1. Unit 25 Film Studies
2.1 Describe the relationship between films and their production contexts with some
appropriate use of subject terminology.
Film budgeting is something that a film maker or production manager does in order to
prepare and plan the budgeting for a film. They will usually make a document that is several
pages long, which contains all necessary information for the budgeting such as what money
is needed for and how to cut costs. This document will then be used to gain finances from
private investors, sponsors/product placement, the film studio or the filmmaker him/herself.
A budget is normally split into 4 sections and the way a movie is budgeted can affect the film
drastically. To explain this I will be using the example of myself through the process of
creating a short film compared to a big professional company.
The first section is above the line. This includes the costs of anything involved in a
production before principal photography begins, such as salaries. Fortunately, in my case
there are no above the line costs that we will need to pay as the 3 of us who are creating
the film won’t need to be paid as we are doing it on voluntary terms, which could also mean
any of us could drop out at any point. We are also using local actors who won’t need to be
paid but won’t give as good a performance as a big actor who will cost a lot of money. As
you can see, the fact that we are paying little to no money means we are also getting a
lower quality product than we would if paying for professionals.
The second section is below the line. Again, we haven’t had need to spend money in this
section as of yet as the cast won’t need to be paid and we will be using equipment provided
by Red Dreams (where we work), which does also mean the quality of the product will be
low as we won’t have professional equipment or actors. However, we may require an
external make-up artist, who will need to be paid and we may have to pay for any travel and
food/drink for the cast and crew. Bigger production companies wil l normally spend a lot of
money in this section as the entire cast will normally need paying, professional equipment
will normally be rented out at a high price for the days of the shoot and there will be a much
bigger cast and crew so catering will be much more expensive, but they will get a better
product in the end.
The third section is post production. We also don’t need to spend money here as everything
we need will be provided free of charge by Red Dreams. We already own the editing
software we need (Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects), which are professional
standard programs. We also have a team of sound technicians who can help in the
production of a score. We will not need any CGI effects added into the film as we are going
for more of a realism feel. As mentioned previously, the lack of money being spent here also
drops the quality of the product. A big production team will normally spend a lot of money
in this section on things such as external professional composers and external editors/effect

2. specialists. One big way to cut the costs of this section is to write a film that uses little in the
way of special effects, as that will normally take up a huge portion of a budget.
The fourth section is insurance. This will also be mainly provided by Red Dreams as we are
able to use their insurance for being in public. However, we may have to pay things such as
damage costs if any occur as we will be fully reliable for any equipment we use. Also, if we
don’t get actors to sign a contract (which we will) we will have to pay for any damage
caused to the actors. Bigger companies will normally have to pay for the insurance of the
cast and crew (which can be expensive due to how many people there are) and equipment
insurance (which will also be expensive due to the high cost and quality of equipment used).
3.1 Describe the relationship between producers and film audiences with some
appropriate use of subject terminology.
In order to either draw in a specific audience or create an emotional response, a producer
will do specific things that will draw that response from their audience. This is an important
part of film making as if the film doesn’t draw a response from the viewer then the majority
of the films meaning and message will be lost, overall making it a generally bad movie. I will
also be using the example of my film as an example for this, as well as referencing recent
blockbuster, Guardians of the Galaxy as an example of a big production movie.
The first thing to be considered when drawing an audience is what you film is about and the
themes revolving around it. In order to draw a wide audience we have made our short film
about dating, more specifically, online dating. This is something that has had quite a big
growth in popularity in the last couple of years, making it relevant to the time it is made and
relatable for a lot of people, more specifically, people aged from 15-30. Guardians of the
Galaxy is a fantasy film, which mostly targets males aged 13-40.
Another thing to consider is the characters. The main characters in our film are a 20-odd
year old man with confidence issues and a 20-odd year old woman who constantly dates via
social networking. These are characters that are relatable to a lot of people in today’s
society, meaning the audience can relate to them and feel similar emotions to them, which
helps to bring out a strong emotional response. Guardians of the Galaxy, a film of a
dominantly male genre, has a strong female character who even overpowers some of the
strong male characters in the movie. This attracts the females to watch the movie and helps
to create a connection between the female audience and the character.
The visuals are also to be considered. The use of certain colours can draw out different
responses from the audience as they help to send out signals to the audience about what is
going on, e.g. red shows danger, pink shows romance and black shows death. Certain
locations can also help make a movie more relatable to an audience. My short film is mainly
set in a pub, a place where the majority of people go so the audience can relate to what is
going on as pubs are a common place for meeting people. However, Guardians of the Galaxy

3. uses location in a different way as the majority of the movie is set in space, a place where
none of the audience will have been. This helps to create an escape for the audience as they
can watch this and be in a new place; a place where the stresses of reality don’t exist.
Finally, the way the film is shot and edited is to be considered. Our short film will consist of
a lot of close-ups and shot/reverse shots. The reason for this is that the close-ups help to
show the emotion of the characters of the movie, helping the audience to relate to them
more e.g. viewers can see when a character is happy and may passively feel that happiness
themselves. The shot/reverse shots will also help to show the emotions of both characters,
allowing the audience to compare their emotion. In Guardians of the Galaxy, there are a lot
of long shots that show the environment, as well as fast editing during fast paced action
scenes, to make it look more exciting for the audience and slow edits during emotional
scenes to help portray the emotions the characters are feeling. The contrast between the
editing pace also makes it easier to tell what the editor is trying to do with the way he is
editing, making it easier to get that emotional response from the audience.