week 5: Production Management for film & Mise en scene

Production

“Production” is generally not considered a department as such, but rather as a series of functional groups. These include the "front office" staff such as the Production Manager, the Production Coordinator, and their assistants; the accounting staff; the various Assistant Directors; and sometimes the Locations Manager and his or her assistants. The Director is considered to be a separate entity, not within the departmental structure.

 

Executive Producer

usually an investor in the project or just a credit that the filmmaker gave to someone who paid for the credit. You can have as many executive producers as you want but generally keep it to a minimum.

 

Producer

A film producer creates the conditions for making movies. The producer initiates, coordinates, supervises and controls matters such as raising funding, hiring key personnel, and arranging for distributors. The producer is involved throughout all phases of the filmmaking process from development to completion of a project.

 

Production Manager

The production manager supervises the physical aspects of the production (not the creative aspects) including personnel, technology, budget, and scheduling. It is the production manager's responsibility to make sure the filming stays on schedule and within its budget. The PM also helps manage the day-to-day budget by managing operating costs such as salaries, production costs, and everyday equipment rental costs. The PM often works under the supervision of a line producer and directly supervises the Production Coordinator.

 

Unit Manager

The unit manager fulfills the same role as the production manager but for secondary "unit" shooting. In some functional structures, the unit manager subsumes the role of the Transport Coordinator.

 

Production Coordinator

The Production Coordinator is the information nexus of the production, responsible for organizing all the logistics from hiring crew, renting equipment, and booking talent. The PC is an integral part of film production.

 

Director

The director is responsible for overseeing the creative aspects of a film, including controlling the content and flow of the film's plot, directing the performances of actors, organizing and selecting the locations in which the film will be shot, and managing technical details such as the positioning of cameras, the use of lighting, and the timing and content of the film's soundtrack. Though the director wields a great deal of power, he or she is ultimately subordinate to the film's producer or producers. Some directors, especially more established ones, take on many of the roles of a producer, and the distinction between the two roles is sometimes blurred.

 

Assistant Director

The first assistant director (1st AD) assists the production manager and director. The ultimate aim of any 1st AD is to ensure the film comes in on schedule while maintaining a working environment in which the director, principal artists (actors) and crew can be focussed on their work. He or she is in charge of overseeing the day-to-day management of the cast and crew scheduling, equipment, script, and set. A 1st AD may also be responsible for directing background action for major shots or the entirety of relatively minor shots, at the director's discretion.

2^nd Assistant Director

The second assistant director (2nd AD) is the chief assistant of the 1st AD and helps carry out those tasks delegated to the 1st AD. The 2nd AD may also direct background action and extras in addition to helping the 1st AD with scheduling, booking, etc. The 2nd AD is responsible for creating Call Sheets that let the crew know the schedule and important details about the shooting day. In Canadian and British functional structures there are 3rd ADs and even Trainee ADs; in the American system there are 2nd 2nd ADs.

 

Production Assistant

A production assistant assists the first assistant director with set operations. Production assistants, almost always referred to as PAs, also assist in the production office with general tasks.

 

Script Supervisor

Also known as the "continuity person", the script supervisor keeps track of what parts of the script have been filmed and makes notes of any deviations between what was actually filmed and what appeared in the script. He or she makes notes on every shot, also keeping track of props, blocking, and other details to ensure that continuity is maintained from shot to shot, and from scene to scene. The Script Supervisor's notes are given to the Editor to expedite the editing process. The script supervisor works very closely with the director on set.

 

Production Accountant

The production accountant assists the production manager and line producer in keeping track of the film's budget. The production accountant, together with his or her various assistants, is often considered to be a separate department.

 

Location Manager

The location manager researches, locates, secures and coordinates the filming locations. He/she creates a location breakdown, identifying the precise locations needed and works hand-in-hand with the director and the production designer. For smaller budget productions the Location Manager may also serve as the Unit Manager.

**remarks

In many cases, for low budget film production either shorts or features, often the crew is not completed. Thus, most likely the producer is multi tasked, he or her can be a production manager or an assistant director.

as for your short film, thus, the producer is someone who is in charged of everything about management and organization. Nevertheless, it is a very important role as well as the manager for your short film production.

Mise en scène

Mise en scène is everything that appears before the camera, namely:

• the setting
• the costume and make-up
• the use of figure, expression and movement by actors
• the lighting

The style scale

Formalism, expressionism		Realism
Form over content - how things are shown is most important, and beyond a usual representation of reality. Expressionist films are highly stylised, and are characterised by oblique camera angles, distorted shapes, bizarre settings, high contrast lighting and the surreal and subjective.		Content over form - looks like real life - the intent is to make us forget it is a representation. This is the dominant style of most films, and is sometimes referred to as "the style of no style."

Setting

Setting gives a sense of place and time. Whatever the film is, you should always analyze the set because it provides important clues about the nature of the film, such as:

• where the action takes place
• when the action takes place
• the mood
• the characters
• the genre of the film.

Costume and make-up

Costume and make-up can be considered as part of the set, because they indicate:

• the period
• the state of society
• social class
• cultural backgrounds
• character traits.

Changes in costume indicate changes in character, e.g.:

• rich to poor
• taking off clothes as lowering defenses.

Clothing might also be a trademark.

Figure, expression and movement

• Body language
• appearance
• facial expressions (very significant in close-ups)
• sound elements.

The way a character stand and move is important.

• If they are the foreground they might be considered more important.
• If they move against a stationary background attention is drawn to them.
• Even distribution of characters makes for a balanced shot, whereas uneven distribution is unsettling to the eye.
• Positioning of characters within the frame may even indicate emotional distance.

Special remarks:

Everything appears from left to right or located at left, it usually implies pleasantness to the viewer. Which means, when the scene is about something positive or the following scene is a happy scene, the subject usually moves from left to right. However, anything from right to left could suggest unpleasantness, uneasiness, danger, and anything negative. Therefore, at many times, the protagonist is usually at the left and the villain is usually at the right side of the frame.

moreover, colors can play an important role for showing good and bad. For example, good guy usually have vibrant colors like superman, spiderman, iron man, and hulk. However, bad guys usually have duller colors, distorted outfit, or scary costume. Batman is different, because the art concept for batman is, he's a threat to the bad guys, thus he should look more solid and darker to his opponent, but don forget, he looks cool and good looking, so... you get the idea.

next, anything is placed on the top part of the frame or at the higher ground, it suggests power, strength, or authority, that against anything lower than the subject or below it.

in addition, anything is positioned closer the center of the frame, it makes the subject seems more important. Vice versa, anything placed further from the center, it gets less important.

the distance between the casts can suggest closeness or intimacy. The closer they are together, the more intimate they are.

when you have the casts facing at one direction, parallel, it shows that they are in the same team, facing same challenges. However, if you have them facing each other or agaisnt each other, it suggests opposition. Means they are opponent or different, except when you have a romantic scene such as the moment when they are kissing.

lastly, when the talent is facing the camera, it makes the character interacts with the audience, or to create intimacy between the viewers and the character. however, lesser the talent facing the camera, greater distance you are creating between the audience and the character. Say, if you are trying to create mysteriousness for your character, you would rather not to reveal his entire face or you can have him or her back facing the camera. It triggers audience's imagination.

nevertheless, in order to achieve good mise en scene in your short film, the basic idea is to put in thoughts before you start shooting. Be aware of how your camera and casts move, positioned, and the way your casts look like. Think about what perspective best suits your scene or convey whatever you want to express to the audience. It's usually about common sense. thus, all you need to do is, put in thoughts in every single shots, sets, and movements. And don't forget, have a nice setting or background and play around with lighting can make your movie lots more fun and interesting. in fact, i'll be judging your mise en scene for your final project, it's part of the marking scheme too. So, if you should have any question, you can ask me anytime, i'll be more than happy to help.

Story, Screenplay, & Storyboards

Story Development

Plot
Plot or storyline is all the events in a story, particularly towards the achievement of some particular artistic or emotional effect. In other words it's what mostly happened in the story. Such as the mood, characters, setting, and conflicts occurring in a story.

Story arc

• Plot is often schematically represented as an arc reflecting the rising action described in the following phases:

1. Initial situation – the beginning. It is the first incident that makes the story start.
2. Conflict or Problem – goal which the main character, or other characters, of the story has to achieve.
3. Complication or Rising action – obstacles which the main character has to cope.
4. Climax – highest point of interest of the story.
5. Resolution – what happens to the character after overcoming all obstacles and reaching his goal, or failing to achieve the desired result and not reaching his goal.
6. Conclusion – the end result of the plot.

Short Story (for short film)

• Short stories tend to be less complex than novels. Usually, a short story will focus on only one incident, has a single plot, a single setting, a limited number of characters, and covers a short period of time.

• In longer forms of fiction, stories tend to contain certain core elements of dramatic structure: exposition (the introduction of setting, situation and main characters); complication (the event of the story that introduces the conflict); rising action, crisis (the decisive moment for the protagonist and their commitment to a course of action); climax (the point of highest interest in terms of the conflict and the point of the story with the most action); resolution (the point of the story when the conflict is resolved); and moral.

• Because of their short length, short stories may or may not follow this pattern. Some do not follow patterns at all. For example, modern short stories only occasionally have an exposition. More typical, though, is an abrupt beginning, with the story starting in the middle of the action. As with longer stories, plots of short stories also have a climax, crisis, or turning-point. However, the endings of many short stories are abrupt and open and may or may not have a moral or practical lesson.

• Of course, as with any art form, the exact characteristics of a short story will vary by author.

Script writing

• Is a back bone for a whole movie.
• It must be in present tense
• Description for the environment is written for visual aspect, different than a novel.
• It must have: scene title (location and time), action (what is happening, what should be seen in the screen, camera view, and sound effects), dialogs or narration (character's name and expression, and what they talk about)
  

Screenplay format:

• EXT- external, INT-interior, follow by the location name and time, either "DAY" or "NIGHT", all must be in big caps. eg. INT. CLASS 105 - DAY
  

• Short forms: (V.O.) and (OVER) - for voice over of a person or a sound produced by an item that is not present in the scene. POV - point of view of the character.
  

• Words with big caps in "action" is for new character's name. To make notice for the reader when a new character is introduced in the movie, or it can also represent sound effects. For example, Jason realizes a cell phone is RINGING, it is from the girl sitting behind him, SUSAN, dark hair, light make-up, t-shirt and jeans, she picks up the phone from her handbag and answers the phone.
  

• Sometimes, the writer can include brief emotional description for the character before the dialog, in italic form. eg.

Big Daddy
(angry)
I hate you, you ate all my cookies, I hate you for the rest of my life.

• Cinematography description can be included in brief as a suggestion. Nevertheless, it is the director and the cinematographers who are responsible in how they shoot it, not the writer.
• "FADE IN:", "FADE OUT:", "CUT TO:", "CROSSFADE:" are the few editing notes a writer can put in the screenplay.
• using bold and italic in the dialog can show different speaking styles when the character is speaking to different people alternatively in a scene.
  

Sample screenplay from the movie "Da Vinci Code"

SOPHIE
Oui. The numbers are only out of order.

Langdon’s eye narrow; how the hell did he miss that?

LANGDON
Ow. It is the Fibonacci sequence. From
the top of the order, too.

Sophie hands Fache a sheet of paper from the case file.

SOPHIE
Commissarie, I will explain. But I just
Have a message for …
(turning to Langdon)
Professor Langdon, right?
(to Fache)
I get the impression it’s urgent.
( to Langdon)
I am Sophie Neveu, DCPJ Cryptology.
Your embassy called Division.

She hands Langdon a scrap of paper.

EXT.CHURCH OF SAINT-SULPICE-NIGHT
A might Gothic structure. WIND blows. (OVER) A
PHONE.

INT.CHURCH OF SAINT-SULPICE-PARIS-NIGHT
A small room. Stone floors, Bed, Bible, hot plate. Single
Window open to the autumn air. (OVER) The phone
RINGS on.

An elderly WOMAN’S hand reaches out from bed
To answer. She sits up groggily. SISTER SANDRINE
BIEL.

Story board
A film storyboard is essentially a large comic of the film or some section of the film produced beforehand to help film directors, cinematographers and television commercial advertising clients visualize the scenes and find potential problems before they occur. Often storyboards include arrows or instructions that indicate movement.

Some live-action film directors, such as Joel and Ethan Coen, used storyboard extensively before taking the pitch to their funders, stating that it helps them get the figure they are looking for since they can show exactly where the money will be used. Other directors storyboard only certain scenes, or not at all. Animation directors are usually required to storyboard extensively, sometimes in place of doing a script.

Animatics
In animation and special effects work, the storyboarding stage may be followed by simplified mock-ups called "animatics" to give a better idea of how the scene will look and feel with motion and timing. At its simplest, an animatic is a series of still images edited together and displayed in sequence. More commonly, a rough dialogue and/or rough sound track is added to the sequence of still images (usually taken from a storyboard) to test whether the sound and images are working effectively together.

Often storyboards are animated with simple zooms and pans to simulate camera movement (using non-linear editing software). These animations can be combined with available animatics, sound effects and dialog to create a presentation of how a film could be shot and cut together

Guide Line for story development:

1. Character / Initial situation
2. Character's need / Conflicts / problems
3. Goal/achievement
4. statement of conclusion
5. in what kind of Setting /situation / location 
6. events (last event is usually when climax occurs)

Replacement Lecture Class this Wednesday 3rd Sep

Replacement lecture class for Wednesday 3rd September.

First two hours at P1 from 10pm to 12pm

last hour will be at LHH from 12pm to 1pm