Production Roles

NOTES DONE BUT PRODUCTION PROCES AND ROLES OVERLOOKD

Independent Film: An independent film is one made outside of the Hollywood studio system.

The major Hollywood film studios are often referred to as 'The Big Six'. These command a significant market share, and the budgets tend to be much bigger than those of an independent film.

The Big Six are:

• Paramount 
• Warner Brothers
• 20th Century Fox
• Universal
• Columbia 
• Walt Disney

Get Out: Budget: $4.5 million

               Box office: $255.4 million 

This film was made outside of the Big Six. It was produced by Blumhouse, QC, Monkeypaw, but was distributed by Universal. 

A first look deal is any contract containing a clause granting pre-emption right, right of first refusal or right to first offer to another party, who then is given the first opportunity to buy outright, co-own, invent-in, license etc. Its a new concept. 

Blumouse: Founded in 2000

                  Produces low-budget horror films such as Sinister, Paranormal Activity, The Purge.

Monkeypaw: Founded in 2012 by Jordan Peele, who is a director and producer. 

                      Monkeypaw had previously released comedy series such as Kay and Peele on Comedy Central.

Pre-Production: After the development stage, and a project is greenlit (given permission to go forward) pre-production begins. 

• Financing confirmed 
• Principal cast members, director, cinematographer are set
• Screenplay finalised
• Script broken down into individual scenes and storyboarded
• Locations, props, cast members, costumes, special effects, visual effects identified
• Detailed schedule produced
• Sets are constructed 
• Crew hired
• Financial arrangements put into place and a start date for beginning of principal photography is set
• There will be a read-through of the script

Production: The shooting of the film. 

Involves camera crew, lighting/sound/directional departments, runners, location crew, security, drivers, stunt crew, actors, extras, caterers, rushes runners. 

Producers and line producers not necessarily on set- often stay behind and coordinate from the production office. 

Low-budget films take around 5-6 weeks to film, but this will be on a very busy schedule (18 hours, 6  days a week).

Bigger budget films will take much longer to film, over a period of around 75-120 days, and ofter require multiple film crews in multiple different locations. 

Eraserhead (by David Lynch) took years due to budget restraints.

Linklater's Boyhood took a decade of periodic shooting.

Post-Production; Principally involves editing and sound. 

Editing now done digitally, on PrmeierPro, Avid suites or macs. 

Also involves sound design, with dubbing mixers and foley artists. Could also involve special effects, depending on the film. Editors cut films together, grade them , add filters etc...

best boy: In a film crew, there a multiple types of best boy: best boy electric and best boy grip. They are assistants to their departments heads, the gaffer (in charge of electrical's) and the key grip (lighting and rigging). 

Gaffer: The gaffer is the person in charge of electrical's, the execution (sometimes design) of the lighting of the production. They are under control of the director of photography, or in TV the lighting director.

Director of Photography: A cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the chief over the camera and light crews working on the film, TV production or other live action piece and is responsible for making artistic and technical decisions related to the image.

Director: Are responsible for all stages involved in creating and implementing an advertising campaign. This process involves many tasks, and media directors call upon a unique blend of skills to get their jobs done. The role of Media Director is a senior management position.

Independent companies:
+ They have full control over the final product
+ They get full profit once the film has been released
+ They can make a name for themselves for their style, and not be over looked by the bigger company.
- Film won't necessarily be to as good quality, as they don't have the same technology as bigger companies
- Cant put as much money into the film, not as big budget
- Cant advertise it as much as a bigger company can

'Big Six' Company:
+ Big budget
+ High quality final product
+ Can afford to fully advertise the film
+ Will spend a lot but gain a lot back, through sponsorships and box office

Mix of Independent and 'Big Six':
+ Can get brand exposure for the independent company
+ Can get all the advertising with it
+ Can take the Independent companies idea and use the Big Six companies tools to bring it to life
- May lose the authentic feel to it
- Large proportion of the money will go to advertising and the Big Six company, meaning the independent company won't keep the full benefits
- Independent company may get under looked in the final piece 

Film Advertising

NOTES MADE 

Nowadays, companies can also exhibit their films via online video-on-demand (VoD) services such as Netflix and YouTube./

Disney owns the Disney Channel (TV) but also Disney Life, a VoD allowing it to compete with the likes on Netflix.

Joint Ventures: Not all films have this luxury, so independent companies (free from the control of a conglomerate) may undertake a joint venture (when one media company works for another on a project mutually beneficial for both parties).

Disney is a conglomerate company. This means that they are essentially a parent company, which owns a number of smaller, subsidiary companies. This means they have creative control over the production process. (EXAMPLE) Frozen was produced by Walt Disney Animation, and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Therefore, the company has complete control over the film from inception to release, and have access to multiple platforms for cross-promotion and synergy.

Frozen had a budget of $150,000,000 and made a gross of $1,276,480,000 worldwide.

Example of Digital advertising: Disney has its own YouTube channel, with over 10 million views and 3.5 million subscribers. Within this, Frozen has its own specific section.

Having a specific Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat account for a specific product is extremely beneficial to the creator. This is because it allows people to keep up to date with all things related to the specific, as well as allowing the creator to target the specific advertisement specifically at the target audience only.

The successful campaigns for Disney's Frozen represents a successful version of an underrated form of advertising. "The false under-sell". Essentially, Disney wasn't marketing Frozen at you, they were marketing it younger children. They essentially advertised a film to be less adult friendly than it actually was a relied on the word of mouth.

Initially marketing focused on Olaf in the print campaign also, with the central characters Elsa and Anna seemingly more peripheral. Once the film became more prominent and known, Disney released a DVD, with the cover Featuring Elsa and Anna prominently.

On the original campaign, Disney included Olaf as the main protagonist, on the CD front cover and billboard. Then, once the film gained more popularity, they changed the main characters on the advertising to Elsa and Anna.

An example of Traditional Print Advertising: Billboard.

Research Data

Broadly, research can be divided into two categories: Primary and Secondary research
Primary research is research you collected yourself (surveys, interviews etc...)
Secondary research is research collected by someone else (internet searches, books, journals etc...)

Qualitative: Typically descriptive, in-depth data used to find out how people think about a given product.
Quantitative: Data that can be measured numerically (e.g. the number of people who watch a given TV show).

Qualitative Date: Questions that allow people to write extended responses. This type of data can be used to identify likes and dislikes, trends etc...
Open-ended questioning.

Quantitative data: Closed questions, typically in the yes/no, tick-this-box form of response.
Can be easily transformed into graphs.

A common example of Quantitative data is the Likert Scale. This is a sliding scale enabling interviewees to rate their responses from (for example) strongly agree to strongly disagree.

You could conduct Market research through:
- Interviews
- Online Surveys
- Focus Groups (a group assembled to talk about a product before it is launched).

Audience feedback might be used to exploit a gap in the market, whereby a group of potential customers are identified who are not yet consuming the product.
Likewise, market possibilities might be identified for existing brands to expand- through a spin off, for example.

This graph can be used to create a new media product because the creator can see what age groups are more likely to view there product in the cinema, and which age group is more likely to view it somewhere else. This means if they wanted to make a film for 18-24 year olds, they would put it out in the cinema but also make it accessible widely elsewhere (Netflix, Amazon Movies etc...) as there wasn't necessarily a high numb of people visiting the cinema in recent times.

Audiences

Passive audience member: Opposite to the Active member, not taking in the message just laying back and aimlessly taking in the media.

Active audience member: You are internalising the messages that are being put forward and thinking about them.

Mainstream Audiences: An audience that consumes a product that appeals to a wide range of groups and cultures.

Niche Audiences: The audience of a specialist interest media product that may only appeal to a small number of people or those who fall within a specific demographic.

Narrowcasting: Aiming programmes at specific and specialists audiences as opposed to broadcasting to 'mass'  audiences.

Chris Anderson-The long Tail theory
Devised by Chris Anderson of Wired magazine. First published 2004, then as a book in 2005. Concerns mass vs niche products and audiences.

- Our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of "hits" (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail. Cost of production and distribution fall=now less need to lump products and consumers into one-size-fits-all containers.

Eg: Theory predicts that demand for products not available in traditional bricks and mortar stores os potentially as big as for those that are. Same true for video not available on broadcast TV on any given day, and songs not played on radio.
Basically, the potential aggregate size of the many small markets in goods that don't individually sell well enough for traditional retail and broadcast distribution may someday rival that of the existing large market in goods that do cross that economic bar.

BARB data: Broadcasters Audience Research Board. They collate viewing figures for all the major UK broadcasters such as BBC, ITV, Sky.

BARB data can then be used by TV companies to assess how well a TV series is performing-compared with previous series EG with rival shows on other channels.

Demographics: In which media producers study the breakdown of their target audiences based on variables in age, ethnicity, gender, economic status/class, level of education and lifestyle choices.

Psychographics: Profiling of audiences based on personal beliefs, values, interests and lifestyles.

Audience Needs:

Uses and Gratifications Theory: Assumes audiences actively seek out media to satisfy individual needs. It looks to answer 3 questions...
       
1. What do people do with the media
2. What are their underlying motives for using said media?
3. What are the pros and cons of this individual media use?

How do we consume media?
- Information (Finding out about relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings, society and the world, learning, seeking advice on practical matters or opinion and decision choices)
- Personal Identity (Finding models of behaviour, gaining insight into ones self, finding models of behaviour)
- Integration and Social Interaction (personal relationships) (Gaining insight into circumstances of others; social empathy, Identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging, having a substitute for real-life companionship, helping to carry out social roles)
- Entertainment (Escapism or being diverted from problems, relaxing, filling time, emotional release)
- Education
- Escapism

From this graph I can tell that most people watch the BBC.
The least watched channel in the Uk was AATW ltd.

From this, we can infer that the majority of people who watch TV are either families or older members of society, as the BBC produces content that would be loved most by these secrets of society.

TV advertising and marketing

Social media has implemented a change into how shows can advertise themselves.

Advertising: Payments from brands in return for the placement of promotional material on pages or during production- could be in the form of commercial breaks, or via product placement. 

Considered in two main ways: 

Traditional advertising (Print-Posters, Brochures/flyers Sponsorships-Football stadiums, Radio, TV)

Digital advertising (Social media- Sponsored ads on IG, company website, pop-up adverts)                 

Display Ads: The original form of online advertising, these are visual ads that appear on third party websites (usually ones that are related to your content or service in some way)

Native Advertising: Native advertising is those sponsored listings at the end of blog posts, appearing on your Fb feeds and posted to other Social media. 

Video Ads: While YT ads are the most popular and well known of videos ads, there are actually several different formats, types and content options. 

Above-the-line Advertising: Where mass media is used to promote brands. These include conventional media such as TV and radio advertising, print and the internet. 

Distribution includes two elements: How a product or brand reaches an audience (web,TV,cinema).

                                                          Its marketing and promotion.

Web 2.0 and technological convergence:

Technological Convergence: Allows audiences to access media content from multiple platforms on one device. It involves the coming together of information and communication technologies to create new ways of producing and distributing products and services to media requirements.

A black box is a device that supplies us with all our informational and media requirements (smartphone)

Web 2.0: The dot.com boom (1998-2001) was a huge rise in the number of internet based companies.
                There was a shift from web 1.0 to web 2.0
                Web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators (prosumers) of user generated content.

Web 2.0 sites allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators (prosumers) of user-generated content.

web 2.0 ('new digital media) shapes the relations of public/private work/non work/home/outside home.
Mobile phones enhance social connections that have always existed: gossip, making arrangements.

Impact of Online distribution:
music and TV can now be downloaded, streamed or simulcasted at the click of a button-without ever having to leave your armchair. It is available to you whenever, wherever.

Simulcasting: When a media product is broadcasted both online and via a traditional medium at the same time. In TV terms, it could refer to programme being broadcasted on two different channels.

Narrowcast channels: TV channels that distribute special internet (niche) content.

Bellow-the-line advertising: The distribution of pamphlets, stickers, promotions etc. at the point of sale.

Online advertising has become very prominent in the modern day world, with companies being able to share their product with a much wider range of people. This combined with traditionally advertisement such as posters will allow the product to be shown to everyone all over.

TV Ownership

We pay the TV license (£154.50 a year, £12.87 a month) to be able to watch the BBC. As the BBC is funded by the public, it has to cater to all needs.

BBC not allowed to advertise any products on their TV shows.

PSB: Public Service Broadcasting.

PSB means the shows are made for the public. No advertisement.
Generally transmit programming that aims to improve society by informing viewers.
Also strive to entertain their viewers.

Remit= The responsibility of a programme.
BBC remit is to enrich peoples lives with a programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain.

Income for the BBC: 75% from license
Remaining income comes from commercial activities such as worldwide sale of its programmes, publications such as Radio Times, Good Food etc...


BBC is a cross-media organisation.
This means it is vertically and horizontally integrated.

Vertical Integration: In which a media company has the ability to control the production, distribution and consumption of a product.
BBC is an example as they have multiple channels, which they can control what goes on what (distribution and consumption) and can make their own shows, due its financial power.

Horizontal Integration: In which a media company has a number of subsidiary companies that are used to support the marketing of its products (Online social media services, print media and print advertising, TV channels, merchandising).

Synergy: Companies that are both vertically and horizontally integrated are able to create synergy across their output.
This means they are able to promote their output. Dr.Who is an efficient and profitable manner, whilst at the same time creating a recognisable brand.

The aim if commercial stations (ITV,5,SKY) is to provide popular shows that attract an audience- therefore leading to higher prices when advertising is sold.
All commercial terrestrial stations (ITV,5) are funded by advertising.