Monday, 15 August 2016

R5: Roles with development, pre-production,production and post-production in filmmaking

Roles in Filmmaking

Film making (Film Production) refers to the process involved in making a film and it involves a series of discreet steps that in the end may result in the exhibition of a film.  Each step can require huge number of people who work collectively as well as individually to complete the steps and it can take several months to several years to complete Film making. For example, horror film The Blair Witch Project (1999) was produced over 6 years (From its development in 1993 to its release in 1999).

Stages of film making include development, pre-production, production and post-production.

Development:

Within the development stage of a film, a producer(s) selects a story (that may come from a book, play or an original idea).  The producer(s) then work with writers to create a synopsis and a step outline (which is a thorough telling of story that is intended to be developed into a screenplay for a film). The step outline goes through treatment.

A screenwriter then writes a screen play (which is piece of writing that contains the dialogues, movement, actions and expressions of characters) over a period of several months. At this point a film distributor may be contacted, to discuss potential distribution of a film.

The producer(s) and screenwriter then prepare a film pitch or treatment, which is presented to potential financial investors. If a pitch receives a “green light”, it often means financial backing of the production of a film has been found (generally a film studio, film council or independent investor) and the film could continue in its development.   

Pre-production: 

In the pre-production stage of a film, every step on the actual creation of a film is designed and planned carefully. Once a production office has been established and a production company is created, the production of a film is story boarded with the help of illustrators and concept artists. A production budget is also drawn up.

The producer then hires a crew and the scale of this crew is dependent on the nature of the film (for example mainstream films with large budgets will have crew of hundreds, while independent films will have a skeleton crew consisting of around 10 or less people)

General crew positions include:
The Director: is responsible for the story telling, acting of the characters and creative decisions.

The Unit production manager: is responsible for the production budget, production schedule and report on behalf of the production office to the financiers of the film.

The assistant director (AD): is responsible for the shooting schedule and logistics of production. There are many types of assistant directors each with different roles.

The casting director: is responsible for finding actors to play characters of the script, which is generally completed through auditions.

The location manager: is responsible for finding and managing locations for filming in. Most films are shot in controlled environments, such as a studio, but some scenes may require outdoor filming.
The director of photography (DOP): is the cinematographer who is responsible for the photography of the entire film.

The director of audiography (DOA): is the audiographer who is responsible for the audiography of the entire film. This role is also known as the sound designer or supervising sound editor.

The production sound mixer: are the head of entire sound department and have many responsibilities. For example, recording and mixing of dialogue, presence (silence) sound effects in monaural (sound coming from one position and ambiance. They work together with the Director, First AD, DOA, DOP and boom operator.

The sound designer: is responsible for creating the aural formation of the film and work with the DOA or may take the role of DOA.

The composer: is responsible for creating new music for the film, which usually is not performed until post-production.

The production designer: is responsible for creating the visual formation of the film and work with the art director to do so.

The art director: is responsible for managing the art department (who make the production sets)

The costume designer: is responsible for creating the costumes for the characters and they work together with the actors as well as the makeup and hair designers.

The makeup and hair designer(s): are responsible for creating the required look for a character and work closely with the costume designer

The storyboard artist: is responsible for creating the visual images that aim to aid the director and production designer explain their ideas to the production team.

The choreographer: is responsible for creating and coordinate movement and dance for the film (generally for musicals). Some films may also have a fight choreographer, who creates and coordinates fight scenes. 

 Production:  

In the production stage of a film, the actual film is shot and at this stage more members of the crew are employed, for example, more assistant directors, script supervisor, picture editors and sound editors.
The construction of a set, lighting and dressing can take a lot of time to be completed, so these are typically set up beforehand.

Actors arrive at the set by their call time they are wardrobed into their costume as well as get their hair and makeup done. The actors also rehearse the script and blocking (movement) with the director, the sound crew and camera crew.
American productions typically follow a particular procedure starting the assistant director (AD) calling “picture is up” to inform everyone that a take is about to be recorded. The AD then calls “quiet everyone”, “roll sound” (if there is sound in the take) and at this moment the production sound mixer will start up their equipment and call “sound speed”. The AD then calls “roll camera”, which is answered by the camera operators “speed”, once the camera starts rolling. The clapper who is in front of the camera will call “marker” and slap the clapperboard shut, if there are background action or extras, the AD will call “action background”. The director then calls “action”, which may be repeated by the AD in larger sets and once a take is over the director will call “cut”.

The script supervisor takes notes of continuity issues, the sound and camera departments also take note of any technical issues. 

Post production:

The post production stage of film making is the end of film making and consists of many different processes that are performed by many more members of the crew. Typically the post production stage of film making takes longer than the actual shooting of a film, because it involves the complete editing, color correction and the inclusion of music and sound to the raw copy of a film.

Typical roles within post production include:

The colorist: is responsible for adjusting the colors of a film by playing with contrast, saturation and light to create the desired effect.

The rotoscopist: is responsible for going through each film frame to remove any wires and logos, so that no copy right issues are charged.

The Compositor: is a visual effects artist, who is responsible for compositing images from different sources, such as digital effects, 3D imagery and 2D animation.

Visual FX supervisor: is responsible for all the visual effects used in a film.

Editor: is responsible for putting all the camera shots together once they have been filmed. The editor(s) work closely with the director and create the overall narrative of the film using the camera shots.  

Assistant Editor: is responsible for helping the editor with for example decision making, as this is the last stage of film making as a result there is a lot of pressure on the editor, thus the assistant editor is there to ease off some pressure on the editor.

It is evident that each stage of film making require a lot of people, each focusing on a different aspect of film making, but despite them focusing on different aspects they are all indirectly collectively working to produce the same film. The research I have conducted clearly shows me that, I and my partner have a lot of shoes to fill, thus we need to be very organised and have consistent communication, so that we produce a successful short horror film. Moreover, I think the stage of film production that suits me the most would be the post production, because I like the idea of being able to create a certain effect through the use of technology, such as editing software. I also think my editing skills are quite good and I enjoy editing moving images. 

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