Task 2 - Plan your short film

Are group has slowly day by day been producing a diary of planning for are short film discussing and looking into finance, personnel needed and available, rescores needed and available, talking about and preparing budget, contacting personnel, book resources, preparing schedule, looking into the health and safety regulations, identifying legal implications and identifying risks to our project.

Finance:

Location; we have decided to use a local bus stop as the main setting for our short film, this is a walk away from our main college site, this means no travel expense is needed to get to this location as its a five minute walk away. To get to our main site, which is Acland Burghley School, the people in our group take the bus because we are 16 and still in full time education our bus travel is free.

 Lunch; Near our site location and filming location there are many small cafe and chip shops where we can get our lunch when filming. The most we spend at a lunch time round the shops is around four pound each we all own our own pocket money so that will come out of our individual pockets.

Actors; because we are creating a short film in small groups we are using the people in our group to star and be extras in this short film. This means we do not have to pay for any of the actors in are film because they are doing it out of there own will to create an effective and enjoyable short film. We are also making sure that when we are at our location that the members of the public are very aware that we are filming in this public area and are told by our group that filming is taking place this is so we don’t have to pay or get any complaints that we are filming someone without there permission.

Props and wardrobe; when filming props are used; a phone and headphones are used as well as a school bag. Different members of the group own all these props this is so no props have to be bought just for the short film. Costumes are also owned by different people in the groups like coats, jumpers, scalfs, t-shirts again this is also so we don’t have to buy costume just for the film. When having complication in finding wardrobe for the characters the drama departments are happy to lend costumes room their costume box, which will not cost the group anything.

So all together the money that the group will spend is for lunch spending no more then five pound on lunch which will come out of there own pocket.

Personnel needed and available:

Crew; to create a film with little complications a crew is needed. For our short film we have decided that we would need a;

-Director (Amelia)

-Producer (Meltem)

-Wardrobe and make up artists (Doriana)

-Editor (Joey)

Because we are a small group making a small class project a big crew does not need to be formed. Because it’s a class assignment the availability of the crew is high due to the group taking responsibility for each role. The only complication of this is if one member of the group is absent from a period of filming time and the role is left or taking up by another member. Again because we are a small group main roles like location manger, casting director and other important roles to help create a film is taking up by the whole group by sharing ideas and finding locations and officering to be a star in the film.

Cast; Another big personnel that is needed is the cast depending on what genre your film is and how the script is laid out is different cast members. For our short film we have decided that we wanted

-Main character (Boy) (Joey)

-Love interest (Girl) (Amelia)

-Love interests partner (Girl) (Molly)

These are all members of our group playing the characters we have created. A complication with this is that if one of the members from our cast is absent then there could be a hold up in our filmmaking schedule and no continuity if we change the cast member through the middle of filming.

Rescores needed and available:

All movies need facilities for them to produce their film, from setting to camera lighting and sound booths. Are group decided to have out only setting to be at the bus stop that was near our collage, due to us being young film makers still in full tine education paying to use this location was not needed for the project we was doing. We avoided ant type of advertising the transport for London but doing research of paying for a location we came across a website which gives you locations that could be relevant to your footage and the location in your mind. http://www.totalfilm.com/features/25-london-movie-locations this website gives you 25 different locations around London which could be helpful with your production. There is also a website that sells different sets like apartments for filming to take place.

Because we are studying media at out collage we have different facilities Available like cameras, which is a canon (Eos 600D), sound booths, artificial lighting, reflectors, and other equipment, needed to make and film our planned ideas. Because we have all the facilities we need we do not need to hire or borrow and equipment, which means no spending and easier access the equipment. There are only a certain amount of cameras for are media class which we have to share during out set times. There are 5 cameras, 2 sound booths and one set of arterial lights. This could be complicated due to there being so little facilities for a big class not every can film at the same time.

Preparing budget:

Because we planned and worked out what things we didn’t have to pay for and what things we did we decided to focus on out own budgets for lunch and hot drinks during filming time. Most of us bring around three pound or more during filming time. We all do not need to pay for our travel to our collage or are travel to the bus stop. Are equipment does not need to be paid for (Apart from if we damage any of the equipment which can not be used by another person the amount of the camera the school bought it for you personally need to pay for the fixing of the equipment or the whole replacement of the equipment). The location does not need to be paid for nor does the actors and post and pre production cast due to being our media group.

Contact personnel:

Because we are young filmmakers we work together to produce this footage, we picked our group due to friendship and the people that we were sitting with in our media session. if in one session one of our members failed to show up we all have a contact number for each other is we do not have a personal phone on us there are school phones that we can use but also if we do not know or do not have there contact number on us then the school has everyone in out media groups home and mobile contact number that can be in use with permission from our collage teacher.

Book resources:

We do need to book cameras for our footage. Cameras during our media session we do not need to book our equipment due to it being our time to use the cameras if we want to use them outside our session then we have to get in contact with our media teacher via email, text, phone call pr in person to schedule a suitable time for the cameras to be booked for our footage.

Prepare schedule:

Because our cast and crew have different lessons thought out collage day we have only our media sessions and our free periods as well as well as our after school and before school times. We thought it would be better for our group if we stayed and did our footage in our media session so we are all in the same place and we do not need to go and book for the equipment we need for our footage. So we created a schedule to keep originated and to keep to a deadline to stop filming our footage. We decided to film day 1 scene 1 on the 15 of November at 9:30 and day 2 scenes 2 at 10:40. On the 18 of November we decided to film day 3 at 14:05 on the 19th day 4 at 9:00 and on the 22 we filmed the last day, which was day 5 at 9:00, which was our deadline for shooting. We kept to this deadline.

Identify health and safety implications:

When looking at our locations we had to see and create a health and safety check to make sure the setting we have chosen is safe for the cast and crew. We looked into it thinking about what implications and hazards there would be where we are filming. The things we thought would be implications, which could be Assault by a person, cold environment, vehicle impact, stress, and litter. We looked more into the location taking in account of the health and safety implication we thought about the vehicle impact knowing that were filming in the pavement this issue wont be the biggest issue to focus on, Cold environment are cast and crew will be wearing suitable clothing for the weather. all the others where looked into and seen as not a big issue for filming our footage.

Identify legal implications:

When thinking of a song to use in my production I had to find a song that would fit with my theme of the film if I wanted a song from a famous person for example ‘Beyoncé’ I would have to get in touch with one of her workers ask for permission to use one of her songs or look into different websites that protect the music rights of people in the UK. An example of a website is 'PRS for music'   which charges you or your company to use the music that they have protected. This would properly cost our group a lot of money to use her song. We would need to ask for permission due to copyright issues of the song. We decided that we should find a song that is free with no copy right we looked up different sights with free un copyrighted songs until we found a song we liked and used it in our footage The song we picked was from a free music sight called 'Free stockmusic' where we found our acoustic theme track. If we wanted to show our project in a cinema for example we would have to get a certificate that shows what the project is. For example rating it (U,PG,15) witch is given to the company of the production by the BBFC making it acceptable for the movie to be shown in places like film festivals and in cinema. Showing to an audience the suitable age for and audience to watch this project. 

Identify risk to project:

There are many different ways are project could fail. First the weather could be to horrific to film outside which could not be safe to work in of to foggy to see the events happening. One of our members could not be coming in to one of the media sessions so we have to hold off a day of filming which would put us behind on filming. Something bad could happen to the cast or crew whilst filming which could stop the whole project, we cannot find the right sound track without copy right for our piece. Whilst filming we find that our story doesn’t make scene or is too ambitious for us to film. There are no cameras in our sessions due to important use for the school or them being stolen or damaged from a previous group which will hold back our filming time and many more that could happen without planning and carefully analyzing each factor of the pre production stage thought the filming and post production stage.

Task One – Understand requirements for a specific media production

When thinking about creating a new film pre production should always be on a young persons mind.there are many things to think about when creating a new film/short film. finance,time, personnel, facilities, materials, contributors, location and codes of practise and regulation.

http://industry.bfi.org.uk/whatwefund
http://filmlondon.org.uk/business_and_training/finance/microbudget_2
http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/film%20&%20video

Finance: when researching finance the main company that funds young people in there films says nothing about funding young people creating short films. 

The BFI will fund any person who has created a feature film before.  It explains for first time directors, the funding budget is under 2,000,000, which is a lot of money for a first time director. 


There are also a lot of other ways for a person to raise money to create there film. For example there is a company called 'Film London' running a project called 'Film London Microwave' giving new film producers a chance to start up there new films. This scheme has been up and running since 2006 in partnership with the BBC films. The main things that microwave provides is production funding, bespoke mentoring and training, professional development and support from script to scene. This programme has helped many young people to follow there dreams of become a young film creator. A film that has been completed with the help of microwave is 'Freestyle' written by Michael Maynard, a film of an urban romance combined and set in the world of freestyle basketball. It went on general release in the UK on the 26th of February, this whole film was funded by Film london microwave which helped this young filmmaker, the scheme helped with the facilities that he needed to create his film as well as getting people staff to help with the production of it. Another example is in the making but it also getting support from this scheme is 'kingsland' written and directed by Tony Grisoni. All these films that are helped to become a feature film is because of the scheme, they help for most things decided in the pre production stage. From hiring cast and staff to run the set for props, location, and costume. It helps film makers collect all they need to show of there skills of film making. 
Another way to help new film makers is the website 'Kisckstaters' this website gives u a chance for members of the public to help you out by giving you money to help out with your film it also gives your movie publicity so the public can fund in something there are interested in. You have a set date of when your film has to be taken down and the pledging is over. This is another good way for young film makers to earn money on there own accord.  Everything used on a film set needs to be payed for making film creating even more expensive then just making the film. For example location has to be decided and paid for depending on your film and what genre your film is going to be under. Cast has to be paid, an actor with more dialogue in a film has to be paid more then someone who is used for a background character, so planning how many characters are using dialogue and how many arnt is another branch of finance that has to be looked at. Also the crew, the crew normally gets paid by the hour so hiring the right amount of people working on set could raise our budget if not checked when planning. A camera that is going to give out an amazing result with high definition is also ways key when filming but don't come at a low price so also has to be checked and if your hiring the camera the longer you use the camera the higher the price will be.

Theres many more things to worry about when trying to think about what features you have to pay for so managing your money and planning before you start filming could help with your budget and seeing how much money you are spending. When going through my research I found that theres no information that shows me that there is filming for short films, looking on the BFI and film london and typing in on google there is no set information explaining there funding for anything but feature films.

Time: 

Time is also another branch to think about when creating a film, many deadlines are needed, for example in kickstarters you film has a deadline of 3 months until your film is taking down and the donations are stopped . Certain films have certain deadlines, this is so everything is completed so everything can be given to the editor this is so the film can be out and ready by its release date. Also if equipment is hired, that equipment has to be given back on the certain date that you have asked or the supplier has asked. staff are also paid by the hour so the longer the production takes to film the more money has to be given to staff, many film makers want there film to be as cheap as possible. so time is a big impact when it come into paying people by there time pre planning is a way to help organise the set and help set p the story line so mistakes on set wont be made and all discussions that do take up time will be done off set and in in time which is not being paid for.

Personnel:

To make this idea of yours come to life and being produced as a feature film, staff are needed to be hired to help out, there are many roles to take up on a film set which are important to help create the production of the film. Theres the cast, to make your idea become reality and to act out your script. The location manager that set up lighting and setting making sure everything is in place before the camera starts filming making sure props are in the right place if they are needed for the scene and lighting is right for the location creating atmosphere for the viewer, costume designer designing and creating costumes for each character bringing out there personality and giving the viewer an insight on to what the character is like and how he/she behaves  , make up artist to create scares or bruises to make girls or boys look made up to create stereotypes and to help characters look airbrushed so they look perfect on camera , director to create the film telling actors what and where they should go and do bringing the script into something that audiences can relate to and find enjoyable to watch. A producer helping create the script by helping with the funding and help hiring the personal which help create the film, casting director to choose the appropriate actors which bring the characters alive and portray then in a way which viewers find interesting and exiting. 

The experience of the staff ranges throughout them, some staff could of had years of experience doing there role for many different film sets learning new skills and understanding there role within a film set for the best results. Then theres others that are new to the crew and find there role new , for example graduates coming from a film school of a different university without film set experience which are learning new skills throughout there time on set and working with other crew members, when the crew is looking for a job on a film set a more experienced person who has done different films is going to have more of a CV that is going to stand out from others due to there experience.

The size of the crew really depends on the film and how much money the producer has to hire different crew members, this goes back to the funding, a film with more money behind it which involves a bigger cast and crew, a film with less money will focus on the needs due to there budget which will create a smaller team of people.  


Facilities: 
All feature films need some type of facilities, but this also come to a high price to get the best cameras and sound booths for better end results. A university in westminster runs a course that specialises in films but also uses high tec equipment. From camera to green rooms surround sounds 16mm cameras and more, which could help out witch the production of a young persons film. Also post production equipment is needed to finish off a film and to add an take things out that are not needed and make each shot flow into one another which makes it more comfortable to watch for an audience. Making a short film has a number of challenges when it comes to facilities. when making a short film some of the equipment that is needed can not bought or is not present whilst filming so outsourcing is needed. outsourcing is hiring out film equipment which they do not have. A number of outsourcing companies are available in the Uk. A outsourcing company that helps this is 'Accenture' this company helps film makers collect information and facilities they need to help them produce there film. 

Materials:
loads of materials are used when producing a short film. from soundtrack to costume and make up. all are used to create a short film and to create a certain feel to this film which an audience can relate to. Here are a few films which uses different materials like costume, soundtrack and others.

   In this 'example of she's the man' the materials that are used in an soundtrack which, is licensed that is used to open the film from universal music enterprises using this material creates   the atmosphere and  gives the film a certain type of target audience. As the link shows this song that plays at the start of this film is under licence by the universal music enterprises  which means that the song has been paid for to be featured in this film.

Another example of materials is in this film 'Warm bodies'. The main theme of this film is the undead, to present this so an audience is aware of this theme costume and make up is used to present this. The man character which is part of the undead is wearing makeup to make him seem lifeless and dead by making his skin pale giving him gruesome scares and making his skin darker in some places. his costume also reassembles him being part of the undead due to the rips in his clothing and also the dirt and grime that are placed o his clothing.

contributors:
There are a load if things that help contribute to the production of a short film, from advertising, to public notice, to the support from specilsts and experts. All these contrubtions help with the films finance gettig Them noticed to bigger compernines to help there film sell and become populer. To create a buzz about a new upcoming film giving it some sort of advertisment helps to get the film out. For example kickstart is a way of advitising a new film and aslo gaining money to fund it, when putting your movie onto  this websit it is then show to different members on the ublic because of this sight and also because it has been put up onto the internet for other internet uses to find out about it or find a link to the website.

 Locations:
There are always different risks and limatations when trying to find different locations and settings for your short film. For example if you would like to film in a location that you live in for example islington you have to ask permision to film in that part of london. There is a website where you can contact different people which coulp help you get the permission you need to film in this area. film london is a way of getting in contact with different people who can help. Also if you do get the permission to use a cetrin part of london you will also need some sort of permision if you are invovling an important building in your film like the london eye or the shard. This could also be something to look into whilst planning a sort film. To create an effective short film with continuity throught weather is a big worry if your trying to create this continuity. Making sure that the weather in the same if there is no change on the script. This could be hard because you are a short film maker because you dont have the use of a studio where weather could be created by aterfical material, so finding out you local weather forcast is needed before starting you filming. oes Also making sure that the location you have in mind is in esay distance from where you are now. If not then it goes back to finance paying for your travel which could cost alot depending on where you want your location to be.

Codes of practise and regulations:
There are many things to think about and looking into when it comes to codes and regulations of a film. Alot of short film makers use soundtrack to create a differnt moods for the audiance watcing. To use a soundtrack which is created by an artist you will need permission and to givoe them some sort of payment. For example to use one of beyonces hits you would need to pay to use her song and get ther permission to use it in your film. If you fail to get this then this will be seen as copyright, your film will not be shown and ther person who owns the track that you used will sue and ask for money. Same with location which i touched on in the locations section above needing permission to use location if this is failed and you are caught filming by poice and fail to hand over a in date permit they can ask you to pack up your equipment and asked to leave with a very expensive fine. Another thing to focas on whilst rfilming is health and saftey. all health and saftey checks have to be made before anyone goes on to the location of choice to make sure its safe for everone woking on the location. If this is not done somwthing could happen in this location which cauld cause injury for someone in the cast and crew. they could try and get compansation, if they see that no heath and satey check has been made a fine and the payment of the crews injury witll come out of your pocket.