Film Production Workflow

Created by

Matthew T. Jones
And Modified by

John M. Grace

Production Phases
There are five phases of production
common to most professionally produced
motion pictures. These are:

Development
Pre-production
Production
Postproduction
Distribution

Production Phases
We will concern ourselves with three of
these:

Development
Pre-production
Production
Postproduction
Distribution

Production Phases
We will concern ourselves with three of
these:

Pre-production
Production
Postproduction

Preproduction Phase
In general, the
preproduction phase
encompasses all
aspects of preparation
that are performed
before the camera
starts to roll. Some
aspects of
preproduction include:

Screenwriting
Storyboarding
Funding
Assembling a crew
Casting
Costume Design
Location Scouting
Set Design
Properties (props)
Scheduling

Preproduction Phase
Screenplay/Script: The screenplay supplies
the general plan for the production of a
film. There are two types:

The spec script

The shooting script

Preproduction Phase
The Spec (Speculation) Script is the version of a
screenplay that writers distribute to producers in
the hope that it will be optioned (i.e. considered
for production). It primarily contains:

Slug-Line (brief description of the setting, e.g. INT.

ROOM DAY which means the interior of a room
during the day)
Business (descriptions of characters/action)
Dialog (the lines intended to be spoken by the actors)

Preproduction Phase
The Shooting Script is a much more detailed
version of the spec script that includes
numbered scenes, specific camera angles
and other technical information. An
example of a page from a shooting script
can be seen on the next slide.

Preproduction Phase
Storyboarding: A storyboard is a series of
drawings intended to represent how the film
will be shot, including how each frame will
be composed and how subject and camera
motion will occur.

The storyboard articulates the mise-en-scene of

the film.
Mise-en-scene: All of the elements that compose the
shot.

Preproduction Phase
Funding: Films are generally expensive to
produce. Even small independent
productions with unknown actors can cost
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Because
of the level of investment involved, most
films rely on either production companies
(Hollywood films) or independent
investors (Independent films).

Preproduction Phase
Assembling a Crew: A crew is the group of
workers on a film set who are responsible
for facilitating production (as opposed to
acting). Although large productions may
employ many crew members in many
different departments, there are only a few
basic positions which are detailed later in
the production phase.

Preproduction Phase
Casting: Choosing actors to play roles.
Costume Design: Choosing or designing
the clothing/costumes that the actors wear.
Location Scouting: Choosing the locations
where the film will be shot.
Set Design: Constructing sets where the
film will be shot.

Preproduction Phase
Properties (Props): Choosing the tools
and objects used in the film.
Scheduling: Coordinating all aspects
necessary to the production.

Production Phase
The production phase
refers to the period of
time when the film is
actually being shot.
Some aspects of
production include:

Direction
Camera operation
Lighting
Sound recording
Acting

Production Phase
During production, these roles are usually
delegated to the production departments
listed on the next two slides.

Production Phase
Production Departments

Direction
Director (oversees all aspects of the production)
Assistant Director (drives the set)
Second Assistant Director (works with the actors)

Camera

Cinematographer or DP (oversees camera operation)

Camera Operator (operates the camera)
Camera Assistants (loads camera, pulls focus)
Clapper/Loader (loads film and slates scenes)

Lighting
Cinematographer (oversees lighting design)
Gaffer & Electricians (control the lights)
Key Grip & Grips (control the shadows and do special rigging)

Production Phase
Production Departments (continued)

Sound
Sound Mixer (records the sound)
Boom operator (positions the microphone)
Clapper (displays the clap slate for the camera)

Talent
Actors (perform before the camera)

Miscellaneous

Production Coordinator (scheduling)

Continuity script girl (watch for continuity errors)
Make-up Artist (apply make-up to actors)
Production Assistant (various jobs)

Production Phase
All of the departments and positions
described on the last two slides serve one
goal: to capture the sound and image
necessary to tell the story. Although going
into every detail of production is far beyond
the scope of this course, lets consider the
nuts and bolts that go into filmmaking.

Production Phase
Sound Recording

In traditional film production, sound is recorded

separately from the image. This is known as double
system sound recording. Generally speaking, there are
at least four soundtracks in any feature length narrative
film:

1
2
3
4

the dialog track.

the room tone track.
the music track.
the sound effects track.

Production Phase
Sound Recording

Dialog
In order to record dialog in double system film
production, it is necessary to synchronize the movement of
lips with the sound of voices. Simple as this may seem,
achieving it requires precision instrumentation.
Most modern film sound is recorded digitally, but earlier
films made use of a crystal synchronized analog tape
recorded referred to as a Nagra (manufacturers name)
which kept the speed of the tape constant so that no
drifting occurred between the picture and the sound
track.

Production Phase
Sound Recording

Dialog (Continued)
The function of the clap slate or sticks (see the
slide after next) is to supply a marking point for
when the synchronization between picture and audio
begins, allowing the editor to accurately align
picture with sound later during post production.
The first film credited with synchronized sound is
The Jazz Singer (1927).

Production Phase
Sound Recording

Dialog
There are a series of steps that are taken on a film set in order to ensure the
proper coordination of picture and sound track:
1: The director says quiet on the set and roll sound.
2: The sound mixer says sound speed when the tape is running at the
correct speed for recording synchronized sound.
3: The director calls out roll camera.
4: The camera operator says speed when the film is running at sound
speed (24 frames per second).
5: The director calls out slate or marker
6: The clap slate indicating roll, scene, and take is placed before the
camera and read out loud (e.g. Roll 1, Scene 1, Take 1).
7: The slate is clapped and removed.
8: Finally, the director calls action to cue the actors.

Production Phase
Sound Recording

Room Tone
Room tone is recorded silence. Normally, once all of the
dialog is recorded, the sound mixer asks for about a minute
of quiet to record the sound of silence in the particular
setting.
The reason for recording room tone is that all recordings
have a low level of noise in the background and, during
the editing process it is sometimes necessary to fill in gaps
so that there is not an abrupt change in the tone of the
background noise.

Production Phase
Sound Recording

Sound Effects
For the most part, sound effects are obtained separately by a
foley artist who coordinates sound effects in
synchronization with the onscreen action through a process
known as looping where a portion of the film is
repeatedly played to perfect the timing of the sound effects.
This is considered to be part of post-production which we will
cover next.
Alternatively, for low-budget productions, libraries of
prerecorded sound effects can be used or sounds can be
recorded during production by the sound mixer and boom
operator.

Production Phase
Sound Recording

Music
Film music is either purchased (if it is not in the
public domain) or scored specifically for the
production.
Music that is scored is done in similar fashion to
foley sound in the sense that film is playing during
the recording session to enhance timing.

Postproduction Phase
The postproduction
phase refers to the
period of time after the
film is shot, but before
it is released in its
final form.
Postproduction
includes:

Processing and printing of film

Transferring film to video
Synchronizing picture and sound
Paper edit (creating an EDL)
Creating a rough cut
Creating a online edit
Final audio mix
OLD SCHOOL
Conforming the original negative
Adding optical effects and
transitions
Creating release prints
NEW SCHOOL
Film out & release prints

Postproduction Phase
Processing, Printing, and Transferring.

The first few steps of postproduction are

routine, requiring more technical knowledge
than creative decision making:
Processing: Developing the camera negative.
Printing: Creating dailies on DVD or a work print
for the director and crew to see
Transferring: Film transfer or Telecine to video
for editing

Postproduction Phase
Synchronizing and Assembling

Synchronizing
Information from the slate and recorded on the
audio tracks is stored at the beginning (head)
of each take to allow the scene/take to be easily
identified.
To synchronize picture with sound, the editor
aligns the beginning of the sound for a given
scene/take with the beginning of the picture for
that take, using the sight and sound of the slate
as a reference point.

Postproduction Phase
Synchronizing and Assembling.

Assembling
The footage is captured to the editing system
from the video tape or transferred from the
hard drives if it is a digital workflow
Once the footage is captured, the editor
assembles a rough cut for timing and to
make sure all necessary footage is present

Postproduction Phase
Creative License

Between the rough cut and the online edit is

where all of the creative decisions are made.
Rough Cut: Places the film in rough sequence from
beginning to end according to the screenplay.
Dialog is in place, but sound effects, and music are
incomplete.
Online Edit: All of the final editing decisions and
the final soundtrack mix are complete. The film is
ready for final output.

Postproduction Phase
Getting from Rough Cut to Online Edit.

Editing is the arrangement of imagery and

sounds into a sequence that tells the story of the
film.
An editor may arrange based on different
aesthetic styles depending upon the needs of the
story. For example:
Invisible editing.
Montage editing.

Postproduction Phase
OLD SCHOOL - Conforming the negative

Once all of the editing decisions have been

made, the original camera negative is brought
to a negative cutter who uses cement splices
and A/B rolling in order to conform the
negative based on the decisions of the final cut
of the workprint.

Postproduction Phase
Creating a release print.

Once the negative has been conformed to an A/B

roll, a married print is created and joined with
the final audio mix which is inscribed at the
edge of the film optically.
For the purposes of distribution, an
internegative is then created from the married
print for the sake of striking positive release
prints that are shipped to theaters.

Postproduction Phase
NEW SCHOOL

Once the edit is locked or final, the footage is

transferred back to film in a process called a
film out.
For distribution, an internegative is then
created from the film out for the sake of
striking positive release prints that are
shipped to theaters.

Postproduction Phase
NEW SCHOOL

As more theaters become able to project films

digitally, film prints will become obsolete and
will be replaced with reusable hard drives that
are easily shipped from studio to theater.
The hard drives can be pre-programmed only to
play the film a proscribed number of times
saving the studios billions of dollars a year in
lost revenues and in film printing costs.

The End