The Production Process

Creating a media product is a complex process. It involves developing an idea or concept using qualities such as imagination, creative energy and a capacity to use or innovate with available resources. A media product, like a work of art, requires organisational ability, a clear vision and effective use of resources, materials and technologies required for a specific medium.

The production process refers to the stages (phases) required to complete a media product, from the idea to the final master copy. The process can apply to any type of media production including film, video, television and audio recording. The stages in each medium vary; for example, there is obviously no storyboard in an audio recording. However the same general concepts work for any medium.

Pre-production is a fairly loose term which refers to the tasks undertaken before production begins. Exactly what is included in this stage depends on the medium and situation.

For a small video company, pre-production may refer to everything that happens before shooting begins, for example, meeting with the client, research, storyboarding, location planning...

For feature films, pre-production is more specific and only begins when other milestones have been met such as financing, screenplay, casting and major staffing. In this case pre-production includes:

In film and video, production refers to the part of the process in which footage is recorded. This is what most people imagine when they think of a film being made — actors on sets, cameras rolling, etc. The production phase is also known as principal photography.

In large feature films the beginning of the production phase marks the “point of no return”, i.e. the point at which it is no longer financially viable to cancel the project. At this point it is almost always cheaper to continue until the project is finished than to deal with the financial fall-out of canceling.

The goal of principal photography is obviously to record all required shots, however it is fairly common to shoot “pick-up” shots in post production. Pick-up shots may be required when a mistake is noticed, a script change is made (this is unusual), or even if a performance is deemed to be unsatisfactory.

Post-production is the third and final major phase of the production process. It is often referred to simply as a post. e.g. “We can sort that out in the post”

There are many things that can happen in post-production. Common tasks include:

In some cases post-production is relatively straightforward, consisting of choosing and arranging footage in the correct sequence. In most cases, however, post-production is a time-consuming job taking longer than the actual production phase.