Hello fellow internet users.
Requirements for media pre-production techniques.
Why TV factual's have a specific need compared to other productions is because factual are used to inform and educate the audience for example they inform the audience about crime such as the factual production Crime Watch informs the audience about the different criminals around the United Kingdom so that the public are aware and are able to look out for the criminals that the police are looking out for. Another example would be an observation documentary, theses types of factual documentaries are used usually to observe nature and the wildlife to inform the audience about the different wild life that are out there and what their natural habitat is like. In the documentary that I am creating is an expository documentary as it is to expose a story about a woman's life on living with Lymphoma. The documentary is also informative as a voice over will be telling the audience facts about how common Lymphoma is in the United Kingdom, this type of documentary is used to create awareness about cancer so that the audience are able to be more aware and have more of an understanding. As such my production is a small scale one and could be carried out by any freelance documentary film maker or be scaled up to be produced by an independent factual producer such as Nine Lives Media.
How a real TV factual would be funded would be for example if the documentary is being broadcasted on the BBC, the BBC gather their fundings from a TV licence so the documentaries would be funded by a much larger organisation. Some factual productions might be given sponsorships within linked to advertisements or sponsors of programming on commercial channels such as Sunday Brunch sponsored by Waitrose. As the documentary that I will be creating is about a woman's story on surviving Lymphoma, there will be no funding as my student film will be created by a group of volunteers from my course Creative Media at Hyde Clarendon and will be shown on YouTube and not on television. The paper work that is needed within finance in creating a factual programme would be a budget sheet and a check list to organise how much money you have to spend on each part in creating a factual programme. The things that you would have to pay for within a factual production would be paying for location, equipment, transport and production crew, they would also pay for interviewers and journalists but not usually interviewees.
Keeping to deadlines for the equipment, people and clearances is importance in so that you avoid spending more money than is necessary, as the more over dealing you go the more money you have to pay. If the equipment is hired out from an organisation you try to finish your filming before your deadline, so if you need to re-film if you have made any mistakes whilst filming you won't have to take out the equipment again and spending more money as the production is on a budget and must be stuck to. When filming my documentary I will need interviewees, I would not need to pay money for my production cast as it is a student filming and the cast will be volunteers. The importance with keeping a deadline with people such as the interviewees because it is professional practice to stick to times to show reliability and honour individuals commitments. This is because they might start to get annoyed with you asking them if you can film them longer than the time you expected, this could cause them to not agree with the film causing an unfinished production. The paper work that is needed with time-keeping would be production and shooting schedules this is used so that you are able to keep on track on what you have already filmed and what is needing to filmed next so that you are not wasting time or money. Also you must keep an eyre on hire contracts for equipment and facilities.
The producer of a factual production would choose people for their film based on the size of the production, skills of the individual, their availably and their cost. This is because if a production that you are creating is five minutes long such as an nature documentary you wouldn't need a large production group as as compared to a production that is 30- 60 minutes, for example CrimeWatch. Here the producer would need a much larger production team as there would be a set deadline, for example the producer would hire an editor, a camera man, director, interviewer, journalist and a location manager, there would be a multi camera live crew in the studio and all on contracted hours. A nature photographer might go out to a forest simply by him/herself with one camera an a set of lenses and microphones producing all the work themselves. Each person that the producer chooses for the production would have a different skill, this is important to the production because that way each production crew will be able to focus on one part of the production without getting confused with everyone else's job, this will create a better production. As where in my factual production I will be the camera woman, the editor, the director and the interviewer as it will be a student film where as if I sent my production work of to an organisation such as Nine Live Media, my work will be controlled and edited by that organisation and will be sent of to be shown on a television channel such as BBC.
The facilites that are needed when creating a factual production would be multi cameras, microphones, editing studio and lighting, some productions might also use Green screen if needed. When filming a facial production without having any available facilities, there are many different facility houses all around Manchester and the UK. For example there is a facility house in Stockport called Z Film Studios, this facility house produces all facilities which are needed in both film and TV. when creating my documentary, this will be a student film so I will be able to collect the facilities which are needed from my college, if I was not able to gather any facilities from my college, for example if they were all taken by other students on my course I would be able to go to the facility house called Northern video Facility Ltd.
When creating my factual documentary, the materials which are needed would be pictures of Debbie Masterman (Lymphoma survivor) as a child so that the audience are able to relent to the interviewee a lot more. Also I would be using materials such as the internet, I will be using the internet to search the information that I will be needing to make a factual production, for example how many people are diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma each year in the UK. When filming my interviews I will be using interview props, as when I am filing the Lymphoma survivors mother I will use a picture of Debbie what she looked like just before she was diagnosed with Lymphoma and having to go through chemo, this will allow the audience to have a full understanding on who the interviewee is talking about. When using Material's such as audio, I will be record voice overs on a H2 recorder, I will also be recording the interviews on a recorder and the camera, this is so that I have audio back up if either the audio on the camera has to much background noise, I am able to use the audio which was recorded on the H2 recorder. The paperwork that is needed when recording the materials that are being used when filming a TV factual would be Sourcing materials for production.
The contributors that are taking place in my documentary will be two interviewee's which are the Lymphoma survivor who would be the patient's story that I will be talking about and the Mother of the survivor who will take part as the witness of the story being told. The paperwork which is needed when keeping account to the contributors would be an Actor's release form, this will have their name, signature, address and what part they will be taking in the factual production. When filming a factual production in a real television production, when looking for contributors the producer would create advertisements to use in paper articles, they would get in contact by emailing the actor/ interviewee when they have researched about that person. Also the producer will gain contact with a casting agency.
When identifying location to film a TV factual production you need to identify whether the location is either Interior or Exterior. The consideration you need to put into place when searching the correct location for you production you need to take in mind the risks, with this you will have a risk assessment sheet, this is to note down any risk which are taking place, if you are able to remove these hazards and how you would do this before filming at this location, for example if you are filing outside in the woods there will be lot's of branches which the actor or interviewee might fall over, this could cause this film to become in a lot of trouble. Also if it is raining outside and you are using filming equipment, the equipment could become damaged and wet. When I am filming my documentary I will be using both Interior and Exterior location, for example I will be filing the Lymphoma patient walking up Hartshead Pike, by doing this I need to choose a day where it is not raining as I will be in open space and will be very wing as I will be at the top of a big hill. Also I needed to fill out a recce sheet, this is so I know what the location will look like and so I will know the details of the location and where about's I will be filming.
When producing my documentary, the professional practice that I will be following will be Ofcom, I will need to follow all of Ofcom's broadcast regulation and the land of law which will include no racial stereotyping and there is to be no bad language within the production, if so it will need to be censored. When filing the interviews, I will need to be professional towards the interviewee, this is by sticking to the time and dates which have been giving out, this also includes being subjective and objectivity in the way I come across and the question I will be asking. With everything I will be doing I will need to fill out release forms, such as for Copy right as I might be using music from a singer in my documentary, by doing this I will need to fill out who the singer is and where I have gathered my sources from. In profession production there will be contracts and release form to agree that this production is allowed to use any sources which might be visible to the audience.
