In this assignment I will be discussing the screenwriting industry. The main area of the screenwriting industry I will be discussing are the job roles.
The screenplay provides a written blueprint for the entire film making process. The development of a script starts either with a Screenwriter writing a spec screenplay for sale to a production company, or with a Producer commissioning a Screenwriter to write a screenplay based on a concept, idea, a true story, an existing screen work. An example of this would be a cartoon or TV series.
An good, interesting, well-written, well structured, and properly formatted screenplay does not always guarantee a good finished film, but, without one, there is almost no way of possible success. However more experienced Screenwriters and Production companies may spend many years developing stories and perfecting screenplays, and many more screenplays are developed than are actually produced.
A new screen writer should develop and new and original script and learn to develop their skill in characters, description and how a story is told. It can be done in many ways whether it is by going writing classes or watching your favorites how sand noting what happens in each episode and how it can help your stories develop.
Commissioning Job Roles
Script Editiors
The script editors job is to report to the production talent manager, working closely with the executive producers, producers and writers, in order to ensure that commissioned scripts are of a high enough standard.
Script writers takes responsibility for development, creative ideas and story ideas which are produced at the highest possible standard. They also have to meet strict and tight schedules as the postholder will need to have a flexible approach to their working day. Scriptwriters may choose to rewrite the script themselves or will offer advice and constructive criticism to the writer so that they can improve their script.
A script editors main responsibilities are as follows;
To support the script producer when needed
To cover for the script editor during their absence under the guidance of the script producer
To come up with creative ideas
To attend monthly meetings, contributing when necessary
Screenwriter
Someone who is a screenwriter is usually a freelancer and no education is required to become a professional screenwriter however a creative mind is required.
Editorial Assistant
An editorial provides assistance in all the stages of scriptwriting. Editorial assistants perform a range of administrative and editorial tasks that may be necessary to get publications published. Their typical work activities include:
Filling, photocopying and any other routine tasks that need to be carried out.
Using word processing, email and desktop publishing.
Researching and organizing projects.
Supporting editorial staff in all activities leading to a publication, including acting as a personal assistant to commissioning editors and overseeing.
Editorial Administrator
The editorial administrator acts as a personal assistant to the head of the commissioning department ad other colleagues as required. The biggest tasks they face is to make sure the commissioning department runs smoothly and efficiently. This role helps gain an understanding of how the commissioning process works from beginning to end.
For this job role you need to be very organised and enterprising. You should also be able to prioritise your workload and solve problems quickly and efficiently.
Researcher
A researcher is in charge of researching anything and everything to do with the script. This can include; locations, characters, job roles and everything to do with the topic of the script. Researchers must be able to plan, organise and researching everything that will be happening during the programme. This can involve interviews and does the budget stretch.
Producer
The producers job role involves overseeing and delivering the film project to the studio. they also take some financial risks by using their own money, especially during pre-production, before the film is being made. The producer is also highly involved during the whole filmmaking stage from pre-production to post-production. Producers also work closely with the director and other production staff on the set and shoot.
Assistant Producer
The assistant producer is in charge of assisting the director and producer. They are involved in all the stages of production from pre-production to post-production. This also means that they have a lot of input into of the programmes content. Their duties may include running the office, interviewing people, making phone calls, fund-raising and more. They may even be asked to contribute to strategic thinking in relation to projects in development. Assistant producers also much be computer literate, have a keen interest in the business of filmmaking, be able to plan and organise well.
Pre production is a very important process of film-making. Organizing and planning before hand is an important process for productions. Also conducting reliable in depth research is essential to producing a great videos. In order for production to begin a detailed final script, shooting schedule, costumes prepared, props prepared, visual effects, cast members, locations booked and the equipment booked are identified.
Finance
Finance is an important part of pre production. Finance is also known as budgeting. Budgeting plays a huge part of pre production because as producers with no or little budget, then the production of the video can not be produced to its full potential or to a professional standard. The budget for our music video was £20. This was used on mini DV tapes for our footage to be recorded on. These cost our group £15. We also had to purchased a A3 sized sketch pad costing £2.99. This is why budgeting is important without it we wouldnt be able to afford necessary items which help the production of the video and also gives us a limit on what can be spent. I feel that the budget we used for music video was an appropriate and reasonable amount of money for that particular production. The equipment was supplied by the college free of charge and no transport was needed as for the studio scene we filmed in the studio located in college and when we filmed in Swanswell park we walked as it is opposite the college. In the TV industry when making a professional music video the artist used is supposed to be paid as the video is produced by a professional production company with a much bigger budget than what we had. However as this was a college project we didn’t have to pay the artist we used. The crew was also free as it consisted of other college students however in the industry the crew rates vary depending on their skills and the type of production. Our finances for any project we do at college are carefully planed during pre productions. We sit down as a group and discuss how much the budget should be and what it should be spent on.
This is a quotation sheet used in production that producers used to get an idea of the budget available and how much certain things cost. They have to take into account equipment, production, pre-production and post-production will cost. For our short horror film we are currently working on we have a budget of £20. So far our budget has been spent on fake blood (£1.99), transport to location (£20) and food brought on the day (£5.90).
Over this past year I have used and demonstrated pre production in every project I have ever encountered. An example of a project where alot of pre production was required was music video.
This is my final music video we created during April. This project required a huge amount of paper work and pre production. For example risk assessment. Our biggest issue whilst filming in Swanswell park was members of the public and animals. The public was an issue as we had to make sure no one walked through a shot or done anything to ruin shots. To overcome this issue we made sure that we filmed in a quiet part of the park and asked anyone in the background to step aside. Also had to make sure we didn’t film any children as it is illegal to do so and it wasn’t required. The animals were also an issue. As we were filming in the park, which has a large collection of swans, geese and ducks we had to make sure we didn’t harm them or they didn’t harm us. We done this by maintaining a safe distance from the animals.
This is a risk assessment we filled out for our latest project Morbid Torment. This risk assessment has to be completed before filming could take place so that our group was aware of the potential health and safety issues. The biggest risk our group faced during filming was a main road as the location was situated at the side of a busy road. This meant our group had to take extra care of what was around us.
This is the risk factor sheet used in every risk assessments in order to gain knowledge of how severe a risk can be. Risks are between 1 and 5, 1 being negligible with no action required and 5 being very severe which requires immediate action to be taken in order to minimise that particular risk.
Facilities
Facilities are an important part of pre-production. They need to be organized before filming can take place so that you have a location to film and know where your filming. The image above shows the location we used to film our short film called Morbid Torment. Before we could start filming we had to discuss the location we would like to use, then contact the owner to see if the facility was available to use and then arrange transport to get us there. We also had to make sure that the equipment was booked so that we could film on the day. We also had to make sure that the transport we would be using could transport our production team as well as the equipment. Thankfully it could. We had booked this particular facility for two days so that if we needed to reshoot we could and if one day we couldn’t film due to the weather we made sure we had another day to film.
Time
Time is an important part of a producers work. They need to make sure that they don’t waste any time and that all the time given is used to its full advantage in order to meet their deadlines.
Here is an image of a production schedule used in my Morbid Torment project I have just completed. As you an see everything had been filled out in detail. Included are dates of pre-production and production all the way from planning to filming to editing. This schedule was important to us as it helped us meet deadlines, gave us goals to meet and was rewarding when we knew we were on schedule and had completed the tasks.
Personal
A production team is always essential during production so that you have people to operate the equipment. The roles can consist of camera man, director, producer, mic operator, runner and so on. Professional production teams would usually have people working for them or employ freelancers. Our production team usually consist of around four people as we feel this is enough to operate the equipment and contribute ideas.
Materials
During my projects at college I have had to use a number of materials during production. For the music video I used an iPhone and iPod dock to play the pre recorded song out loud while recording, to make syncing easier during editing. This made the editing stage a lot easier as I could here the audio recorded on the built in microphone on the camera, so I just had to place the song over the top of the footage and muted the footage audio. We also used a spot light which was placed behind the artist shining towards the camera and whenever the artist moved slightly it shone on the camera lense creating a professional effect. This was a very effective effect as It was unique compared to most music videos and it gave the final product a much more professional feel.
Contributers
Before filming a individual or a group of people, first they must fill out a contributer consent form stating that they have agreed to be on camera and that during production the production company may edit, adapt or change any part of the footage. This is an actual consent form which I filled out before I featured on camera for our Morbid Torment project our group is currently working on. Once I had signed this form the footage later captured could be used however the producers wanted as long as it complied with the terms and conditions stated on the consent form.
Another time we had to use a consent form was for our music video. The artist we used, LukeeStarr had to sign a consent form before filming took place stating he agrees with the terms and conditions.
Locations
Locations are an important part of pre-production. Locations are needed in any filming production so that the final product has a setting and to give you somewhere to film. Before filming in a public place you need filming permission. This usually requires two weeks notice to the council so that the an sort it out and give you the permission needed. One you have received permission from the council you are free to film on the location specified on the required day.
This is the letter we received from the council confirming we had received the required filming permission we urgently needed. This letter allowed us to film in Swanswell Park.
Originate Ideas
Before production begins our group usually sits down and discusses any ideas, plans or video styles we would like to include. This can involve camera angles and techniques, locations, audio used, creative concept and genre we want the finished product to be. Usually ideas begin on a mind map so that the group as a whole can visualise the ideas and suggest ways they can be improved.
Develop Ideas
Developing ideas is one of the final stages of pre-production. We usually use this stage to finalise ideas and plans before setting out on location to film. At this stage we have a final idea of synopsis, genre, target audience, dates of production, a narrative and a final script completed. An example of this was for our Morbid Torment project. For this particular project we planned the whole thing in great detail before production so that our production team had a clear idea on what we were doing. We also wrote up a script as this short film featured dialogue which we needed to know before filming so that we could be more productive and use our time wisely.
Research
Research is key during pre-production. For documentary our group carried out a wide range of research before production began. We visited a local hospital to gather any information about smoking, we performed vox pops with random people to gain their opinion about smoking and we used a wide range of secondary research mainly through the internet. We use the internet for a high quantity of research however we do have to take into account copyright. To overcome this we would use references to the websites used and change the wording to our own.
Planning
Planning is one of the most important stage. Planning is crucial in pre-production and should take place before any production can take place. Below is an image of the story board created for my music video project. A story board must include camera movements such as high shot. low shot, pan etc as well as expected camera angles and techniques.
Professional production companies make sure that before filming they have a fully detailed storyboard with every angle, position, technique and lighting included. They also have a shooting script as a guideline on what needs to be filmed and so they an keep on schedule. For my music video project I also completed a shooting script as well as a shooting schedule so that I could make sure I was on time and was meeting deadlines.
The brief this project was to create a short film. We chose the horror genre as our group had already thought of some good ideas and visions for the film and quickly prepared a storyboard. We worked in a group of four, each editing their own version of the film. This is a summary of the process I went through when editing my film.
The very first step was to transfer the footage form the mini DV tape to the computer. To do this I plugged the tape deck into the computer with the mini DV tape inside. Then I clicked file, log and capture. Once log and capturing was ready I clicked capture now and the footage began transferring.
The picture above is a screen shot of the bin in final cut pro. The bin is where all the raw footage is kept once it has been log and captured. To make editing easier I arranged the footage in filming order with the latest footage at the bottom and the oldest footage at the top. An issue I faced once editing was during log and capturing, I had named all the footage incorrectly which slowed down the editing process. To overcome this I renamed the clips which increased the speed of editing.
This part of editing is called colour correcting. I colour corrected all of the footage used in my film to give it a more darker, mysterious feel and to make it seem like it wasn’t filmed on a bright summers day. To do this I double clicked the footage in the timeline that I wanted to colour correct, then clicked the effects tab in the bin. colour correcting was in the file labeled video filters. Once i had found the colour correcting effect I simply dragged it into the viewer until a new tab opened in the viewer. Then it was time to toggle the colour until the picture looked how I wanted it to look. As you an see from the picture above Ive added a green tint to the footage to give the murder an envious and jealousy feel. Also I toggled with the whites, mids, blacks and saturation to make the clip darker.
The picture above shows the method I used to black and white the flashback footage. I used the same method as colour correcting which was to double click to required footage in the timeline, select the filters tab and drag the saturation bar down to zero creating the black and white effect.
This photo shows the method of cropping. I cropped all the death scenes at the top and bottom to focus on the killing itself. To do this I double clicked the clip I wanted to crop in the timeline, selected the motion tab then set the size of the crop for the top and bottom.
This picture shows the audio gradually increasing at the end of some dialogue. The reason the audio gradually increases is because during the dialogue the background music needs to be at a lower, constant volume so that it doesn’t distract the audience from the dialogue itself. The reason it gradually increases once the dialogue is over is because the background music would be too quiet without the dialogue so needs to be increased slightly. To do this I had to key frame to audio.
The first step was to double click the audio in the timeline, then a new window opened. I then clicked the key frame icon which set where the audio starts to increase. Then I had to select the part of the clip I wanted the audio to stop increasing and remain at a constant volume lesson. Once the beginning key frame was done I had to toggle the level option to get the audio at the required volume level for the film.
This is the final project for my Morbid Torment short film.
The brief for this project was to create a short film. We chose the horror genre as our group already had good iseas and visions on what could be done. The first stage of pre-production was to write a story board. We quickly came up with the basic plot of the story and had our ideas written down. Then week booked the equipment such as camera, tripod and microphone. We had booked the equipment for two days so that we had an extra day to film incase of bad weather or re-takes that had to be carried out. Once we had completed these two tasks we could then book the location. We chose to film at my dads house as it has a large area in which we could perform different death scenes.
Location
This was the location for our film. The biggest risk calculated on the risk assessment was the main road located at the front of the house and the train train at the back of the house.
Filming on the day
When we arrived we quickly set up the equipment in the garage to begin filming the prison scene so that we could be as productive as possible. Setting up required moving objects out of the garage so we had a large area in which we could film, setting up the tripod and setting up the camera making sure it was white balanced and had no zebra lines. We also had to configure the lighting. This proved difficult at the garage lights were too bright and so was the garage door light which switched on automatically when the door was opened. The solution was to have the garage door open slightly with a member of our production team lying at the bottom to reduce the amount of light entering the garage. Once the door was opened he quickly rolled out of the way allowing more light to enter the garage. This was very productive as after a couple of takes we had finished the first part of the prison scene. However we did face some major issues, such as the car we needed to use for my death scene had been taken away for a couple of hours. To overcome this we filmed all the other scenes we needed so that we didn’t waste our day. This was a good use of time. However We had to re-record all the scenes filmed at the front of the house as when we had filmed, the car wasn’t on the drive so once it had been returned we could re-film. This was very time consuming however the time we had saved earlier on in the day meant we had more time to re-shoot.
Another issue was the heat. Our group didn’t take a change of clothes resulting in our group becoming very hot and dehydrated. To overcome this we made sure we took regular breaks to re hydrate ourselves and have something to eat. Another problem was the sun. The weather was a lot better than we had expected so no one wore sun cream resulting in some of the members of our group getting burned. If we were to go this project again we would make sure that we are better prepared so that we reduce the risk of these issues happening again.
Overall I feel that the pre-production and production stage went very well and smoothly, without any major issues to deal with. Also I feel that the finished project has worked really well and is an effective love story/ horror.
Editing
The tapes were stored in the edit suite in which I was editing the film so that they could be located and used upon request. The final product had to be two minutes however due to the quantity of footage my final product ended up being four minutes 56 seconds. This is as short as I felt I could make the film as I wanted the story line to make sense and not leave any important details out, in order to this I had to make it a little longer.
11th June 2012
Today I begun editing out groups film called Morbid Torment. The first step was to log and capture the footage from the mini DV tapes. To do this I plugged the tape deck into the computer and clicked the log and capture button. When the log and capture window had opened I clicked the bath now button and the footage began transferring. Once I had transferred all the footage I saved it to my external hard drive and shared it with the other three members in my group so that they could edit their own versions of the short film. This stage of production ran very smoothly however was very time consuming due to the quantity of footage we had captured on the day.
Once this was done I had to go through all the clips in the bin re-naming them as I had named them incorrectly during log and capturing. Once the footage had the correct names It allowed to to quickly find the footage I needed and could begin editing in the timeline. Not naming the footage correctly during log and capturing meant that I had to spend even more time re-naming the raw footage, delaying the editing stage even more. In future I will make sure that all the footage is named correctly so that the editing stage flows quicker and Iam more productive.
In this stage of editing I began experimenting with different effects and colour correction tools. The effect I chose to use for the kinder version of the killer was Bad film as I felt this was an appropriate effect to show the kinder killer who regrets what crimes he has committed. I also experimented with other effects but I felt that no other effect fitted the type of feel I was going for and that they were a little bit cheesy.
12th June 2012
Today I added more footage and effects to my first edit. This meant that production on the edit was picking up pace. Today I colour corrected the entire first part of the film to give the film a darker, more horrific feel instead of a bright summers day. This was a fairly easy stage of editing and didn’t take too long to get the effect I needed. I feel this worked well especially on the car death scene. I added a slight tint of blue to the death scenes to give the footage a cold, dark and lonely feel. By the end of today I also completed the first two death scenes. The car death scene and the walking man death scene. I feel that the film was rapidly taking shape and nearing completion. I also cropped both the death scenes at the top and bottom creating black lines. This helped focus on the killing itself giving it a more terrorising theme.
At this stage of editing I also began experimenting on different audio soundtracks to also give the film a more dramatic, horrific and thrilling theme. If I were to do this section again I would plan in advance what kind of audio I wanted to use and the type of audio Im going to use.
17th June 2012
Today I started to begin finalising my project by editing any rough bits, cropping all the death scenes, colour correcting scenes and recording voiceovers. This was an exciting part of editing as the final product was in sight. The first task I done today was to add an opening trailer which has in bold, blue text ‘Rayne Productions Presents’. This is to give my short film a more professional feel. Today I added the dialogue to me and Stacey when we leave the house. The reason I recorded a voice over was because the audio recorded on location was of poor quality as we were filming next to a main road. I used my computer as it was the simplest way to record the audio as final cut has a built in voiceover feature which makes it quick and simple. To get over the poor film footage quality I had to mute the audio from the footage and paste the voiceover over the original audio.
18th June 2012
Today I mainly focused on the audio as most of the visuals were nearing completion. I made sure all the audio was in sync with the visuals, that it added an feel to the film and as the audio on the footage wasnt at a high enough quality. I also re- recorded mine and staeys dialog for our leaving the house sene. The reason for this was because when I recorded it on my computer it had deleted the voiceover so I had to re-record it. To do this I reorded the audio on my phone then emailed them to the computer and imported them to final cut pro. The reason for using this method was because it was one of the simplest and quickest ways to record and transfer the audio files. I was very pleased with this as the audio was now at a much higher quality than before. The biggest issue with recording a voice over was trying to sync the dialogue to the lip movements from the footage. This took a while as I had to make sure that they were both lined up perfectly.
The final stage of editing was to export the final project. To do this I clicked file, export using quick time conversion, selected the highest quality and saved the project to my hard drive. This final part of editing was very time consuming as I had selected the highest possible quality. To speed the export up I could of selected a lower quality however I preferred a higher quality video. The exported file was saved as a .mov file.
Conclusion
Overall I feel that the whole editing process went very smoothly with no major issues I had to face. The only issue that effected the editing process was the raw footage in the bin as during log and capturing I had incorrectly named the footage which slowed the editing process down. To overcome this I renamed the footage in the log clip section. In future to reduce the length of the finished product I could use an editing technique called jump-cutting. This could reduce the length of the video by a noticeable amount.
Today I begun editing out groups film called Morbid Torment. The first step was to log and capture the footage from the mini DV tapes. To do this I plugged the tape deck into the computer and clicked the log and capture button. Once I had transferred all the footage I saved it to my external hard drive and shared it with the other 3 members in my group so that they could edit their own versions of the short film.
Once this was done I had to go through all the clips in the bin re-naming them as I had named them incorrectly during log and capturing. Once the footage had the correct names It allowed to to quickly find the footage I needed and could begin editing in the timeline.
In this stage of editing I began experimenting with different effects and colour correction tools. The effect I chose to use for the kinder version of the killer was Bad film as I felt this was an appropriate effect to show the kinder killer who regrets what crimes he has committed.
12th June 2012
Today I added more footage and effects to my first edit. Today I colour corrected the entire first part of the film to give the film a darker, more horrific feel instead of a bright summers day. I feel this worked well especially on the car death scene. By the end of today I also completed the first two death scenes. The car death scene and the walking man death scene. I also cropped both the death scenes at the top and bottom creating black lines. This helped focus on the killing itself giving it a more terrorising theme.
At this stage of editing I also began experimenting on different audio soundtracks to also give the film a more dramatic, horrific and thrilling theme.
17th June 2012
Today I started to begin finalising my project by editing any rough bits, cropping all the death scenes, colour correcting scenes and recording voiceovers. The first task I done today was to add an opening trailer which has in bold, blue text ‘Rayne Productions Presents’. This is to give my short film a more professional feel. Today I added the dialogue to me and Stacey when we leave the house. The reason I recorded a voice over was because the audio recorded on location was of poor quality as we were filming next to a main road. To overcome this I had to mute the audio from the footage and paste the voiceover over the original audio.
18th June 2012
Today I mainly focused on the audio as most of the visuals were nearing completion. I made sure all the audio was in sync with the visuals, that it added an feel to the film and as the audio on the footage wasnt at a high enough quality. I also re- recorded mine and staeys dialog for our leaving the house sene. To do this I reorded the audio on my phone then emailed them to the computer and imported them to final cut pro.
The final stage of editing was to export the final project.To do this I clicked file, export using quick time conversion, selected the highest quality and saved the project to my hard drive.
The screenplay provides a written blueprint for the entire film making process. The development of a script starts either with a Screenwriter writing a spec screenplay for sale to a production company, or with a Producer commissioning a Screenwriter to write a screenplay based on a concept, a true story, an existing screen work. An example of this would be a cartoon or TV series, or another literary work such as a story, novel, poem or play
An good, interesting, well-written, well structured, and properly formatted screenplay does not always guarantee a good finished film, but, without one, there is almost no possibility of success, however gifted the Director, cast and crew. More experienced Screenwriters and Production companies therefore spend many years developing stories and perfecting screenplays, and many more screenplays are developed than are actually produced.
A new screen writer should develop and new and original script and learn to develop their skill in characters, description and how a story is told. It can be done in many ways whether it is by going writing classes or watching your favorites how sand noting what happens in each episode and how it can help your stories develop.
This is my final soundtrack project. The brief for this project was to add the audio from another film trailer to the visuals of a differnt trailer. In this case I added the audio from the Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol trailer to the Iron Man 2 trailer. The reason I chose the Iron Man trailer was because it is an action filled trailer with stunning graphics and effects. The reason I chose the audio from the Mission Impossible audio was because it has an dramatic and fast pace soundtrack as well as also fitting the action genre. In my opinion I feel that these two trailers work really well together as they both have the same genres and both have a dramatic, action feel about them.
The first step was to download the Iron Man 2 trailer. To do this I used Apples iTunes movie trailers website which stores thousands of film trailers. Once I had downloaded the trailer I saved it to my external harddrive and imported it to Final Cut Pro. Once I had the visuals from one trailer I had to download the audio from another trailer. To do this I used a website called Video2MP3. The first time I downloaded the MP3 file, the audio was crackling and wasn’t at a high quality. To overcome this issue I selected high quality, instead of standard quality when downloading the audio file from the website. This minimized and reduced the crackling issue, Once the audio had been downloaded I saved it to my external harddrive and imported it to final cut pro. Once both sources were imported into Final Cut Pro I had to insert both files into the timeline. To make sure I didnt acidently shift or alter the Iron Man trailer I locked it to the timeline by clicking the padlock located towards the left of the timeline.
Once I had finished my project and had proof watched it a couple of times to check for any mistakes or errors I had to export the entire project. To do this I clicked file, export, export using quicktime conversation. Once a box appeared I selected the quality to high and set the aspect ratio to widescreen 16:9. The movie then began exporting. I had chosen for the file to be saved on my external hard drive as it had the most free space.
Overall I feel that the overall project was a success. I feel that the audio once edited worked incredibly well with the Iron Man trailer and that both put together created and interesting action packed genre.
benray95 