Production: Managing the budget
As the Producer it was my role to manage the budget and ensure that it factors in every element to the filming. We each put in £200 equating to a total amount of £600 for the whole production. According to Studio Binder, it gives a guide as to how to budget a script breakdown. I took this into consideration when planning our budget and which categories the money would be most absorbed.
1. Break your script into pages per day
Studio Binder explains the first thing you should do when budgeting is to decide how many pages of script you'll be able to shoot per day. Our script is only 17 pages long. Working with my schedule I was able to collaborate with the Director and the Director of Photography as to how much we could shoot in our time period. We decided we would be able to shoot between 2-3 scenes per day. In order to budget well and to make best use of the time, I chose to schedule the scenes in order of location and the props and actors needed.
For example, on the first day we had 3 cast members on set. I chose to schedule in 2 scenes on this day because of factors such as costumes, and cast that are needed for specific scenes. We had to shoot all of the Betty scenes on one day and therefore that saved us having to pay more travel expenses by only having the actor there once.
2. Plan for difficult scenes
Studio Binder explains how difficult scenes to shoot such as a human transforming into a wolf would require a lot of heavy effects. In order to work out how much time this would require, they advise to quadruple the page length of script for this scene. We haven't got any scenes that require heavy effects such as the example above; however our final scene (17) requires a large amount of co-ordinating for our multi-cam set up. This is our climactic scene where everything ties together all at once, therefore it is the most complicated to shoot. After liaising with the Director and Director of Photography, I was able to budget in how long it would take us to shoot this scene and I allocated the majority of the day to this scene. I then utilised the rest of the day to make best use of the actors and film the shorter scenes to ensure that they were complete.
3. Budget your film for your actors
Studio Binder recommends that we calculate how many pages of script our actors are needed for and then work out how many pages we are filming per day. Then divide the number of pages by the number of pages being filmed to equate their salary. It's important to work out how much their daily rate will be first in order to work out their total. Then times this number by 2 to ensure you have enough budget to cover any human error.
For Young & Famous, we are only paying travel expenses at a previously agreed amount. I placed aside roughly half of the budget just to travel expenses and worked out where each cast member was travelling from to evaluate their cost. As our leading Actress was travelling by train from London she received the most amount per day of £30. This actress is involved in every scene and therefore across the 7 day shoot she received a large chunk of our budget. Our leading actor was travelling by car and received £15.50 a day and again was needed for everyday. Our minor characters I did my best to keep to one day to keep the costs down. These cast members were all local to Maidstone and Rochester and therefore received £10 each for their travel.
4. Budgeting for your extras
Studio Binder advises that to calculate the cost of paying your extras you set out how many you have and then times this by their daily rate to give you a 'line rate' of how much it will cost.
We had 10 extras for one of our scenes but unfortunately we were unable to offer them any payment due to the budget being needed elsewhere. We relied on their generosity and this payed off! When advertising for extras, I made it sound like an experience opportunity to be within the Maidstone TV Studios and see where popular shows are filmed. I also offered a copy of the film and a credit. This worked well and I was able to obtain the amount of extras needed to work for the scene.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
As far as this research goes, it was helpful in deciding how to budget for our script. It didn't help in regards to finding out how to budget for our food or for our props and set. I used my initiative to work out how much we would need for these other elements and have managed the budget well.
There is enough in the budget to cover everything needed for the shooting period including if we need to reshoot at any point. Overall, I have successfully managed the budget well and our film hasn't had to compromise in any way due to funding.
1. Break your script into pages per day
Studio Binder explains the first thing you should do when budgeting is to decide how many pages of script you'll be able to shoot per day. Our script is only 17 pages long. Working with my schedule I was able to collaborate with the Director and the Director of Photography as to how much we could shoot in our time period. We decided we would be able to shoot between 2-3 scenes per day. In order to budget well and to make best use of the time, I chose to schedule the scenes in order of location and the props and actors needed.
For example, on the first day we had 3 cast members on set. I chose to schedule in 2 scenes on this day because of factors such as costumes, and cast that are needed for specific scenes. We had to shoot all of the Betty scenes on one day and therefore that saved us having to pay more travel expenses by only having the actor there once.
2. Plan for difficult scenes
Studio Binder explains how difficult scenes to shoot such as a human transforming into a wolf would require a lot of heavy effects. In order to work out how much time this would require, they advise to quadruple the page length of script for this scene. We haven't got any scenes that require heavy effects such as the example above; however our final scene (17) requires a large amount of co-ordinating for our multi-cam set up. This is our climactic scene where everything ties together all at once, therefore it is the most complicated to shoot. After liaising with the Director and Director of Photography, I was able to budget in how long it would take us to shoot this scene and I allocated the majority of the day to this scene. I then utilised the rest of the day to make best use of the actors and film the shorter scenes to ensure that they were complete.
3. Budget your film for your actors
Studio Binder recommends that we calculate how many pages of script our actors are needed for and then work out how many pages we are filming per day. Then divide the number of pages by the number of pages being filmed to equate their salary. It's important to work out how much their daily rate will be first in order to work out their total. Then times this number by 2 to ensure you have enough budget to cover any human error.
For Young & Famous, we are only paying travel expenses at a previously agreed amount. I placed aside roughly half of the budget just to travel expenses and worked out where each cast member was travelling from to evaluate their cost. As our leading Actress was travelling by train from London she received the most amount per day of £30. This actress is involved in every scene and therefore across the 7 day shoot she received a large chunk of our budget. Our leading actor was travelling by car and received £15.50 a day and again was needed for everyday. Our minor characters I did my best to keep to one day to keep the costs down. These cast members were all local to Maidstone and Rochester and therefore received £10 each for their travel.
4. Budgeting for your extras
Studio Binder advises that to calculate the cost of paying your extras you set out how many you have and then times this by their daily rate to give you a 'line rate' of how much it will cost.
We had 10 extras for one of our scenes but unfortunately we were unable to offer them any payment due to the budget being needed elsewhere. We relied on their generosity and this payed off! When advertising for extras, I made it sound like an experience opportunity to be within the Maidstone TV Studios and see where popular shows are filmed. I also offered a copy of the film and a credit. This worked well and I was able to obtain the amount of extras needed to work for the scene.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
As far as this research goes, it was helpful in deciding how to budget for our script. It didn't help in regards to finding out how to budget for our food or for our props and set. I used my initiative to work out how much we would need for these other elements and have managed the budget well.
There is enough in the budget to cover everything needed for the shooting period including if we need to reshoot at any point. Overall, I have successfully managed the budget well and our film hasn't had to compromise in any way due to funding.
Comments
Post a Comment