Why Pre-Production Is So Important

When you're idea for a project is developed, the next thing to start on is the pre-production process. The pre-production consists of all the steps of how to develop everything needed for shooting. The pre-production process is super important because of how it plans things out. If the team doesn't work on pre-production, the shooting process will fall apart. One thing mentioned in the article is the importance of a storyboard. The storyboard is a visual representation of the different shots in the film. Without the storyboard, no one will know what to shoot. Without this process, everyone on set will be lost.

TV VS Streaming

As the world of technology continues to grow, more and more people are moving from their cable boxes to streaming subscriptions like Netflix and Hulu. The biggest way that these streaming companies have changed the entertainment game is through immediate viewing of what the viewer wants to watch. This is way different to how TV channels work, having viewers wait for when the show they want to watch begins airing. Another huge leap streaming services have over TV is the lack of ads. Other platforms such as Hulu have commercials, but have a separate higher paid subscription to remove them. TV on the other hand regularly shows commercials between or in the middle of shows. Streaming has already changed the present and will change the future of entertainment. All of these platforms will continue to gain users along with newer, more popular shows to keep people watching. In the future, the only thing people might need a cable box for is for watching sports.

Entertainment Industry Careers

In order to break into the film industry, there are a few things that you should accomplish. One of the first pieces of advice the article gives is to make connections with people already in the industry. Having at least one or two people that work on or off set can propel you into getting a job in the future, just by their recommendations alone. Just by telling certain people about people you know could land you a job. Another piece of advice given by the article is believe in yourself when no one else doe. Self drive is important in any job, but when it comes the the film industry, its everything. When you're first starting out, you're the only person that can drive you to success. Lastly, always try to improve on your skills through learning. Even if you finish college with a big name school on your resume, you'll always be learning new things about the industry. Even though most of the advice given in the article is common knowledge among people in the industry, it never helps to remind yourself about how to land a job.

How a TV show gets made

Ever since the medium of television shows began, there were comparisons to the medium of film. Even though TV shows stem from film, there are still differences between how each are created. One example on how they're different is the pre-production work thats put into TV shows. As said in the video, pre-production of a season long drama could take around the same time as the full production for a feature film. The difference between their process however is that they need to do pre-production on multiple episodes instead of just one continuous story like in a movie. Another difference between TV and film is the length of the script. Doing a quick google search says that a feature film's script is normally around 120-150 pages. For TV shows however, the full season can be up to 600 pages long. Lastly, the shooting time for a TV show is a lot less than the shooting for a feature film. In the video, they say that a drama TV show has a shooting time of about 8 days, way less than what a film has. In order for a TV show to get to peoples homes, months of planning, shooting, and editing needs to be done before anyone in the public eye sees it.

Who Owns The Media

Currently, most of the media around the world is controlled and owned by six main companies, Comcast, Walt Disney, 21st Century Fox, Time Warner, CBS, and Viacom. Over time, these companies gained more and more control over the world of media. Most media you see on TV or online is owned by one of these powerful companies in some way. One example of how all these companies holding these pieces of media can be bad is how its used online. Spongebob is a cartoon owned by the company Nickelodeon, but Nickelodeon is owned by Viacom, making Spongebob a Viacom property. Simply uploading a small clip of an episode can lead to Viacom taking down the clip due to their strict copyright rules. Even though these companies can bring bad things to these properties, it doesn't mean that what they do is all bad. These companies also protect the rights to many of these properties. Without these companies owning this media, other people and companies could tarnish the media's reputation.

The Assistant Director

The Assistant Director or also called the AD is an essential roll while on set. There can be multiple people filling this role on set, but most of the time there is only one head AD. The head AD is the main connection between the director of the film and the rest of the crew. Unlike other members on the crew, like the director and producer, the AD is constantly talking with people on set. The producers job is to find ways to finance the movie, without being on set. The biggest job for the AD is on set, where they keep every department running and on time. The AD is constantly calling on people for different jobs that need to be completed. Without the AD on set, people would lose track of time and begin to fall behind on the production.

The Lighting Dept.

In the process of shooting a film, the lighting department is essential for filming to begin. The lighting department consists of gaffers, best boys, electricians, lighting technicians, and other jobs related to electricity. The gaffer's job is to plan out angles and colors of light to properly show the subjects on camera. The best boy in the lighting department is some what of a coordinator inside of the lighting department. Best boys help relay information to other departments about the state of the lights and electricity. The main people who set up the lights are grips, they put up lights wherever the gaffer says to set them up. The lighting department is so important to film making because of their ability to change how the scene looks and feels. Without them, none of the characters on set would look correct, and everything would have to rely natural light.

Building Your Career

When beginning a career in the film industry, theres no better place to start than interning. Being an intern at any studio or job will give you real world experience. Having experience is way more beneficial than reading about things in books. The next step after being an intern would be to get a production assistant job. Being a PA on a set is a very important, yet underrated job. Everyone in the industry has to be a PA at some point, but the only place someone can go from there is up. The step after being a PA is to become and assistant for a position you want to work in. When you're being an assistant, it gives you even more experience in the field that you want to pursue. As you break through the industry, there are many important steps that must be taken before you can reach the position you dream of being in.

Sound Crew

In order for your film to have good quality sound, you'll need a sound crew. A sound crew's job on a film set is to record the essential sounds, such as dialog, while also filtering out the excess sound such as cars in the background. Things like dialog are recorded mainly using a microphone called a boom mic, a microphone that is attached to the end of a pole controlled by the boom operator. In order to be in the sound department, there's a few things someone needs before they can handle a microphone. The main thing a person needs, especially if they're a boom operator, is physical strength. Sometimes, the boom mic needs to be held up for long periods of time, and without a boom mic, theres no dialog. The sound department is so important because, without them, there would be no quality to the sound.

Production Designer

Every film needs to have an art direction, and thats the job for the art department. The art department's role on a film is to produce the world for the film. They have their hands in makeup, concept art storyboarding, special effects, and even more. The head of the art department is the Production Designer. The Production Designer's job is to manage everything in the art department and make the film's art style look. Their biggest job however is to bring the directors vision to life through the art direction. The director has a specific idea on how the film should look, and the Production Designer streamlines these ideas to the whole art department. Without the Production Designer, the art department would have no direction in how the movie should look.

Director Of Photography

On a film set, the role of Director Of Photography is vital to the production of the film. A DP's job on a set is all about the camera and the framing of the shot. The DP manages what lens is on the camera, how the lights should look, any mistakes on screen, etc. DP's work very closely to the director to make sure that the director's vision for the scene is being created properly. The DP also works very closely with the camera department, making sure everything on the cameras is properly set. Camera operators check with the DP if they need to change anything about the movement or placement of a shot, Gaffers discuss lighting and colors, and various other jobs in the camera department all give and take information to the DP. Without a Director of Photography on the set, scenes might look quite like the director envisioned.

Chain Of Command On Set

On a film set, its important that the right people are talking at the right time. One piece advice that I took from the video is to keep chatter at a minimum. People talking could overlap with more important people making decisions. When the cameras are ready to roll, everybody needs to keep it down. Another thing to remember is to know where people are on the chain of command. If something happens on set, its important to know who you should tell. This can range from something missing in a scene or a safety hazard for part of the crew. The last thing to keep in mind is when the camera begins filming. No matter what position you're in, you should know whenever the camera starts rolling. The chain of command on a film set helps with communication and the right person hears what they need to hear.

The Director's Role

As a project is coming together, a director needs to be chosen in order for shooting to begin. The Director of a film is the person who mainly works with the actors on set telling them how to portray a character or how to move around the set. The Director needs to have a vision on how the whole scene should feel. Directors need to understand emotion and how people react to certain words or actions. A few essential skills to be a director are good people skills, high attention to detail, calm under stress, and the ability to see past the frame of a film. The Director is one of the most important roles on set because they help guide every actor on set, and without actors, you have no movie. Directors pass their vision onto the actors and hope to create a successful film.

Departments On Set

In the future, I hope to pursue the current dream of working in the film industry. Because I'm still learning about everything in the industry, I haven't exactly pinpointed which department I want to work in. Recently, I've been more and more interested in the camera department. As I'm having hands on experience with cameras, I've gotten more excited to shoot ideas that I have. Another department I've had interest in is the lighting department. I think light is the deciding element if the art is good or bad, and better lighting can make a good art piece even better. I've always had an interest in trying different angles, and light is a huge part in angles and how a character looks on screen. If I were to have a job in the industry, I think I would want to be either a Gaffer or a Camera Operator. They both have some creative direction on a set, but not too much that I'll feel responsible for big mistakes. Hopefully in the future, I can achieve my dream of working on a film set.

The Role of A Producer

As the crew for a project is coming to form, a producer is the one to create all of the preparations for the newly formed crew. The Producer has many different jobs while on the crew. One of their biggest responsibilities is picking the story for the project. The story could range from an existing book or a completely original idea from an outside source. They construct the story around the limitations of different factors, such as budget and crew size. The Producer is also responsible for creating a budget for the project. Producers always have to keep a close eye on how much money is being spent and how much more they still need to buy. Without a producer on the crew, everything will be out of place and almost nothing would get done.

Who's Who On A Movie Crew

On set for a movie, the is a vast amount of different jobs for the crew members. Depending on what the set needs, there can be hundreds of different jobs that someone can perform. This large amount of jobs happen because of different needs that can pop up during filming. If things aren't flowing correctly during filming, you might need a second Assistant Director or if more lights need to be moved and set up you'll need to hire more people that are Grips. One job that I wasn't aware of was the Unit Production Manager. The job of a UPM is to break down parts of scripts, schedule shoots, and scout for locations to use during filming. This job can either be its own separate part of the production, or someone else on the crew could do it such as the AD or Director. Without all of these different jobs though a movie set would be drastically different. If  essential roles such as Director and Producer aren't set in place, a movie will never get off its feet.

Best Practices On Set

On a set, there are various things that are said before the director calls cut. These different sayings vary from set to set, but they all share the same purpose. First, the Assistant Director will call something along the lines of "Pictures Up." This means that the camera is on and being setup. The AD will then call "Roll Sound" and the sound supervisor prepares for recording the sound. When the sound is ready, the sound supervisor calls "Sound Speeds." The AD also asks to "Roll Camera" where the camera operator responds "Camera Speeds." The camera operator only says this when the camera is fully ready to start filming. The 2nd Assistant Camera Operator then calls the slate with a clapper, which gives the editors what take and scene is being filmed. Only when the Camera Operator calls "Set," meaning the camera is set and ready, only then does the director call action. All of these different sayings are important because it lets the whole crew know when everything is ready, or when something is wrong. If things are miss called, the whole shoot could fail.

The Hobbit Walkthrough

After we watched the walkthrough of The Hobbit, it gave me an even better perspective on how a movie production set looks and how it works. While watching the video, a few things struck out to me. Because The Hobbit is a prequel to The Lord Of The Rings, they had to perfectly recreate locations for certain scenes. I was astounded by the amount of detail and effort that went into recreating these areas. Another thing that struck me by surprise was how much bigger the sets were. I knew that they used certain tricks and editing to make the hobbits look smaller, and I thought that one of those tricks was making the sets smaller. The last thing that surprised me about The Hobbit walkthrough was the huge crew involved in creating it. I always knew the crew had to be big, but I never would have guessed the whole crew consisted of almost 3,000 people. The most interesting step in the production process for me is the blocking of the actors. While watching the walkthrough, I really liked seeing what was going on inside the actor's heads and watching them learn about the film. Overall, I think The Hobbit  walkthrough was an amazing inside look at how major motion pictures are created.