Blog report

1. Blog Report
For thisunitof workwe had to producta short film that had to be 90 seconds or less. The short film
had to be made to be an entry for the Depict 90 seconds or less short film competition that can be
entered by anyone across the world for that chance to win £2500 and other prizes. The
requirementsforgenre andproductionmethodforthe film is open. This gave our group the option
to be open with ideas. This also allowed us to draw inspiration from various places. The main
inspiration for the video we produced was an advert for Extra chewing gum
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLpDiIVX0Wo).
In this advert we see both main characters (Juan and Sarah) fall in love and going to various places
and doing various things. Throughout this at times we see Juan draw on the wrapping for Extra
chewinggum.Towardsthe endof the advert we see a gallery of all of Juan’s chewing gum wrapper
drawings to which he then surprises Sarah by proposing. This gave our group the idea of having
somethingtocapture momentsina relationshipandwe came up with the idea of having Polaroid’s
that a character wouldtake at variousmomentsof the relationship. Also to fill in the gaps between
the times we decided to use stop frame animation of the days on a calendar being crossed of with
events of the relationship being written down on the calendar. We distributed out short film on
YouTube and embedded it onto our media blogs.
Types of moving image products and distribution methods.
There are many various moving image products the most notable type is television programs. The
media products can vary in length, genres, production style, budget and what adverts are shown
with them. The length in the programs can vary however most are either 30 minutes or an hour
(Includingadverts). The majority of channels predominately air programs of this length but also air
filmsandlongerprograms.Howeveranexceptionof thiscouldbe dedicatedmovie channels such as
Film4, a channel that showsonly filmsfree of charge.There are otherchannelsthatdo thishowever
theyare notverywell recognised.Other channels will often show low budget films such as Syfy. In
termsof television,longernon-filmproductionsmaybe serialisedoverdays,weeksoreven months.
The BBC and ITV have produced programs that last over this time. A program that the BBC have
produced is Sherlock which has consisted of 3 90-minute episodes per season. The program first
started in 2010 and had a season in 2010, 2012 and 2014. The programs has long intervals between
the seasons, this has given the main cast time to work on other projects. For example Martin
Freeman(DrJohnWatson) and BenedictCumberbatch(Sherlock Holmes) have both worked on the

2. Hobbittrilogyduring the time between seasons 2 and 3. The program lasts 90 minutes and doesn’t
containregularadvertisement breaks. This is because the BBC is one of the very few channels that
doesn’tshowadverts.Theyare notable forgettingtheir money from TV licenses. In addition to this
ITV also show programs that last over 60 minutes such as Downton Abbey. However being a
commercial channel they have regular advertisement breaks. The genres for TV programs vary
throughoutdifferentchannels withafew otherchannelsbeingdedicatedtoafew or only one genre
of programs.Anexample of agenre-dedicatedchannel wouldbe the discoverychannel thattendsto
show natural world and factual documentary programs. Most programs shown can be considered
hybrid genres as they’re aimed at a large target audience, this will allow for the advertising costs
duringthese timestobe higherwhich will be beneficialforthe productioncompany of the program.
Furthermore some programs are sponsored so
an advert/sponsorship message will be seen at
the start and end of advertisement breaks. An
example can be Hungry House an online
takeaway order service is currently sponsoring
The Big Bang Theory on E4. Another example
that was a few years ago was the highly
recognised Tomb Raider game sponsored Arrow on Sky. Both of these
sponsors have reason for sponsoring the type of program. On The Big Bang Theory the characters
are often seenhavingtakeaways. WhilstonArrow the main character Oliver Queen throughout the
entire series has flashbacks of being stranded on an island with a progressive narrative, the Tomb
Raider video game has a very similar narrative of being stranded on an island.
Anotherformof movingimage productsare videosuploadedtothe video-sharingwebsite YouTube.
Since YouTube’s launch in 2005 it has grown exponentially and has allowed people to produce
content for it for a living by making money from advertisers. A YouTuber (Someone who produces
video) who is well known for starting of years ago and eventually
becoming a big YouTuber is Tom Cassel. His first video started off
as a simple vlog when he was 17 and since then he has become to
creating how own games, clothing range and holds world records
for various games all of which all been uploaded to YouTube. In
additiontothisanothermediaof movingimage is advertisements.
These are always to be found in various formats however they are
mostseenon TV on most of the channels, seen at a cinema before
a film starts as well as on YouTube before and sometimes after a
video ends. These can also be on a video if they have some
relatable features. Another way they are distributed is by digital bill boards and through websites
these will allow foralargertargetaudience tobe reachedbythe advertisement.Advertisementsare
often between 3-5 minutes long. The short trailers can often be a pop up whilst on web pages or
sometimes before aYouTube videostartswhilst longtrailerlastroughly5minutes.Small snippets of
trailersare oftenshownonTV as TV spotswhichare also postedtoYouTube,inaddition to this they
are also sometimes put onto the YouTube home page in large will plays when the page is fully
loaded.
In terms of the production costs a program such as The Big Bang Theory; a very expensive part of
their production is the pay packets of the cast per episode. During the first week of production of
one of the laterseasonsthe main cast decided to organise a walk out on production unless they all

3. got a significantpayincrease andsince then the 3main cast members Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons and
Johnny Galecki are reportedly going to earn £600,000 per episode.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28658258) Whilstthe production cost for Arrow is
estimatedat$1.2 million.The mostexpensiveprogramforcostis Friendsthathad a roughbudget of
$10 millionperepisode.The othermainfeature of TV programsis their production style. A program
such as Friends would’ve often been shot in a few close locations, this is most likely the case with
The Big Bang Theory. Furthermore programs that require lots of CGI, stunt work, props, costumes,
equipment and setting work can often have a higher budget. An example of this
wouldbe Game of Thrones.Anothertype of movingimage isfilm; these are often
veryhighbudget,incinemas and have well-known actors/actresses. The average
production cost for a film in 2007 was approximately $100 million however
recently the big successful films have cost more than $200 million. In some of
these filmssome of the revenuewill just be from product placement for example
Spectre the latest instalment in the James Bond franchise was estimated to have
17 product placements. Other films
can do well on a low budget for example Clerks by Kevin Smith was made with a
budgetbelow$40 thousandbutgrossedover $3 million.Filmsare primarilyshown
incinemasthenreleasedonvariousDVDandonline formats.Otherfilmsare made
and produced straight to DVD and these are often overlooked.
Otherprogramsare producedforonline TV andfilmstreamingservicessuch as Netflix, Amazon and
Blinkbox.Theseservicesoftenshow variousTV programs,oldandnew
as well asfilms that range from being only a year old to over 30 years
old. These servicesoftenproduce their own programs. Netflix is well
knownforprograms like Orange isthe new Blackand Daredevil whilst
Amazoniswell knownforHandof God and Transparent.Programslike
this can often act as strong advertising points to why people should
buymembershipforthese services.FurthermoreNetflix alsogetsnew episodesfor series as they’re
aired on TV an example of this would be Once Upon a Time. Another type of moving image media
productis YouTube videos.OnYouTube the range of types of videos is unlimited. The most prolific
beingmusicvideo,filmandTV trailers,game videos, how to videos and many others. Some people
have become very successful and make money from advertisements and sponsorships such as The
Yogscast. This channel started years ago with podcast videos and World of Warcraft videos. Now
they have over 20 staff many of which are editors and content producers.
Finance and sources of funding.
Varioussourcesof fundingexist forTV, film and other moving image products. The main sources of
fundingof TV programs can oftenbe sponsorsandadvertisements(If the programisn’t made by the
TV channel itself). Examples of these are mentioned in the first topic of the blog report. Other
sources of funding for TV programs include funding from organisations, investors etc. Films often
have a larger source of funding from a larger area. Big films are often funded by the
Producers/productionCompanyorcommercial investors, whilst some films for example in the Fast
and Furious franchise have often had investment from actor Vin Diesel who stared and produced
some of the films.Alsoasmentionedearlierfilmscanoftenbe partlyfundedbyproductplacements.

4. Programsthat are made by video streamingservicessuchasNetflix andAmazonare oftenfundedby
them. These companies often have many revenue streams from membership and in a few cases
sponsors. These have often allowed these services to produce
their own self-funded productions. Videos such as YouTube are
nearlyalwaysself-fundedbut are mostly free. However in some
casessponsors have paid a channel to produce content for their
game or add sponsor ship messages at the start of their videos.
They often send copies of their games or give the YouTube
channelsearlyaccesstoplaytest theirgame or otherexclusivefeatures.Thesewilloftenlead to the
channel producing content for the videos. An example of this would be Blizzard who gave The
Yogscast early Beta access to play their games, which advertises the new game and the channel
itself. This had lead to The Yogscast having a wider target audience, which will gain them
subscribers, and money from YouTube advertisements. Recently they have started having paid
sponsorshipmessages before they show the actual content of the video. Another example for The
Yogscast is they had a sponsorship video from the film Pixels with the actress Michelle Monaghan
who stared in the film. The sources of filming that exists for independent film makers is the BFI
(BritishFilmInstitute) lotteryfund.The BFILotteryfundis the largest UK public film fund and invest
£26 intothe filmindustry.Itknown for having the world’s largest film archive as well as holding an
annual filmawards showing the best films funded by the lottery. This can be a good way for young
film makers to possibly secure a fund to produce a short film/film.
Requirements.
The main areaswhere the moneyis spent on film production varies. For quite a few films in recent
years they have had to pay story rights to make films based on games, books and sometimes to
remake a film or franchise. Screenwriters are often a high paid area as they are often paid on a
weeklyor monthly basis and can be paid to rewrite a film that has been screen written badly. Film
directors and producers are paid to make and produce a film over a few year period as well as this
theycan sometimesbe workingonmore than one film at a time. The main area in terms of content
of the film can be the most expensive as the cast and CGI (If there is loads) can be the most
expensive partof a films budget. Avatar for example had a budget over $400 million most of which
was to make the equipment to produce the CGI for the film. The production cost can also include
payingcrewand staff,moneyforequipment,facilities,travel betweenlocation(sometimesglobally),
location rent and other high paying areas. The music in films and TV can sometimes be very
expensive HansZimmerforexample isamusiccomposer who often gets paid based on the amount
of music he needs to produce. For example if he was asked to make a piece of music for a trailer
he’d get paid far less than if he had to compose a soundtrack for a whole film e.g. Pirates of the
Caribbean.TV programs generally have alowerbudgetperepisode. The main cost for these are the
cast, directorsandproducers.Asmentionedearlier the main budget for an episode of The Big Bang
Theoryisthe maincast whoget paid$1 millioneach. Toadvertise TV orfilmcanveryexpensive.The
advertisingforTV programsis often on the channel their aired on as well as online. Where as films
can be advertised for over a year with billboards, interviews, trailers, TV spots and sponsorships.
For our 90 secondshort filmwe had to obtain few items, most of which were also used out of film.
For example the Costacoffee drinksinone of the sceneswere drinksthatthe actors/actressesactual
wantedtohave. Also the meal during the romantic meal scene the meal was actually hot and both
cast members had that as their evening meal after the filming of that scene was finished. The
hardestelementwe hadtoobtainforour filmwasmostlikelythe musicas we had to find a suitable

5. piece of music that we could obtain rights to use or find a piece of royalty free music. We found a
piece from Kevin Macleod who has produced over 2,000 pieces of music all royalty free.
Personnel
The average make-up team for a film can vary for big Hollywood films. For example Man of Steel
(2013) had a make-updepartment consisting of 24 people other films such as the Lord of the Rings
franchise had over 50. For this department of work there is a wide range of roles that need to be
filledsuchaswigmaker,make-upartist(quite afew),hairstylistandmore.Whilstthe make-upcrew
for a television such as The Big Bang Theory have
had 7 different people working in the make-up
department some working for 2 episodes of
filming to Faye Woods who has so far worked on
192
episodes from 2007-2015. This also shows that for long term programmes that the make-up
departmentwill oftenchange andhave differentcrew comparedtoafilmwhere they’ll be hired for
most or all of the duration of the films filming. Both of these types of make-up departments still
outnumberalowbudgetfilmbyfar forthe size of theirmake-updepartment.Clerks(1994) make-up
department consisting of one person who was also used as an extra during a scene. This can also
show that someone can be useful in more than one department, whilst in films people generally
have one specific role.
In our group we all produced work towards the planning stage. I primarily focused on looking for
music (royalty free) and working out the props as well as looking for continuity flaws in the
storyboard/script. In addition to this I wrote up the risk assessment and got various documents
scanned.The restof the pre-productionworkwassplitbetween my other group members. In terms
of the actual filming I was unfortunately able to make little contribution. To get to Acle where the
majority of our filming took place I had to travel 2 hours each way. Therefore I was mainly focused
on the editingareaof the work ratherthan the filming.Ididhoweverhelpprovide the scene for the
videocall whichwe were unfortunately unable to do using skype due to the college Wi-Fi blocking
the piece of software from internet access. Therefore we had to use QuickTime
playerandrecordedthe video usingthe laptopsbuilt-incamera.Intermsof editing I
merged all the photos for the stop-motion calendar together into their various
scenes using Photoshop and Premier Pro which I have had experience in, most of
whichwas in Photoshop. Other than our cast there were other contributors such as
one of our cast members Nan allowing us to use her home for the romantic meal
scene, Freya’s family for allowing us to use their dog as well as their family for
allowing us to film a few scenes in their home.
Time
Our time frame was6 college weeksandthis6 weekperiodwassplitinto3x2 week periods the first
one was whenwe done all of the preproductionpaperwork,the secondwas for filming and the last
was forpost-productionediting.We managedthe pre-productionworkquite well and the same can
be saidfor the filmingstage of the time frame.Howeverwhenitcame to the editing stage we spent
a lot more time editing everything trying out many small changes as well as finally deciding on the
choice of music. We finishedthe overall deadlines both in class and out of college. When deadlines
are missed in the media industry things can get really bad. As I mentioned earlier about the main

6. cast of The Big Bang Theory, planning to walk out unless they got a pay raise. The producers acted
swiftlysotheycouldmeetthe deadlinesof the production.Furthermore forprogramsthatmakes an
episode shortlybefore its air date it can sometimes unfinished and therefore not shown on TV. An
example of thiswouldbe SouthParkinOctober2013. The directors/producersmake the program at
the very last minute so they can sometimes include very new topic. However before they could
finish the episode they had a power cut that lasted hours and they missed the deadline and no
episode of South Park was shown that week. That was the first time in the programs history that
such thing had happened.
Equipment/Facilities
In the mediaindustrymostcompaniesoftenkeepandmaintaintheirownmediaequipmentand will
oftenbuynewstuff shouldit be better than what they currently have no matter the cost. However
for smallerproductioncompaniestheywilloftenhave torentequipmentandhire staff fromamedia
facilityhouse;theyare able to provide crew, equipment, facilities as well as other important stuff.
Furthermore a local one to the college is Bruizer
(http://bruizer.co.uk/) For the equipment we required to
make we had all the software and computers available for
us to use at college whilst other equipment such as cameras and tri-pod were already owned by a
group member so we used that equipment.
Locations
My group filmed at various locations mostly in Acle with a few scenes being at college. For all of
these locationswhere we had to we got a location reece which we took photos of the place, listed
whatit couldbe used for as well as the owner of the land/property. For all the locations necessary
we had a location release form signed by an owner of the land/property. We used the various
locationsastheyall suitedthe purpose andfunctionwe neededforthe variousscenes. For example
the romanticmeal at home we were able toset up the setting in shot with various props to give it a
romanticfeel.The onlyproblemswe encounteredwith some of the locations was with the outdoor
scene we reliedonitbeinggoodweatherwhilstwithall the scenesinAcle,Ihadproblemsgetting to
that locationdue tothe amountof free time Ihad out of college aswell asthe time itwouldtake me
to get there.
Materials
The various materials in the media industry vary however a highly recognised one is rights to use
already existing material such as soundtracks, narrative, copyright names, places and ideas and
manymore othermaterial sources.Sometimes in order to use certain materials you would need to
agree to a copyright deal where you agree with the owner of the content the terms of the content
use for example and then if you would need crew, if you were a large production company you’d
normallyhave mostof the normal equipmentwhilstthe specialistone of equipmentyoumightneed
to get custom made or designed. However if you were a smaller production company you’d most
likelybe bestusingyourownequipment.If youwere aimingforaprofessionallymade film however
you could rent and hire people from a media facility house. Often when creating a new film
companies will always create their own materials where necessary and get everything copyright
giving them the only rights to use it. An example of new material created for a film would be the
Hobbit film series storyline that diverged from the books adding new materials such as costumes,
characters, locations and more.

7. Legal Issues
As mentioned in the materials section for already existing materials you’d need to agree to terms
that if you broke you could be filed for a lawsuit. Copyrighting a product allows you to have the
rightsto use it andanyone using it without your permission will be eligible for a lawsuit. They vary
from country to country therefore you’d have to get it copyrighted based on each countries
copyrightsystem.The copyrightwill lastforthe copyright owner’s life and for an extra 50-100 years
after that. An example of where a company would’ve lost the rights to use a set of pre-existing
material is when Fox almost lost the rights to producing content based on the Fantastic Four
franchise.Thiswas because they hadn’t produced anything relating to it in ten years. Fox however
made a low budget film that wasn’t released to allow them to keep the rights to this franchise.
Whenit came to findingmusicforourfilmwe had tofindroyalty free music. Which basically means
anyone can use it and all the composer Kevin Macleod asks for it for his music
and name to be credited. Our group for this credited him in the description of
our filmonYouTube.Copyrightclearance is when the producer of the material
had passed and it is released for anyone to use after approximately 50-100
years after their death after this anyone is allowed to use that content freely.
PublicLiability Insurance is when a production company/studio would have to
pay the personinsuredshouldtheyhave aninjuryoraccident that would affect
them in such a way. An example of this can be found here:
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers:_Dark_of_the_Moon#Accidents ).
Finally a completion guarantee/insurance is when a producer has to finish
working of a film or other production and is run by a completion guarantee
company for a small fee usually based on the production fee of the media
production.
Regulation, Trade Union and Associations
A regulatorybody is that is usually set up by a government to manage what media and other types
of productions are allowed to be seen, showed and heard in a country. These will often vary from
country however the big ones known are the BBC Trust, Ofcom and the
BBFC. Ofcom is a regulatory body that primarily focuses on television,
radio and post regulations. The BBC however isn’t monitored by Ofcom
instead it’s monitored by the BBFC which is a similar type of board that
decidesall of the film, game andtelevisionratingforthe UK. A trade union
is a group of people or companies that work together to protect the
wellbeing, safety and care of workers and other crew/staff. The trade
unions however can vary in standards as each county can have its own
therefore it other places it may not be deemed good based on our trade union system. Secondly,
Pact is the Producers Alliance for Cinema and TV whilst BECTU (Broadcasting, Entertainment,
CinematographyandTheatre Union) isatrade unionboardthat has approximately 25,000 members
that is financed by its subscribers. Finally a trade association is a group of businessmen who have
founded an organisation for a specific industry.