Unit 1
Pre-Production
What is pre-production?
Pre-production
is the first phase in of a new product and the final phase of the product
development process. Pre-production is used for multi media industries
e.g. advertisement, radio, television, games development, internet and
press. Pre-production is key for planning to make sure everything goes to plan
and meet the requirements.
Pre-production in games development has the same principals and
media and film with slight differences e.g. in pre-production the
developers will think about what genre they want their game to be
and the general plot/feel and look. Games for pcs and consoles are
usual funded by publishers. Pre-production or design phase as it is
known in game development, is a planning phase of the whole game development
project.
They produce clear and easy documents for the design team to understand
what the total aim of the development team is and
what individual parts each team member will be doing and deadlines
that should be meant to show the publishers the progress the team has made. The
game will then go into full development if the publishers are happy and the
team have enough information and prototypes.
Finance
Finance is a
big part of pre-production as there is lots of resources that you may need
while developing a game/film or other media , equipment needed to
develop these can get pricey e.g. pc's, software, green screens,
cameras and offices/work space which you would either buy or rent
and maintain. You may need to go to different location that you may be
using in your game or the use of other facilities so you will hire
transport to get you and your crew to those places.
Personnel need
to be taken into account setting budgets to different takes forces or section
for your development team. Planning is key to keep to schedules and money
stopping you going over on your budgets and spending too much time on one part
of the development. It is good to keep to schedules and deadlines especially if
being funded by a company or publishers which wants prototypes and
presentation.
GTA5 was one of
the biggest games released in 2013 by Rockstar north. It was in development for
5 years after the release of GTA4. The total cost for the development of GTA5
was £170 million but made a profit of around 1 billion in the first 3 days of
the game being published.
The hobbit
an unexpected journey was partly film in New Zealand and they used
five helicopters to pick out perfect spots to star in the film. They would have
to pay for flights to New Zealand for all the crew and all the equipment. They
also had to pay for the helicopter ass well, so even before thy have started
filming there already spending lots of money which would have been planned in
the pre-production of the film.
Personal
The
number of developers included in your project will have to be pay a monthly
wage, if your game is in development for 2 years the budget will have to
include wages for those two years because if the developers aren't getting paid
because of budget errors they aren't going to continue work .This is why
planning budgets and having deadlines is essential as company's or publishers
which are funding your project don't want to lose money and they want to make a
profit. You’re also going to interview people who have applied for the various
jobs, look at their experiences and qualification and decide whether they are
suitable for the job they are applied for, this is a time consuming part of the
pre-production and can cost money to set it all up.
Producers is
the overseer of the development weather it’s a film or game or other types of
media their role is to manage the development team, schedules, reports progress
and budget. A Designer in game developments role is to design the game
play and the structure of the game, there is usually a lead designer
who manage other designers.
An artist’s
role is to draw and model characters for a game or film there is usually a lead
artist in charge of other artist that work on individual parts of the
development. 2D artist mainly work on concept are and 3D artist produce models,
animation and environments. Programmers in game development produce all the
game physics, mechanics, integrates sound speech and sound effects into the
specific areas of the game and scripting. The level design develops the
levels mission or challenges for the game using a specified set
of programs. Sound engineer develops the sound effects, the specific
sounds of objects like a weapon and sound positioning.
A cast for a
film is all the actors that will be staring in the film, main characters, back
ground characters/filler and characters that only have a small role to play.
Script writers for games, films and other media, write the dialog and story of
the entire game or film.
Time
Having
deadlines is very important when producing a game especially if you are being
funded by an outside source. They will want drafts and presentation on
your progress and a final dead line, this links in with finance because if a
company is funding the development there not just going to give you money and
tell you to get on with it. They will want deadlines and finishing dates so
they know there money isn't going to be wasted and they know they’re going to
make their money back.
So in pre-production it important to
work out deadlines to keep to a schedule to save money and to get the game
finished. Equipment and facilities you’re hiring may not be available forever.
Personnel you’re hiring may have other projects and their own deadlines so
there availability is limited.
Contributors
When producing
a game/film you might want a celebrities to star in you game/film or a
specialist that will help with the concept art, filming, producing or music.
These will have to be scheduled and budgeted to see how much time and
availability there is and you will have to account for the time that the
specialist or celebrities can work for and how much you have to pay
them. The Sims super stars had a number of celebrities
stared in this game e.g. Avril Lavigue, Cameron Diaz and a few
others. Kat Williams and Ricky Gervais also stared in comedy clubs in GTA
4.
Codes and
regulations
There are
rules, codes and regulation you have to consider as you don't want to have to
re make your game or go to court over copyright as it can affect the
development and you can lose time and money. Health and safety has to be check
and insured for any accidents with equipment or workers. Procedures to make
sure that none of the pictures or art in your game is copyright and
you game will need to be check and given a pegi rating.
Trade union is Completion insurance that
makes sure that when the product is finished it is delivered to the distributor
and the payment will be sent from the distributor to the producer and this insurance
keeps the independent developers protected.
PEGI or
pan European game information is a video game content
rating system for consumers. So when they look at getting a game
for themselves or their children it helps to show if it’s suited for
them or their children to play. This system is used in thirty different
countries and is based on a code of conduct. PEGI is a stander set of
rules for games developers to follow to make sure there games
is suitable for publishing and does not cross any lines.
The more offensive material the higher the pegi rating give to that game.
Public
liability is another consideration to make sure while your film or game is in
development its doesn't harm the public e.g. A member of the public can sue you
if they trip over or get hurt by any of the equipment you are using.
ASA Advertising
standards authority, regulates UK advertising across all media. So if you
wanted to create an advert for your game or film, the ASA would check you
advert to make sure it is suitable for television or online
advertisement. Ofcom oversees all broadcasting, telecommunications
and postal industries in
the UK and is government approved.
The purpose Ofcom is to make sure that industry's named
above keep to a set of rules to protect the public from harmful and
offensive material.
Ellen Paige was
used in beyond two soles as the model for the character Jodie Holmes and in the
game, The last of us the character called Ellie had a resemblance to
Ellen Paige thought no legal action was taken against naughty dog there
have been other cases where celebrities have sued game developer for being
in there game without permission.
Facilities
When developing
a film or game, the project may require certain facilities to help with
development e.g. cameras, software, green screens and other expensive
facilities which will have to be Incorporated into the budget
and schedule. You may want certain places incorporated into you game or film,
so getting permission from the local council in that area to film or use
pictures of buildings in your game. Software like 3d studios max and adobe
Photoshop and professional tools that are used in lots of different media
types. Photoshop is used to edit pictures to give them certain
effects or can be used to make sprites and other art for games, another
software used to create 3D characters is blender.
Bibliography
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