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The goal of our award-winning team is to help spread your story as far and wide as possible by participating in the entire process.
This is where the project is birthed. It is the creation, writing, organizing and planning stage of a project. In development, a preliminary budget is made, key cast are attached, key creatives are chosen, main locations scouted and multiple script drafts may be written.
A project concept is the very basic thought of what it can be. It’s the spark of a story or situation and the central characters you will follow.
This first, often vague, notion provides a creative jump-off for generating more ideas.
Suggested questions a project concept might answer:
– Who is the main character?
– What problem, predicament or journey will they face?
– Where and when will this take place?
In movie-making, the high concept idea is preferable. If the film can be described simply and quickly then it’s easier to get people on board with the project.
It’s all the groundwork to show what the project will be and how much it will cost to make. It starts the moment a Writer starts penning words on a page. With ideas ready, it’s time to write them down. Every film works from a “screenplay” or script, detailing each scene, setting, and person interaction.
Scriptwriting is mostly about dialog and how the various characters speak. Descriptions of place or situation set the scenes but primarily you want a script that tells the story through their words.
We are making every word count. Feature film scripts average 90-120 pages, so snappy and sharp dialog gives good exposition.
Pre-production includes all the steps taken before the actual shoot:
– Casting
– Rehearsal with the actors
– Budgeting
– Scriptwriting
– Location scouting
– Wardrobe
– Prop shopping
– Set design
– Pre-visualization
– Pre-lighting
– Pre-composition
Pre-production is also the stage where directors, producers and screenwriters working closely together on a project. They will have many meetings, phone calls, emails and texts to discuss and finalize all aspects of the script, storyboards, locations, cast, crew, etc.
The pre-production stage can last anywhere from one week to a year, depending on the size and complexity of the film project. It can start with an initial meeting between the writer and producer (or sometimes a director, cinematographer and producer) to establish a basic understanding of what the project is about and how it should look.
This is where the footage is edited, the sound is mixed, visual effects are added, a soundtrack is composed, titles are created, and the project is completed and prepared for distribution. Although the shooting crew has done a lot of hard work, now the post-production crew face arduous hours of work ahead of them to piece together the scenes and craft a stunning story.
Post-production begins while the shoot is still going, as the footage is gathered as soon as the first day of shooting commences. This helps see the project finished as soon as possible, but can also help identify problems with the footage or any gaps in the story while the shoot is still happening. If needed, shots can be picked up on later days without too much interference in the shooting schedule.
While there are some elements of post-production that can be done ahead of time – such as editing a script or creating a visual effects breakdown – most of it is done after the shoot ends.
Once the shoot is over, the footage is stored on media such as hard drives, DVDs, or on a server depending on the kind of shoot and the budget. The footage is then loaded into a software application called a “digital video editing system” (DVES). Some popular editing systems are AVID, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere and Davinci Resolve.
Taking time and a lot of skilled work, editing is crucial to telling the story as written in the script and drawn in the storyboard.
This is where every best shot or “take” for each scene is sequenced accordingly. The goal is to entertain and captivate the viewer while also optimizing running time.
Short films run up to 40 minutes, with features averaging 75-210 minutes long.
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