Dale Luck The Business AS Media Studies

Tom Cartwright Understanding Film Making K Elger

The Business
- Understanding Film Making -

Production Flow Chart

The Idea Development Finance

Sources of Inspiration Pitching the Project
Producer Production Companies
Director Sales, Distribution, Broadcast
Writer Public Investment
Treatment Private Finance
Pitch Tying Down The Writer

Script Development
Synopsis
Packaging
Step Outline
Drafts The Cast
Revisions The Heads of Department
Detailed Budget and Production Schedule
Final Draft
Finance Plan and Recoupment Schedule
Sales Treatment The Complete Schedule

Financing Pre-Production
The Market The Kick-Off Meeting
Investment Casting
Pre-Sales Storyboarding
Banks and Gap Funding Production Design
Completion Bonds Special Effects Planning
Green Light The Production Unit

The Shoot Post-Production

Rough Cut
1st Day of Principal Photography
Post-Production Sound
Camera
Digital Effects and Titles
Lighting and Sound
Grade and Colour
Acting
Final Mix
Special Physical Effects
Final Cut
Chain of Command

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Dale Luck The Business AS Media Studies
Tom Cartwright Understanding Film Making K Elger

The Idea
Sources of Inspiration
This can include various things, such as books, films, people, conversations, etcetera.

Producer
Producers are the ones on the lookout for a film idea, which they’re always doing – if
something strikes them as interesting, they are the ones who choose to make the
“great idea” into reality.

Director
The director is the one who can turn the great idea that the producer has came up
with into a film – they’re the ones who decide how the film will look, with help from
the producer. The participation of a well-known director can greatly help when it
comes to the financing stage.

Writer
The writer makes up the “creative triangle”, and works together with both the
producer and the director to make the plot into something tangible – the producer
will choose the writer based on his past works, and only if they think they’re suitable
for the type of film. For example, I wouldn’t ask Tim Burton to make a Die Hard film,
because he’s a douche.

The writer then creates a thing called a treatment, which is essentially a single page
description of the main plot of the film and the characters within it – this treatment
should have the same tone as the genre of the film (thrillers should be exciting to
read, comedies funny, etcetera.).

Pitch
The pitch contains the information that the producer needs in order to convince
potential financiers to commission the script. The pitch generally contains all of these
things:
- A one-liner
- A genre
- A target audience / market
- A list of people attached to the project at the moment
- A rough budget
- A brief synopsis of the film (expands on the one-liner)

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Dale Luck The Business AS Media Studies
Tom Cartwright Understanding Film Making K Elger

Development Finance
The producer will use their powers of persuasion (along with, of course, the treatment
and the pitch) to convince potential financiers to fund the project.
The producer will approach various film production companies for development
money, which they may do if they find the project interesting.
Finance may also be gotten from distributors of the film, broadcast companies,
private/public investment.

Script Development
A synopsis will be written at this point, and most writers create a step outline to plan
out their script. Drafts will then be written, and those drafts will then be revised, and
then eventually the final draft will be written after improving on the original drafts.
Then a new sales treatment will be written.

Packaging
It is the producer’s responsibility to create a package, a selling tool to raise production
money. The producer must attach several elements to the package in order to make it
seem better to invest in for potential financiers, such as a cast, heads of departments
(that are often commercially successful people), a detailed production schedule and
budget, a finance plan and recoupment schedule – this will then come together as one
whole package, which will be presented to people to gather interest.

Financing
The producer must often travel to distant places in order to access the potential
financiers that aren’t local to them. The producer’s lawyer will draw up contracts with
any interested individuals, production companies and public bodies in order to seal
the deal. It’s also possible to get finance for the film via “pre-sales” – which is
essentially selling the rights to the film before it’s even been made. There are also
specific departments of banks that are there to invest in commercial projects and offer
loans. Most of the financiers will want a “completion bond” to be made, which is
essentially insurance for the production. Once all of the essential funding and
insurance have been secured, the film gets the ‘green light’, which basically means
they can go ahead with production.

Pre-Production
The heads of the departments come together to discuss how they will start with the
production, and the casting director will work with the director and producer to
“identify and cast” the actors. The film will then begin to be storyboarded, after which
the production designer will plan every aspect of the film’s aesthetics, and will then
hire people to build each part of it – special effects are also planned, which can take a
lot longer than normal shots. The first assistant director, production manager and the
line producer will then come together to begin to create the film.

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Dale Luck The Business AS Media Studies
Tom Cartwright Understanding Film Making K Elger

The Shoot
The “first day of principal photography” is when the film actually begins to be shot.
The camera department will be responsible for collecting all the footage needed for
the film, and the shot can begin once make up, lighting, sound and everything else has
been set up. The actors must work with the director to give the performance that the
director intended them to make, and any special effects that will be made should not
injure or put them at risk in any way.
Film productions are run with almost military precision- if they fall behind schedule,
the financiers and insurers may step in.

Post-Production
The first thing that the editor will do with the scenes is cut and move them to create
the chronological order of the scenes that the director and writer intended it to have
(which isn’t always chronological, as flashbacks scenes maybe in it, and sometimes
directors will choose to switch around time slots to keep interest, as is a trademark of
Quentin Tarantino). The sound department will then work on creating, adding and
editing sound over this footage. Specialist effects compositors then add the digital
effects to the footage, and titles and credits are added within a compositing suite. The
colour and overall quality of the footage will then be edited / adjusted, to create a fine
aesthetic –this can sometimes be in reference to added film grain, such as in Death
Proof, in order to give a specific effect. After the picture lock, the rough sound mix
goes to a dubbing theatre, where the sound mixer sets the final levels. After this final
cut, the film reaches “full lock”, the point where the film has now finished production
and is ready for duplication.