logistics: materials

materials refers to any physical or digital artefacts that are involved in the production.

types of materials:

• original materials
• archive and library materials 
• photo library materials
• sound library materials
• internet
• assets
• audio
• scripts
• animatics
• graphics 
• interviews 
• costumes
• properties 
• recorded music

original materials:

this refers to the materials made 'in-house' by members of the team.
Nicholas Robatto was a staff props maker for Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures. most episodes of doctor who through the series 6 and 7 were ones he'd worked on. sometimes it was uncredited work, particularly in the early RTD era. he made a range of sonic screwdrivers which were a large part in the Sarah Jane adventures.

properties:

what is a property master...

• a prop , or property, is any moveable item that can be seen on a film. it could be a hat, gun, cushion, glass, lightsaber, carpet, kitchen unit, or aircraft. prop masters run the property department which makes, stores and transports the props as well as preparing them for any scenes. property masters. usually start work a few weeks before shooting begins. they work with production designers, set decorators, and art directors to work out what props are needed. they research and draw up ideas and property lists, deciding on what things can be hired or made. They create a 'set and strike' schedule to share with location and construction departments. when shooting is finished, they return all hired props and organise the sale or safe disposal of everything else.
• they are good at: understanding film, historical knowledge, craftsmanship, moving items, communication, and organisation. 
• they work with members of the team like the department heads and directors.
• all roles within production need to be done by the right people with the right experience. failure to have that means you could risk the entire quality of the production.

what it takes...

• knowledge of building and construction
• to be thorough and pay attention to detail
• knowledge of maths
• to be able to work well with others
• patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations 
• the ability to use, repair, and maintain machines and tools
• being able to work independently
• sensitivity and understanding 

what you'll do...

• discuss what props are needed
• interpreting plans, from rough sketched to detailed deigns
• carrying out historical research to make authentic looking items
• experimenting with different materials 
• using power tools
• hiring, buying or repairing props

what they do...

• prop makers might make anything from fake jewellery to an entire rooms worth of props like lamps or seats.
• they use a range of different skills to create props, such as carpentry, sculpting, casting, sewing, painting, welding, and computer aided design.

what do you need to do to become a prop maker...

• need to be good at solving problems and be able to pay close attention to details
• patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
• the ability to use, repair, and maintain machines and tools
• being able to work independently
• sensitivity and understanding

costume...

• costume is everything in film. 
• as well as contributing to the look, it helps actors to embrace their characters and feel emotionally connected to them. 
• they research, sketch, and draw clothes to communicate the style of the film. 
• they'll do fittings, alterations and sometimes photoshoots as the characters during filming days.
• once shooting starts, they are always on set whenever there are new actors or new looks.

what are they good at?...

• styling
• costume history
• storytelling
• making clothes
• organisation
• communication

the history of angels costumes...

• in 1813 Daniel Angel arrived in London with barely a word of English. he started off selling second hand clothes and later opened a second hand clothing shop with his son. he provided a service for those who wanted good quality clothes at a affordable cost. 
• the quality and style of the clothes was high, and soon theatrical managers were asking for pieces he was selling to use in musicals.
• as the film industry was beginning, Angels began a relationship with them that lasts to this day. he made them costumes for any films necessary.
• after madam Tussauds was destroyed by fire, Angels re-dressed all of the waxworks and provided uniforms for the staff.

some productions he assisted with are:

• the crown 
• bohemian rhapsody 
• rocket man
• Aladdin
• beauty and the beast
• black sails
• fantastic beasts and where to find them
• dads army

without an efficient and experienced costume designer, your production can end up looking cheap and unprofessional. it could also cause a large backlash on the production's reviews from the public.

archive and library materials...

• a collection of films that have been preserved because of their historical or cultural interest.

types of archives that are available to film makers...

• BFI national archive
• east Anglian film archive
• imperial war museum 
• Londons screen archives
• media archive for central England at the university of Lincoln
• north east film archive
• north west film archive at Manchester metropolitan museum
• northern Ireland screen digital film archive
• Scottish screen archive
• screen archive south east
• south west film and television archive 
• the national screen and sound archive of Wales

reasons to chose stock footage over filming yourself...

• its more expensive to film raw footage yourself 
• its easier to chose stock footage which makes it a quicker process 
• Hollywood films use stock footage, shows its of a good quality
• its already available to you, no preparation needed
• it doesn't always look like stock footage
• it saves you paying for permits for certain locations and you don't have to pay for journeys 

photo library materials...

• stock photography is the supply of photographs, which are often licensed for specific use. the stock photo industry, which began to gain hold in the 1920s, has established models including traditional macrostock photography, midstock photography, and microstock photography. 

the bbc photo library...

• they offer copyright bbc images for editorial use in digital and print media.
• without proper time allocated for this part of production, the production could look incomplete.

sound library materials...

• a sound library is a collection of audio recordings maintained. th recordings date back to 19th century and include many rare items such as speeches by public political figures, folk music, British dialects and sound effects.
• these are extremely useful for films to use. for example: a political speech could be used on a television as background noise in a scene filmed at someone's home.

internet:

the internet can be easily underestimated when thinking about how much is effects the production as a whole. research plays a massive role in pre-production. unless a production company is prepared to research everything necessary with books, the internet is an essential asset to this part of the process. it also offers up materials such as sound libraries and online images. using the internet to find your materials can also be very time consuming. for example, finding music or images that aren't copyrighted can take a lengthy amount of time. 

given that the research is such a huge part of production, things could go down hill very quickly if its not done efficiently and with the right amount of time. having deadlines and certain time allocations to parts of production is key to it becoming a success. for example, if the right information isn't collected in the set space of time, the deadline will not be met and on top of that, will push the production back as a whole. without the internet, things like the sound libraries won't be accessible for the production or will take an extreme length of time to get a hold of. 

types of materials:

ACME graphics have assisted all kinds of productions including film, commercials, and television shows. some productions that ACME graphics have been involved in are as follows:

1. films - baby driver, bad education the movie, the Inbetweeners movie and ms browns boys.
2. commercial - British Gas, next, amazon, Asda, Vodafone, BT, Skype, just eat, and o2.
3. television shows - loaded, up the woman, otherworld, birds of a feather, and siblings.

they've created all sorts of graphics for various productions over the years. their work varies. it could be digital design and many other pieces are done manually. examples include: drawings, paintings, and illustrations using pencils and paint brushes. 

to carry out the creation of these graphics, there are certain skills that a person needs. there's no doubt that whoever is creating theses graphics has to have a creative imagination and mindset. without the creative mindset needed for this position, it will make it a lot harder for an individual to think of ideas and visions for their work. communication is also important for this process to work. the graphic designer has to not only understand, but also visualise what the client wants and needs to be able to work with them to get the best end result. client feedback is needed with any project otherwise the client won't get what they originally hoped for. typography is another skill that covers things as little as the font of the text used if there is any. 

within films and productions as a whole, graphics can play very large parts. animations play a huge part in some films and other forms of media production. other aspects of production like advertisement have huge graphic design departments to ensure branding is done right and appeals to the public. graphic designers also have to have a growing relationship with the clients they're helping (the directors and producers).graphics refers to everything animated in a sort of way within production. such examples may include things like special effects. without investing enough or any money and tie with graphic design, the production may start to look like a poorer quality. if a graphic designer isn't involved and members of the original team try to work their own way around designing, it could make the production look cheap and isn't likely to like how the client wants. 

digital assets:

in its simplest form, digital assets are any existing binary format that is able to be used. they mainly include the following: digital documents, audible content, motion pictures, and other relative forms of it. other relevant data is within: personal computers, laptops, portable media players, tablets, storage devices, and telecommunication devices. digital assets have many different physical forms. photography, logos, illustrations, animations, presentations, spreadsheets, word documents, online mail, and websites. however, digital assets have some drawbacks, like most things. there is very little legal control over most digital assets.

animatics...

• a preliminary version of a film, produced by shooting successive sections of a storyboard and adding a soundtrack.
• most people don't know that almost every advert and feature film they sit and watch had an animatic made for it. 
• the animatic is a very important part of the journey from script to screen and yet you're unlikely to see or hear about it. 
• if the animatic isn't planned and executed well the whole job could be pulled by the client.

audio and recorded music...

• depending on the project, recording audio and/or securing the rights to use copyright music might start during the pre-production stage.
• for example: a director might film a scene imaging it with a specific piece of music. in this case, it would be important that the music clearance gets obtained before the filming. 
• if the music clearance wasn't obtained during pre-production then the director might have to rethink the scene or alter it to have a different audio. 
• another example would be if a director wants to use off-camera audio in a scene in which they'd ask the actors to respond to it. this audio would nee to be obtained before filming.

interviews...

• there can be situations where there are reasons to conduct interviews prior to production, for example as part of research or to gather testimony.
• a documentary production might rely on certain interviews being in place prior to production in order to justify a certain line of enquiry.
• if a production that requires interviews doesn't hold them prior to filming, there can be many reproductions. this could include sharing false information and slowed production time.

sourcing...

• it takes a lot of time to source the various materials potentially needed for a production. 
• sources include types like: photo library materials, sound library materials, costumes, props, etc.
• other sources are extremely difficult to find. 
• sourcing is 100% necessary in any production, this means it has to have a specific time gap allocated to it for it to be done correctly.

costs...

• the conception of a viable media product and the successful realisation of the project are both heavily dependant on budget.
• keeping costs as low as possible and staying within budget is an essential skill in any successful producer.
• costs for each type of source varies majorly depending on the production and how much is needed.
• costs for things like costumes will vary depending on the designs, alterations, and detail of the garment.

clearances...

• film clearance is the process of acquiring the required permission for all aspects of a production. 
• it can include things like; sets, actors, extras, music, stock film, posters, etc.
• they're necessary to avoid liability, and avoid general copyright/trademark issues.
• there are three main types of clearances for a production...

1. property
2. people 
3. locations

• property - this includes material which was created by someone other than the filmmakers. examples could be: stock film, books, and music.
• people - releases should be obtained from all personnel appearing in the film. the release should contain provisions that allow the reducer of the film to make the necessary changes they need for the production. some examples could be: fictionalising characters, changing sequences of events, and deleting material. 
• locations - before you can shoot at some locations, you will need to obtain film permits from the city or council. to obtain the permits, you'll need to provide evidence that have insurance, and any additional fees if you plan to use public property. 
• the costs of clearances can vary depending on the production and the owner of the source you are renting/buying from. 
• the usual time to receive a reply about a clearance is around 10 days.
• the copyright owner will need the following information to grant a license:

1. timing or duration of the song and visuals accompanying the song.
2. where you're production will be seen and for how long.
3. titles of any other songs you plan to use, particularly if you have already gotten permission.
4. if you have no budget for clearance, say so in the letter, but the publishers will often give priority to request that offer a token fee ($25-100 per song) because it shows respect to the value of the copyright.
5. provide the publisher with an address, phone, fax, email so they can reply quickly.

• for other property, the copyright owner may have different requirements which you can inquire about, but most likely they will want to know much of the same as listed above, specifically:

1. timing and duration of the shot of the property, and visuals.
2. accompanying the property 
3. where the production will be seen and for how long.
4. provide the publisher with the necessary information to reply to you quickly.

• you do not need a license for a work in a public domain. however, you should be cautious. 
• if you are using a recorded song, the underlying song may be in the public domain, but not the recording.
• if you were to fail to obtain the necessary clearances for your production you could run the risk of being charged with copyright charges. you could also run out of time to find the right sources you need the clearances for. this could hold up the whole production and cause it to start missing deadlines for other aspects of the production process.