Pre Production Theory

Pre-Production Theory

Film Script

A film script, which is also referred to as a 'Screenplay' is a written document which contains any dialogue, locations and instructions which tell the story of a film, video game or television show. A film script is passed over to the director where they get the information that they can then interpret and turn into a film. A script can also be an adaption of an existing piece of writing. They are not all original ideas.

A script is the first document to be produced for any new project. There are three different types of screenplay formats. Feature Film being one of them. Feature Film have a standard typographical style which is commonly known as "studio format". The studio provides the elements that a script should contain, which are; scene headings, action, transitions, dialogue, character names and ages, and sometimes shots. However, scripts that have really detailed shots are sometimes frowned upon in the film industry, as it is the directors decision on how the shot should be framed, but in some cases a script with detailed shots will be accepted. 

Below is a short script for a one minute film that I am currently doing for a college project, which is called BLOOD RUSH. I believe that I understand how to structure and produce a film script to a professional standard.

Below is a perfect example of a script which I grabbed from Google images, which breaks down a script and shows each of the different elements to the document and what each of their roles are that make up the script.

Television, which is the format for dramas an hour long, such as "CSI", and single-camera sitcoms, such as "Scrubs". These are almost the exact same for motion pictures. However, television scripts have to integrate commercial breaks. There are some specialized formats for multi-camera sitcoms, like "I love Lucy". In this particular format, the dialogue is double-spaced, action and scene headings are capitalized and characters entrances and exits, along with sound effects that are capitalized and underlined.

Left: Scrubs

Right: CSI

Documentaries
Script writing for a documentary is very different from anything else, because documentaries usually include videos or still images with a voice overs throughout. This requires whats known as a 'two-column format'. This can be particularly hard to achieve. However, many script-writing software programs contain templates for documentary projects.

Storyboarding

Traditional storyboards are simply a comic of images to portray how a scene will look, frame by frame. Additional instructions, speech, annotations and arrows can also be used to signify the direction of movement in a scene. Storyboarding has developed a lot in recent years, many film makers have often opted for a different style of storyboarding, which involves going to each of the locations for the film and taking photos where they would like each shot to be. This is a much quicker way of story boarding and gives a better understanding of the actual location and how things will really look, but it is not as creative and can sometimes not tell the story as best as the producers would like it to be told when pitching.

This video shows the production team Pixar as they describe what they use story boards for and there is also a clip showing one of the team pitching the idea behind the popular animation film, 'Toy Story'.

Below is short snippet from the storyboard used for Jurassic Park. This is a very good example and shows the storyboard artist's use of arrows to show where the movement is going in the scene and also he includes small sections of dialogue underneath each of the drawings to show what will be heard as well as what they are seeing on the paper.

Below is the storyboard used for the famous Star Wars film. The storyboard artist has gone for a different approach to Jurassic Park storyboard, in a way that he has not included arrows or dialogue and each of the frames are equal sizes.

In my opinion I think that the Jurassic Park storyboard is much better, because it gives the reader a much better understanding and vision for how the final shot will look. However, non of these attempts are wrong, as they have both been the basis for two brilliant films.

Script Breakdown

Script breakdowns happen once the producer has read the entire script. The producer of a first assistant would then review the script and note certain elements that need to be taken care of before the production stage, as well as aid the scheduling for the production. The film industry has a standard colour coding for a script breakdown, as seen below.

Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_down_the_script

There are two documents which make up a script breakdown, the actual script breakdown and a script breakdown sheet, which is a cleaned up and much neater version of the script breakdown, which makes it easier for the producer to quickly see what is required.

Budget

A budget is created to get the overview of the cost for a project and it is also required for the producer to see how big the investment is that he is committing to. There will usually be multiple drafts of a budget. Unnecessary costs can be found and some items may be taken out to reduce the cost for the producer.

Private film investors are not the only association where someone can get funding for a project. However, professional projects mainly get their funding from there also, as it is almost guaranteed to make a profit. Smaller projects and independent film makers can also get funding from sponsors, product placement, film studio, entertainment company and/or out-of-pocket funds.

It is extremely common that independent film makers take multiple credit cards and then use 'loaned' money for the productions that they are doing. Microsoft Excel is the most commonly used software for producing budgets. The task requires a lot of patience and careful planning, because one mistake could mess up the whole document and would be very tricky to find.

On the left is an image that shows multiple successful films that were fully financed by credit cards and their own money.

Credit: http://visualeconomics.creditloan.com/how-low-budget-films-get-financed/

Below is a budget I found from a website on the internet, which has been made in Microsoft Excel. It is clearly set out and shows each of the costs that are included in the production and the total. It also has a space for the date, company name and project title which shows who this budget is for.

Credit: http://howtofilmschool.com/sample-budget-free-film-documents/

Risk Assessment

Risk assessments are an extremely important document for a project, because it highlights the dangers that the cast and crew could be exposed to while in production. A good risk assessment should not only highlights the risks, but should also include the likely-hood of it happening and the severity of the risk. Various prevention methods should be included to try and reduce the amount of danger that the cast and crew will be under and to prevent any accidents that may occur. Certain scenes may involve dangerous stunts that can could cause death or paralysis, therefore at least two members of the production team that are in charge must go over the risk assessment and double check that everything has been covered.

Copyright

"Copyright is a legal right created by the law of a country, that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights to its use and distribution, usually for a limited time, with the intention of enabling the creator (e.g. the photographer of a photograph or the author of a book) to receive compensation for their intellectual effort."- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright

Copyright has been around since 1787 and was put in place to promote the creation of new work by giving every author control and profit from them. In order to use someone else's work that is copyrighted, they must ask permission from the rightful owner of that work, which is not a big issue for large productions, because they know that they will gain free publicity. However, low budget and independent productions may be rejected. It can be quite easy, however, to find professional works to use that need some publicity and they will give permission happily.

Public Domain

"Works in the public domain are those whose intellectual property rights have expired, have been forfeited, or are inapplicable."- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain

In recent years, the infamous character of Sherlock Holmes fell into the public domain. Many companies, such as the BBC, took their first chance and went into production on different projects which involved the Sherlock Holmes character. The BBC's modern adaption of Sherlock Holmes went incredibly well, being shown all around the world.

Creative Commons - Definition

"A creative commons (CC) license is one of several copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work. A CC license is used when an author wants to give people the right to share, use, and build upon a work that they have created. [It] provides an author flexibility (for example, they might choose to allow only non-commercial uses of their own work) and protects the people who use or redistribute an author's work from concerns of copyright infringement as long as they abide by the conditions that are specified in the license by which the author distributes the work." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons

There are lots of different types of Creative Commons licenses, as there is a wide combination of terms for a piece of work. These licenses were first released in 2002, by a U.S. non-profit corporation, known as Creative Commons.

The Creative Commons company has a website which offers more information about creative commons. It also offers a service for any authors and creators to chose a license for their work, which would benefit them best. The aim for Creative Commons is to "support the building of richer public domain and counter a dominant and increasingly restrictive permission culture". 

Insurance

"Insurance is the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another in exchange for payment." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance

It is not uncommon to hire equipment used on set, as it turns out cheaper and this equipment requires special insurance to cover any damage or loss.

Many production companies require different types of insurance when it comes to production. These include General Liability Insurance which involves damage to the filming location and space and also injury or harm to those who are not working on the film. Video Equipment Insurance is also very important, because it covers all of the equipment that is used throughout the shoot and will cover you if anyone steals or damages the equipment. Errors and Omissions Insurance is a different type of insurance that protects the production company against any lawsuits alleging unauthorized use of titles, copyrighted materials, formats, ideas, plots, characters, unfair competition, plagiarism, denomination and invasion of privacy.