Production Overview

1
Production Overview
2
People
3
People cont.
People cont.
4
3 Phases of Production

• Pre-Production (the most important phase)
• Production (the shortest period of time phase)
• Post-Production (always takes more time than
  anticipated.)

5
Pre Production

• Key Elements
• Prime Directive target audience
• Lots of meetings
• Concept
• Budget
• Script
• Hiring
• Director, actors, technicians
• Rehearsals
• Readings, dry, and dress

6
Production

• When it all comes together - fingers crossed.
• Live or recorded.
• Multi-takes are pre-planned.
• Rarely deviate from game plan established in
  pre-production phase.
• Shortest time frame of the 3 phases.

7
Post Production

• Striking
• Packing equipment
• Evaluation
• Finances
• Effect of production
• Editing
• Noterazzmatazz comes and goes, feelings last a
  lot longer!
• Final Copy/ advertising/ distribution

8
Program Control/ Treatment

• A clear and succinct summary of your ideas (a
  paragraphed outline).
• Write them to get support, and to cover your
  back. They can hold you to it! But make it clear,
  bc it can make it or break it for your and your
  film idea.
• It covers the basic ideas and issues of the
  production as well as the main characters,
  locations, and story angles.
• Some script, etc.
• Used to get financial backing.

9
Capturing and Holding Viewer Attention

• Create buy-in
• Target audience research
• Consider needs and wants (demographics, etc.)
• Issues to consider
• Want to emotionally attach people (good or bad)
• Move - excite (fear, sex, and mystery sell best)
• Hence the reason explosions and special effects
  are often sold over story (despite story lasting
  longer than effects cool things do get old, but
  they also do attract early attention and sell.)
• Reinforce existing attitudes (positive or
  negative)
• Careful of exploitation people know when they
  are being exploited.

10
Production Sequence (15 Steps)

• 1. Clearly identify the production's goals and
  purposes.
• 2. Identify and analyze your target audience.
• 3. Check out similar productions from the past.
• 4. Determine the overall value of the production
  to a sponsor or underwriter (its about numbers.)
• 5. Develop a Treatment or Production Proposal -
  do your remaining research (ie. is it a period
  piece, what done in past, future implications,
  etc.) Get a script version ready, and finally the
  storyboard.
• 6. Develop a Production Schedule
• 7. Select Key Production Personnel
• 8. Decide On Locations - usage fees, permits,
  etc.
• 9. Decide On Talent, Wardrobe and Sets (casting
  and auditions)
• 10. Decide on the Remaining Production Personnel
  (consider catering, legal, security, etc.)
• 11. Obtain Permits, Insurance, and Clearances
• 12. Select Video Inserts,Still Photos, and
  Graphics
• 13. Begin Rehearsals and Shooting
• 14. Begin Editing Phase - sound sweetening,
  digital effects, color enhancing, etc.
• 15. Do Postproduction Follow-Up (pay final bills,
  evaluate film - ratings, etc.)

11
The Script - the key element in pre-production!

• 2 kinds semi and fully scripted
• Fully scripted concrete (documentaries, hard
  news, etc.) focus on facts.
• Semi on the fly (dramatic, soft news, etc.)
  focus on abstract.
• Hold their interest (dont use linear approach
  use flashbacks, parallel stories, etc.
• Spice up interviews (mix A and B rolls limit
  talking head - even if it does add credibility).
• Keep shots at 2 seconds.
• Keep scenes at 1 min.
• Imagine it in your head - see if youre
  entertained.
• Catch their attention at beginning, give a
  positive feeling at end, and vary pace,
  presentation style, and emotional content in
  middle.
• Use word processor to type up final part - add
  time segments if possible.

12
Scriptwriting guidelines

• 1.) Aired writing is difficult - you get one
  chance to get the message across - cant be
  re-read, like in print.
• 2.) Make it easy for an announcer to read -
  therefore easy to be heard.
• Ie. dont always finish sentences, have pauses,
  ums, normal vernacular.
• 3.) Use active voice over the passive - and state
  whos saying at the beginning.
• 4.) nouns and verbs over adjectives.
• 5.) Its not what you say, but how you say it.
• 6.) Dont give it all away at the beginning.
• 7.) Include defining details.
• 8.) Write it - how you would tell it!
• 9.) Audio and video should complement each other.
  
• 10.) Read aloud and re-write tongue twisters or
  confused sentences.
• 11.) Careful of information overload.
• 12.) Careful of the lost vs. bored syndrome
  (use repetition and or illustrations.)

13
Script-writing terms

• Dolly - entire camera moved up
• Zoom - optical dolly illusion
• Truck - lateral movement
• Cuts/ takes
• Cover shot (establishing shot)
• WS (wide shot)/ LS (long shot/full shot) XLS
  (extreme long shot)
• MS (medium shot)
• CU (close up/shot) XCU
• 2-S (two shot) or 3-S (three shot) 2 or 3
  people in scene.
• Subjective Shot - audience sees what camera sees.
• Canted or Dutch shot - shot titled to side 25 -
  45 degrees.
• OS (over the shoulder)
• POV (point of view)
• VO (voice over)
• OSV (off screen voice)
• SFX F/X

14
(No Transcript)
15
Costing out a Production

• No production company will consider anything
  without an idea of how much it will cost.
• Above the line expenses (performing elements)
  talent, script, music
• Below the line expenses (physical elements)
  sets, props, makeup, technical things and
  personal.
• 15 areas to breakdown on a spreadsheet
• 1. preproduction costs
• 2. location scouting and related travel expenses
• 3. studio rental
• 4. sets and set construction
• 5. on-location expenses
• 6. equipment rental
• 7. video recording and duplication
• 8. production crew costs
• 9. producer, director, writer, creative fees
• 10. on-camera talent costs
• 11. insurance, shooting permits, contingencies,
  etc.
• 12. on-line and off-line editing
• 13. advertising, promotion, and publicity
• 14. research and follow-up
• 15. materials, supplies, and miscellaneous
  expenses

16
Other cost related issues

• Rent vs. Buying
• 3 ways to measure cost effectiveness
• Cost/min. divide the final production cost by
  the duration of the finished product.
• Cost/viewer divide the total production cost by
  the actual or anticipated audience.
• Cost/measured benefit measure production costs
  against intended results.
• Exit polls, numbers, and surveys
• Hard, but important to evaluate and assess public
  opinion, and influence might have had in altering
  human behavior.

17
How the imaging process works.

• Based on an illusion motion (rapid sequence of
  still images)
• NTSC standardized 30 fps
• Film 24 fps - takes pictures at 24 frames per
  second (yikes?!)
• Interlaced scanning - tv uses odd and even lines
  in a frame to create images. Odd lines are
  scanned first, and even scanned second (to reduce
  flicker).
• Progressive scanning combos the odd and even
  lines (more technically demanding, but fits
  better with computer and higher quality.)

18
The Camera Imaging Device

• CCD (charged-coupled device) or a CMOS
  (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) these
  chips detect brightness differences at different
  points throughout the image area.
• At the center of the chip are hundreds of
  thousands of pixels. Each pixel responds to
  differences in light - determining how much light
  is falling on its surface.
• Differences in light are changed in voltages.
• TVs reverse the process to show you the image
  back.

19
Analog and Digital

• Equipment detects signals in terms of continuing
  variations in relative strength or amplitude.
• In audio, this translates into volume or
  loudness in video, it's the brightness of the
  picture.
• Quantizing changing measured analog waves into
  digital 1s and 0s.
• High quality equipment does it fast, and
• can divide, multiple, add, subtract.

20
World TV Standards and SDTV

• 14 Different standards three big ones.

21
DHTV vs. SDTV

• SO whats the difference?
• 1.) Analog vs. digital
• 2.) Quality (speed and accuracy of picture)
• 3.) Aspect ratio (from 43 on SDTV to 169 on
  DHTV)
• Red box SDTV, whereas actual pic is DHTV.

22
Digital Cinema vs. Analog Cinema

• Cost
• Cheaper one way (for producers) more expensive
  the other way (for theatres)
• Duplication obviously easier with digital, but
  issues of pirating.
• Upload to a server and send out to theatres.
• Digital is better quality, but audiences rarely
  notice (currently)
• Production advantages play back, evaluate as
  you go.
• Theatres are taking a hit, less people are going
  to movies as they have the technology and theatre
  experience at home.

23
Lenses the basics

• Focal length is the distance from the optical
  center of the lens to the focal plane (target or
  "chip") of the video camera when the lens is
  focused at infinity.
• Its usually measured in millimeters.
• From TURRET to ZOOM lenses and then back to PRIME
  lenses

24
Lenses cont.

• The longer the focal length, the narrower the
  angle of view.
• Normal 20mm - 50mm

25
Zoom

• Zoom vs. Dolly zoom you are optically enlarging
  smaller parts of the picture to fill screen
  dolly you physically move the entire camera to or
  from subject.
• Zoom lenses use numerous glass elements, each of
  which is precisely ground, polished, and
  positioned -- and can be repositioned to change
  the magnification of the lens.
• Zoom ratio a 101 or 301 is the multiplier of
  the focal length.

26
Lenses Distance, Speed, Perspective

• Focal length influences size, distance, speed,
  and perspective of objects.
• Note 25 mm and 25 degrees is normal human
  perspective - with cameras it is 50mm or the
  distance from one corner of the target aras to
  the opposite corner.

Camera distance 1meter with wide angle lens
Camera distance 30 meters with telephoto lens
27
F STOPS and Creative Focus Techniques

• Lens speed max amount of light to pass through
  lens to end up on the target - controlled by the
  iris (controls the amount of light passing
  through.)
• Iris measurements F STOPS (factor stops)
• F-stop focal length / lens opening
• Therefore the smaller the f-stop number the
  greater amount of light being let in.

Note When you open up one stop, you double the
light going through the lens when you stop down
one stop, you cut the amount of light going
through the lens in half.
28
Depth of Field and F-Stops

• Depth of field the range of distance in front of
  the camera that's in sharp focus.
• The larger the f-stop number (that is, the
  smaller the iris opening and the less light let
  in), the greater the depth of field - the more
  things in focus.
• Once focused, you can zoom back the lens to
  whatever focal length you need.
• If you don't zoom in and focus, but try to focus
  while holding a wide shot, you'll inevitably find
  when you later zoom in the picture will go out of
  focus.
• Selective Focus some in, some not in focus
• Follow Focus refocusing
• Rack Focus switching focus points
• Autofocus centers in middle
• HDTV makes focusing and depth of field
  important issues to consider.

29
Filters and Lens Attachments

• Lens hood/ shade cut down on lens flare
• Filters colored gel between two glass pieces (a
  single gel is another cheap way - usually used
  with a matte box to hold it.)
• UV filters used to protect against elements.
• ND (Neutral Density) filter gray filter that
  reduces light by one or more f stops without
  affecting color.
• Polarizing filters reduce reflections and
  glare, deepen colors of blue, penetrate haze, and
  saturate (intensify colors).
• Day for night effect underexposing camera for 1
  - 2 f stops and add a blue filter.
• Special effects filters obvious.

30
Principles of TV Color

• Subtractive (paint/ print)(CMYK) basic colors
  make black
• Additive (light)(RGB) basic colors make white
• Camera to TV Process is based on the process of
  separating (in the camera) and then combining (in
  a TV set) different proportions of red, green and
  blue.
• Simultaneous contrast the way we perceive the
  brightness of an object depends on its
  background.
• Ie. put tuna on a magenta-colored plate makes
  the tuna fish look green

31
Three Chip Video Cameras

• Beam splitter separates full color into its red,
  green, and blue components.
• Composite video when the 3 color signals are
  combined into 1.