Pre-Production Essay

Introduction



During this essay i will be explaining different types of pre-production methods and give examples to help explain. Pre-production is used throughout the media industry to make a project less complex, less expensive and gives the overall product better quality. In film and T.V, pre-production involves storyboards, scripts, castings and location recces. Game pre-production involves story boarding, voice casting, target audience research, basic level concepts and character concepts. In website design pre-production involves Mood boards, mock ups, target audience research.



As you can see it is used throughout the media industry to make things more efficient, but what are these methods?



Story boards are usually an illustrated concept of what the scenes are going to look and includes, what camera angles are going to be used during the shot, as well as sound effects and lighting. Very important in the film and T.V industry, without it things would be confusing.

A script is a text version of a story board, it has the entire character dialog and how they are supposed to say it.

Casting is when you hold auditions for actors and crew members for your project; Voice casting is similar apart from your only looking for a voice to fit a game/animated character.

Location recces are when you send someone to survey an area you intend to film at. They note down safety hazards and to draw a bird’s eye view of the area.

Target audience research is when you research the target audience for you project, by sending out questioners, holding focus groups and other research methods. You can also buy/find information from companies that specialize in collecting consumer data.

Mood boards are a col large of pictures that you come across when researching into a project; it helps to inspire people to come up with similar designs, and help people think more creatively.



Finance is a crucial part in any project, without it there would be no money for equipment, actors and crew. Finance usually comes from banks or investors with the intention of both parties making a sum of money. In T.V Finance is usually secured by making a pilot episode first, this will give investors a taste of what they could invest their money into and whether or not it’s worth it. In film and game development you would prepare a pitch to show of your ideas, the investors will then think over if it is a suitable investment. Before any of the above happens you would need to work out an accurate total cost of your project. What equipment you’re going to higher, actors salary, crew members salary, transport cost, props, facility's and any licences you might need in order to film, will all need to be accounted for when you present the total cost of producing it.

“In filmmaking and video production, pre-production formally begins once a project has been green lit. At this stage, finalizing preparations for production go into effect. Financing will generally be confirmed and many of the key elements such as principal cast members, director and cinematographer are set. By the end of pre-production, the screenplay is hopefully finalized and satisfactory to all the financiers and other stakeholders.”

Wikipedia. (2012). Pre-Production In Film. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-production. Last accessed 13th June 2012.

Finance in computer game development is a bit different then film and T.V. You would create a pitch to present your ideas to investors to try and persuade them to invest in them, showing them mood boards, audience research and other important factors about your game. If you are given the green light then you can go about hiring programmers, graphic artists and audio technicians. You will also need a place for all you employees to work. They will also need top of the range computers and equipment to work with.

 “Pre-production or design phase is a planning phase of the project focused on idea and concept development and production of initial design documents. The goal of concept development is to produce clear and easy to understand documentation, which describes all the tasks, schedules and estimates for the development team. The suite of documents produced in this phase is called production plan. This phase is usually not funded by a publisher, however good publishers may require developers to produce plans during pre-production.”

Wikipedia. (2012). Video Game Development. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_development. Last accessed 13 June 2012.

Before anything is presented to the public you want to ensure your ideas/product are patented. This will mean that you would hold the rights to that idea/product and no one else would be able to use them unless they wanted to be taken to court for copyright infringement. At the same time you must insure that you yourself are not using copyrighted material in your own work.



Location is important, it must be right for the product you are producing it must also not be too far away otherwise it will cause an increase in the finance you will need. Not only would you have to pay for you and your crew to get there your company would also have to pay to bring all the equipment, actors and props along as well. As mentioned earlier you would need to send someone to do a location recce to ensure the area is safe and suitable to film in. If you are going to film in a public place you will also need to ask the local authorities if it’s ok to film there.



In conclusion every step take within the pre- production process is required since it helps increase efficiency. With that in mind it can help reduce the time taken to produce a media product since it helps with organising and ensuring everything will be planned and laid out in a clear form in case so a manager or someone needs to look at what they have done, what they should be doing and what they will be doing. Overall its very efficient and useful , giving only positive benefits towards the final product.