Jack Stevens

Unit 4: Costs and Logistics

1. Budgeting for a film is extremely important. You have to budget everything from cast to
wardrobe. Things that need to be costed for film and TV productions are; Story, Rights &
Continuity Cast, Supporting Artists, Production Staff, Art Department, Wardrobe, Make-up /
Hair, Electrical, Camera, Sound, Travel / Transportation, Hotel / Living, Location, Overtime /
2nd Camera, Digital Stock & Transfers, Music, Post-Production, Insurance, Legal &
Clearances, General Expenses, Publicity, PACT & Training Levy and Fringes. Its important to
budget the film because you dont want the production to go over budget. If a film goes over
budget it risks being scrapped and that means theres a huge amount of money being
wasted. Often production companies build a contingency fund to cover additional costs. For
example a film that went massively over budget was Titanic. Originally budgeted at $100
million, "Titanic" eventually cost about $200 million. It paid off in the end though, with the
movie nabbing eleven Oscars at the 70th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best
Director. Also the films gross revenue was $2.187 billion USD however not all films that go
over budget make a massive gross revenue Almost Famous" went about $15 million over
budget, with a final price tag of more than $60 million. After being released for a month, the
movie made just $23 million. Crowe received $7 million to write, produce and direct the
movie.
2. An example for cost breakdowns is the $1m independent feature film Papadopoulos & Sons
which is an independent feature film that tells the tale of an Anglo-Greek self-made
millionaire who loses everything in the banking crisis and is forced to turn to his estranged
brother to re-open the fish and chip shop. The independent feature film took 24 days to
shoot in and around London. The cost breakdown was; 775 Story, Rights & Continuity,
91,046 Cast, 19,014 Supporting Artists, 90,332 Production Staff, 93,245 Art
Department, 32,070 Wardrobe, 16,782 Make-up / Hair, 53,371 Electrical, 58,580
Camera, 16,882 Sound, 77,918 Travel / Transportation, 28,670 Hotel / Living, 70,111
Location, 27,343 Overtime / 2nd Camera, 482 Digital Stock & Transfers, 25,507 Music,
83,929 Post-Production, 9,307 Insurance, 2,556 Legal & Clearances, 7,705 General
Expenses, 2,900 Publicity, 750 PACT & Training Levy, 15,947 Fringes and all that costed
the film to have a 825,222 Total! Papadopoulos & Sons proves that you dont need a
massive budget to be successful, Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 77% rating while the 2017
$300 million budgeted Justice League was given a poor 41% A pointless flail of expensive
(yet, somehow, cheap-looking) CGI that no amount of tacked-on quips, or even Gadot's
luminescent star power, can rescue. - Sara Stewart, New York Post.
3. The production schedule is a project plan of how the production budget will be spent over a
given timescale, for every phase of a media project. The scheduling process starts with the
script, which is analysed and broken down, scene by scene, onto a sequence of breakdown
sheets, each of which records the resources required to execute the scene. These resources
include: Cast Actors, Special Effects, Wardrobe, Special Equipment, Stunts, Extras/Silent Bits,
Props, Make-up/Hair, Extras/Atmosphere, Vehicles/Animals, Sound Effects/Music and then
Production Notes. Production schedule are necessary for budgeting because it tells you want
you costs will be spent on. An example of a production schedule is
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This is the scene shot time. It is very

This is the scene count. It tells you
what scene is next as you can see it
isnt in order. This is because the
scenes are done in efficentness both
of these scenes are done in the day
and in Encino neighbourhood.
This is the part which tells who is
involved in the scene. For this
production schedule the casts are
labelled as 1 and 2. 1 being Stuart
and 2 being Claire.
important to have because then you
can make sure youre not falling
behind schedule.

This is the scene locations. It tells

This is part which gives a small you where the scene will be located
description of the scene. and normal scenes are done in order
of scene location to save money on
travel and other expenses.

4. Logistics is the organisation of equipment, locations, materials and personnel for the shoot.
Equipment is the equipment used in production such as cameras, props from a prop house,
lighting and costumes. Locations is the identification of where the shooting is, what the
weather will be like, how far away the locations are and if it is easy to access. Materials are
similar to equipment are consist of audio, scripts, graphics, record music, sources and
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others. Personnel are people on the set and in the pre/ post production, technical crew,
actors, extras, contributors, stuntmen, experts and specialists. These are all important to the
shoot because it makes the production organised and there will be set people to each area
and it will be there job to make sure their area is complete successful.
5. When choosing a locations factors that have to be taken in to considerations are the
weather, distance, access and cost. If your scene is shot at the beach and its meant to be a
sunny day while your actors eat ice-cream and have a family day trip out but if you havent
planned that the weather may be raining that day of shooting then it will throw you behind
schedule and extreme example of not taking the weather in to considerations is Hurricane
Irma it effected , Eastern United States (especially Florida) so if any media production
companies was planning to go to Florida between August 30, 2017 - September 16, 2017
then it would of thrown them behind schedule. If your location is very far away then you
will have to sort out transport and budget for fuel. Also if you have a scene in Mexico but
youre based in England then it will take a lot of time to then fly everything over and then set
up sets. If you cant access your locations then theres no point even mentioning it. You will
have to gain clearances to use building from local council, shops owners and private owners.
The cost is the most important factor to consider because it has to be budgeted for and be
affordable. You will have to pay for travel to the location, set designs and using the
locations.
6. When considering facilities things that need to be costed are sets, lighting, heating,
electricity, clearances and renting.
7. The personnel roles of a film are director, producer, camera and lighting, production sound,
art department, special effects, stunts, post-production and animation. A film director is a
person who directs the making of a film. A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic
aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the technical crew and actors
in the fulfillment of that vision. Film producers fill a variety of roles depending upon the type
of producer. Either employed by a production company or independent, producers plan and
coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting script, coordinating writing,
directing and editing, and arranging financing. Camera and lighting are involved with rigging
stage and location sets and controlling artificial, electric lights for art and entertainment
venues or in video, television, or film production. Production sound people are in charger of
sound boards and the sound system used on set and behind camera. Art department will be
responsible on making the set designs and posters. The Special effects supervisor generally is
the department head who defers to the film's director and/or producers, and who is in
charge of the entire special effects team. Stuntmen are the people who are in place for the
actors and do the stunts for them so the star actor doesnt get injured. Post-production
would be the sales, marketing, exhibition, other windows. Animation is the process of
making the illusion of motion and the illusion of change, animators are artists who specialize
in the creation of animation. It is important to keep a time schedule for budgeting because it
allows you know if you are going behind schedule then you can spend more money on the
department that is falling behind also if you are a head in a department then you can save
money by not spending as much time on that department.