Why is pre-production so important in media production?

Pre-production is so important in media production because 80% of creating something is planning what you're going to be doing and the remaining 20% is filming and editing. 80% is for the planning because you have to go into detail about everything, especially when doing production paperwork so you won't be confused or unorganised about anything and you can just go and get your footage when it comes to filming. It also helps because the less time that you spend filming, the less you have to pay your actors and the location managers and also your crew.  

Type of production:

Film production is different to any other type of production in the media industry because you will need different studios to have each set in, films also need more paperwork because the amount of time you will be filming for is longer than any other type of production. For example, television production will have different studios because some are filmed live or they have live audiences, like the Big Bang Theory. You can hear the audiences laughing once a joke has been said. Television production won't need as much equipment either as the amount of time it is filmed for is not as long as the amount of time  it takes for films to be made. When making films, you need to take a few takes of the same scenes to make sure everything is as good as it should be. For this, they would need a few cameras for back up incase some either break or they lose battery. For a television show, the production is different because the cast practise in the studios with their lines before they film it because like the Big Bang Theory, it is filmed live and the actors need to know all of their lines. Whereas when making a film, if an actor forgets their line, they can ask and then the director would tell them and it would be edited out later on. The production for a radio show is different than film and television production because cameras aren't always used. An example of when cameras are used for a radio show is when YouTubers Dan and Phil are doing their section on radio one. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z8NbFWTlBc) For times when cameras aren't being used, they only need microphones and computers. For radio shows, it's mostly people talking into a microphone as cameras aren't really needed.

Finance:
Finance is a big deal during the pre-production because your budget needs to cover everything, including locations. You don't film a movie in the order that it is down on your storyboard, you hire a location and then film everything that needs to be filmed there first. The quicker you finish with a location, the less money it would cost you. Whereas if you are making a television show, you are more likely to be making your own sets so that you can re-use them if you are making a series. On the other hand, when a film is being made, it is easier to hire a location because if you make one, all of the effort that has gone into it won't be wasted once it needs to be destroyed. Unless, like the Harry Potter films, there will be sequels where the sets will be used for many years. Another thing that the finance budget covers is the transport because, like Harry Potter, different parts could be filmed in another part of the country. The budgets for radio shows are different because they have their own studios with their own equipment, they don't pay for guests either as celebrities only really go on to promote their new albums, concerts or even books.

Time:
Deadlines for each type of media production is different. For example, the deadlines for a television show would be different to a deadline for a film because a new episode for a television series would be aired every week, whereas directors can choose a deadline for their film to be finished, which could be a few years into the future. A film like Avatar took 15 years to create, some directors don't even set a date for it to be released until the film is actually completed. According to Wikipedia, "Development of Avatar began in 1994, when James Cameron wrote an 80-page treatment for the film. Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of James Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, for a planned release in 1999, but according to James Cameron, the necessary technology was not yet available to achieve his vision of the film. Work on the language of the film's extraterrestrial beings began in 2005, and James Cameron began developing the screenplay and fictional universe in early 2006. Radio shows don't really have deadlines, unless they have competitions going. 

Personnel: 
Personnel is important because if a particular person is unavailable for filming, they can't be replaced because they may be critical to a particular scene. This could affect the filming of a television show because they may not be able to film, even with a substitute actor.

Facilities:
The production equipment for a movie will be different to the equipment used for a television show because film production may need green screens for example, if a fantasy movie was being made, whereas the production for a television show may only use a green screen for certain episodes. For radio production, equipment like a green screen wouldn't need to be used as it's only their voices that are needed.
The costs for film production varies depending on how long it takes you to film something. For example, if you were hiring a location, the longer that you are hiring it for, the more money that it will cost you. On the other hand, if a television show is being made, it will be cheaper because they can make their own sets which they will most probably be using again. For the production of a radio show, it would be cheaper as they won't have to hire any locations as they will have their own studios to record their shows in.

Evaluation of my advert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN96p0faSTI

The things that went well with the production of my advert are the access to an actor, the access to a location and also the production paperwork. The access to an actor went well because I asked my mum to be in it and she said yes, which also links in to why the access to the location was easy too, my advert was filmed in my kitchen so that it was quicker to film rather than travelling out to somewhere. The production paperwork went well because I was organised and completed it all as I went along, which helped with the filming of my advert to go well.

The things that went wrong during the production of my advert are the editing and also the choosing the music to go with my advert. The editing didn't go as well as I had planned because I kept changing the layout of how I wanted my advert to go. The editing was also difficult because once I had chosen a song, I didn't want the whole song, I only wanted one verse and then for that to be repeated, so I has to cut the song up accurately or it wouldn't sound as tidy. Choosing the music to go with my advert didn't go well either because I found it difficult to choose a song that would go with the pace of my advert, I originally chose a song that had no relation to milkshakes. I ended up changing the song to one that related to milkshakes and that also matched the pace of my advert.

In preparation for the filming of my advert, I made notes, storyboards, production logs and also mind maps, so I knew what order I was going to do the tasks in. 

The notes I made were from other adverts, which I watched to get some ideas, then I made mind maps where I chose the top 3 products that I wanted to do and then came up with ideas to match them. 

I made a storyboard once I had chosen which product and idea that I wanted to create, this helped me with the layout of the advert and how I was going to film it. 

I did a production log during the filming of my advert, this helped to keep everything organised so that I knew what I had completed and also what needed to be filmed and completed.

The advert I made fits the purpose that it was made for because it acknowledges the specification that I received which said that I needed to create an advert on a subject of my choice and that it needed to be 30 seconds long. My advert also fits the purpose it was made for as it respects the age range that I chose.

The communication within my advert is clear because it is obvious what the actor in my advert is making, even without any words being spoken.

My advert is appropriate for the audience that it is made for because it doesn't cause harm or offence to any viewers and as there are no words spoken throughout the advert, it is suitable for children to be able to watch it.

My finished advert is not that different than what I had originally intended my advert to be like. There was always going to be an actor making a milkshake in it, but in my original idea, I had the actor explaining that she had just come back from somewhere and decided to make something. Whereas in my finished product, there are no words spoken, just a song playing.

One of the techniques that I used within my advert are jump cuts, these are effective because whilst the music is playing, it cuts to the beat of the music and makes the whole advert look more organised. Another technique that I used in my advert is medium shots, with the actor placed to the right of the screen. This is so that the viewers are able to see the process of how the milkshake is being made.

The content within my advert is effective because it's quick enough so that the viewers don't get bored of watching it, with the jump cuts showing different bits of footage that changes after a few seconds, it helps to keep the viewers attention focused on the advert.
The song in my advert is effective because it's upbeat and makes people want to watch.

The impact from my advert is that it shows the viewers how to make a milkshake in a quick and easy way, and also with easy accessible ingredients that they can get from their local supermarket.

Feedback from my advert.

Overall, from the results of my feedback for the first question, which was "Did you think my advert was good? Why?" The people I asked thought it was good because it all fitted together well, one person said that they like how some shots are faster than others. Another person said they liked how it shows a detailed process of how the milkshake was being made, the same person said they also liked that there was someone in my advert who tried the milkshake which promotes the product well and gives the viewers a positive reaction towards the taste. Another person said that it was framed and edited well and that overall the advert shows humour to the audience. For the second question, which was "What feature exceeded the others within my advert?" The first person I asked said that the music fit with it really well and it makes the advert livelier. The second person I asked said that it was the way it showed the products being mixed together as it shows a lot of colour and it makes the product more appealing to purchase. The third person I asked said that the best feature was the music because it was mixed really well with the idea of my advert. The third question I asked which was "What could be improved in my advert?" The first person that I asked this question to said that to improve it, there needs to be more close ups of the ingredients that I used. The second person I asked said that to improve it, there needs to be more close ups of the milkshake being made and more close ups altogether to promote it better. They also said that there needs to be more flavours being made to get a wider audience. The third person I asked this question to said that there needs to be closer shots of the product mixing together.

Milkshake advert poll.

Questionnaire about my advert: http://www.polljunkie.com/poll/ndgikw/milkshake-advert

Poll junkie results.

Analysis of 3 adverts.

The T-Mobile dance - "Life's for sharing"

The form for this advert is a flash mob, which was started in Liverpool street station for T-Mobile. The style of this advert was made to be humorous, especially at one point towards the end of the advert, there is one particular guy singing the words "mashed potato" whilst he is doing the actions. The camera was focused on him as he was in the middle of the shot. It was made to be humorous because it draws the attention of the viewers and makes them focus on it. For example, when I first saw this advert, I was intrigued and it made me happy to see that people who witnessed the flash mob didn’t just stand and watch, some people joined in with it to experience the emotions that were being spread throughout everyone. The codes and conventions which were used through the advert were camera angles and music, only two camera angles were used, which the cameramen kept swapping between. These angles were the bird's eye-view and the eve level shots. The bird's eye view shot was used so the viewers would be able to see how many people were joining in the flash mob and the eye level view was used so that people would be able to see what moves the dancers were doing. For the music, the eight music tracks used in the dance spot were “Shout” (Lulu, 1964), “The Only Way is Up” (Yazz, 1988), “Don’t cha” (Pussycat Dolls, 2007), “Blue Danube Waltz” (Johann Strauss, 1867), “Get Down on It” (Kool & The Gang, 1981), “Since You’ve Been Gone” (Rainbow, 1979), “My Boy Lollipop” (Millie Small, 1964), and “Do You Love Me?” (Contours, 1962). Choosing songs from different years helped get more people involved as some of the people who were dancing have grown up listening to them. The techniques which were used in the advert were emotional response and the slogan. The emotional response of the flash mob was that it caught the attention of the people who were walking by, some of which had joined in with the dancing towards the end of the advert. You could also see that witnesses were smiling and laughing about what was happening; this could be because the flash mob was unexpected for them and it could have been something that made their day a whole lot better. The slogan for T-Mobile is “Life’s for sharing”. This links in with the advert because some of the onlookers who were at Liverpool Street station recorded the flash mob, then they probably posted their video onto different social media websites, sharing it with their friends, which they might have shared the video so that it gets spread over a wider range of viewers. The characteristic which was used in the T-Mobile advert was that it had an advantage over other network providers. For example, the T-Mobile slogan is “Life’s for sharing.” and as onlookers were filming the flash mob while it is happening, they planned on sharing the videos with people who weren’t there to watch it happen. As with another network provider, like O2, their slogan is “Be more dog.” which doesn’t particularly say much compared to “Life’s for sharing.”

Renault car crash dance

The form of this advert is anti realist because within the advert, there cars flying through the air and crashing mid air. This is anti realist because when people are driving their cars, they won’t be flying the cars through the air and also making them crash on purpose, no one does that with a car that they just bought. The style of this advert was made to be surreal as what happens in the advert is far from what happens in real life. At one point within the video, the cars are weaving in and out of each other, this is something that you would never see happen while driving down a road; therefore it’s surreal. The advert style is also dramatic because it shows a car scraping against another car, while this does happen in real life, it mostly always doesn’t happen as badly as it does in the advert. The conventions used in this advert were a range of camera angles and also dramatic music. There was a range of camera angles used within the advert, like bird’s eye view, high angles and also eye level shots. These different shots were used so that the viewers of the advert would be able to see the extent of the damage from different views. Dramatic music was also used in the advert to make the viewers feel suspense, especially if it was the first time that they had watched the advert. A technique used within the advert was emotional responses as some of the viewers may have felt concern about how much money the company had wasted just to film this advert, especially if they had to do a scene more than once. The characteristics used in the advert are brand identity and advantages over other similar products. Brand identity is used within every advert shown on television, so it was also used in this advert. This advert has advantages over other similar products because at the end of the advert, 2 of the cars had minimal damage. This gives a message across to the viewers that if they got into a car crash, the car wouldn’t be that damaged, unless they caused the crash on purpose by driving into something with excessive force.

Aldi (squash)

The form of this advert is realist narrative because it includes a family sat on a couch and the young girl in the middle of her family explains how she and her family like both drinks, then her little brother pushes the family apart so that he can be seen, as he is being squashed by his family and says “but I don’t like this squash.” This links into the style, which is humorous because the viewers don’t expect the young boy to be there as there is no indication to show that he is. This is realist narrative because                                                                                                                                                                                                      it shows what a normal family would be like as “squashing” the boy could be a joke within the family. The codes and conventions within this advert are camera angles and sound. The camera angle which was used in the advert was an eye level shot as it doesn’t show the family looking either up or down, when you watch the advert, it looks as though the family are sat across from you. It makes it seem like they are telling you which squash they like, which is both. The sound was set out in an order as the young girl in the middle is speaking throughout the advert, but then her brother is shown and gives the end of the advert a humorous twist. The techniques used within the advert are hidden messages and solutions. The hidden message is cheaper products like things from Aldi taste just the same as brand names, but they are just cheaper from a different store. The solution could be to money problems; changing from buying home brands to buying cheaper products from Aldi that taste the same could solve the problems. The money problem would be solved because a brand name juice (Robinson’s juice) costs £2.00 whereas the juice from Aldi costs 95p. The £1.05 that you would be saving may not seems like a lot of money, but if you change all of your home brand products to cheaper ones, you would be saving a lot of money each week. The characteristics used in the advert are advantages over other products and also brand identity. The Aldi squash has advantages over other products because it’s cheaper, but has the same taste. The brand identity may help Aldi become more popular as some people may not have heard of it before.