Pre-Production Techniques

Pre-Production Techniques

There are different areas when it comes to the pre-production stages of filming something. The Pre-Production areas are:

·     

    The Type of production- Film, TV Show, TV AD, Photo-shoot, Radio, Music Video etc

·      Who- The various kinds of personnel who will be working on the production

·      Contributors- People that are involved with the advert but aren’t directly part of it, for example people making an Anti-smoking ad may consult with a Specialist Doctor.

·      Finance- Budget by finding out average commercial costs of Advertising. Where is the money coming from (usually the client) and how will it be spent. Is the profit worth the amount of money being spent on advertising? Costing has to be planned out for each area of the filming process- Pay for the actors/crew, cost of filming in a specific place, the set costs, props and costumes, facilities and equipment. The Finances can depend on whether or not the advertisement is Above the line or Below the line.

·       Code of Practice- Is what is being done legal? Do you know that you have permission to be filming what you are filming and where you are filming it? Can the advert legally say what it is saying/market Ads to the people they are trying to market it to? In order to regulate this there are two organizations called the ASA (Advertising standards authority) and Clearcast who get sent adverts and check that Ads adhere to the ASA. Adverts have to adhere to copyright. For example if they want use specific music, they have to make sure that they can legally use the music they are using in an adverts. In order to do this, the company making the advert will have to get permission from the company that owns the song.  Before production, the planning team also have to do a risk assessment of the environment they are planning to film in.

·      Target Audience- Who is the production being made for? This will affect the content of the production

·      Materials- What will be used by the crew and actors

·      Locations- Important in setting a scene

·      Time- Deadlines, Availability of people, Locations and equipment. Timetable of when specific features of the production are going to be done.

   What 'Materials' would be used for a TV Advertisement?

·      Scripts so the actors know what they are saying

·      Cameras that film in 1080p Full HD

·      Sound Equipment- Microphones and Mixers

·      Possibly a Green Screen

·      Different costumes or props if there is a specific theme or story

·      Lighting Equipment

·      Auto-Cue

·      Set/Scenery

·      Editing Software

·      Animating/CGI Software

Who are the Personnel that will be used?

·      Cameraman or Cameramen depending on the different shot compositions

·      Sound Person- Sets up the sound to best quality possible, in films and TV there will be additional people for sound effects and voiceovers

·      Lighting People- Set up the lighting/track the sun movement in order to make sure the scene itself has the best lighting possible

·      Producer- makes sure all the production features work successfully hand in hand with each other

·      Director- directs the actors

·      Actors/Voice Actors

·      Editor

·      Action Theme?-  Maybe a stunt man/stunt double

·      Cinematographer

·      Continuity- In TV Shows- Makes sure there are no continuity errors e.g. if a cup is half full/empty in one shot, they make sure it stays like that in the next shot (it may change due to multiple shots/takes being edited together