Film Stage: Production

Development:

What happens in the Development stage of making a film?

Stages of Development

1.      Idea- An idea for a film is developed by a producer. The core can come from books, plays, other films, true stories or an original idea.

2.      Synopsis- Once the theme is identified, a synopsis and step outline is prepared. They sum the film up in a sentence and break the story down into one-paragraph scenes.

3.      Treatment- Next a treatment is prepared. This is a 25-30 page description of the story, its mood, characters, stage direction and drawings to help visualize ideas

4.      Screenplay/ Script- A screenplay is then written over a few months, often rewritten several times to improve the dramatization clarity, structure, characters& dialogue. Usually a screen play is rewritten up to 10-20 times

5.       Distributor- A film distributor may be contacted at an early stage to assess the likely market (target audience) and potential financial success of the film.

6.      Distributor- They will consider, genre, target audience, historical success of similar films, actors& potential directors of the film. All can the successes of the film

7.      Raising finance- Not all films make a profit from the theatrical release alone, therefore DVD sales and worldwide distribution right need to be taken into account.

8.      Pitch- Lastly the movie pitch is presented to potential financiers, if successful, then the movie is given the thumbs up or “green light””, and financial backing is offered.

9.      Financial support/ backing- Financial backing will typically come from a major film studio, film council or independent film investors. A deal is negotiated and contracts are signed.

Developing a Story

In this stage, the project’s producer finds a story which could originate from a book, play, another film, a true story, original idea, etc.

Pre-Production:

When a project moves from development into the pre-production stage, everything is arranged that ought to be in place earlier than the real shoot or principle photography begins. In pre-production, casting is completed, crews are recruited, costume designers get busy, plus set designers start building. If the movie will be shot on location, locations are found and contracted for the shoot. A timetable is arranged and the script is split into scenes by setting and by casting requests to make shooting the film as cost-efficient as possible.

The storyboarding procedure is the most practical details involved in creating a film or interactive media plan can be efficiently described either in image, or in extra text. On occasion the most artistic part of a film, a carefully crafted budget provides the key roadmap for the whole film project. Whether the film is expected to cost $2,000 or $200,000,000, the film budget must present an expenses plan for every dollar to be spent on the production. In addition, the budget serves as a guide that the pieces of the film are proportionate to one another. The budget will be dictated by choices that may change radically depending on locations, size and fame of cast, stunts, and the special effects needed both through and after principal photography. A film crew is a group of people recruited by a film business for the idea of producing a film or movie. Crews are distinguished from cast, the actors who appear in front of the camera or offer voices for characters in the motion picture. Crews are also different from producers, those who own a portion of either the film company or the film's intellectual property rights.

Production:

Production

Production in this sense is the phase of film making. In production the raw elements of film making (movie) are shot. The video production/film is created and shot. More crew will be recruited at this stage, such as the property master, script supervisor, assistant directors, stills photographer, picture editor, and sound editors.

Post Production:

Post-production is part of film-making and video production process, occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs & digital art.

It is a term used for all the stages of production occurring after the actual end of shooting the complete work.

 Takes longer than the actual shooting of the film & can take several months to complete because it includes the complete editing, colour correction and additional sound and music.    
                                                                                                                                          Seen as second directing because through the post production, because you can change the intention of the movie so intense, by changing the colour correction and music. Example: blue tinted movie is associated with a cold atmosphere; choice of music can increase the effect shown to the audience.

Named a dying industry, due to video editing software.

The Production Office

A film Production Office is the administrative office responsible for managing a film production. The office is responsible to the Film Producer and includes the Production Manager, Assistant Director and one or more Production Assistants. Typically a Production Office is established in the pre-production phase and continues until at least post-production.

The Production Office usually includes positions such as, but not entirely made of, Production Supervisor, Production Office Coordinator, Assistant Production Office Coordinator, Production Secretary and Office Assistants.

A Production Office will look different for each production depending on many variables including the type of film, the production company producing the film and the size of the budget of the film itself.

What you expect to see on a typical day of filming

A typical day of filming starts with the cast such as actors and stunt people and also the crew which focus on the operational aspect such as camera men, stills photographer and director. Once all these people are on set the filming can take place which can be time consuming and have many retakes until the director feels satisfied. Due to this is a hectic and time consuming process the actors usually have their own call in time so that the set is not crowded and that the actors are not around all the time when they don't need to be and that would mean it would cost the director more money that may not be available to spend on actors. All production teams have to have good communication and always be one step ahead to make sure that factors such as lighting have to be one step ahead of the shooting to make the procedure efficient and problems get addressed before it is to late and then problems can be rectified. 

What happens after ? 

After the day of shooting footage the Director and Producer come together and evaluate the days footage to look for any mistakes and to see if retakes are required. This is known as dailies. Dailies are an advantage because it allows problems to be corrected within a quick period of time and means they are able to review their work and see if they are on target or not.