Task 2. Film Production – How did you do that?

How Films Are Made

A screenwriter writes a script, which is the story of the movie with words that the actors will say. Then a producer hires people to work on the movie and gets all of the money that will be needed to pay for the actors and the equipment. Producers usually get the money by borrowing it from a bank or by getting

investors to lend money to the movie production

Actors and directors read scripts to find out what to say and what to do. The actors memorize the words from the script that they will say in the movie, and learn the actions that the script tells them to do. Then

the director tells the actors what to do and a cameraman takes motion pictures of them with a motion picture camera.

When filming has finished, an editor puts the moving pictures together in a way that tells the whole story within a set amount of time. Audio engineers and sound engineers record music and singing and join it

with the moving pictures. When the movie is done, many copies of the movie are made by movie labs and put onto movie reels. Then the movie reels are sent to cinemas. An electric machine called a projector shines a very bright light through the movie, and people sitting in a dark room see it on a big screen.

Film ProceduresDevelopmentIn this stage, the project's producer selects a story, which may come from a book, play, another film, a true story, original idea, etc. After identifying a theme or underlying message, the producer works with writers to prepare a synopsis. Next they produce a step outline, which breaks the story down into one-paragraph scenes that concentrate on dramatic structure. Then, they prepare a treatment, a 25-to-30-page description of the story, its mood, and characters. This usually has little dialogue and stage direction, but often contains drawings that help visualize key points. Another way is to produce a scriptment once a synopsis is produced.

Pre-productionIn pre-production, every step of actually creating the film is carefully designed and planned.

The production company is created and a production office established. The production is storyboarded and visualized with the help of illustrators and concept artists. A production budget is drawn up to plan expenditures for the film. For major productions, insurance is

procured to protect against accidents.

ProductionA director performing dual roles as director and camera operator gives instructions during the filming of a scene. In production, the video production/film is created and shot. More crew will be recruited at this stage, such as the property master, script supervisor, assistant directors, stills photographer, picture editor, and sound editors.

Post-productionHere the video/film is assembled by the video/film editor. The modern use of video in the filmmaking process has resulted in two workflow variants which are one using entirely film, and the other using a mixture of film and video.

DistributionFilm distributors usually release a film with a launch party, press releases, interviews with the press, press preview

screenings, film festival screenings, and more. Most films have a website. The film plays at selected cinemas and the DVD typically is released a few months later. The distribution rights for the film and DVD are also usually sold for

worldwide distribution. The distributor and the production company share profits.

How Films Are Distributed

Director & ProducersGenerally, when it comes to making films the producer hires the director to shoot. The director is responsible for overseeing the creative aspects of a film and also seeing it from their perspective.

Above is how films are distributed.

Without a film crew, it would be near to impossible to try and get a professional look. All film crew have a specific duty for which they have to follow. For example, a Gaffer is the lighting technician. They also work closely with the DOP (Director Of Photography) and is responsible for the execution (and sometimes the design) of the lighting plan for productions.

Shorts

A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits". The term featurette originally applied to a film longer than a short

subject, but shorter than a standard feature film.

Examples of Short Films

About Shorts

Short films are often a way to tell a short story without going into too much detail (feature films). A lot of the times, great directors and great movies often come from short films that

the director, producer or writer had created years ago, or in some cases – recently. They then develop the idea and create a feature film.

The famous “Saw” movie was once a short film. The director liked the concept of the short film

and therefore remade it into a hit-selling franchise that the audience now adore.

HOW SHORTS ARE FUNDED

Shorts are often funded by local filming councils. They can also be

funded by the lottery, banks, competitions and exhibitions and

other ways. Sometimes TV channels fund short films to get

their channel noticed more & also have the right to air it.

TECHNOLOGIES

Depending on how much money a short film is being funded for

can restrict or enable possibilities for a filmmaker regarding the equipment. For example, they

could purchase a crane for their short if they have the right funds.

Studio Films

Due to rising real-estate and upkeep costs, as well as the decreasing cost of CG and visual effects, many studios sold large chunks of their once massive studio spaces or backlots to private real-estate developers.

Century City in Los Angeles was once part of the 20th Century Fox backlot, which was amount the largest and most famous of the studio lots. In most cases portions of the backlots were retained and are available for rental by various

film and television productions. Some studios offer tours of their backlots, while Universal Pictures allows visitors to its adjacent Universal Studios Hollywood theme park to take a tram tour of the backlot where films such as Psycho and

Back to the Future were once shot.