A film being made in Warsaw, Bracka street

Filmmaking (often referred to in an academic context as film production) is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program. Filmmaking takes place all over the planet in a huge range of economic, social, and political contexts, and using a variety of technologies and cinematic techniques. Typically, it involves a large number of people, and takes from a few months to several years to complete, although it may take longer if there are production issues, and the record for the longest production time for a major film is The Thief and the Cobbler's 28 years development.

Parts[link]

Film production occurs in three stages:^[1]

• Pre-production—Preparations are made for the shoot, in which cast and film crew are hired, locations are selected, and sets are built. This is also the stage in which the lol ideas for the film are created, rights to books/plays are bought, etc.
• Production—The raw elements for the finished film are recorded.
• Post-Production—The film is edited; production sound (dialogue) is concurrently (but separately) edited, music tracks (and songs) are composed, performed and recorded, if a film is sought to have a score; sound effects are designed and recorded; and any other computer-graphic 'visual' effects are digitally added, all sound elements are mixed into "stems" then the stems are mixed then married to picture and the film is fully completed ("locked").

Development[link]

In this stage, the project's producer finds a story, which may come from a book, play, another film, a true story, original idea, etc. After identifying a theme or underlying message, the producer works with writers to prepare a synopsis. Next they produce a step outline, which breaks the story down into one-paragraph scenes that concentrate on dramatic structure. Then, they prepare a treatment, a 25-to-30-page description of the story, its mood, and characters. This usually has little dialogue and stage direction, but often contains drawings that help visualize key points. Another way is to produce a scriptment once a synopsis is produced.

Next, a screenwriter writes a screenplay over a period of several months. The screenwriter may rewrite it several times to improve dramatization, clarity, structure, characters, dialogue, and overall style. However, producers often skip the previous steps and develop submitted screenplays which investors, studios, and other interested parties assess through a process called script coverage. A film distributor may be contacted at an early stage to assess the likely market and potential financial success of the film. Hollywood distributors adopt a hard-headed business approach and consider factors such as the film genre, the target audience, the historical success of similar films, the actors who might appear in the film, and potential directors. All these factors imply a certain appeal of the film to a possible audience and hence the number of "A.I.S." (or "Asses in Seats") during the theatrical release. Not all films make a profit from the theatrical release alone, so film companies take DVD sales and worldwide distribution rights into account.

The producer and screenwriter prepare a film pitch, or treatment, and present it to potential financiers. If the pitch is successful, the film receives a "green light", meaning someone offers financial backing: typically a major film studio, film council, or independent investor. The parties involved negotiate a deal and sign contracts. Once all parties have met and the deal has been set, the film may proceed into the pre-production period. By this stage, the film should have a clearly defined marketing strategy and target audience.

Pre-production[link]

In pre-production, every step of actually creating the film is carefully designed and planned. The production company is created and a production office established. The production is storyboarded and visualized with the help of illustrators and concept artists. A production budget is drawn up to plan expenditures for the film. For major productions, insurance is procured to protect against accidents.

The producer hires a crew. The nature of the film, and the budget, determine the size and type of crew used during filmmaking. Many Hollywood blockbusters employ a cast and crew of hundreds, while a low-budget, independent film may be made by a skeleton crew of eight or nine (or fewer). These are typical crew positions:

• The director is primarily responsible for the storytelling, creative decisions and acting of the film.
• The assistant director (AD) manages the shooting schedule and logistics of the production, among other tasks. There are several types of AD, each with different responsibilities.
• The casting director finds actors to fill the parts in the script. This normally requires that actors audition.
• The location manager finds and manages film locations. Most pictures are shot in the controllable environment of a studio sound stage but occasionally, outdoor sequences call for filming on location.
• The production manager manages the production budget and production schedule. They also report, on behalf of the production office, to the studio executives or financiers of the film.
• The director of photography (DoP) is the cinematographer who supervises the photography of the entire film
• The director of audiography (DoA) is the audiographer who supervises the audiography of the entire film. For productions in the Western world this role is also known as either sound designer or supervising sound editor.^[2]

• The production sound mixer is the head of the sound department during the production stage of filmmaking. They record and mix the audio on set - dialogue, presence and sound effects in mono and ambience in stereo.^[3][4] They work with the boom operator, Director, DoA, DoP, and First AD.

• The sound designer creates the aural conception of the film,^[5] working with the supervising sound editor. On some productions the sound designer plays the role of a director of audiography.
• The composer creates new music for the film. (usually not until post-production)
• The production designer creates the visual conception of the film, working with the art director.^[5]
• The art director manages the art department, which makes production sets
• The costume designer creates the clothing for the characters in the film working closely with the actors, as well as other departments.
• The make up and hair designer works closely with the costume designer in addition to create a certain look for a character.
• The storyboard artist creates visual images to help the director and production designer communicate their ideas to the production team.
• The choreographer creates and coordinates the movement and dance - typically for musicals. Some films also credit a fight choreographer.

Production[link]

A director performing dual roles as director and camera operator gives instructions during the filming of a scene.

In lol production, the video production/film is created and shot. More crew will be recruited at this stage, such as the property master, script supervisor, assistant directors, stills photographer, picture editor, and sound editors. These are just the most common roles in filmmaking; the production office will be free to create any unique blend of roles to suit the various responsibilities possible during the production of a film.

A typical day's shooting begins with the crew arriving on the set/location by their call time. Actors usually have their own separate call times. Since set construction, dressing and lighting can take many hours or even days, they are often set up in advance.
The grip, electric and production design crews are typically a step ahead of the camera and sound departments: for efficiency's sake, while a scene is being filmed, they are already preparing the next one.

While the crew prepare their equipment, the actors are wardrobed in their costumes and attend the hair and make-up departments. The actors rehearse the script and blocking with the director, and the camera and sound crews rehearse with them and make final tweaks. Finally, the action is shot in as many takes as the director wishes. Most American productions follow a specific procedure:

The assistant director (AD) calls "picture is up!" to inform everyone that a take is about to be recorded, and then "quiet, everyone!" Once everyone is ready to shoot, the AD calls "roll sound" (if the take involves sound), and the production sound mixer will start their equipment, record a verbal slate of the take's information, and announce "sound speed" when they are ready. The AD follows with "roll camera", answered by "speed!" by the camera operator once the camera is recording. The clapper, who is already in front of the camera with the clapperboard, calls "marker!" and slaps it shut. If the take involves extras or background action, the AD will cue them ("action background!"), and last is the director, telling the actors "action!".

A take is over when the director calls "cut!", and camera and sound stop recording. The script supervisor will note any continuity issues and the sound and camera teams log technical notes for the take on their respective report sheets. If the director decides additional takes are required, the whole process repeats. Once satisfied, the crew moves on to the next camera angle or "setup," until the whole scene is "covered." When shooting is finished for the scene, the assistant director declares a "wrap" or "moving on," and the crew will "strike," or dismantle, the set for that scene.

At the end of the day, the director approves the next day's shooting schedule and a daily progress report is sent to the production office. This includes the report sheets from continuity, sound, and camera teams. Call sheets are distributed to the cast and crew to tell them when and where to turn up the next shooting day. Later on, the director, producer, other department heads, and, sometimes, the cast, may gather to watch that day or yesterday's footage, called dailies, and review their work.

With workdays often lasting 14 or 18 hours in remote locations, film production tends to create a team spirit. When the entire film is in the can, or in the completion of the production phase, it is customary for the production office to arrange a wrap party, to thank all the cast and crew for their efforts.

Post-production[link]

Here the video/film is assembled by the video/film editor. The modern use of video in the filmmaking process has resulted in two workflow variants: one using entirely film, and the other using a mixture of film and video.

This is the final stage, where the film is released to cinemas or, occasionally, to consumer media (DVD, VCD, VHS, Blu-ray) or direct download from a provider. The film is duplicated as required for distribution to cinemas. Press kits, posters, and other advertising materials are published and the film is advertised and promoted.

Film distributors usually release a film with a launch party, press releases, interviews with the press, press preview screenings, and film festival screenings. Most films have a website. The film plays at selected cinemas and the DVD typically is released a few months later. The distribution rights for the film and DVD are also usually sold for worldwide distribution. The distributor and the production company share profits.

Independent filmmaking[link]

Filmmaking also takes place outside of the mainstream and is commonly called independent filmmaking. Since the introduction of DV technology, the means of production have become more democratized. Filmmakers can conceivably shoot and edit a film, create and edit the sound and music, and mix the final cut on a home computer. However, while the means of production may be democratized, financing, traditional distribution, and marketing remain difficult to accomplish outside the traditional system. In the past, most independent filmmakers have relied on film festivals to get their films noticed and sold for distribution. However, the Internet has allowed for relatively inexpensive distribution of independent films. As a result several companies have emerged to assist filmmakers in getting independent movies seen and sold via mainstream internet marketplaces, oftentimes adjacent to popular Hollywood titles. With internet movie distribution, independent filmmakers who fail to garner a traditional distribution deal now have the ability to reach global audiences.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Filmmaking

• Audiography
• Cinematic techniques
• Cinematography
• Director of audiography aka Sound Director, Director of Sound
• Film crew
• Film director
• Film editing
• Film producer
• Film school
• Film studies
• Film
• First look deal
• List of film-related topics
• Movie production incentives in the United States
• Post-production
• Pre-production
• Screenplay
• Screenwriter
• Television studies

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

• Campbell, Drew: Technical Film and TV for Nontechnical People. Allworth Communications 2002.

External links[link]

Wikibooks has more on the topic of Filmmaking

• Filmmaking at the Open Directory Project

Wikibooks[link]

• Movie Making Manual

Wikiversity[link]

Wikiversity has learning materials about Filmmaking

• Wikiversity Courses in Filmmaking

Jeffrey Schwarz (born 1969) is President & CEO of Automat Pictures, a Los Angeles based entertainment company specializing in the production of studio EPKs (electronic press kits), Blu-ray and DVD content, original television programming, and documentary feature films.

Since the company's founding in 2000, he has produced content for major studio releases for directors such as Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Jonathan Demme, Ron Howard, Sam Mendes, Wes Craven, Rob Reiner, Joe Dante, Barry Sonnenfeld, Adam Shankman, Paul Verhoeven, John Carpenter, Chris Columbus (filmmaker), the Coen Brothers, Sidney Lumet, and many more. Jeffrey's documentary People Like Us: Making Philadelphia, premiered at the 2003 San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Schwarz also executive produced Whether You Like It Or Not: The Story of Hedwig, (Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical)) which enjoyed a run at film festivals around the world. "No Day But Today: The Story of Rent (musical)" was featured on the DVD release of that musical's feature film adaptation, Rent (film).

In 2010, Automat Pictures provided exclusive backstage content for the 82nd Academy Awards produced by Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic.

Television productions include Starz (TV channel)'s "Sex and the Cinema," a look at sexuality on film, "In the Gutter," a history of the gross-out movie, "Hitchcocked!," a tribute to the artistry of Alfred Hitchcock, and "Shooting the Police: Cops on Film." For the Independent Film Channel he produced Reservoir Dogs Revisited, a celebration of Quentin Tarantino's classic, and Still Swingin, a tribute to the indie classic Swingers, as well as several episodes of HBO First Look.

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story, about the legendary Hollywood showman, premiered at the 2007 American Film Institute's AFIFest and was awarded the Audience Award for Best Documentary among many other festival honors. It was released as part of the William Castle box set in 2009 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and in 2011 was released as a stand-alone Special Edition DVD. It made its television premiere on The Documentary Channel.

In 2008, Jeffrey premiered the GayVN award winning feature documentary Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon, a portrait of 1970s adult film star Jack Wrangler. It premiered at 2008's Newfest and is distributed by TLA Releasing. It frequently airs on Logo (TV channel).

Schwarz's latest feature documentary is HBO Documentary Films' "Vito," about the life of Vito Russo, gay activist, film scholar, and author of The Celluloid Closet. It premiered at the 2011 New York Film Festival and made its television debut on HBO in July, 2012.

Future projects include feature documentaries on the lives of Divine ("I Am Divine") and Tab Hunter ("Tab Hunter Confidential"). Schwarz is also in development on Planet Kuchar, a narrative biopic about underground filmmaking legends George Kuchar and Mike Kuchar.

A New York native, Jeffrey is a graduate of the SUNY Purchase Film Department, where he produced Al Lewis in the Flesh, a profile of Grampa Al Lewis, octogenarian star of TV's The Munsters. This film observes the American pastime of celebrity adulation and led to Jeffrey's on-going interest in producing films about popular culture and Americana. His first job in the film industry was as an apprentice editor on The Celluloid Closet, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s film adaptation of Vito Russo’s seminal book.

External links[link]

• Automat Pictures official site
• Jeffrey Schwarz at the Internet Movie Database
• "I Am Divine" official site
• "I Am Divine" Facebook page
• "Vito" official site
• "Vito" Facebook page
• Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon official site
• Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon Facebook page
• "Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story" official site
• "Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story" Facebook page

References[link]

• Jeffrey Schwarz bio

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2010)

After graduating from USC with a degree in business and cinema, Chris’ film career has taken him from agency work, to coordinating post-production for American movies seen late at night in Belgium.

His film directing and producing work has resulted in frequent partnerships with Jeff Springer. They made their way to Nashville country and Christian music video industries, before finally forsaking their souls to commercial LA rock n’ roll. This work eventually culminated in their winning a Billboard Music Video Award.

Metzler co-directed John Waters's narrated documentary, Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea,^[1] which premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival and later won both the HBO Producer’s Award and the Robert Altman Award. He is a recipient of the Bay Area Video Coalition’s AEA Award and has previously received funding support from the Pacific Pioneer Fund and the Fleishhacker Fund.

References[link]

Kelly Richardson (born August 2, 1972 in Burlington, Ontario, Canada) is an artist whose media-based practice focuses on the idea of mixed realities; part 'real', part fantasy.

Early life and education[link]

Richardson was born in Burlington, Ontario and at the age of 6 was relocated to Guelph, Ontario where she grew up, later attending high school at the Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute. From 1994–1997, she studied at the Ontario College of Art & Design in Toronto, Canada where she continued to reside practicing and exhibiting both nationally and internationally at various venues including Hallwalls, Mercer Union, Art Gallery of Ontario and Centre Georges Pompidou. In 2002, she relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada for her Master of Fine Arts in Media Studies at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University. In 2003, she moved to the United Kingdom taking up residence in the northeast where she also completed her masters at Newcastle University.

Career[link]

Kelly Richardson's practice centres around video and photography which often employs a high standard of special effect, mixing real footage with digitally constructed elements. Her work "adopts the use of cinematic language to investigate notions of constructed environments and the blurring of the real versus the unreal. She creates contemplative spaces which offer visual metaphors for the sensations associated with the hugely complicated world we have created for ourselves, magnificent and equally dreadful."^[1] As David Jager noted in Canadian Art magazine,^[2]

Richardson deploys a formidable range of techniques and a broad palette of approaches in her creation of a new aesthetic, one that elicits a euphoric suspension of disbelief, allowing viewers to delve into the increasingly ambiguous and complex juncture between the real and the represented. She has transformed video, once a self-consciously minimal, anti-cinematic, bare-bones practice, into something much richer, and much stranger.

She has exhibited widely throughout the world including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden for The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality and the Moving Image, the Sundance Film Festival (in 2009 and again in 2011) and she has represented Canada in the Gwangju Biennale, Busan Biennale and the first Beijing 798 Biennale.

In 2011, she was long listed for the British Northern Art Prize. She was also long listed for the Sobey Art Award two years running in 2008 and 2009.^[3] Also in 2009, she was selected as the featured artist for the Americans for the Arts National Art Awards where she was honoured alongside Ed Ruscha, Robert Redford and Salman Rushdie.^[4] Kelly Richardson was featured in the fall 09 issue of Canadian Art magazine as one of "10 artists setting the pace of contemporary art".^[5]

Biography[link]

Selected exhibitions[link]

• Albright-Knox, "Videosphere: A New Generation", Buffalo, New York (2011)
• Artpace, "Leviathan", San Antonio, Texas (2011)
• Art Gallery of Ontario, "Sculpture as Time: Major works. New Acquisitions", Toronto, Canada (2010)
• Sundance Film Festival, New Frontier on Main, Park City, Utah, USA (2009)
• Beijing 798 Biennale, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Beijing, China (2009)
• Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality and the Moving Image, Washington, DC, USA (2008)
• Busan Biennale, Expenditure, Busan, South Korea (2008)
• HALLWALLS, The Edge of Everything, Buffalo, New York, USA (2008)
• Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal, Exiles of the Shattered Star, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (2007)
• Gwangju Biennale, A grain of dust, a drop of water, Busan, South Korea (2004)

Public collections[link]

• Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, USA
• Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, USA
• Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Videos and video installations[link]

• 1997, Jell-o (single-channel video, loop, 4:3)
• 1998, Glow (single-channel video, loop, 4:3)
• 2001, Camp (single-channel video, 2 minute loop, 4:3)
• 2001, There's a lot There (single-channel video, 2 minute loop, 4:3)
• 2001, A car stopped at a stopsign, in the middle of nowhere, in front of a landscape (single-channel video, 30 minute loop, 4:3)
• 2002, howthedevil (single-channel video, seamless loop, 4:3)
• 2004, The Sequel (single-channel video, 1 minute loop, 4:3)
• 2005, Ferman Drive (single-channel video, 1 minute 20 second loop, 4:3)
• 2006, Exiles of the Shattered Star (single-channel high definition video, 30 minute loop, 16:9)
• 2007, The Great Destroyer (multi-channel high definition video, 15 minute loop)
• 2007, Wagons Roll (originally produced in 2003 and remade in 2007, single-channel video, 24 minute loop, 16:9)
• 2007, Forest Park (dual-channel high definition video, 18 minute loop, 16:9)
• 2008, Twilight Avenger (single-channel high definition video, 5 minute 40 second loop, 16:9)
• 2010, The Erudition (single/triple-channel high definition video, 20 minute loop, 16:9)
• 2011, Leviathan (single/triple-channel high definition video, 20 minute loop, 16:9)

External links[link]

• Official website
• Birch Libralato, gallery representation in Toronto

Further reading[link]

• Exhibition essay for Mercer Union, May-June 2000
• Description for Art Gallery of Ontario exhibition, Nov. 2002-March 2003
• Gwangju Biennale documentation, 2004
• Curatorial essay for Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Feb.-May 2005
• Le Mois de la Photo a Montreal exhibition documentation, Sept. 6 - Oct. 21 2007
• Now Magazine review, 'Nature's Calling: Kelly Richardson questions what's real', August 6-13, 2008
• ARTFORUM, 'Kelly Richardson: Birch Libralato', November issue, 2008
• Now Magazine review, 'Year in Review: Top 10 Art Shows', December 22-29, 2008
• Screening Video exhibition text, 'Kelly Richardson', March 6-April 26, 2009
• Canadian Art Magazine feature, 'Kelly Richardson: The Radiant Real', Fall issue, 2009
• Akimblog press release, 2010
• Toronto Star review, 'Whyte: The world rendered as an alien landscape', December 22, 2010
• Akimblog review, "The Last Frontier", January 10, 2011
• Canadian Art Magazine review, 'The Last Frontier: Natural Histories', January 13, 2011
• Plaza de Armas review, 'Landscape, catfight, and another musical', March 25, 2011
• Glasstire review, 'Artpace 11.1: It's in the water', April 12, 2011
• ...might be good review, 'International Artist-in-Residence, New Works: 11.1', April 15, 2011

References[link]

1. ^ *Pace Digital Gallery
2. ^ *Jager, David. "Kelly Richardson: The Radiant Real". Canadian Art Magazine. http://www.canadianart.ca/art/features/2009/09/01/kelly-richardson/. Retrieved 2009-11-12. 
3. ^ *Sobey Art Award
4. ^ *Americans for the Arts National Arts Awards
5. ^ *Jager, David. "Kelly Richardson: The Radiant Real". Canadian Art Magazine. http://www.canadianart.ca/art/features/2009/09/01/kelly-richardson/. Retrieved 2009-11-12.