This document discusses the requirements and considerations for pre-production of a factual television program. It outlines the types of factual programs like documentaries and news programs. It also lists the equipment, transport, talent, crew, materials, facility hire, clearances, and timelines needed for pre-production. Personnel roles on the production team are explained. Costs, facilities, original materials, archive footage, sounds, scripts, music, and contributors like experts and public figures are also discussed. Location safety and recce sheets are mentioned.

1. LO1: Understanding pre-production
Understanding the requirements of pre-production;
Factual Program – A factual program is a program containing elements or truth or conveying
the truth, usually shows in these types of programs.
Type of production; Documentary – This style of factual programme is a film that is based on
truth and reality even though the scenes and pre-production is edited very closely so the
producer can convey the point he is trying to put forward.
News Programme – A news program is a regularly scheduled documentation of the current
affairs, complete truth. A news show includes more than just facts about what is going on
they give you detailed reports backed up by expert reviews and on location reports to back
up the story on screen.

2. Finance– Requirements for my factual programme;
For a production to take place you will need:
Equipment – Head cam, Video cameras, tripods, boom mic, microphone, lighting, sound,
dolly’s& handy cam.
Transport – in order to get to a shoot on time production companies will need a fleet of cars
and availability to public transport, some companies have contracts with taxi firms.
Talent – Actors for reconstruction shoots, interviewees, presenters, experts & key
witnesses.

3. Crew – Cameraman, assistant camera man, producer, assistant producer, director,
presenter, researchers, historians, runners & extras.
Materials – Script for talent to read from, photo library’s, archive footage, story boards,
sound library’s & original material.
Facility hire – Editing studios, recording studios, possibly equipment & production vans.
Clearances– Health and safety, council & police in order to film on location and clearance
from lawyers and talent managers in order to interview ‘talent’.

4. Time;
Deadline – A deadline is a date/time, which is set, or an aim in which you are too meet/
have the final product in for.
During TV production deadlines are key because the program has to be scheduled in to be
on television at a certain time and if all the pre-production and filming deadlines aren’t met
then the program will have to be postponed due to the failure of meeting the deadlines,
meaning the producer loses money and the slot they wanted in the schedule. For example if
deadlines are not met for the news, they have a day deadline of all the news coming in to
putting it on screen so if not met the pre-production team would get fired.
A lot of equipment is needed when filming factual programs, either hired or equipment
already available, it is vital that as a director of show that you make sure you have pre
planned where and when the equipment is needed, so that it works in sync with the
production team using it, otherwise the program is not going to as good as intended or
cannot be filmed at all due to something being missing.
When filming a news show/factual program, there are more people working off set than on,
so it is key that the staffs pre warned as to what is going on, on set and off. Without having
the correct personnel and the right amount of personnel the program will not be as
organised. If each person is not there at the time of shooting then the program is in
jeopardy because each person’s job adds up to the final picture creating difficulties for the
production team.
Timescales for clearances means the time it takes for a production to get cleared by the
authorities. When releasing a production the content has to be approved by the television
authorities to make sure that the content is suitable for the audience at the certain timeslot,
where schedule adjustments are made.
Personnel;
A news production team is not small, at least 40 different roles and at the minimum 50 staff
working in pre-production, directing and presenting, each member of staff is vital.
The roles undertaken in a production team are;
Pre-Production
Casting Director
Costume Designer
Director
Location Manager
Make-Up Artist
Production Designer
Researchers
Set Designer

5. Television Producer
Writer
Head Writer
Screen Writer
Story Editor
Production
Boom Operator
Camera Operator
Character Generator Operator
Floor Manager
Graphics Coordinator
Stage Manager
Gaffer
Control Room Team
Production Manager
Production Assistant
Runner
Stunt Coordinator
Technical Director
Television Director
Video Control Engineer
Video Tape Operator
Vision Mixer
Post Production
Composer
Editor
Foley Artist
Post Production Runner
Publicist
Sound Editor
Title Sequence Designer
Specialist Editors
ADR Editor
Blue screen Director
Special Effects coordinator

6. Costs of production team
Facilities;
The equipment needed to film this factual program will be;
Head cam - £22 brand new
Video cameras - Free
Tripods - £40 (weekend)
Boom Mic - £13 (per day)
Microphone - £6 (per day)
Dolly Tracks - £100 (weekend)
Handy Cam - £70 (weekend)
Information taken from www.hirental.co.uk
After the factual program has been filmed there is a lot of post-production equipment
needed to complete the final piece, using the best available equipment for top final result.
Editing Software (Premiere, Final Cut, Photoshop)
External Hard drives
Computers (either Mac or PC)
Materials;
Original material is footage that has been recorded by you, or the production team for that
certain program, clips which have been storyboarded or planned to be in the program. This
footage is copyright free so there is no problem using it.

7. When filming a factual program, backing up your arguement/point is key, using footage
from previous programs or from the internet is one of the ways in which doing so, archive
footage may be copyrighted to permission needs to be received from the television
company who produced the footage.
When researching or producing a factual program photo evidence can be taken of what you
are doing so you can refer back to it for post-production, or photo examples found which a
relative to the subject matter which is used for research or backing up a point.
A sound library is where all the sounds for the program are stored, from the introduction
theme tune too the Foley sounds of someone walking over gravel, all sounds relevant for
the program will be stored for pre and post production.
A factual program with a lot of explanatory content may need a script, words which the
presenter or character on screen will say. Pre-planned to work in correlation with what is on
screen to help the audience understand the relevant subject, worked on in pre-production.
To back up a point which would be on screen a interview with a professional in the relevant
field would be the best way to have questions answered which the audience may be asking
themselves, making the points which need to be shown clear to the audience.
Recorded music is either a soundtrack, which the producer or production team have created
for a relevant clip for the program, or music that has been released by a artist, if that is
wanted to be used in a program PRS would sort out a agreement for using the track.
Contributors;
Specialists – A specialist is a person who is extremely knowledgeable in a certain profession
or subject, it is important to have a specialist in a factual program because them being so
knowledgeable in the certain field it gives the audience more reason to trust the
information that is being told.
Experts – Much like a Specialist but where as a specialist is talented in one specific subject a
expert is talented in more than one field, supposed to hold knowledge on a higher level
compared to the average person. Experts are ideal for interviews when trying to persuade a
audience to think what the expert is saying is true, more believable because they have
experience in that subject area.
Talent – Talent are the on screen contributors to the program, actors, presenters,
interviewees etc. Confident on screen performers, needed to entertain the audience, or
convey information to them keeping a flow to the program.
Public; Contributor Biographies – When making a factual program the certain subject topic
has to be looked at in many different views, so taking a lot of public views on the certain
subject and basing them around the main view (the producer) and using there views as

8. arguments to either back up the point of view of the producer or to show the other side of
the argument. This helps to give the audience a broader view of what is going on not just
taking the side of the producer, giving the audience a chance to make their own decision.
Location;

9. A recce sheet is a safety form, for the location you are going to be filming in to make sure
that where the filming is taking place is the right scenario to film.
What are the limitations & risks of a production?
Distance – shooting has to be organised so that filming takes place in the lsame location on
the same day
Access –you have to pre plan when and who you interview as access to places and people
may be restricted
Cost –cost of production could end up higher than originally set and could forfit the
production due to overspending
Weather – you need to leave extra days too film just in case the weather doesn’t allow you
to film on the chosen day
Clearance – It’s important to have clearance before filming for legal reasons and without
clearance for location and subjects you could be breaking OFCOM regulations.
OFCOM - Ofcom is the communications regulator. We regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed line
telecoms and mobiles, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate.
In this section you will find information about us, how we are run and how we do it.
On 1 February 2011 Ofcom completed an internal review and reorganization. This was
designed to reduce significantly expenditure in response to the challenge facing the whole of
the public sector.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/