Six Stages of Media Production.

In the media industry, there are various stages in creating a film and, in order to apply these stages and gain more of an insight to how to include these stages in our thriller, I decided to research them.

Negotiating a deal

The film industry is made up of big studios, where ideas must be pitched to a studio. After a film has been pitched successfully, the studio's producer hires actors, directors and a crew to work on the film. An example of some of the major film industries are: Warner Brothers, Disney, Sony Pictures, Paramount, Universal and 20th Century Fox.

In order for a film to be successful, it is suggested that it needs to be:

• A sequel to a box office hit
• A remake of a European box office hit
• An adaptation of a best selling hit
• An original idea from a successful director

For our thriller, we haven't specifically followed these suggestions, however we have taken inspiration from successful films and music videos, for example Taylor Swifts Blank Space music video, Sam Smiths Not The Only One music video and the Gone Girl film. I feel it will be effective as we have taken inspiration from many successful videos and adapted them to fit our story-line.

Pre-Production

As soon as a deal has been negotiated, the production team has a lot of preparation to do before shooting begins. Actors must be cast in roles, locations decided, costumes made, dialogue coaches hired, and hotel rooms booked for locations. This process will take a long time, and finally after everything is decided - the official starting date is decided and announced to the press.

For the pre production of our thriller, it is our Research and Planning stage. This involves my groups storyboard, ideas on plots, camera angle ideas and much more planning drafts. We need to ensure that everything is planned out, just like many major movie companies. However we do not have to worry about the large scale that movie companies do, as its a thriller opening, for school and everyone is on the same level.

Production

The actual production stage in films is arguably the hardest, as everything must be precise and correct, or it could cost a fortune to re-shoot scenes. It is often called the 'Principal photography' stage, an is often the shortest of them all. Films usually finish this part in about 50 days of shooting.

For our film, we realise the importance of this stage and therefore recognize that research and planning is the most important stage with regards to helping filming run smoothly. This is why I have decided to research the film industry, and the various different stages to gain more of an insight into how the process works. We obviously - with only filming a 2 minute introduction - will not be filming for 50 days, as we only have certain shots we need to get.

Post Production

Post production is the longest stage in the process. During this stage the film is edited, and the story put together. The director and editor may either be very close during this time, or distant - for example Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker work together for many months to completely finish a film. Sound is edited or added in, and visual effects are also edited into the piece.

For our film, post production will include our editing stage - on Premier Pro - and many other software, and this is where we can experiment with certain effects or gradients and decide what works best to create effect. For us, I personally think our Editor and the rest of our group will be working together, so everyone has an input - and we will share responsibility for editing certain aspects. This I think will be effective as everyone knows what is going on.


Distribution and Marketing

Every part of the process is crucial to making the film a success. Marketing is the key to power in the media industries. Distributors tens to promote and market films in particular areas and negotiate release patterns with exhibitors. In the US the 'major studios' through their own distribution companies or in partnership, took over 80% of the North American market.

For our film, we recognize that marketing towards a target audience is beneficial, as they are the main people that will view a film, therefore we have done a lot of research into our audience and even interviewed members of our audience - young adults - to see what they think of our ideas.

Exhibition

In the US the major studios were barred from ownership of large cinema chains however overseas there was no such restrictions and places such as Warner Brothers have built multiplexes in cinema markets. Ownership or control of stage productions is known as vertical interrogation and had advantages for the majors in ensuring that they will have a cinema available to take a film when its ready for release.

It is important that I understand what the process is when films are created, so by looking into the process of exhibition and what happens when films come to cinemas, it helps me further my knowledge of the media industry.