Requirements for production

Types of Production and Distribution: 

Production:

The production we were making was a 'DepicT!' short film, a 90 second clip with a "focus on discovering international film making talent through originality, imagination and the ability to engage in just a minute and a half," as stated on the DepicT! website. DepicT! is a good platform to distribute and show the world your talent, and any short-listed films have a chance to be shown at film festivals and win awards at the DepicT! showcase. However a short-film is just one type of production, as there is a whole range of moving image media out there. The most prominent is an advert, which gets shown on a range of TV channels in between shows; at the movies before a film starts; online streaming and video-sharing sites and occasionally is a paid sponsor in another piece of media. Other notable moving image productions are TV shows and  feature length films, which are released in the thousands every year, following trends in the industry based on genre and audience (An example of this is the trends of films in 2019 being musicals and horror movies, alongside multiple Disney live-action remakes)^1.

DepicT! website

Distribution:

There are many ways to distribute media, with the most popular being television. On TV you can find many different types of media: TV shows; adverts; films; trailers; news; music videos and documentaries. Despite this being a varied platform, due to tight production schedules its very difficult and expensive to get a spot on a mainstream channel, so a better option for individual creators would be a video sharing site like Vimeo (YouTube could also work but is so big content would most likely be hard to find). Indie creators can also submit their works to different film festivals, with multiple of those festivals having specialisations in certain genres and media types, for example the 'Film 4 FrightFest' is one of the UK's biggest horror film festivals and is described by Guillermo del Toro as "The Woodstock of Gore"^2. As we have done with our DepicT! projects, various short film competitions are open all year for emerging film makers to show their talents, such as DepicT! and Raindance's #1MinuteHorror, a 60 second horror short film competition.

Music videos are a popular form of media that dominate the online video market. The most watched videos on YouTube are all music videos, including 'Despacito' by Luis Fonsi, 'Shape of You' by Ed Sheeran and 'Gangnam Style' by Psy.

15 most viewed YouTube videos (as of 14/05/2020), all of
them being music videos.

Quite possibly the most watched form of video media is television. There have been many TV shows of all genres throughout its conception, with the market being dominated by game shows, soaps and comedies. Some shows have stuck around for decades, with Coronation Street having been around since 1960 and is still one of the UK's most viewed shows every week, on the UK's most watched channel, ITV.

UK's Most viewed shows (week of 27 April 2020 - 3 May 2020), of which 3
of the top 5 are Coronation street

Films are also popular, but due to their length many people don't have the time to watch films regularly. Despite this, film isn't bound down by as many codes and conventions as TV, adverts or music videos and therefore can be a massive creative outlet for unique ideas and stories. A good example of a recent unique and creative film from the indie side is Panos Cosmatos' 'Mandy' (2018) which tells a story more through the senses of sight and sound over dialogue and is a truly original experience, which was first shown at Sundance in 2018 and near the end of the same year had a limited run in cinemas. A more high budget production from Blumhouse and Universal that provides a brilliant and unique story is M. Night Shyamalan's 'Split' (2016) which was shown first at Fantastic Fest in September 2016, and released near the end of January 2017 for an extended run in cinemas across the US, UK and Canada.

'Mandy' (2018) Theatrical release poster

'Split' (2016) Theatrical release poster

Finance and sources of funding:

Types of funding:

There are many types of funding available for a moving image production, the biggest one being studio production, however studios have a competitive market with big risks of heavy profit loss therefore are very difficult to get to agree to an idea without a script, which even then would have to be a fantastically written script to beat the rest of the competition. A more realistic source of funding for a filmmaker of any status would be to self-fund or crowdfund a production as if there's a public interest it might be worth the investment and resources to put it out there. Kickstarter is a good source of crowdfunding and has helped produce 27,464 films and videos, 7 of which had crowdfunded over $1 million^3. independent film makers can also apply for a development fund, such as the 'BFI Film Fund, which "Uses national lottery funds to develop and support original UK Filmmakers and Films, and to increase the audiences who can enjoy them"^4. Development funds help filmmakers by providing support for the production and completion of a product and occasionally assist in the release of a product by sending it to film festivals and making deals to release it worldwide.

A huge successful Kickstarter campaign was a proposed reboot/return of cult television show 'Mystery Science Theater 3000', which had its original run from 1988-1999, in which the hosts 'riffed' on different B-movies, paving the way for modern comedic commentary. In November 2015 the campaign started, looking for $3 million to make an initial three episodes. By December that same year however when the campaign ended the grand total of money crowdfunded was $5,764,229, which was enough to make all 12 planned episodes and an extra $600,000 which was used for two additional episodes including a Christmas special. These all aired on Netflix on April 14th 2017 and a second season was also brought out hosting another six episodes, with another third season planned for an alternative outlet to Netflix. Currently the kickstarter campaign is the second largest funded project on kickstarter Film and Video, being surpassed at number one in March 2019 by a Critical Role animated series.

Kickstarter page for MST3K

Requirements for a production:

The money on a production has to be spent on a wide variety of things, from costumes to catering. The main consumer of the money is the cast, crew and equipment needed. A cast can be anywhere from cheap to expensive depending on the notoriety of the people hired. An A-list actor would be worth $15 million to $20 million while an unknown actor could be on $250 per day in a production, weekly performers have a minimum wage of $2,979 and extras and stand-ins earn $148 and $163 minimum respectively. Different crew members have different costs: Costume designers have a weekly rate of £640; Casting directors are on a weekly rate of £1,430 and Camera operators are on a weekly rate of £1,760, to name a few.

As well as cast and crew there are other costs to consider, especially equipment and software. Video editing software varies based on brand, but the newest (As of 12/12/2019) Vegas Pro software (Vegas Pro 17 Suite) costs £329.99, Adobe Premiere Pro costs £20/month (on average, rounded up) and Final Cut Pro X costs £299.99. Equipment like cameras also varies by product. For a small production you could get by with a Canon EOS 200D for £549.99, whereas for a feature length movie franchise production you can use a Panasonic AU-EVA1 priced at £4,895. sound equipment for a small production being filmed with a DSLR camera would be a simple audio recorder like a Zoom H1n for £182. A major production would probably use a shotgun mic like the Rode NTG-8 (£747) for general in-scene sound and a Lavalier mic for close-range dialogue, like the Rode Lavalier Microphone (£166).

Panasonic AU-EVA1

Sony Vegas Pro 17

RØDE Lavalier

Zoom H1n

Final Cut Pro X

Adobe Premiere Pro

Canon EOS 200D

RØDE NTG-8

Requirements for our production:

For our production the only cost we expended was on props. We only had to buy guacamole, salsa and tortilla chips. Each of these items were valued at £1 (rounded up) except the salsa, which cost £1.50. Costumes were provided for by the college or we brought in our own.

Going over budget:

A big problem involved in filmmaking is budgeting. It's usually very hard to predict how much a production is going to cost as you can't just assume everything is going to work perfectly. Using James Cameron's 'Titanic' as an example of a movie going over budget isn't a good idea as it became the highest grossing movie of all time until 2009's 'Avatar', also by Cameron, and using it as such could make going over budget seem not so bad, which is the opposite. A real example to serve as a warning to films going over budget is Disney's 'The Lone Ranger' which suffered a profit loss of $98 million, with an initial budget of $70 million and ended up with one of $225 million.

Titanic (1997)

The Lone Ranger (2013)

Personnel:

Crew:

On a low budget short, the typical team would most likely consist of a director, one or two camera operators, a boom mic operator, a lighting operator and an editor. Despite all of these roles it's more than likely one person may take up multiple of these roles as there may only be maybe 3-5 people working on the production, excluding any actors who aren't also involved in the production aspect. This could be the director getting behind a camera, the editor being the lighting operator or even having one person manage visuals, audio and filming all at the same time.

One of the biggest low budget movies of all time, Kevin Smith's
 'Clerks' (1994) was filmed entirely in a small convenience store

On the set of a TV programme it would usually consist of:

• An audio engineer - Supervises all the audio crew and routs, records and mixes all audio heard in the final broadcast. May have an assistant audio engineer.
• Boom operator - The main responsibility of a boom operator is microphone placement, however they also operate fishing poles and booms and work closely with sound mixers to make sure all the audio is being captured.
• Camera operator - The head of the camera crew, the camera operator makes sure the camera(s) are setup to the directors instructions and makes sure everything important is in-frame. Can also be a cinematographer.
• Cinematographer - regulates lighting, frames shots, fits lenses and makes sure everything is set-up as the director requires it. The cinematographer doesn't move the camera unless they are also the camera operator.
• Floor manager - A floor manager is the television equivalent of an assistant director, and makes sure that all crew members, cast members and any show guests are in their correct positions ready to start filming. They usually communicate with the director in the control booth using talkback, and make sure the set is clear of any discrepancies, safety hazards, etc. before filming starts.
• Stage manager - organises production and acts as a middle man for different people, like the actors and the directors.
• Gaffer - The main electrician who reports to the cinematographer. Their main responsibility is lighting the stage, and in Television are usually referred to as chief lighting directors.
• Grips - lighting and rigging technicians. they work with the camera department and the lighting department, and are split into two roles: the key grip is the head grip who mounts and supports cameras, while also doing the more laborious work on set; the dolly grip moves the camera dollies and occasionally the platforms the boom operators work on.
• control room team - When theres a multi-camera setup, the control room team sit in a dimly lit area with multiple monitors to make sure all the cameras are on and so they can swap between them easily.
• Production manger - acts as a line manager. deals with all the business and expenses while making sure all the technical requirements on set are met and properly organised.
• production assistant - usually positioned in the control room. keeps live contact between the production and the broadcaster, counts down time-to-transmission to the stage floor and count down how much time is left until an ad break or other segment ends so the cast, crew and guests can get ready.
• runner - runners are the least experienced members of a crew, and usually do the odd jobs on set until they gain enough experience to move up into a more senior role.
• Stunt coordinator - if a production requires a stunt or stunts on an episode, it is the stunt coordinators job to cast and handle stunt performers, and works with the director to make sure the stunt performance is ready and rehearsed for filming.
• Technical director - they make sure all the equipment is working properly and at the right quality from the control room, and handles all the technical problems on set while supervising the control room staff.
• Television director - The television director, unlike a film director, sits in the control room and chooses which shots to show on screen at one time. they also have direct contact with the floor manger to make sure the floor is setup properly and to the requirements.
• Video control operator - controls the video transmissions, whether they be tests, live or recorded broadcasts. they control the framing and balance, and make sure the quality of the broadcast is up to standard. However, as television relies more on broadcasting automation nowadays, vide control operators are needed only on taped broadcasts.
• Camera control unit operator - operates the CCU, a device that regulates quality between multiple cameras.
• video tape operator - Due to the move to automation, VT operators aren't required anymore, however for a taped broadcast, they handle all the taping equipment and footage.

In TV these roles would usually be done by individual people rather than any multi-tasking, with maybe the exception of lower budget TV shows, and would have between 10-30 crew members based on production scale. On a smaller production the camera operators could potentially act as the grips on set, and a chief lighting director would probably handle all technology-based jobs as well as lighting. If a production doesn't have a control room then the producers and directors would probably do the jobs that would usually act as communication between stage and control room, such as the floor manager and stage director, with the director potentially helming the role of cinematographer.

TV set of classic sitcom 'Cheers' (1982-1993)

TV Control Room

A big budget feature film crew is fairly similar to a television crew, with a few changes to some of the roles due to the differences between the medias, sets, etc.

• Director - The director, in accordance to EU law, is the author and highest authority on a film set. They have a direct role in the casting process and its their job to visualize the screenplay and turn that vision into film by guiding the actors and crew members into helping make that visualization reality. They control the production design and creative aspect of a moving image production. Directors face difficulties like keeping within budget and meeting a middle ground with the creative differences between them and other crew members and actors.
• producer - deals with the fund raising and special arrangements of a production and they are usually actively involved in the whole production from start to finish.
• Executive producer - Someone who has little involvement in the technical aspects of a film, however generates a significant amount of funding that ensures a movie goes through. In recent years, a lot of line producers have been given the title of executive producer as well due to their involvement in handling communications between the studio/ producer and the production manager.
• line producer - the middle-man between the studios or producers and the production manager to make sure the money is being spent well and responsibly. the name comes from their responsibilities for having to 'line-up' the resources needed for a production.
• production manager - they usually manage the budgeting and scheduling, including salaries, production costs and rental costs, and are supervised by the line producer whilst also supervising the production coordinator.
• Assistant PM - Only really used in Hollywood feature films. An assistant production manager helps the production manager by bearing some of the work load the PM is supposed to do.
• Production coordinator - Organises the logistics of hiring crew members, booking any talent and renting equipment, the production coordinator is an important member in a film crew.
• First assistant director - Assists the production manager and director. They ensure a film is staying on schedule while also prioritising safety on set. This allows the director, crew and actors to remain focused and safe when doing their own roles on set. They can also be delegated by the director to help direct background characters and extras in a scene and occasionally direct minor sequences in a film.
• Second assistant director - The assistant to the first assistant director. the first AD can delegate their responsibilities onto the second AD. the second AD is also responsible for call sheets, which lists all the important details of a working day for the crew and cast.
• Production accountant - manage money and ensure the budget is being followed and that everyone is being paid correctly. they are responsible for receivable accounts, payable accounts and the entire crews payroll.
• Location manager - manages the entire locations department and reports to the production manager. They guarantee permission to use a location and assist in the financial side of the locations, including permits or fees.
• Scout - does the research and documentation on the locations. usually this would be the secondary role of the location manager.
• Casting director - chooses the actors for a film. usually host an audition in which a potential actor has to perform a small portion of the script.
• Cinematographer - similar to their TV counterpart, the cinematographer chooses how the scene is framed on camera and are the heads of the camera and lighting department. work alongside the director to establish how the shots will look and give insight as to how they can achieve the directors vision.
• Camera operator - uses the camera as instructed by the cinematographer, but unlike in TV, the cinematographer doesn't usually work as the operator as a secondary position.
• Focus puller - responsible for keeping the camera in focus throughout a shot and building and taking apart the camera.
• Clapper Loader - operates the clapperboard.
• Gaffer - Head of the lighting department, just like in TV.
• Best boy - the assistant to the gaffer, keeps track of electrical rentals and logistics.
• Lighting technician - Set-up and control the lighting equipment and any temporary power distributors.
• Sound mixer - head of the sound department. they decide how sound is captured in a shot and mix audio.
• Boom operator - relays information to the sound mixer and operates the boom pole. They make sure the audio in a shot is captured properly without interference.

A big budget movie would most definitely have most roles if not all of them tasked individually by different people as lots of things need to be happening at once on set and each crew member needs to know what they're doing. The only multi tasking might be happening is the Director also being an acting cinematographer, because who else to help create ones vision but ones self. The director can also a lot of the time be a star in their movie and an executive producer.

Waterworld set at Universal Studios

In our production, we had very few roles as there were three people in our group. this meant we had to multi-task and share roles throughout the production and post-production phases of our short film. Sean acted as our camera operator and lighting technician, and edited the first draft of the film, while Lewis and I were the actors and the editors of the final footage of our film. The position of director was shared between the three of us and as a silent film, we had no need for any sound equipment or operators.

Cast and other contributors:

The cast and extras are vital  to a production as they are the ones we see on screen in any production and are usually the primary focus of a shot. Actors are specially picked from a large audition pool for a production because they suit the role and are in a very competitive industry of their own. As well as actors however, other contributors to a project are also important, such as caterers and costume designers, make-up artists and set designers, who all work equally as hard as the crew and cast of a production to get their responsibilities done.

Time:

Meeting deadlines in the media industry:

Meeting deadlines is important in the media industry as its a competitive and fast-moving industry. A lot of money and time can be poured into a project which bombs at the box office and makes very little to no profit, some even setting a studio or producer back by tens of millions of pounds or dollars. In Television, if a deadline isn't met on a production then the airtime needs to be filled  in  a very short amount of time  while also disrupting other programs around it, which may be pushed back or cut short. In film a deadline is equally important, as movies are given a set release date, and so early test screenings can be held to determine whether or not parts of film need to be cut/re-shot. Another reason for meeting deadlines is that the producers and studio have lots of money on the line and if the production goes over the deadline that's more money having to be spent on rentals, personnel, catering etc. If deadlines are not met, then the people involved in that production are made known to other producers and studios that they were slow and therefore will have a tarnished career that could even mean an early end to their career as if other people of their specialisation are known to be faster workers then they'll be hired instead, because as I've said, its a competitive industry.

An example of a movie not meeting deadlines is Michael Cimino's western 'Heaven's Gate' which went a year over schedule and four times over budget due to Cimino's perfectionism, and despite its current 5 star cult status, when it came out it bombed and left critics, public viewers and the studio, United Artists, with a bad taste in their mouths. just six days into the filming the movie was five days behind schedule. Cimino managed to take millions of feet of footage and turn it into a 4 hour long epic just a few days before it was set to premiere, which when it came around unfortunately caused an uproar amongst critics, and when Cimino shortened it to 2 hours 30 minutes it fuelled the critics even more and he became a Hollywood horror story. It wasn't until 1982 when the original cut was shown in Britain that the movie was fully realised as the perfected masterpiece it is.

'Heaven's Gate' (1980) theatrical release poster

Meeting deadlines on our production:

For our production, we went over the deadline for filming as there were multiple instances of equipment not working, locations being used, etc. Eventually we had to change location and changed from a dialogue filled film to a subtitled film due to the sound equipment not working. although getting the initial filming done not too long after the deadline, it still ate into the pre-production first draft editing, which ended up looking quite sloppy with a few reshoots needed. For the reshoots however, we met the deadline and rather than feeling rushed, we managed to get it done at a steady pace.

Equipment and facilities:

Equipment:

Equipment is a big part of the filmmaking process as it's quite literally the things we need to capture sound and visuals to the best we can on a production. Equipment ranges from recording equipment like cameras and microphones to equipment that helps set the scene like props and lighting. Big productions would use huge cameras with 4K and complex camera dollies and have access to many special effects, where as a smaller scale production would potentially use a modestly priced camera with basic audio equipment and very few if any special effects.

For our DepicT! project we had access to the colleges Audio Visual cupboard, which contains camera equipment, sound equipment, different sliders and mounts for the cameras plus a few other accessories for the mics, like wind breaks and boom poles. For our project however we only needed a camera and tripod, as there was no diegetic sound in our production so we hadn't any need for sound equipment, however we did make use of a slider for a few establishing shots. To obtain the equipment we just had to ask the equipment providers (the college) for what we required and used our student cards to check them out.

The equipment we used were:

slider dolly:

A piece of equipment that involves a set of tracks with a carriage that moves along it. A camera is mounted to the carriage to allow for smooth moving shots. More expensive dollies can be bi-axial, curved or even multifunctional and are used quite a lot in large scale productions from big name studios.

Boom Mic and Pole:

A boom mic is a long shotgun microphone with hyper-cardioid sensitivity that allows it to capture sound from a specific point it's facing, usually used for picking up sound at an extended range. A boom pole is a long telescopic pole that holds the boom mic in place. Although we used the boom mic it wasn't used during any of the shots appearing in the final cut of our DepicT! project. The great thing about boom mics is they're used in all different scales of production, from low-budget indie flicks to full-scale Hollywood movies due to their high functionality and relatively reasonable cost.

Audio recorder:

Much like the boom pole the audio recorder wasn't used for our final cut, but we still used it for a majority of filming. A handheld audio recorder is a simple to use device which connects to the microphone through an input box using auxiliary cables, and due to its portability and decent quality it can be used on a range of production scales, although larger scale productions would probably send audio straight to audio engineers.

Facilities:

To obtain equipment for a professional moving image production differs. for a temporary production such as a movie, advert or music video the equipment would usually be hired/ rented from a professional media provider as its not needed for long and for something like a movie which can potentially be shot in multiple places around the world a rental company most likely wouldn't let you take their equipment halfway round the planet. A more prolonged production like a 24-episode season TV show would probably use equipment already owned by the studio, as theres no point in renting equipment for an entire year round.

A media facility house is a specialised studio that can be hired to produce a moving image production. They have crews and equipment readily available to use and work with you either on site or off site. An example of a media facility house would be the 'Epic Studios Broadcast Facilities'^5 which has 4 studios, the main one being 10,000sq ft big, with a production gallery, engineering gallery, sound gallery and a wide range of audio visual equipment and special effects, including pyrotechnics. they have a green-screen studio and a whole crew available for hire, who can also be paid to travel the globe for a production, with credits for working on shows like Top Gear which feature harsh climates often. Pricing is on a quote basis, so I couldn't include costs on this blog. The nearest professional media facility to the college is also Epic studios' Norfolk branch, located at the Access college in Norwich.

Locations:

Recces and releases:

Recces are an important part of the location finding process and it involves scouting out the suitability of a location of interest, usually undertaken by the director of photography or Locations manager. It is short for the French word 'reconnoitre', a military term used to describe scouting out a location that's been repurposed for the media industry. An important part of a recce is determining a locations accessibility, power capabilities and distance to necessary facilities such as a toilet or shelter.

Releases are what finalise the deal. A release is a legal binding between the head photographer and the owner of a location confirming that they are allowed to film there. A release details the times and dates of which filming is permitted at the property, what the permissions given by the owner to the photographer are and any extra details, like as on our release its stated that property damage is the responsibility of the cast and crew.

Why we picked the locations we chose:

We picked W7 and W4, the drama rooms, as they had pre-installed lighting capabilities used for theatre production, a wide space for filming our short and had booking sheets with a few empty slots we could use for filming.

The issues we faced:

The main issue we faced was the time sheet being changed shortly after we started production so there were fewer slots available for us to film in W7, which was shortly followed by multiple sessions where some pieces of equipment weren't working, or a member of the cast/ crew wasn't available. eventually the sheet was changed again and we had no available slots to film there. We overcame this by changing location to W16, with verbal permission to use it. To overcome the challenge of the audio equipment not working was to make the creative decision to have a short film without diegetic sound, only the backing tracks and subtitles replacing dialogue.Without these changes we would have gone way over deadline, but thanks to making them, we got the production wrapped up in time to make a final draft before we overstepped that deadline too.

Materials:

Types of materials needed for a production:

Props and costumes are vital to a production. They make up a scene and help accentuate a characters personality and style. Props are used to make a set fit a theme or make it seem more natural on screen, or are there to play a part in the shot, like maybe a knife being used to kill a character, or a book being read by the protagonist of a production. For TV sitcoms, certain props are present throughout its entire run time, while others change with time, for instance in a show the furniture will remain the same the whole time, while some Christmas decorations would only be used in a holiday special. Costumes help shape a character, as an example, what would "The Big Bang Theory's" Sheldon^6 be without his comic book tees, or "Star Wars'" Darth Vader^7 without his menacing cape. Other materials needed would be music, as it can be a hint at the tone of a scene, a brilliant theme for a production, like the themes to Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho"^8 and "Vertigo"^9 both composed by Bernard Herrmann.

Financial considerations:

There are a few financial considerations for a lot of the materials used. To get an 8 minute orchestral score for an intro would be quite costly compared to a simple sitcom theme song, while some costumes, using the same examples of Sheldon and Vader, can easily be made by buying a cheap t-shirt and some trousers, while a full suit of armour complete with cape and helmet would have to be specially made by a costume designer of high experience, costing a lot of time and therefore money. For our production the props were our main budgeting concern, as we had costumes and equipment already. To help estimate this cost we made a budgeting sheet that details all the planned costs for props, costumes and transport.

Our original budgeting sheet for the production

Legal issues:

Legal considerations when using materials:

When using a material, if its copyrighted a license is required from the owner as well as having an agreement made between the owners of the material and the author of the production about terms of usage, permissions allowed by the owner and any royalty contracts to profit the materials owner. failure to get a license to use copyrighted materials leaves you at the mercy of the owner of said materials, whether it involves a lawsuit or the cancellation of your production. A small production that can't afford the licensing should probably steer away from copyrighted materials and use a royalty free alternative or make their own.

An example of media that was taken to court over copyright infringement laws was the 1988 John Landis film 'Coming to America'. Art Buchwald and Alan Bernheim claimed that Paramount dismissed their contribution to the making of the film and wanted a combined $6.2 million. The claim was that 'Coming to America' was based on a rough plot outline Buchwald wrote called 'King For a Day', and the ruling agreed that Paramount were in breach of a contract they signed in 1983 with Buchwald and Bernheim. They won $150,000 and $750,000 respectively.

Information about copyright:

Copyright in the UK is free, meaning that as soon as you publish your works, whether they be literature, art, a musical or compositional piece, a TV or Film production and web documents and databases. It protects your original works from being used by others without authorisation, including plagiarism of your works, distribution (free or otherwise), adapting your works, showing your works in public, renting out your works to others and posting it online. Internationally, copyright is protected by 'The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works'^10 and works are protected by a minimum time of life + fifty years. (All information from the UK government page on copyright)

How copyright affected our production:

Our production was affected by copyright in that we had to use royalty free musics within our film due to it being a non-monetised production limited to a minuscule budget, thus copyrighted materials licensing would be over budget.

Copyright Terms:

• Clearance - Copyright clearance means having permissions from an owner to use their materials in a piece of creative media.
• Public Liability Insurance - Insurance that covers the cost of any legal action claims made by a third party involving harm to them or their property at your business or when you are at their business.
• Completion guarantee/ insurance - Usually used by an independent funder of a production, like an executive producer, to make sure the film or show is completed and distributed by the producers, also usually following an agreed upon script, budget and cast. It ensures the Guarantor's money doesn't go amiss, as they then have the power to fully take over the creative role of a moving image production due it being their money funding it. They will also receive paperwork regularly detailing the budgeting and progress in the production process.

Public Liability and Employer's liability:

Public liability insurance overs the producer in case of accidental damages on location, including accidental injuries members of the public may obtain during production. The insurance policy covers: Damage to property; Bodily injury; A limit of indemnity of up to £10 million.

Employers Liability insurance is mandatory in the UK and safe guards the producer in the event of an employee gaining accidental bodily harm, in which the producer is legally liable for paid compensation. All employees are covered by the insurance, paid or unpaid, including labourers, cast members, extras and crew. The policy has a limit of indemnity of either £5 million or £10 million.

An example of a case where a producer had to pay public liability costs is on the set of 'Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens' when Harrison Ford was paid $2 million by a Disney owned firm, Foodles Production, after a hydraulic door closed on him and broke two bones in his left leg and dislocated his ankle.

Regulation:

OFCOM and its function:

The OFCOM Broadcasting Code is split into sections and details the standards in programmes, sponsorship, product placement, fairness and privacy, and is required under the Broadcasting Act 1996 and the Communications Act 2003. The first section regards the protection of children under the age of 18; section two details protecting the public from violent and offensive materials, and stops factual programs misleading the viewers into accidentally viewing these materials; section three covers the stopping of any materials that are likely to incite crime or encourage disorder and abuse; Section 4 requires a broadcaster to be respectful of religious programmes; section five ensures news is factual and impartial of bias; section six details the importance and enforcement of impartialness during times of referendum and/or election; section seven promotes fair treatment of all individuals on a broadcast; section eight covers the rights to privacy and condemns its violation on any broadcast; section nine defines the differences between advertisement and content in television , makes sure the lines between the two are blurred and that adverts aren't unsuitable for broadcast or capable to financially harm the audience; section ten covers the radio equivalent of section nine, with differences being terminology due to different definitions in TV and radio broadcasting.

An example of media banned by OFCOM is an advert put out by the Saudi-Arabian government and broadcast on Sky 1 in March 2018, which aired before a visit to the UK from Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman. The advert was made to depict the country of Saudi Arabia in positive light despite high controversy surrounding the country.

Why the BBC is different to OFCOM:

The BBC is regulated by OFCOM, but is very different as it is still ran by the unitary BBC board and chartered by the government, while OFCOM makes sure the BBC upholds the quality of its programs and maintains fair and effective competition against other competitors in the broadcasting market, such as ITV and Channel Four. The actual differences between the BBC and OFCOM is that the latter regulates other communication services under the Parliament, making sure broadcasters, broadband services, landline and mobile phone services and the postal service maintain fair and affordable treatment of the public and individuals. The BBC on the other hand is a broadcaster, which has to follow the regulations of OFCOM and creates content impartially online, on TV and in cinema, on multiple radio stations nationwide and isn't government run like OFCOM, rather the BBC board.

The BBFC:

The BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification and it makes sure that all commercially available films are given the proper rating to allow people to judge whether a movie is suitable for someone and what is not, using age ratings and specific context consideration to help them pick the right movie for them. The age rating system ranges from: U (Universal) which should have a positive framework and offer counter-balances to any violence, threat or horror so that its suitable for anyone ages four and up; PG (Parental Guidance) should be suitable for children aged 8 or over, and parents are advised to judge whether to allow a young child to watch it. A PG can have mild violence, threat, swearing and limited sexual innuendo's, but can also increase the threat and violence within proper context, like if it is a fantasy movie or a historical one. A 12/12A (twelve years old/ under twelve accompanied by an adult) is allowed moderate violence, threat and horror with little to no gore, and moderate swearing is allowed with one use of the F-bomb permitted (two or more is immediately moved up to a 15, unless its within a very, very specific context). A 15 (15 years old) allows for dangerous behaviour as long as its within context and doesn't dwell on how its accomplished, discriminatory themes are allowed but shouldn't be endorsed by the film, drugs are permitted as long as no detail of their preparation is shown, however readily accessible highs like aerosols and solvents are in most cases unacceptable, strong language is permitted, and in some circumstances extremely strong language may be used once or twice, no strong detail on sexual nudity is permitted and violence, threat and horror are allowed to be strong however sexual threat and sadistic pleasure aren't acceptable. An 18 (eighteen years old) has very few constraints, them being that sex must not be clearly real and exposed and instead simulated and covered and that sexual or sadistic violence must not be shown as appealing to the viewer, drug use isn't detailed and anything that may cause harm to the publics health and/or morals. An R18 classification is usually limited to specially licensed cinemas and sex shops due to it most likely being film of a pornographic nature. there are limitations to this in that like with the 18 rating they cannot include non-consensual or abusive dialogue and actions or anything deemed anti-social behaviour. The main Classification considerations are: Dangerous behaviour; Drugs; discrimination; Sex; Nudity; Language; threat and horror; violence; sexual threat and violence.

The movie Chef (2014) with a rating of 15

The BBFC ratings

Research on the regulation of online moving image media products:

Currently in the UK anything illegal in the country is illegal to do online as well, however the regulation of the internet is more complicated due to the nature of its access to information. It's illegal to access a site that doesn't have an age restriction to host certain content because of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 which makes hardcore pornography illegal to distribute in the UK. Social media is also encompassed by the Malicious Communications Act 1988 and the Communications Act 2003, making it an offence to send a message of an offensive, indecent or menacing intent or character. Social media has many cases of people being arrested for contempt of court, and its so frequent that as of December 2013 the Attorney generals office set-up a twitter account to help people avoid committing contempt of court.^11 The UK is also one of the largest major economy countries that heavily censors online content.

Trade Unions and Trade Associations:

what are trade unions:

A trade union is an organisation that helps regulate the rights of workers, especially labourers, on topics such as pay rate and working conditions, negotiating major budget cuts and their effects on the workers such as redundancy or pay cuts, discussing workers concerns with the employer and attending disciplinary and grievance meetings to ensure fair treatment of the worker. Some places of work have union representatives ('Reps') who can help new employees join that companies primary trade union and get them setup with a membership.^12

PACT and BECTU:

PACT is a trade association that works with independent media creators and companies. They work closely with broadcasters to create training opportunities, increase diversity on and off screen and promote fair access for everyone. BECTU is a trade union that works with off-screen non-performance roles across all broadcasting medias and also provide members with financial and legal services, discounted energy bills and extra lifestyle benefits.

What is a trade association and why do they exist:

Trade associations are founded and funded by businesses in a specific industry with a focus on collaboration between companies, while also doing other things like holding networking events and conferences or providing educational materials. ScreenSkills is a trade association with a primary focus on aiding the screen industries. It's funded by the BFI lottery funds and major broadcasting and production companies, and helps people from all backgrounds find their place in the industry, while also providing mentoring and bursaries for personal development in many different stages of a career in film.