Production
Examples of Production Companies
Functions of Production Companies
'A production company or a production house provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.'
Production companies have multiple functions. Generally they are responsible for budgeting, supplying the 'talent', supplying the resources, scripting, scheduling, organisation of staff, as well as the production itself. Often they will handle the post-production, distribution and marketing/advertising of the medium as well. Though this could be handled by one singular company, sometimes a parent company, a partner or private investor will be somewhat responsible for the fundraising and budget. In terms of film, the norm is that more than one production company will work on the project, as effects such as CGI or bullet-time, may need specialists to produce them effectively. Production companies, in most cases, are owned in withheld in a contract with with a media conglomerate e.g. Universal Studios or the Sony Picture Group, entertainment company, film studio or motion picture company, which act as the parent or partner company, which in turn is known as the 'studio system'. There are some cases of film production companies, however, that have manly worked independently, such as Lucasfilm before it was sold to Disney or Lionsgate, who will collaborate on projects with other companies (co-productions) but will not merge, as they themselves are a mini-conglomerate. This is in relevance to the types of production companies: mainstream, independent and completely independent. Groups like Marvel Studios are classed as mini-conglomerates in the sense that they hold a degree over control over separate, seemingly unrelated form of entertainment, Marvel in particular has power in film production, television production, comics and book productions as well as video game production, amongst other areas. As can be assumed, these subsidies are only connected by their parent company.
In terms of developing a medium, there are several steps a company must go through. First the concept needs to be pitched and green lighted, at which point script drafts are written and edited until they are finalised by the screenwriters and pre-production begins. Often, as a result of various extraneous circumstances, a large number of potential productions do not make it through this stage. During pre-production, the casting is undertaken for both actors and crew, who then begin to prepare for their assigned roles, settings are built, acquired or found, in which case the proper permits need to be signed and approved before any kind of location filming can begin. The crew and cast are hand-picked and hired by a casting director, producer and director, who often will use collaborators or referenced personnel to prevent any unwanted leaks or individuals to breach security or spread any leaks; for the same reason, code names might be used to protect the identities of the actors or the locations of the set, as well as for privacy and safety reasons. Then, once these stages are complete, the production enters into principal photography and begins filming, at which point it is highly unlikely for the medium to be cancelled. Beforehand, the actors will have learned their lines from, usually, a shared full copy of the script seen only by the main cast, director and producer(s). Again to prevent leaks, the supporting actors, extras/background actors and the crew almost never receive a full copy of the script. On this note, shooting the medium is often done in secured studios with no public access, and location filming generally has extra measures, such as added security or barriers, put in place to prevent any outside interference to the location, crew, equipment, cast or interruption to the filming. After all aspects of the on set shooting is completed, the medium moves into post-production. This is done by a different production company that is overseen by the primary company, in most cases. Post production includes the editing, visual effects (e.g. CGI), musical score and soundtrack, mixing and applying of sound effects and the re-recording of the dialogue to overlay on the visual. After post is complete, the marketing and advertising is launched. This predominantly includes trailers and posters, but some more inventive marketing teams, such as the team for 'Deadpool (2016)', executed unique and quirky, though often rude, techniques to draw in audience attention. Finally, the final copy of the film is passed over to the distributors who then release the film at a premiere and the wider, global audience.
Name Development
We brainstormed several names for our production companies:
We also asked some members of our focus group their opinions on the names:
Caitlin: 'AT-Pro seems alright, but also kinda of like a K-Pop group, so I think you'd be best going with CloudWorks or Woodlands, they seem like they would be actual production company names, well, at least they do to me.'
Matangi: 'Uhh... I like the fifth one best, ImagineFilm? It seems appropriate for a film about imagination.'
Eloise: 'CloudWorks, because its whimsical but also professional, and 616 Productions because it has a nice ring to it.'
Molly: 'The first one and the fourth one are the best.'
James: I like the last one, 616 Productions, because the meaning behind it is relevant to you and your sixth form experience. If I had to choose another one, I'd probably say CloudWorks is, to me, the one that sounds most like a real company name.'
Deana: 'I like CloudWorks, I really like CloudWorks actually.'
In the end, after considering the feedback from members of our focus group, we decided that we should go for the names 'CloudWorks' and '616 Productions', as they sounded the most professional and effective, as well as being memorable and euphonious. From this point, we then moved on to designing appropriate logos.
Logo Development
We started off with 6 single piece designs to use for the '616 Productions' company. We then asked our focus group to vote on which ones they preferred. Each member of the group had three votes and they picked their favourite three designs, which we then coloured. The other three designs were annotated with reasons as to why they didn't like them to try to avoid the same problems when designing the logo for the other company. We then had our focus group vote again, this time with only one vote, on which of the remaining designs was best. The majority vote was with the top right hand one, with the overlapping squares. Amy then took that design and made it digitally on Adobe Photoshop. Below is a picture of the final version of the '616 Productions' logo that we have used in our film opening.
We chose to use the three primary colours, red, blue and yellow for our main colour scheme, as they are easily recognisable, aesthetically pleasing and have connotations of young children or learning. We lightened the base colours into more of a pastel tone/light version, as we decided that they original block colours were too harsh on the eyes and were hard to look at, which was not an idea we wanted associated with the brand. We added the overlap of the squares to create depth and a sort of tangibility to the logo.The addition of the purple and green squares were also something extra to make the logo more interesting. The font we used was 'Arial', which is a block-ish font that displays the words and number clearly and efficiently, making it easily readable for the audience to see at the beginning of the film. The position of the word 'productions' was debated during the creation stage in Photoshop, as there was some argument over which side the word should be on and at what angle. Ultimately, we ended up going with the original design of the logo, as it was the one we had liked best regardless and the one that the focus group voted for. The position of the corners of the squares as well creates a sort of creates a triangle of focus/ uses the triangle rule, with each square pointing and drawing your attention downwards toward the word 'PRODUCTIONS'. We edited it so it became as it appears in the image.
There were two other more complex designs, one for '616 Productions' and the other for another company named 'CloudWorks Production Company', we had in developement also. We were going to go through the same process as above for creating a logo for CloudWorks, i.e. making lots of small logos for the focus group to then deliberate on, however the top logo was liked as it was, so we just went straight ahead and made it from this design. The second logo design on this page was deemed irrelevant to the nature of the production company, one member of the focus group claimed it would make them think the company produced 'stationery rather than films, because it kinda looks like a stapler', so it was scrapped and not voted for.
We chose the design shape and based it off the 'cloud' part in 'CloudWorks', using different shades of blue to give a sort of contrasting two tine effect. We made attempts to blur the lines between the darker blue cloud and the lighter blue cloud but it made the logo seem messy and badly constructed, so we kept it minimalist as shown to the left. We also made the font clear and unambiguous so all audiences would be able to make out the name concisely.
Statement of Ethos
'Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader.'
Our company is suitable to make and develop films as a cumulative result of our members' knowledge of current and historical media, as both founders have had years of learning and adapting the information needed to be able to manufacture quality content.
Examples of Production Companies
Functions of Production Companies
'A production company or a production house provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.'
Production companies have multiple functions. Generally they are responsible for budgeting, supplying the 'talent', supplying the resources, scripting, scheduling, organisation of staff, as well as the production itself. Often they will handle the post-production, distribution and marketing/advertising of the medium as well. Though this could be handled by one singular company, sometimes a parent company, a partner or private investor will be somewhat responsible for the fundraising and budget. In terms of film, the norm is that more than one production company will work on the project, as effects such as CGI or bullet-time, may need specialists to produce them effectively. Production companies, in most cases, are owned in withheld in a contract with with a media conglomerate e.g. Universal Studios or the Sony Picture Group, entertainment company, film studio or motion picture company, which act as the parent or partner company, which in turn is known as the 'studio system'. There are some cases of film production companies, however, that have manly worked independently, such as Lucasfilm before it was sold to Disney or Lionsgate, who will collaborate on projects with other companies (co-productions) but will not merge, as they themselves are a mini-conglomerate. This is in relevance to the types of production companies: mainstream, independent and completely independent. Groups like Marvel Studios are classed as mini-conglomerates in the sense that they hold a degree over control over separate, seemingly unrelated form of entertainment, Marvel in particular has power in film production, television production, comics and book productions as well as video game production, amongst other areas. As can be assumed, these subsidies are only connected by their parent company.
In terms of developing a medium, there are several steps a company must go through. First the concept needs to be pitched and green lighted, at which point script drafts are written and edited until they are finalised by the screenwriters and pre-production begins. Often, as a result of various extraneous circumstances, a large number of potential productions do not make it through this stage. During pre-production, the casting is undertaken for both actors and crew, who then begin to prepare for their assigned roles, settings are built, acquired or found, in which case the proper permits need to be signed and approved before any kind of location filming can begin. The crew and cast are hand-picked and hired by a casting director, producer and director, who often will use collaborators or referenced personnel to prevent any unwanted leaks or individuals to breach security or spread any leaks; for the same reason, code names might be used to protect the identities of the actors or the locations of the set, as well as for privacy and safety reasons. Then, once these stages are complete, the production enters into principal photography and begins filming, at which point it is highly unlikely for the medium to be cancelled. Beforehand, the actors will have learned their lines from, usually, a shared full copy of the script seen only by the main cast, director and producer(s). Again to prevent leaks, the supporting actors, extras/background actors and the crew almost never receive a full copy of the script. On this note, shooting the medium is often done in secured studios with no public access, and location filming generally has extra measures, such as added security or barriers, put in place to prevent any outside interference to the location, crew, equipment, cast or interruption to the filming. After all aspects of the on set shooting is completed, the medium moves into post-production. This is done by a different production company that is overseen by the primary company, in most cases. Post production includes the editing, visual effects (e.g. CGI), musical score and soundtrack, mixing and applying of sound effects and the re-recording of the dialogue to overlay on the visual. After post is complete, the marketing and advertising is launched. This predominantly includes trailers and posters, but some more inventive marketing teams, such as the team for 'Deadpool (2016)', executed unique and quirky, though often rude, techniques to draw in audience attention. Finally, the final copy of the film is passed over to the distributors who then release the film at a premiere and the wider, global audience.
Name Development
We brainstormed several names for our production companies:
We also asked some members of our focus group their opinions on the names:
Caitlin: 'AT-Pro seems alright, but also kinda of like a K-Pop group, so I think you'd be best going with CloudWorks or Woodlands, they seem like they would be actual production company names, well, at least they do to me.'
Matangi: 'Uhh... I like the fifth one best, ImagineFilm? It seems appropriate for a film about imagination.'
Eloise: 'CloudWorks, because its whimsical but also professional, and 616 Productions because it has a nice ring to it.'
Molly: 'The first one and the fourth one are the best.'
James: I like the last one, 616 Productions, because the meaning behind it is relevant to you and your sixth form experience. If I had to choose another one, I'd probably say CloudWorks is, to me, the one that sounds most like a real company name.'
Deana: 'I like CloudWorks, I really like CloudWorks actually.'
In the end, after considering the feedback from members of our focus group, we decided that we should go for the names 'CloudWorks' and '616 Productions', as they sounded the most professional and effective, as well as being memorable and euphonious. From this point, we then moved on to designing appropriate logos.
Logo Development
We chose to use the three primary colours, red, blue and yellow for our main colour scheme, as they are easily recognisable, aesthetically pleasing and have connotations of young children or learning. We lightened the base colours into more of a pastel tone/light version, as we decided that they original block colours were too harsh on the eyes and were hard to look at, which was not an idea we wanted associated with the brand. We added the overlap of the squares to create depth and a sort of tangibility to the logo.The addition of the purple and green squares were also something extra to make the logo more interesting. The font we used was 'Arial', which is a block-ish font that displays the words and number clearly and efficiently, making it easily readable for the audience to see at the beginning of the film. The position of the word 'productions' was debated during the creation stage in Photoshop, as there was some argument over which side the word should be on and at what angle. Ultimately, we ended up going with the original design of the logo, as it was the one we had liked best regardless and the one that the focus group voted for. The position of the corners of the squares as well creates a sort of creates a triangle of focus/ uses the triangle rule, with each square pointing and drawing your attention downwards toward the word 'PRODUCTIONS'. We edited it so it became as it appears in the image. 
We chose the design shape and based it off the 'cloud' part in 'CloudWorks', using different shades of blue to give a sort of contrasting two tine effect. We made attempts to blur the lines between the darker blue cloud and the lighter blue cloud but it made the logo seem messy and badly constructed, so we kept it minimalist as shown to the left. We also made the font clear and unambiguous so all audiences would be able to make out the name concisely.
Statement of Ethos
'Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader.'
Our company is suitable to make and develop films as a cumulative result of our members' knowledge of current and historical media, as both founders have had years of learning and adapting the information needed to be able to manufacture quality content.
Comments
Post a Comment