
Contributors
The production director and scriptwriter, Jack Roper was also one of our actors. David Roper, Jack’s father was our over actor. This made it easy to get both on set because they live together; also David is an actor and was a perfect chose for the role of the old man. This kept our production cost lower as both actors would work for free.
Locations
The whole film was shot at Jack’s house, which meant getting permission to film was easy. It was also in the middle of the crew’s home locations. It was also a safe location to film in.   
Coded of practice and regulation
Before filming we got our film’s actors to sign an actor agreement form, this allows them to be featured in the production and also to understand any terms and conditions according to this production. The location’s owner also had to fill out a location release form. Our college covered us for public liability.  

Evaluation
Our film storyboard included both photos and hand drawn images, depending on who had completed that storyboard sheet. These sheets included information about the duration of the shot, so I know roughly how much time I have for camera movements. The sheet also contained visual information like what type of shot e.g. Close up. There was also information about what scene, what will be heard, what the actors are doing and shot number. Most of the shots in the storyboard were close ups and mid shots, this is because the film is based on the relationship between the old man and the young man and these shot types show the detail of their reactions towards each other. The storyboard could have been used as a shooting script but we already had one, which we used instead. 
A shooting script is a sheet, which contains a list of every shot in every scene within the whole production. On set it was used as a checklist for each shot, even the addition shot, which were added after the storyboard. Our groups 1st AD was in control of the shooting script and before “action” she would read out the scene and shot number. This would have been very effective if we had stopped rolling after each take and then remarked it when starting the next. This would have meant we could have logged the footage and the audio easier after the end of filming. This would have also made editing the footage easier as we could match the audio with the correct footage by labeling them for example S1, S1, T1 (scene1, shot1, take1).
Our director, Jack Roper, wrote the script and a copy was given to each member of the group, including actors. It is important that a copy is given to the cast so they can prepare themselves for the shots. A couple of drafts were made after the crew wanted to change sections of dialogue because it sounded unnatural. Each member of the crew used the script to help them with their job role, for example my copy had annotations about camera set ups, the look of shot and equipment. The Sound Designer’s copy had information about types like Foley, atmos and ADR. 1st AD’s had information about who and what will be needed during each scene. Both of the actors after receiving their scripts they would rehearse them and write notes and ideas about how things could be preformed. 
To help organize each day of shooting our 1st AD created a call sheet. This informed everyone about who would be needed on each day of filming and what they would be responsible for, for example piece of equipment. It also featured where we were filming, what scenes we were shooting and how much time to spend at each location.  This is all vital information to help each day of shooting run smoothly and on time. The whole group did not have copies of all the call sheets but everyone could access them on our Facebook group. After looking at the call sheets online I knew which pieces of equipment I needed to book and for how long.
The schedule we created was three weeks long and each day was broken down by Morning, Afternoon and Evening. Each section contained a brief description of what we hope to achieve during the day. There was also a section for any note for that day. Although the schedule was brief we did have detailed call sheet and shooting script and will all of these sheets combined it gave use a clear understanding of each day. On the other hand I still believe that the schedule should have contained times for brakes and lunch. I think because we did not include plan for lunch brakes or time to stop and check the footage we would become quite slow and unfocused during the day.   
As a team we worked well during pre production, as we would keep each other motivated by working closely and checking on the work sheets we were completing. This meant we had an effective pre-production quite quickly so we could begin filming sooner. My job role in this production was director of photography. This meant I was responsible for booking out the camera and lighting equipment. I build a camera slider I also worked closely with the director. We talked about the “look” of the film. I would then research about cinematography and how to preform camera movements, which would illustrate the emotion behind each scene.  I would normally watch Indy mogul on YouTube to increase my understanding.
After reading the script I annotated it with ideas of shot types. Early in the preproduction I know I wanted to build a camera slider. I wanted the intro to move slower front left to right. The reason for this is because the film has a slow pace and the slow slides established the pace of the film. The shots also worked with the music chosen for the intro. These intro shots create a peaceful start to the film for the audience.
In one scene where the old man is asking about his wife I used a pull focus to show the concern on the young man. By pulling focus or setting a focus point it allows the audience to only be focused on what I want them to. The way I use it in this scene it shows the progression on the old man’s illness and deep concern and gilt the young man has about lying to his granddad.
In the next scene we see the old man attack his grandson. I started the scene with a handheld tracking shot. I chose to use a camera movement because I wanted to follow the young man into going into the action. For the audience it is more connecting because they are moving with the character, putting them in the scene. The rest of the scene I used extreme close-ups. These shots show the audience the change in the old man from polite and caring to dangerous. The use of the extreme close ups show how dangerous the situation is for the young man.        
Having a great pre-production because of our teamwork we started the filming on the allocated week, with a test shot complete as well. This test shot was important because 1st could fill-in all location Reece and release forms. Also me, Ashley (sound designer) and Jack (Director) could run through some scenes and practice with the equipment. This made us quicker at setting up on the day of shooting because we had knew how to deal with the problems we faced on the test shot. As a group we all helped each other if there was a problem or if we wanted feedback, for example I was unsure about the placement of the camera in scene 5 so I recorded the scene and ask the group for feedback. A problem that we face that we dealt with was in scene 5. The scene starts with David roper (Old man) putting on his coat and leaving for work. I was going to place the slider in front of David and follow him but once we had done take one and I watched it back I realized that it did not have the long tracking effect I wanted. Jack suggested using his tripod, which is also a monopod; this gave me a much longer range of motion when tracking David. One issue with this movement was that I what to walk backwards down Jack’s hallway but to help me Jack guided through the corner. My group met our filming deadline with all the shots completed.
Once the day of shooting was over Jack and Robyn would both get a copy of the camera footage and the audio. When we had completed the final day of shooting Jack started to log all of the files at home. When we started the week of editing we were all giving a copy of all the shots we planned to film and Premiere Pro Project file to start working on. Syncing the external sound with the footage was very time consuming because the audio was not in the right order, so because of my deadline I made my main focus editing the footage and putting shots in the order I wanted. After that I improved any footage that was unstable. Once I finished I had to export my project to reach my deadline, so unfortunately I did not get to sync the footage with the externally recorded sound. I feel that my deadline edit was more of a ruff/daft edit and because of this I think the edit does not show the change of days clearly and the mental effect of the Old Man’s illness in the last scene.  
The most important improvement would to have stopped recording after every take, like I spoke about at the start of evaluation. I we had done this it would have been easier to log and match the footage and the audio after each scene. Another problem that we faced was that the slider was not smooth when it was above 3ft. As a group we realized that the backdrop legs holding the slider up need support so I would slider the camera and Ashley would support the legs. Having sandbags, which would weigh down the legs and improved the performance of the slider, although after using warp stabilization in After Effect it made the shots very smooth. 

Wednesday 25 June 2014

Unit 8 - TV and Film Industry - Ownership & Funding


UK television industry




Who are the UK ‘Major’ TV companies?


The UK’s major companies are:

·      BBC (31.8%)

·      ITV (22.8%)

·      Channel 4 (11.3%)

·      Channel 5 (5.9%)

·      BSkyB (6.8%)


BBC - John Reith and George Villiers founded the BBC in Oct 1922 but it is publicly owned, this is done through license fees. As there is a License fee the BBC do not make any money through advertisement time. Every British TV owner paying a £145.50 fee each year per household funds the BBC. The BBC Trust is in charge of the fee payers best interests. 

ITV - It is owned by share holders and Archie Norman is the Chairman and Adam Crozier is the CEO of ITV plc.

Channel 4 - Lord Burns is the Chairman and David Abraham is the CEO of channel Four Television Corporation. On the Channel 4 website is says "Channel 4 is a publicly owned corporation whose board is appointed by OFCOM, in agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport".

Channel 5 - Channel 5 is owned by Northern & Shell, which is founded and owned by Richard Desmond in Dec 1974.

BSkyB - Nicholas Ferguson is the chairman and Jeremy Darroch is the CEO of British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (BskyB). It is a pubic limited company which people can buy shares in, 21st Century Fox owns 39.14% which founded by Rupert Murdoch.


Who are the UK ‘Indie’ TV companies? (e.g. public, private, share holders)

RDF Television - RDF Television is a part of the Zodiak Media group which has companies across the world. Bwark, RDF Television and Touchpaper are some of the UK companies which are a part of the group. Zodiak Media make around £800m in annual revenues. They create, produce, nd sell content across broadcast platforms and all key genres. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Wife Swap, The Secret Millionaire and Being Human. Zodiak Media is majority-owned by De Agostini.

Endemol - Endemol is considered to be one of the world's largest indie companies. They are a horizontal company, buying over indie companies such as Tiger Aspect, Darlow Smithson and Tigress. Zeppotron is one of the companies leadind comedy producers making 8 out of 10 cats which is a long running panel show of Channel 4. Other shows are aired on BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, ITV1 and Channel 5. Endemol is owned by Mediaset, a large italian based company founded in the 1970's by former itialian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, whom controlles around 40% of the company.  

Viacom - Viacom is the world's 4th largest media conglomerate and wants to become the worlds leading branded entertainment company. In 1985 Viacom acquired around 66% of MTV Networks and a year later they purchases the remaining percent. Eight years later Viacom merger with Paramount Communications Inc. In 2003 they purchased Comedy Central. Viacom was a spin-off from CBS in 1971 and became an public company. Since 1987 83% has been owned by National Amusements Inc.  ​ ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​


How is the business structured? (Vertical, horizontal)




The Walt Disney Company has a vertical marketing strategy. This means that Disney own an array of companies that covers all aspects of a Disney production. Much like Apple, Disney will manufacture the own the companies that manufacture the materials needs for the DVDs. Disney will also buy companies rather than working with them. Disney acquired companies like Lucas Films, ABC, and Marvel, even companies like GoPro. A vertically structured company makes sure that they are in control of the whole project. The company even has it’s own stores to sell their toys. 

The company has a Chairman/CEO, Disney’s Chairman is Bob Iger, and Bob is also a board member of Apple Inc. Each department shown below will have it’s own CEO. Vertical organizations have a top-down structure. There are top-level managers like CEOs and chairman. Underneath them are Mid-level managers, low-level managers and entry-level employees. This structure gives distance between regular employees and the managers who make decisions about the company; working conditions, pay rates and other important factors. 
  

Companies and franchises owned by Disney - Link - http://www.cabletv.com/wp-content/uploads/23880/DisneyOwnedCompanies.jpg

Lisa Fowler. (2013). 3 Things are Guaranteed in Life: Death, Taxes, and Disney [INFOGRAPHIC]. Available: http://cabletv.com/blog/disney-owned-companies/. Last accessed 25th Jun 2014.


UK Film Industry – Ownership & Funding



Government Funding

  
BFI - homepageBFI
In the UK gives fresh and upcoming filmmaking talent can get funded through government charities like the BFI (British Film Institute). This charity distributes money from The National Lottery for the UK film industry. The BFI is now a Government arm’s-length body and distributor of Lottery funds for film.
 
Out of the £25 million in 2011-12 £18 million was shared for development, production and completion of feature films. This has now increased to £26 million for 2013-14.
BFI also helps projects that they have funded to be screened at the London IMAX.
Applications of funds can be made online for needs of the filmmaker.
Ben Wheatley, a British filmmaker received funding for this fourth film A Field in England, which was the first film to be released in UK nationwide cinemas, on free TV, on DVD and on Video-on-Demand on the same day.
http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/ben-wheatleys-a-field-in-england
 


Creative England
Another British charity is Creative England that sets up opportunities, funding and supports for creative ideas, talent and businesses in film, TV, games and digital media.


Film Production Companies
BBC Films, Film4, Hammer Films, Vertigo Films, WarpFilms and Working Title. These are the UK’s biggest names in production companies and these companies have helped creative ideas and visions from directors, writers and help actors become the leading star.  






Vertigo FilmsVertigo Film
Vertigo was set up in 2002 to fund the production and distribution of The Football Factory, London to Brighton, Bronson and Monsters.



Film4
Film4 originally broadcasted films that they had funded on their own TV channel and would frequently broadcast themed seasons or nights where they show films centred around one genre, director or actor. They will now screen more mainstream blockbusters nowadays 
They have helped produced films like Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, Four Lines, Ben Wheatley ‘s Kill List, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and Shaun of the Dead.


Low budget British films are getting some of the best distribution around the world and because of funding from big name production companies. British films like Bridget Jones, Billy Elliot, Notting Hill and The Full Monty are all considered to be great british films which are loved in the USA. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1293068.stm

Power of the People

Another modern way of getting a bit more funding to make a film go further is by being supported by crowd funding. One of the best examples of this working is “Kickstarter”. Kickstarter funds creative projects from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology.  Kickstarter is a platform and a resource and are not involved in the development of the projects themselves. Anyone can launch a project on Kickstarter as long as it meets their guidelines.  It all starts by a project creators set a funding goal and deadline. Next people can see the projects and if they like a project, they can pledge money towards it. 

Example - Wasp


An example of funding for short films working well is the 26mins short film Wasp directed by Andrea Arnold. It was funded by the UK Film Counil and Film4. I was first shown Wasp in college but whilst researching for this is found out that Andrea Arnold had won an oscar for it.




Monday 23 June 2014

unit 8 - Understanding the Television and film industry


Types of work and Rates

Filmmakers can take different career paths to get to the desired job role. Some filmmakers will finish their studies of the film and TV industry and find a job as a runner for example the BBC. They could then continue being employed by the BBC for different roles. A popular choice of employment is being freelance. In 1990 the Broadcasting Act was put in place which means companies like the BBC now have to source 25% of its output from independent production companies. 

I personally would like to be a freelance cameraman and producer in TV documentaries. Companies like BECTU would help me understand how much going rates are for my line of work. BECTU also have rates for other departments, for example Lighting Technicians (Major Studio Feature Film) the weekly rate when working a 12-hour day is £1450. They also provide information about recent news to do with the role like the rates for lighting technicians has increased by 14 per cent.        

Monday 16 June 2014

Unit 3 - Research

 Methods of Research

http://www.researchoptimus.com/images/article/infographic.pngPrimary Research - Primary research is information which has been sourced by a researcher(s). This is normally done after secondary research so the researcher has an idea of what they are looking into. After reading secondary research they may be wish to continue their own research in curtain subject areas. This is all in the control of the researcher as they can choose the way research is collected and what questions to ask. Although setting up interviews and sending surveys can be time consuming and costly it does allow the right people's feelings and opinions to be known. So this does mean that money is well spent. I also think that when i talk to people i need to i get a better understanding and i feel like a part of the subject. 

Research Optimus. (2014). Primary Market Research Methods. Available: http://www.researchoptimus.com/article/primary-research-methods.php. Last accessed 18th Jun 2014.

Secondary Research - Secondary research is data which has already been collected and exist for others to read about. There are more reliable sources of secondary, for example if you wanted to find out about a certain event which took place you could read about it on Wikipedia which would inform you but if you were to read a book from someone's perspective who was at the event it would be better. This research can be found in books, websites, magazines and newspapers. Quotes are a good source of information but somtimes newspapers and magazines can be opinionated. 

Data Gathering Agency - Broadcasting Audience Research Board (BARB) is the official source of UK television viewing figures. BARB commissions specialist research complanies to collect data.


(BBC3 - Top 10 - May 26 - Jun 01 2014)

 Self-Generated -  This is a type of primary research which can be done by the researcher themselves rather than gathering data from questionnaires. An example of this is keeping a tally of information of types of adverts of a music chanel, this could tell us who the adverts are aimed at and maybe why? To do this i will firstly write down a list of the adverts and then put them in categories.  

Types of Research

There are two main types of research Quantitative research and Qualitative research. 

1. Quantitative research is when the researchers have thought through and planned how they will carryout the research experiment in a controlled way. The questions will normally be answered yes or no so that the data can be collected easily without having any deeper meaning or thoughts behind the answer. This allows data to be turned into precise mathmatical charts and graphs. Quantitative research is about "how many people did something?" rather than, how what they did effected them? This type of research is about the statistic facts made up of numbers to generalize large groups. 

Example - The Great Gatsby

Total Budget: $160,000,000 | Opening Weekend: $50,085,184 | Worldwide Gross: $351,840,419 


Tickets sold per person in U.S./Canada
 
 








2. Qualitative research is about uncovering the deeper meaning behind the statistics. The research will start with a theory and looking for a patterns in the quantitative research. The data collection may be carried out in several stages as the researchers can may adapt the process mid-way. The reseachers will interview people or observe a set number of people for their reseach. When the data is collected it is not turned into statistics and is not converted into numerical form.

3. Pragmatic Research is a mixed method.  

Alzheimer Europe. (2009). The four main approaches. Available: http://www.alzheimer-europe.org/Research/Understanding-dementia-research/Types-of-research/The-four-main-approaches. Last accessed 18th Jun 2014.

Purpose of Reseach

Audience Research

Knowing and understanding your audience is key for any industry not just film.  The first thing we need to do is to find your target audience for your product.  We do this by building an audience profile, which will feature their behaviour, attitudes and interest.  To find out this information we need to use secondary and primary research. For example if we where going to make a new TV drama aimed at young adults we would want to send a short surveys around colleges and universities.

These surveys would try to understand their TV viewing habits and also to understand their social life such as friends and relationship. Their habits would help us know if we should show a three-part drama or a series based show.  Their social life will help us base episodes on problems young adults face and by watching the program it could help them with their problems. An example of these sorts of helplines is seen at the end of Hollyoaks. 

Once we have are research we can put this information into an audience profile. For example are audience are aged between 16-21 and a mixed gender. They will have a TV in their room where they can watch the show in peace allowing them to relate to the story. They also want to watch something, which is comical but involves serious drama, which could help with their home life. This program should be shown at a time when they will be back from studying so around 7pm.     
 
Market Research




An important component of business strategy is to gather information about target market and customers.  Market research is vital to have an advantage over competitors.  You should frequently analyze the size of the market and its needs. Successful research will allow you to gain an insight into how to make a need for your product in the market.

Production Reseach


Production research helps companies get the most out of their investment and still make a great product for their audience. Companies do this by researching into the finance, location and personnel.  When you go to make a product you need to know whom it is designed for and where you can market it.  Finding sources of finance.  Maybe you could be sponsored globally by using Kickstarter.com or locally by friends. how would you balance income and expenditure? Knowing how much money you should spend on advertisement. You do not want to underspend on adverts because you need people to know the product and to be excited by it. To make sure your project is completed at its full potential you would need to pay for a professional production crew that have the skills the task requires.  You may find that paying a little more money for a crewmember may be worth it because they can over the production a wide skill set that could allow the project to be completed at a higher quality. If you have a tight budget you might not be able to afford an actor so you will have to compensate. This goes for all requirements of the production. 

Once you have your final project you will want to promote it. Maybe you could show it at an exhibition. To make people aware of the date you could use newspapers or magazines, which share a similar audience. You can also market it on social media for example you could have a trailer on YouTube. If you are a small company you might not have ‘in house’ software and professional equipment. As a result of this you may wish to hire equipment and facilities. This is normally cheaper because you might want to use a camera that is expensive to buy and instead you could just hire it for your required time.  If you only need a piece of equipment of one day there is not much point of buying it. In this situation hiring it is the best option. 
 




Tbells. (2010). Market And Production Research in the media Industry . Available: http://schniz-n-tish.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/market-and-production-research-in-media.html. Last accessed 16th Jun 2014.