Pre-production areas to consider
Learning aim A: Understand the requirements of
pre-production of a digital media product
A1 Requirements for a specific media production
• Types of production: film, television, audio, digital
publishing, digital games.
• Finance.
• Sources of finance: private, public, joint financing.
• Requirements of finance: for equipment, crew, transport,
materials, clearances, talent, facility hire.
• Logistics.
• Time: deadlines, availability of equipment, availability
of personnel, timescales.
• Facilities: production equipment, post-production
equipment, facility houses, prop houses, sourcing and costs of facilities.
• Locations: identification; recces; limitations and risks,
e.g. distance, access, cost, weather.
• Personnel: technical crew, actors, extras, contributors,
e.g. experts, specialists.
• Materials: type, e.g. original materials, archive and library
materials, photo-library materials, sound library materials, internet, assets,
audio, script, animatics, graphics, interviews, costumes, properties, recorded
music, sources; costs; clearances.
• Adherence to codes of practice and regulation.
• Clearances, e.g. Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society
(MCPS).
• Legal, e.g. copyright, health and safety.
• Regulations, e.g. Ofcom, Independent Press Standards
Organisation (IPSO),
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
• Trade unions and professional bodies, e.g. Producers Alliance
for Cinema and Television (Pact), National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
A2 The formats for pre-production processes
Established industry formats for presenting pre-production
work:
• templates for scripts (written/dialogue/sound)
• written or visual storyboards
• written or visual storylines
• page mock-ups.
A3 The functions of pre-production processes
• Revising and discounting ideas.
• Visualising content.
• Establishing feasibility (expertise, costs, timescale,
logistics).
A4 The purposes of pre-production documentation
• Adherence to codes of practice and regulation.
• Administrative requirements, e.g. record keeping, sharing
of information among relevant parties.
• Auditing compliance.
