Evaluation

This is my evaluation of my final film which goes through the process I had to go through for each section of my pre-production. I made this to look back on what I did right and what I wrong so that I  could improve my mistakes and also know what I did correct.

Evaluation  

Pre-production is the research, planning and development of a film. It includes finance, logistics and creative. ‘Finance’ covers the overall budget of the film and how much money is spent on hiring cast and crew members, buying props and equipment or hiring time on a filming location. ‘Logistics’ covers the organizing of the filmmaking and how efficiently the other two elements are planned out. ‘Creative’ covers the storyboards/plot of the film, the costumes and props and the script and cinematography. It is very important to manage and organize these sections efficiently so to avoid any problems during the filming and editing process and it makes the whole process a lot easier to complete in the long run.  

   Creative  

Creativity covers the script, costumes, characters etc. of the film. In terms of creativity, it is important to not go overboard and spend most of the budget. The goal is to try to save as much money as you possibly can without looking cheap at the same time. My aim was to spend as little as I could but still, I looked for well-made costumes and props, so the authenticity could remain. As for the script, I tried to craft a plot which was as entertaining for my target audience as I could using dark comedy like ‘Inside No 9’ or ‘The League of Gentlemen’. I also tried to incorporate the traditional script layout when I was completing the early drafts. Below is my script (left) and the script for the film Aliens (right) for comparison.    

              

I tried to make my script resemble that of a professional script with the font looking similar along with the layout. The reason for this was to make the script easier to read and follow for the actors. I went back and changed serval lines and stage directions several times when I read the script again and I tried to iron out the script as much as I could. The line 2 says before the credit sequence was changed from “did you see coronation street last night?” to “did you catch the game last night? Tipping Point”. After the changes were made, I was happy with the final draft.    

Finance 

The elements I had to take into consideration for financing the film were what financing option I would choose to fund the film with, how much the overall buget will be and how much I would need, altogether, to complete the pre-production process. My aim was to try to save as much as I could but still retain the industry standard. Making a funding table was very helpful as it went through the pros and cons of each source of finance which helped me decide which one, I wanted to use to fund my film. The funding table is shown below.    

 

The funding table was a great help for me as it helped me understand which types of funding were better for me to consider. The financing option I considered to be the best for me was the self-funding option, as it was the only option possible for me to consider.    

My real budget was £0 as I was borrowing the school equipment for shooting my film. I also kept in mind that I would be using school equipment and that I would only need to pay for the costumes. I presented my budgeting in a table as show below.  

     

This helped me keep track of the prices of all the filming equipment, actor’s funds, costumes and props easily and efficiently. This is so I can always check what I need to pay for everything if I ever get confused about any prices. This left a positive impact on my pre-production overall as it was useful for keeping track of the budgeting.  

Logistics  

The logistics side of the pre-production was very important as it impacts on other the elements. Therefore, I compiled a risk assessment, a location recce, a contingency plan, and a cast and crew table. The risk assessment was compiled as a safety precaution for the cast and crew whilst on set. It lists a risk that could occur during filming, who the risk will affect, the severity of the risk and the action/ response to avoid the risk from occurring. The risk assessment is below.     

   

         

The risk assessment was highly useful and important as it helped the cast and crew avoid any of the risks highlighted in the assessment. The risk assessment is essential to any pre-production.  

The cast and crew table lists who is responsible for each role during the filming. It lists both the cast and what characters they played and the crew and what roles their job included. The main reason for compiling this is to avoid any confusion during the filming as by looking at the cast and crew table, everyone knows their role and responsibility. The cast and crew list is below.  

 

The cast and crew table is another essential element to the pre-production and is very helpful when completed. 

The contingency plan is like the risk assessment but is more focused on problems that could delay filming such as weather problems or equipment issues. It also shares a similar layout to the risk assessment, listing a potential problem and the solution to that problem if it was to occur. This is to help me and the cast and crew deal with any of the potential problems if they occur or help us avoid the problem entirely. The contingency plan is below.  

  

The location recce lists all the locations I considered filming at, a brief description of each location and the pros and cons of the location. This was to help me decide which location to film as it would allow me to compare each location. The location recce is below  

 

The location recce is another essential element to the pre-production as it really helps with choosing your location for you film. 

    Conclusion 

I rarely ran into any huge problems which affected the pre-production immensely and only had to re-write parts of each section due to common mistakes which were easily fixed. I re-wrote the script several times as mentioned, and I also had some trouble finding certain items for the costumes and props which were cheap. As mentioned however, these problems were easily fixed in the end.