The Stages of Film Production - Pre production

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It is the first stage of production. It involves everything that happens before shooting. Pre-production tasks include scripting, storyboarding, planning, budgeting, casting artists; construction of sets, props, and costumes, acquiring equipment like lights, camera, etc. Pre-production involves various tasks like:

1.      Conceptualization

It is the process of creating concept. Concept or subject matter is the basic idea of the film. A concept defines the objectives of the film and says what it is about.

2.     Research

Research is the deep study conducted on the idea or concept. Various aspects of the concept are analyzed in this process. Data collection from various sources to find out the possibilities of producing the film is the main objective of this stage. Research helps to create a one line of the story which is further developed into a script.

3.     Scripting

Script is the skeleton or basic structure of what we see as a film. Scripting is the process of writing down the entire matter to be produced. There are two types of scripts; namely screenplays or story scripts and shooting scripts. The screenplay is the basic script and it describes the story in its normal order. But the order of sequences in a shooting script will be arranged in the order of shooting schedule. Sometimes different scenes from two different parts of the story will be shot at one location for the convenience of production. Shooting script helps to arrange the sequences and scenes as per the availability of location and artist.

There are three types of treatment used for scripting. First one is short treatment. It is a short outline of the film without dialogues or commentaries included in it. Next type is step outline which describes the details of the basic story line and its sub plots. It is a sequence by sequence description. The third type is Full treatment, in which the details of characters, their behavior and relations, properties used, dialogues etc. are described in details.

4.     Storyboarding

A storyboard is the pictorial representation of the scenes. It provides a graphical representation of the camera angles and helps to fix the shot during production. A production crew includes artists who draw the storyboard according to the directors or producers instructions.

5.     Casting and Crew selection

Casting is the process of selecting suitable artists for the production. It is very important as the wrong choice for a particular role can lessen the effect of entire film. Selecting talented performers and anchors for film is done under the supervision of casting director and film producer. Selection of technical staff like camera person, music composers, sound recording artists, lighting team, etc., comes under crew selection process.

6.     Planning and Shooting Schedule

Shooting schedule is the basic order of conducting a production. Sometimes scenes from different parts of the story will be shot in the same location. In some cases scenes of some artists will be shot together as per their conveniences. In that case a shooting schedule will be prepared to arrange the conduct of production. A shooting script is the textual representation of schedule. Final decision on the types of properties used, and the number of junior artists in a scene, etc., comes under the shooting schedule.

7.     Location hunting & Acquiring permission

Finding suitable locations for shooting is a difficult process. It is a must for outdoor shooting. Some of the locations like forests, government buildings, institutions, etc., require special permissions from the concerned authorities. These types of activities are done in this stage.