Unit 8, 2.1 "Describe the stages of a specific Creative Media project life cycle."

Unit 8, 2.1 - "Describe the stages of a specific Creative Media project life cycle."


When making a product for the creative market, there are four stages that you most likely will undergo. To speak about these four stages, the product I have decided to work with is the current feature film the company I am working at is shooting now (illustrated with images from The Simpsons.)

As I have not experienced anything past the production stages of the film so far, there will always be room to update this post as things progress.

PRODUCTION

Firstly, you have the production itself, which includes the following:

PRE-PRODUCTION

This can range from writing the script to crewing up. Pre-production is considered the most difficult task in making a film, as if you are not prepared or organised to the final detail, the production stage of the film can be a nightmare.

PRODUCTION

Once you have your dates, your crew, your locations and equipment - shooting begins. If everything has been organised in the pre-production stages, most of the time, the actual shoot of the film will run smoothly. It is all about preparing beforehand. 

POST PRODUCTION 

Here is when the film has been shot, the rushes are ready, and the editing begins. Editing, as we all pretty much know, can make a good film into a wonderful film (see Raging Bull, Tarantino's films, etc.) but some do take it for granted. You can have great footage for a film, but if the editing is not up to scratch, well, all of the slaving prior to getting to the post-production stage would be a massive waste.

Working at my appointed company, I have discovered the labour of love that goes into filmmaking (and the amount of time that, for someone who has won many awards and has been BAFTA nominated, still has to go through in order to make a feature.)

The film that we are currently filming has been in the development stages for the past four years – that’s right, four years.

Now, for someone who first started writing their book four years ago, and finished a year in, well, it doesn’t seem like so much time to me, but for the majority of people, four years is a ridiculously long time to be working on one stand alone project.

There are plenty of reasons for a project to be in limbo for that long (and even longer in many cases in the film industry). Money, of course, is one of the main factors. Time can be another, but for us, finding the right cast who were available when we needed to shoot was one of, if not, the most important thing (among all the other factors I have spoken about as well, since it is a low budget feature.)

Because our story is so character driven, it was important that we had the right cast who not only would people connect with when watching the film, but would be able to put bums in seats (see Audience Consumption below.)

      MARKETING & EXCHANGE

Marketing and Exchange is the stage of getting your film out there to the right ‘market’ (or in real talk – audience). Whether that is through the internet universe, or the traditional advertising posters on the underground, the more coverage you have of your film, or product, the more likely it is going to reach a wider audience and be consumed more frequently. (Again, see Audience Consumption.)

 

DISTRIBUTION

“The action of sharing something out among a number of recipients” is the dictionary definition of distribution. While Marketing and Exchange handles the, well, marketing side of the production – designing the campaign, i.e posters, trailers and so forth – the distribution side of filmmaking actually gets the film out there; gets the film into the places that it needs to be.

Distributing occurs in all media sectors, and in day-to-day life, really, but in the film industry, it can be from distributing your film in the medium of DVD’s to the cinema.  

As said previously in the Production and Marketing & Exchange section, distributing needs to work with what kind of audience the film is aimed at. It is pointless only playing the Inbetweeners film in Curzon cinemas because too many people are interested in the film; it isn't an underground arthouse movie.

AUDIENCE CONSUMPTION

Knowing who your target market is before you even get going on your project is vital. If you don’t know who your audience is or who you’re supposed to be aiming your product at, then how are you supposed to sell it? 

Marketing and Exchange need to know what kind of film they are trying to sell (through advertisements and posters, so they can attract the right audience) and when it comes to distribution, you need to go through the distributors who are going to get your film out to the places, the cinemas, that your audience would most likely visit (most arthouse films play in Curzon cinemas rather than somewhere like Vue for example.) 

The films that my appointed company have produced have a very gritty and urban feel to them. The film that we are working on now is the complete opposite – it’s a tearjerking, feel-good family event.

If there are viewers going into watching our film who have seen our previous back catalogue, it is important that this family vibe we are trying to pull off his blatant (whether that is through cast, the way it is shot, etc.) otherwise; you are going to lose your audience instantly. 

To make a family film, it is of strict importance that it is accessible. When we get round to the marketing and distribution stages of our film, working with this 'accessabilty for all ages' is very important to the kind of market that we want to attract.

Overall, all four stages of creating a film are as important as each other. Without the audience, you will have no production, and without the marketing, there will be no distribution. All of the stages have to work with each other otherwise you will never get your film out there, let alone make your money back.